Leigh Michaels - The Billionaire Bid

The woman was trying to kill him, Dez decided. She hadn’t managed to choke him to death with coffee, so she’d opted to try stopping his heart with astonishment.

“How much is it worth to you?” Gina repeated. “Because for—say—ten thousand dollars, I’d consider it.”

“Ten thousand—” He cleared his throat and tried again. “You have an inflated idea of what an evening of your time is worth.”

He could almost hear ice cubes tinkling in her voice. “And let’s make it quite clear that my time is absolutely all I’m talking about.”

“No hanky-panky in the hot tub,” he agreed smoothly.

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The Forbidden Marriage

by Rebecca Winters (#3768)

www.millsandboon.co.uk

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

WHEN Gina reached the restaurant, she was relieved to see that she was a few minutes early. Not only would it be bad manners to keep a guest waiting, but in this case it would be purely stupid. She had one shot at this presentation. If she couldn’t pull it off today, the plan wouldn’t fly at all. So she’d take advantage of the extra few minutes to go over her mental notes once more.

The maître d’ looked her over doubtfully. “Would you like to wait in the bar, Ms. Haskell? Or at your table?”

“The table, I believe. My companion will be arriving within a few minutes. You do know Mrs. Garrett, don’t you? Anne Garrett?”

The man’s expression didn’t so much as flicker, but his voice was cool. “Certainly I know the publisher of the local newspaper, Ms. Haskell.” He didn’t show her to the table; he snapped his fingers and a subordinate arrived to escort her instead.

Dumb question, Gina thought philosophically. If she’d tried, she couldn’t have made it clearer that she was moving outside her normal circles. Next time, why don’t you just ask him if the fish is fresh? He couldn’t be any more insulted by that.

If there ever was a next time, of course. There weren’t many occasions for Gina to go to a really first-class restaurant.

In fact, though she’d lived in Lakemont much of her life, Gina had never been inside The Maple Tree before. As the waiter seated her, she took a quick—and, she hoped, unobtrusive—glance at her surroundings. The dining room was large, but because the tables were set far apart there weren’t as many of them as she would have expected. Though she could hear the murmur of voices from the ones nearest to hers, she couldn’t have eavesdropped even if she’d tried. Not only the distance between tables but the soft tinkle of ragtime music in the background prevented it.

The decorating scheme seemed to have been adopted from the restaurant’s name; as if to make the point, on one wall was a grouping of arty photographs of trees and individual leaves. The walls and carpet were the soft green of new leaves, while the table linens were a splash of autumn colors—red napkins against pale gold tablecloths. Unusual though it was, Gina thought the effect was stunning.

At the far end of the room sat a glossy grand piano next to a small dance floor, and along one side of the dining room was a bar. Its wood surface—no doubt it was maple to fit the theme, Gina thought—was so highly polished that it gleamed nearly as brightly as the brass that accented it.

For an upscale restaurant at lunchtime, she thought, the bar seemed strangely quiet. In fact, there was only one man sitting there, occupying the tall stool at the end nearest to Gina’s table. He thumped his index finger against his glass, and the bartender moved toward him and picked up the glass. The man turned toward the room and with no warning whatsoever looked directly into Gina’s eyes.

She felt herself turning pink. It was one of the hazards of being a redhead—though in this case it was perfectly ridiculous to feel the slightest embarrassment. It wasn’t as if she’d been watching him—it was pure coincidence that she had happened to be facing his direction when he’d turned.

No matter what he might think, he hadn’t caught her doing anything rude—which was more than she could say for him at the moment. A gentleman would have made momentary eye contact and then looked away. But this man…

He tipped his head back a fraction of an inch. His eyes narrowed. He settled an elbow on the bar as if to brace himself while he looked her over to his satisfaction.

Gina felt like walking over to him and making it absolutely clear that she hadn’t been staring at him—or indeed at anything. But to do that would only call more attention to an episode which had already gotten far bigger than it had any reason to. She’d merely been looking around the room, appreciating the ambience and the decor. It certainly wasn’t her fault he’d happened to be in the way, blocking her view.

She opened the menu the waiter had left. But the words inside looked strangely blurry, as if once she’d focused her gaze on the man at the bar she couldn’t get her eyes to adjust to a different distance. She unfolded her napkin and fussed with laying it out just right on her lap. She reminded herself that these last few minutes of quiet would be better used to review the presentation she would be making over lunch.

None of it worked. Her senses were still on high alert, because he was still watching her. Even without looking up, she knew it.

Fine, Gina told herself irritably. Two can play that game. What’s good for the goose…

She pushed the menu aside. This time she didn’t bother with a survey of the room; he’d only interpret that as coyness anyway. She put both elbows on the edge of the table, rested her chin on her fingertips, and stared back at him.

Actually, she had to admit, he wasn’t a bad addition to either the ambience or the decor. He was tall; she could tell that much from the way he was half sitting on the high stool with one foot hooked easily onto the rung and the other still planted on the floor. And he was good-looking in a hard-edged fashion, with blue-black hair, a strong jaw, and a proud nose. Of course, she’d never been much interested in the dark, predatory type.

What, she wondered, had made him bore in on her? Surely he didn’t stare at every woman who glanced at him as Gina had done—or even every woman who took a long hard second look. For one thing, if he did he’d have no time left to do anything else, because there must be plenty of women who—unlike Gina—would find that package attractive enough to inspect at length.