1925 - Millionaire's Secret Seduction by Jennifer Lewis Read Free Book Online

wouldn’t have been delighted to have you continue your dad’s work?”
    “My mom approached Tarrant when my father was sick. She asked him if my dad could come work here. She was so sure that being back amongst his tools and test tubes would give him the strength to recover. Tarrant told her to get lost.”
    “Sounds like my loving father all right.”
    Something in his expression lit a thin ray of hope in her heart. “So you understand?”
    Dominic tipped his head back, studied her down the length of his proud nose. “Sure. I understand. I’m not saying I approve.” He raised an eyebrow.
    All she needed was another few days. Since the files had arrived she’d been combing through them every free moment when no one was around. She only had two more drawers to search. She’d xeroxed at least a thousand pages of her dad’s decades-long research to prove the extent of the intellectual property Tarrant swindled him out of. All that remained was to find the amount he’d been paid. Her impractical father and flighty mother had kept few of their personal financial records.
    “But you’ll keep my secret.” Her voice was barely a whisper.
    “Like I said, we can make a deal.” His dark eyes drifted over her face. Grazed her lips and roamed over her neck. Her skin heated.
    He wants to sleep with you.
    She could read it in his face as clearly as if he’d said it.
    Maybe he was one of those men who just had to conquer every woman that crossed his path? Tarrant Hardcastle was rumored to be such a man, though his terminal illness—not to mention his very young and beautiful third wife—had put a damper on his womanizing ways.
    Bella had worked here for a solid year. Smiled in the face of the man who’d destroyed—who’d killed —her father. But she had her reasons. Surely she could go one extra step to safeguard everything her mother loved so dearly.
    Her fingers and toes stung with panic. She’d come too far to lose it all now. If she could keep him quiet for a few days she’d be done.
    Do it.
    She took a step toward him and tilted her face upwards. Held her breath as she offered her mouth to him.
    One dark brow lifted.
    Had she read him wrong?
    Her answer came when his lips crushed hotly over hers.
    The breath evaporated from her lungs. His big hand settled crudely on her backside and he tugged her close enough for her breasts to wrinkle his starched shirtfront.
    Dominic didn’t smell like the expensive cologne they sold downstairs. His scent was raw—rough and feral—the aroma of undiluted lust.
    His tongue grazed her teeth and sent a shiver of sensation to her toes. Bella found herself on tiptoe, reaching up to deepen the kiss as he craned his neck down to meet her. Her legs trembled from the strain and from the breathless wave of desire that washed over her.
    He pulled back first. Simply lifted his head and left her standing there, lips angled toward the recessed light fixture in the ceiling.
    She flushed and slammed her lips together.
    Dominic’s dimples were strangely absent. And something glittered in his near-black eyes.
    “Gosh. I must go. My train.” Her words trickled out like drips from a faucet. Her brain seemed to have seized up.
    She lunged for her briefcase.
    “Not so fast, princess. It’s dark out. I’ll get you a cab.”
    “I prefer to walk.”
    “Then I’ll walk you.”
    Dominic guided her out of the lab with his palm. Her walk reflected her personality: prim, elegant, guarded. They didn’t speak a word in the bright elevator. She held her head in profile to him, her kissed lips still red.
    “Maybe we can make a deal?”
    She’d thought he meant to bargain with sex.
    He battled the smile that kept wanting to rip across his mouth. How far would she have gone—in that cramped file room—if he’d pressed the point?
    She didn’t seem like the kind of woman who’d trade her body for a simple promise. A promise he hadn’t even offered.
    And what a body.
    She was slim, but not in