Bridenapped: The Alpha Chronicles by Georgette St. Clair Read Free Book Online Page B

made sure of that. You’re why I had to drop out of college and have a full time job, or we wouldn’t ‘t be able to make ends meet.” She’d been a year away from her fine arts degree.  Glancing around, she had to admit that she was dying to have her camera equipment with her, or a canvas and paints; there was so much beauty and strangeness her that she’d love to capture.
                  He sighed heavily. “I am sorry about what happened to your land, Caitlin, I truly am. But our research showed that your great-great uncle obtained that land illegally. There is no copy of the deed anywhere.”
                  “You deny that you pumped me for information that you could use against us to get our land?”
                  “At the time that I spoke to you I wasn’t even aware that there was a land issue. I was notified about the fact shortly afterwards. I was sorry to have to reclaim the land, but an Alpha lives for his pack. If it weren’t for the property dispute, I would have bridenapped you much sooner.  I suspected that it wasn’t appropriate for me to take your family to court and bridenap you at the same time.”
                  “Really. You think.” And who the hell had told him about the deed? How had that even come up? Nobody had questioned their ownership of the land in all the time her family had owned it. She’d have to ask her aunt and uncle about that. 
                  He grinned at her. “You’re adorable when you’re sarcastic. Something to drink?” He gestured at a mahogany bar across the room, which had wine glasses in a latticework rack and a gleaming black refrigerator tucked behind it. There were four bar stools arranged in front of the bar. “Alcoholic, non-alcoholic…”
                  She was sincerely tempted, even though it was right after breakfast. Man, if there was ever a time she needed a triple shot of tequila…
                  Then again, getting tipsy and being in the same room as this incredibly sexy, naked man…perhaps not such a good idea.
                  She cleared her throat. “Don’t try to change the subject. My family needs the money from my wages.”
                  Kristofer shrugged lightly, in dismissal of her concerns. “I will of course support your family and give them anything that they need. They won’t want for anything.”
                  Caitlin sighed. Oh, she wished that could happen. She’d stay married to him just for that. But her family would never go for it.
                  “Here’s the thing, Kristofer,” she explained patiently. “That is actually a generous offer, but my family doesn’t take charity. Ever. They work for their money. They would not accept money from you. They’d rather be crammed into a one bedroom apartment eating ramen noodles and working around the clock than take money from you.”
                  “So they have a strong work ethic. Admirable. If they will not accept my gifts, then we could hire them and pay them a very generous salary, much more than they earn now,” he suggested. “Plenty of work to be done around here.”
                  Damn him, did he have to sound so reasonable and helpful? What a jerk.
                  “They would never work for you. They regard you as the devil. As do I. And I don’t trust you worth a damn anyway. Even if they would work for you, which they won’t, once you’ve gotten whatever it is that you want from me, you’d boot me out of here and they’d be out of a job.”
                  “Why would I do that?” He looked astonished.
                  “Oh, I don’t know…why would you talk to me and ask me all about my land, and get every last bit of information about it, and its history, and then use that information against us in court? Because you’re a conniving