The Billionaire's Bridal Bid by Emily McKay Read Free Book Online Page B

me?”
    “The champagne. The fruit plate. The private jet, for goodness’ sake. It’s an awful lot of trouble to go through when you’ve already spent twenty thousand dollars.”
    “It really isn’t,” he said dismissively.
    “No, it really is. I get it, Matt. You’re worth a lot of money now. I knew that already. So why is it so important to you to rub my nose in it?”
    “Is that what you think I’m doing?”
    “It’s obviously what you’re doing. This isn’t you.” She gestured to the plane and the chilling bottle in the bucket. “You used to hate this kind of pretentious crap. And the way you acted with that reporter. She fawned all over you and you just ate it up.”
    Matt took another sip of the Blanc de Noir, relishing the cool slide down his throat. “You sound almost jealous.”
    Claire stilled, surprise registering on her face, as if that possibility had truly not occurred to her. She downed another gulp of wine. “Disgusted is more like it.” Looking rattled by the idea, she shook her head. “I’m just trying to figure you out.”
    He set down his own glass. “Tell me something, Claire. What really bothers you about this situation? You claim to know how much I’m worth. You knew how much I spent to buy the date with you. This—” hemimicked her gesture toward the plane “—can’t surprise you.”
    “You could have taken me to Luna across the street from Cutie Pies and I would have been pleased. More than. You would have spent a hundred dollars, tops.”
    “Would that really have satisfied your curiosity?”
    “ My curiosity? What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “You can’t tell me you’re not curious. About me. About my life. About what your life would have been like if we’d stayed together.”
    “You think I’m curious about the money? About some rich and fabulous lifestyle that you’re living?” Her tone was sharp with disbelief. “Wow, you are really…well, delusional is the word that comes to mind.”
    “Fine,” he said with a nod. “I’ll let you pretend. I won’t ask you how you knew about the Raven project or why you remembered that after all these years.”
    The look she gave him surprised him. It was so…patronizing almost. Like there was something big he’d missed entirely. Finally, she shrugged. “Okay, then. Let’s say it was all about the money for me. What of it? Taking me on this date doesn’t satisfy my curiosity. It only sows discontent. Makes me more miserable.” Understanding lit her eyes. “Unless that’s what you wanted. Unless this really was about revenge.”
    “Boy, you seem obsessed with this revenge idea.”
    She arched an eyebrow. “Just trying to figure all this out. All this money is a lot to spend on a date unless you’re trying to make a point.”
    “Most women like having someone splurge big on them.”
    “Is that really your experience? That most women like this? This ostentatious posturing really works for you?”
    Forget all her indignation. He’d seen her expression when she’d first stepped out of the limo. She’d been impressed. Just like every other woman he’d ever flown anywhere for a date. She just didn’t want to admit it. And wasn’t that interesting?
    He smiled, not bothering to hide his satisfaction. “You’d be surprised how many women this works on.”
    She just shook her head ruefully. “I doubt it. Small-town cafés are just one step away from a therapist’s chair. I know women pretty well. So, no, I’m surprised that this impresses some of them. For plenty of people, money is all that matters.”
    And then she pinned him with a steady, quiet look. For the first time since she’d walked back into his life, he felt all her anger slipping away, felt as though she was looking to the very core of him.
    After a second, she looked away to gaze out the window, her expression unreadable. “What surprises me is that you put up with it. The Matt I knew had a very low tolerance for pretension. I can’t