The Cowgirl Ropes a Billionaire by Cora Seton Read Free Book Online Page A

slaughtered animals. Try it again—you can’t say blood.”
    Bella looked stunned and it was plain to Evan she hadn’t been acting, nor had she been trying to be melodramatic. She obviously believed that the animals she cared for would die if she lost. Her distress gave him a momentary pang of guilt, but he tamped it down. He’d take care of that little problem himself if he won by farming the animals out to a shelter and writing a check. Nothing to it.
    Jake composed himself back into his high-eyebrowed pose. “And if you lose? What will it be like to be Evan Mortimer’s wife—the wife of a billionaire?” he repeated.
    “Ummm….boring, I guess.” Bella shrugged. “I wouldn’t have anything to do.”
    Boring? Evan felt like he’d been slapped. Being his wife would be boring? He was a billionaire, for crying out loud. Women would kill to marry him!
    “Cut! Boring? Are you kidding me?” Madelyn stalked over to Bella. “This is television. Play to the audience. You can’t say boring. The audience doesn’t want to be bored. Never, ever say boring. Roll cameras!”
    Jake leaned forward a third time as Evan tried to force a smile back to his own lips. Wouldn’t do to look like she’d surprised him. He planned to remain calm, unfluttered and completely in control at all times.
    “And if you lose?” Jake boomed again. “What will it be like to be Evan Mortimer’s wife—the wife of a billionaire?”
    Bella blew out a breath and looked straight at Evan.
    “It’ll suck.”
    * * * * *
    Bella nearly laughed out loud at the look on Evan’s face. The hotshot must think every woman in the world was standing in line to marry him. What a pretentious, egotistical snob. Madelyn was bad enough for insinuating she’d blow her chance at five million dollars for the privilege of bedding down with Mr. Money for a year. Fat chance of that. If Fate truly hated her guts and she lost, she’d make the lawyers write it right into his precious pre-nuptial: No sex.
    Evan was staring at her again, his dark eyes cold and hard. Oh, she’d ticked him off good, hadn’t she? Poor little rich boy was used to getting anything and everything he wanted at the snap of his fingers. Well, count her out of that game.
    After a couple of chirpy comments about her answer, Jake launched into a description of their first day of competition.
    “We will meet at the starting point tomorrow morning at eight. Good luck to both of you, get a good night’s sleep…and enjoy your final supper!”
    On cue, two perky waitresses began to set platters heaped with delicious food upon the table, until the space between them was full of dishes, each one more appetizing than the last. Unfortunately, her appetite was gone, so while she scooped some salmon, new potatoes and salad onto her plate, she only picked at it. The cameras still rolled, which made her ultra-self-conscious about chewing, and she kept dabbing at her face with her cloth napkin for fear of drips.
    “What made you become a veterinarian?” Evan asked, startling her so that she dropped her fork to her plate with a clatter.
    “What do you mean?” she said, picking it up again. She didn’t feel like rehashing this question.
    “Was there a particular incident with a pet that made you choose your line of work? A cat who met a bad end?”
    “A dog, actually,” she forced herself to say, the muscles of her face tightening. “Caramel. A family pet.”
    “What happened to her?”
    “She was struck by a car.”
    “So you decided to save all the other dogs.”
    She glanced up to see if he was making fun of her, but his voice had softened, and genuine sympathy shone in his eyes. Locked with Evan’s intelligent, questioning gaze, she sensed he was someone she could open up to.
    Oh, hell no.
    “I decided to do my best,” she said, hoping her clipped tone would signal an end to that line of questioning.
    Evan studied her intently but changed tactics. “Have you done a lot of