The Tycoon's Make-Believe Fiancee by Elizabeth Lennox Read Free Book Online Page B

was safely inside before he walked away.
    Miranda leaned against the door to her apartment until the ding from the elevator told her that he’d departed from the floor. With that indicator, she sagged against the door, feeling exhausted and somehow sad. The man generated crazy emotions within her that she definitely didn’t like and couldn’t understand! Her thoughts vacillated between wanting him to go away and desperate for him to touch her again. It was crazy!
    She pushed away from the doorway and forced herself to get ready for bed, washing her face and brushing her teeth. She felt the nightgown slide over her naked breasts and wished it were his hands. Closing her eyes, she gritted her teeth as she slid in between the sheets, wondering what it would be like to make love with Royston Carmichael. The man was merciless in business. Would he be that way during sex? Would he be a selfish lover? Or would he drive her crazy with need and…she closed her eyes in the darkness, her body too wound up to think about it any longer.
    She tossed and turned, her mind rehashing the two times he’d kissed her as well as his almost angry rebuttal of her command.

Chapter 3
     
    Fourteen hours later, Miranda was staring at the enormous bed with her suitcase resting beside it. The fact that the suitcase was there wasn’t the problem. Nor was the size of the bed, but it did make her blush.
    No, the problem was the second suitcase that was sitting right beside her own. Both of them had already been emptied by Royston’s super-efficient staff and she was standing here, trembling with fear, anticipation and confusion.
    Did he really expect her to sleep with him? In this room? There were so many bedrooms in this house, surely he could find another one. Good grief, she’d be happy to find her own bedroom! This one was bigger than her entire apartment!
    And she really didn’t want to sleep in the same room as the enemy.
    Okay, so she’d found him to be an interesting conversationalist on the ride down to his country home. And he had been sweet and kind to his sister last night not to mention stopping at a wonderful little restaurant where she had some of the most delicious foods of her life.
    But he was so scary! She couldn’t imagine what he might want from her! She wasn’t up for this. He was so out of her league on too many levels.
    She spun around, determined to tell him that there was no way she could do this. She’d just have to explain to his sister that this was all a sham, that she’d lied to her and was ashamed, but she had to get out of this house as fast as possible! She simply couldn’t go through with this. Not with that huge bed looming in front of her.
    “Going somewhere?” Royston asked, holding a glass of some sort of creamy liquid in one hand and a tall glass of amber liquid in the other.
    “I have to…” she blinked when he handed her the creamy glass. “What’s this?”
    “Try it,” he told her, then waited for her to take a sip.
    Miranda looked at the liquid, not quite sure she should drink anything he handed to her. He looked like he was up to mischief and she didn’t trust him.
    Okay, yes, she trusted him, but she didn’t know what this was and she had to keep her head about her. “What’s in it?”
    He shrugged and took a long sip of his beer. “I noticed that you don’t drink red wine, nor white wine, so I had my housekeeper mix up something that you’ll probably like.”
    She sniffed the mixture in the martini glass carefully. “I don’t think I can handle a martini.”
    He chuckled. “I doubt you’d be able to handle a gin or vodka martini. But this is different.” He watched her carefully, a definite challenge in his eyes. “Are you going to trust me or stand there staring at the drink until you figure out what it is?”
    She laughed softly, still not sure she should, but in the end, she was too curious so she took a sip of the creamy liquid. As soon as the taste struck her tongue,