she had envisioned this going. "I don't think that's appropriat

ng no room for argument. He raised a hand, signaling a waiter. "A g

ving, yet it sent a strange, t

is gaze like an X-ray, "you

own green gaze unflinc

more interesting than he'd thought. She wasn't like the othe

by a single lamp. The curve of her waist as she sat, the way she tilted her chin when she was trying to hide her emotions, the faint floral note that rose from her skin whenever s

the cool liquid a welcome distraction. She could

hem. Chloe's mind raced, se

a bomb into the quiet. "Mi

er, coughing violently.

eaning forward again. The cold scent of cedar

honestly, dabbing h

nd?" he

..

if this was exactly the an

hat would echo in her min

Miss Hayes, let

y blank. She must have misheard. She

a joke in his cool blue eyes. In fact, there was a glint of som

u say?" Chloe's

e. My grandmother has made it clear that the Sinclair heir must be married by the end of this quarter, or she will beg

t? Panic flared in Chloe's ch

that would send their stepdaughter to a man with a

m Chloe's face. He kn

Sinclair intelligence network. "That was more than enough to confirm your stepmother's delightful habit of sabotaging you. The Tucker file, by the way, include

hloe's spine. She was comp

ve the title of Mrs. Sinclair and a black card with no spending limit. The prenuptial agreement will state that this is a partnership.

ourse, I can help you take care of any... problems you wish to

ghter over the car speaker. Tiffany's giggling confession. "A pig pushing 200 pounds is exactly what that kin

ng her the means to

r ribs. Revenge. He was offering

giving her the power and protection to

d to a complete stranger-a powerful

e, any sign that this was some elaborate joke. There was none. He was utter

think," Chloe

them, the world contracting to the small space between their two chairs. The single rose on the table trembled slightl