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She took a deep breath and steeled her shoulders. “I’m ready. Let’s get this over with.”
Zach led Katie over to the conference table and introduced her to the three men. She was surprised to find out that one of the men was her lawyer. She had never met him before that moment, and Zach was paying him, but sure, he was her lawyer. Exactly what kind of dimwitted bimbo did he think he was dealing with?
Soon, they were explaining all the intricacies of the contract and horror began to sizzle along her nerves. Katie forgot all about her nausea as another kind of queasiness took hold. Alarm consumed her as one phrase kept popping up. Exclusive rights. Exclusive rights. His, over her. Uneasiness gripped her and a sense of unreality discomfited her as his exact intentions toward her were spelled out and explained in infinite detail.
She would be his mistress for a time not to exceed five years. She would live where he chose. She would not accept employment of any kind. She could not pre-pay the original amount of the debt in whole or in part. She would never have a claim on his money or his properties. But if at any time he wanted out of the contract, he could terminate it at his discretion, for any reason. If he kept her for less than the allotted time frame, the amount owed would be amortized, and her family would only owe what was left on the note, payable immediately. If at any time she displeased him, he could nullify the contract. If he wanted to change the stipulations, he could do so at any time without ramifications.
She would submit to a physical and a battery of tests for STDs. If she refused, the deal was off and her parents’ loan was repayable immediately.
The safeguards he had previously mentioned for her were laughable. If she wanted out before the five years was up, she could walk away, and the original sum owed would be reinstated and from that point he would give her family thirty days to come up with the money or to vacate the premises. The other point was humiliating. She would do whatever he wanted sexually. And she would be his exclusively. But he would never want, and she had the right to refuse, a ménage. That was it. Those were her safeguards.
Katie sat panicked and distressed. Embarrassment and horror consumed her as the details of what would be expected from her were explained by one of the lawyers. They knew. These men knew; they had written the contract. Zach was going to own her in exchange for writing off three hundred and twenty thousand dollars over a five year pay-off period.
Zach’s eyes were leveled at her over the table as her astonished brain tried to comprehend what she was getting into. Her pupils dilated as she felt the strength of his will encompass her from across the width that separated them.
It became too much, and Katie pushed back her chair and stumbled to her feet. “Excuse me for a moment, please, gentlemen.” She couldn’t help it. The sarcasm she used on the term gentlemen couldn’t have gone unnoticed by any of them. She looked around as three men lowered their eyes and the fourth just watched her with a sensual sixth sense.
She all but ran from the room.
She stood in the reception area, next to the bank of elevators, her back against the wall both literally and figuratively. She felt a deep compulsion to run, a craving for freedom and a need for space and oxygen.
She would get none of those things. Even this small break she was taking was about to be interrupted as she saw Zach coming toward her, his jaw clenched and his lips flattened over teeth she was positive were gritted.
She straightened to her full height as he came to stand before her. A dangerous current filled the air between them, and the details of the contract came roaring back to her to inflame her with anger, terror, and a secret, wanton need. He had always been so good-looking. She had known that since she was a teenager and would see him around town. His hair was dark, almost black, and he had a demonic glower that highlighted his intense masculinity. Against her will, a vision of what he wanted from her rose up to attack her nerves and her few working brain cells.
As he leaned in closer to her now, his scent enveloped her and the magnetic force of his attraction clamored through her body. It was really going to happen. She was going to have sex with Zachary McIntyre. Over and over and over again. She couldn’t do it. How could she do it? How could she not?
Zach ignored the speculative looks they were getting from the two receptionists manning the top floor. He zeroed his attention on Katie and leaned in toward her, invading her personal space and monopolizing her attention. He caged her in with his arms against the wall.
“Okay. This is how it’s going to be. This is all the negotiating you’re going to get from me. I’m prepared to let you forego the physical tests. I’m going to trust you to not have any diseases. Are you clean, Katie?”
Mortified color climbed up her throat and spread across her cheekbones. “Yes,” she hissed, “Are you?”
He growled in reply, “Yes.”
They stood staring at each other, green eyes swallowed by brown. “Come back inside and sign the damn papers. Let’s get this part over with.” He turned to go back to his office, then paused and faced her again. “I’m not trying to make this difficult. This was not supposed to be humiliating for you.”
She gave him only a slight nod in reply, followed him inside, and signed the next five years of her life away.
The lawyers filed out of the room, and Katie was left alone with Zach. The question that had been burning in her mind fell from her lips. “What’s the cover story?”
Zach closed his office door behind the last man, turned and strolled across the room to lean against his desk, close to where Katie stood. “Well, you can’t just disappear off the face of the earth, so you’re right, we need a cover story.”
Katie collapsed into one of the chairs facing his desk. “And is that what I’m about to do? Disappear off the face of the earth?”
“Nothing as dramatic as that.” He studied her for a moment. “We’re going to say that we ran into each other in Redwood Falls and one thing led to another and we started seeing each other. It escalated from there.”
Katie thought abou
t it. “Nobody will buy it. Everyone knows you hate me.”
“I don’t hate you, Katie, and you damn well know it.”
“Since when?” Katie sneered.
His eyes searched hers. “A long time ago. Since I figured out that I want to sleep with you more for my pleasure than for your punishment. Since I figured out that your pleasure means more to me than my own.”
Katie broke eye contact and looked down at her hands in her lap.
Zach came to stand over her and said in a low voice, “It won’t be all bad, sweetheart.” His arms moved down to cage her in the chair, and his manner became persuasive. “All you have to do is please me, and I’ll treat you like a princess, I promise. No more talk of hatred, no more talk about debts being owed. It will be just you and me, and I guarantee you, it’ll be good.”
Katie continued to look down at her lap and mumbled. “It’s not fair. I don’t have that money. My family doesn’t have the money. I won’t be able to get a teaching position in five years. How will I explain the missing time on my resume?”
“I agree you don’t have the money. But your family has the land. The land that my money bought.” His hand moved to her silken cheek and then down to her trembling chin. “Don’t flatter yourself thinking I’m going to keep you for five years, Katie. It will be more like five months.”
She looked up with hope in her eyes. “But I—I thought—don’t I have to stay with you for five years for the debt to be cleared?”
Zach was annoyed with himself for being irritated by her question. Women weren’t supposed to want to get away from him. And for some inexplicable reason, even though his motives were supposed to be revenge and punishment, he wanted her to want to be with him. He’d always wanted her to want him, but he hadn’t been able to achieve that. In a deepening, curt voice he said, “No. That’s what the contract says, but that’s a worst case scenario. You be a good girl and play fair with me, and I’ll cancel the rest of the debt when I let you go. You’ll have to trust me on that, but it will happen.”
