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“Because I’m a handful of trouble he wants to dump into someone else’s lap.” Bruises developed in her eyes, put there by her father’s harsh opinion. “He’s got this idea stuck in his head that I need someone to take care of me.”
Being the pampered daughter of a billionaire was part of her charm. Nathan was looking forward to spoiling her rotten.
“What’s wrong with letting someone take care of you?” he asked.
“Because the assumption is that I can’t take care of myself.” Her chin came up. Fire returned to her eyes, but her voice gained a ragged edge. “And that’s completely unfair.”
In the interest of keeping the conversation civil, Nathan resisted arguing that point with her. Even though he didn’t see her brother, Cody, much since he’d gotten married, they kept in regular contact, and Nathan had heard all about Emma’s escapades. The near-engagement to a fortune hunter, a sentence of community service after she’d been caught holding a friend’s purse containing drugs, and a totaled Mercedes from driving home after a party in the middle of an ice storm.
Granted, she appeared to have settled down in the last few years, but her impulsiveness with him three weeks ago made him question whether she had truly grown up, or whether she’d just gotten better at keeping her activities a secret from her family.
“Have you told your father how you feel?” he asked.
“Yes.” She expelled her breath in a rush. “For all the good it did me. When Daddy sets his mind to something, it stays set. He wants me engaged by Valentine’s Day. Whether I like it or not.”
And whether Nathan liked it or not.
He needed this joint venture with Silas to seize control of the family business from his half brothers. Neither Sebastian nor Max had any faith in his vision for their company. That’s why the partnership with Montgomery Oil was so important. Not only would the new venture’s cutting-edge technology put Case Consolidated Holdings on the map as an innovator, the future profits would ensure that the balance of power in the company would shift to Nathan. His half brothers would hate it, and there would be nothing they could do about it.
But first he needed to make the deal happen.
On a sudden whim, Nathan quickly unfastened Emma’s diamond and sapphire earrings from her ears.
“Give me back my earrings,” she demanded as he dropped them into his pocket
The last time he’d stolen her away from a party, she’d fought the chemistry between them, driving him half mad in the moments before her complete surrender. Afterwards, she’d raced off, leaving nothing behind but the evocative scent of her perfume on his skin. Tonight he intended to keep something she’d want to reclaim.
“Not yet.”
Artfully arranged wisps of sable curls framed a heart-shaped face with exotic high cheekbones and a slender nose. Tonight she’d tamed her sumptuous brown waves into a fancy, upswept hairdo that drew attention to her elegant neck. Although he liked the way the style bared her lovely golden skin and the hollow of her throat, he preferred her hair loose around her shoulders, tousled by his hands.
He removed the pins holding her hair in its fancy updo. A rich, satiny curtain tumbled about her bare shoulders, stripping away another layer of sophisticated veneer.
“Nathan, what are you doing?”
“I should think it was pretty obvious.” He feathered the tips of his fingers along her gown’s neckline, grazing her skin.
“Can’t we just talk?” she gasped, putting a hand on his chest to hold him off.
The heat of her touch seared through his shirt, igniting a thousand fires. His powerful need for her unsettled him. She made him wild. No other woman turned him on as fast as she did, or made him lose control so completely.
He sifted his fingers through silken waves of sable, twirling one curl around his hand. “If you’d bothered to call me back, we could have talked numerous times in the last few weeks. Right now I have other things on my mind.”
“Here? In my father’s study? Are you crazy?”
Lust surged at the notion of taking her hard and fast against the door, but he had no intention of doing that again.
Three weeks ago, his first glimpse of her in a dozen years had knocked him off his game. He’d gone to the holiday party, looking to relax and reconnect with another college buddy of his and Cody’s. A couple of hours at one of Grant Castle’s parties offered him the opportunity for some casual flirting with beautiful women. In fact, he’d been surrounded by five lovely ladies, all vying for his attention when Emma had strolled through the front door, her long, shapely legs bared by a black minidress that shimmered.
