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Her choice of words made me want to vomit a little in my mouth.
“I’m not certain it’s in my best interest to be seen standing next to him,” I retorted.
Hissing, she jerked me by the arm, dragging me down the hallway.
“Why?”
“I’m an attorney for one thing.”
“And the winning bidder just so happens to be a client? Or did you forget?” Jackie rolled her eyes.
“Oh, yeah. There’s that.” I was running out of excuses other than to come out with the truth. That I was terrified I’d enjoy surrendering to his every need. My mouth was parched just thinking about it. Shouldn’t it be watering if I was eager to spent time with him? “And what does it mean, a full week? Like nights too?”
“I don’t know,” she exclaimed. “Why don’t you ask him, but if you really want my answer, I’d say you’d be nuts not to crave spending seven blissful nights with him.”
Fortunately, by the time we made it back to the ballroom, part of the large crowd had already dispersed. Maybe Lachlan had decided to do something nice and nothing else.
“There he is. Go get him, tiger,” Jackie encouraged, pushing me forward.
Lachlan was commanding the room, reporters still throwing questions his way. He had that kind of smile that made you wonder what was brewing inside his mind. As soon as I got within fifty feet of him, he transferred his entire attention in my direction. But the brilliant white smile he’d offered the group of women clamoring around him changed into something much darker.
“You don’t need to do this, sweetheart,” my father said as he flanked my side. “He’s not worthy of you. There are plenty of other men prepared to offer the same amount of money.”
Uh-huh. I scanned the room. There wasn’t a single man my father had blackmailed into being here who remained, eager for a second chance.
“Oh, come now, Senator,” Lachlan said in his charming tone of voice. “I’m not asking for her hand in marriage. Yet.” He turned his head, obviously loving this, the bastard.
“Trust me, Mr. McKenzie. Marriage will never happen,” I snapped, giving him the sweetest smile I could manage under the circumstances. We stared at each other for what felt like a lifetime, the reporters clinging to every second of my degradation.
“This is outrageous!” my father claimed again.
I’d finally had enough. I was a big girl and didn’t need to ride my father’s coattails for a single thing in my life. This might be my single chance at living my life the way I wanted to. “No, Daddy. This is perfect. Think of the animals. They will receive the full five million dollars.” I narrowed my eyes as I studied Lachlan, using my last few words to challenge him.
“The money is already there, sweetheart.”
I’d rip the sweetheart right out of him.
“That’s enough,” Lachlan said to the reporters in his commanding voice. Then he slowly pushed his arms to the sides, forcing them out of his way as he walked forward. It was almost as if he was parting the Red Sea by his aggressive actions. Then again, it seemed as if playing God was one of his favorite things to do.
I tried to hold my ground, acting as if I didn’t care about him in the least, but the closer he came, the harder it was to breathe normally.
He was the masterful in his control as he slipped his hand underneath my hair, wrapping his fingers around my neck. Against everything I thought I was as a strong woman, I allowed him to pull me closer. I could see the photograph now in every DC newspaper and magazine, online in a matter of hours.
“There’s my good girl. I wondered where you’d gone.” His sultry voice pinned me in the moment, pulling me into an airtight vacuum that seemed inescapable.
Which was exactly what he wanted.
As pictures were taken, the cameras rolling, he never allowed his eyes to roam in any other direction. It was as if he wanted the wretched moment in time catalogued for future reference. Then less than two minutes later, he simply said one word, but it carried the weight of danger and darkness.
“Enough!”
Another moment of the parting seas occurred, every person who’d been hovering around us backing away. He took me by the arm, leading me toward the entrance to the ballroom. A part of me wanted to struggle for freedom but I sensed it wouldn’t do any good. When were outside the first set of double doors, he pushed me against the wall, his expression darkening even more.
“How do you do that?” I asked, cringing from the change in his pupils, both dilated, flecks of gold shimmering as if made from pure gold.
“What exactly was I doing, Lark?”
His voice was husky, dropping to an entirely different level of seduction. When he said my name, elongating the syllable, I became weak in the knees, as if I was ready to ask for punishment for some unknown sins.
