Paper Marriage Proposition (Gage Brothers 1)

Now what?

Spotting Landon Gage’s burly chauffeur lounging by the hood of a black Lincoln Navigator across the street, a man who’d earned both her respect and her frustration when he had refused to be bribed or coerced into letting Bethany climb unsuspected into the back of Gage’s car, she returned his knowing smile and sighed.

She’d stopped believing in fairy tales the instant she’d realized she had married a toad and no, they did not change into princes after a kiss after all. So why had she ever thought a stranger could help her? The enemy?

In his mind she was a Halifax. She’d always be a Halifax, and he must hate her for it.

But Gage had been damaged by Hector Halifax, and although he had gone on with his life, the death of his family had been irrevocable. Bethany could still do something, would fight as long as there was breath in her body.

She wouldn’t live apart from her son.

She blinked when Landon strode out of the revolving doors

, his square jaw clenched so tight she’d bet it hurt. He swept his gaze across the moonlit sidewalk and, when he spotted her, skewered her with a look. He halted only a foot away. “When?”

“When what?”

“When do you want to marry? Friday? Saturday?”

Bethany gaped at him, at this big self-possessed man with the wild gray eyes. She shook off her daze, and the words leapt off her tongue. “Friday. Tomorrow. Now.”

“Be in my office tomorrow. I’ll have a prenup drawn.” He tossed a black credit card into her lap. “I want you in an expensive dress. Buy it. Look virginal if you want to get your son back. And buy yourself a ring.” When all she could do was gawk in disbelief, he pointed a finger in her direction and gave her a grim, warning look. “You get nothing, you understand? When we’re through.”

She rose to her feet, her nod jerky. “I want nothing but my child back. I’ll find a job where I can work at home, I’ll never lose him again.”

His fingers curled around her bare wrist and guided her close enough for the granite strength of his body to threaten hers. He was so big Beth couldn’t help but feel…tiny.

“Be sure this is what you want, Miss Lewis. By the time I’m finished with your husband there won’t be anything left.”

With that, he spun around, leaving her breathless with exhilaration, gratefulness, strange little flutters in her stomach.

“Mr. Gage!”

He swung back to face her, running a big tanned hand along his face. “Landon.”

“Thank you, Landon.”

His eyebrows drew together. “I’m not doing this for you.”

“I know. Thank you, anyway.”

He hesitated, then retraced his path back to her, seizing her elbow and ducking his head. “Will there be something else on the menu, Beth?”

Her lips parted, closed, parted again. “What do you mean?”

God, his face was cruel, it was so handsome. His mouth, beautiful. His eyes, entrancing. His touch…my word, his touch.

His thumb brushed against the sleeve of her jacket, giving her flutters. “I’m asking if we’ll be reaching some other kind of understanding, you and I.”

She clung to his gaze, drowning, seeing no land in the distance. Nothing but the determined man before her.

“What kind of understanding,” she asked in an odd, cragged whisper. “I don’t think I understand.”

But her nipples were hard as diamonds under her jacket, begging for…something. A touch; his touch.

His expression distinctly famished, he reached up and hypnotically traced her lips with his middle finger. “I wonder…” His voice was terse and textured, and he watched her with eyes that probed into the darkest, loneliest part of her. “If you’d like to kiss me again, slowly this time. And in bed.”

Oh, God.