Paper Marriage Proposition (Gage Brothers 1)

If he had to pay her, if he had to wait, if he had to wrap Halifax by the feet and hang him upside down for Beth.

He’d have her.

All right, Beth, go get him.

Her heart pounded frantically as she at last made it to the top floor of the San Antonio Daily. With a fortifying breath, Beth followed Landon’s laser-eyed assistant—the one who’d denied

her entrance to see him a number of times—to a formidable set of massive double doors.

An unfamiliar sensation assailed her as the practical woman flung the doors open and led her inside. Landon, in a sharp suit and a killer crimson tie, came around the boardroom table to greet her. Her stomach twisted and turned as he approached. What was this? Anticipation, excitement, dread?

Landon had been called many things she could remember, but the word gentle hadn’t been among them.

“Beth,” he said.

He stared directly at her as he strode over. Framed by spiky, dark lashes, his eyes gleamed as they raked her form. Suddenly, she couldn’t breathe, he looked so sexy when he smiled at her.

“Hi, Landon,” she said, shyly smiling back.

His two lawyers rose to greet her, and Beth shook their outstretched hands. She’d wanted to look respectable today; she’d worn her hair back in a tidy chignon, a dark clean business suit, and a light sheen of makeup.

She had never felt so self-conscious and wondered if he approved.

Dismissing his assistant, Landon hauled out a chair for Beth and huskily said, “Sit.”

She sat.

She tugged her skirt down to her knees as the men settled around the table. One began distributing a thick file around. The prenup, she hoped. So they could get this circus started.

“All right, ma’am, if you’ll kindly open the document in your hands. Mr. Gage has…”

Landon’s sour-faced, white-haired lawyer trailed off in consternation when Beth flipped the document open to the last page and asked, “Do any of you have a pen?”

Two pens appeared in her immediate line of vision.

She took the blue one. Landon’s chair squeaked as he leaned back; he watched her with the intensity of a diving hawk. His brow creased in displeasure when she set pen to paper.

“Read it, Beth,” he said.

She glanced up at him. God, he was an extremely magnetic man. He even looked grander once one knew about his reputation, but that wasn’t what made her a little awestruck. It was the air of suppressed energy about him, his relaxed posture only a guise, for she could sense the latent tension in him, his hard-bitten strength. She’d tasted it in his lips.

Those lips. Stubborn and closed like the man. She’d shivered all night pretending he’d but for a second, a millisecond, opened them and let her taste all that anger and strength he so tightly reined in.

Aware of the heat crawling up her cheeks, she lowered her face, loathing to think he’d notice she was fantasizing about him by day.

“I’m not after your money, Landon. I get nothing, you said that before. And I’m poor as a mouse. You can’t possibly take anything from me that Hector hasn’t yanked away already.”

If he thought he could discourage her from her marriage plan, well, he didn’t know how stubborn she could be.

Landon cocked his head, a panther pricked into curiosity. “Prenups are not only about money.”

“Miss Lewis, if I may,” White Hair rushed in, face grim over the fact that Landon didn’t seem to be playing hardball enough to suit him. A formal clearing of his throat later, he folded a page. “On your wedding night you’re expected to deliver a little black book with contents of a personal nature regarding Dr. Hector Halifax. And as your new lawfully wedded husband, Mr. Gage agrees to provide for you in all the ways a real husband would as long as you cease any and all association with your ex until your partnership with Mr. Gage is terminated. Any infidelity on your part would result in both the termination of this agreement and your marriage.” The lawyer lifted his head to speak to her directly. “I’m afraid these terms are not negotiable.”

Beth was so insulted that Landon Gage would believe the worst of her just like everyone else had, she didn’t move. Eyes narrowed, Landon surveyed her reaction.

He gazed across the table at her with such a proprietary, blatantly sexual expression, the ring she’d just bought in his name and placed on her finger began to scorch.

She held his gaze, her insides in turmoil. “I was faithful to Hector for as long as we were married. I’m not who they say I am.”