Paper Marriage Proposition (Gage Brothers 1)

Her temperature spiked. He was frightening, so powerful, so male, that Bethany had to remind herself he was on her side.

“Landon,” she said before he could exit, “would you mind if I invited David to the celebration tonight? I’d like to invite my son.”

“I don’t mind.”

“But what if he comes with him?”

“Halifax?” Landon leaned negligently against the door frame as he contemplated, unruffled like only powerful, self-possessed men could be. “He wouldn’t dare.”

“But if he does? You will be civil, won’t you? I wouldn’t want David to be exposed to any violence.”

With an amused, wolfish quirk of his lips, he shook his dark head. “Beth, I’m posting a dozen reporters around

the premises so they can capture me ogling over you. Believe me, I’m not announcing to the world what we’ll be doing.” Did he just wink at her? “Don’t fret. They’ll think we make love, not war.”

Five

Make love.

Was there even room for making love when you were at war?

The nervousness welling inside her made her breathless as they drove to the engagement party.

Landon sat behind the wheel of his sporty blue-and-tan Maserati, tearing through the highway while Beth replayed the phone call she’d just made in her head.

She hadn’t expected David to answer; he was too young and was observed too closely for that. But to the nanny who’d picked up in his stead, Beth had explained about her engagement party and how much she’d love for David to be there. Beth prayed that the kindnesses she had shown this young woman in the past would be repaid now.

Say you’re taking him out, she’d thought as she’d given her the hotel address, take him out for a walk, and let me see my son tonight.

She considered the possibility of Anna mentioning her call to Hector and shuddered. No. The next time she hoped to see her ex-husband was in court.

Facing her and Landon.

Landon studied her in the dark interior of the car. She shuddered again, this time, in pure feminine awareness. She’d never known she could respond to a man like this.

He wasn’t even doing anything, for the most part kept his eyes on the highway, but she was somehow inhumanly aware of his presence and his occasional straying gaze—her own gaze felt magnetized to it. His darkened eyes said more than they should as he quietly watched her.

In his eyes, she saw vengeance, justice and something just as dark, just as dangerous she dare not put a name to.

“Relax, Beth,” he said, his voice, although mild, powerful and commanding as it cut through the silence. “Trust me a little. By the time he loses his pride, his word, his company and his child, Hector Halifax will have no idea what hit him.”

But it was Beth who felt struck an hour later, while their petite celebration was underway in the sprawling gardens of the prestigious La Cantera Golf Resort. And Beth knew exactly what hit her.

The sight of the looming figure blocking her entry to the hotel lobby.

She’d thought it proper to rush inside a moment and check her makeup and hair before the press took their pictures. She had to look sharp, smart—respectable. Show the world that no, she wasn’t a slut, and she wasn’t the clouds-for-brain careless mother Hector had painted her for, either.

She’d been eager to discover if David had come.

But she didn’t see her boy. She didn’t even make it to the ladies room.

Instead, she found Hector.

Correction: Hector found her.

Her blood froze. She felt his presence at five feet like an open assault on her person, there was such antipathy in the air.

He just stood there, blond and blue-eyed in the cool, calm moonlight. People always used to think he was her brother. But no. He was a monster. A polite, cold-hearted monster.