Billionaire Boss Read Free Page B

protests fell on deaf ears.
    â€œI’ve got it covered, Mom,” Kirsten insisted. “You should see the room I have over here. Just the fabric of the bedcover is like my best pash-mina shawl, so what do I need the rent money for? It’s yours. You must quit tomorrow. I’m going by to thank Hazel in the morning, and I’ll stop by then to check on you guys.”
    She listened for a minute and rolled her eyes. “It’s done. Accept it. Everything has worked out just the way I planned. Our ship has come in. Kiss Carrie for me.”
    She hung up the phone, then hugged herself. It had been the best of days. All her problems seemed to be over.
    But then she heard the knock and looked up.
    Standing in her still-open doorway was SethMorgan. He wore only jeans and a wool plaid shirt. He’d even kicked back so much that he was barefoot, but by the look of displeasure on his face he certainly couldn’t be described as relaxed.
    â€œYour ship would like a word with you about tomorrow,” he said.
    She rose cat-style from the bed. Her face heated with embarrassment. “I’m sorry you heard that—”
    â€œMiss Meadows, no one knows my net worth better than I do,” he said cuttingly. “If you hadn’t noticed, I would have thought you stupid.”
    He gave her a dismissive look. “Now, on to business. I would like to take what Jim, the ranch manager, has in the barn right now and see which horses will fit my houseguests when I have them. I’d like a second opinion on the horseflesh, so tomorrow you can expect a fair amount of time in the saddle.”
    â€œCertainly,” she choked out, near tears that her precious job might be threatened by another stupid mistake.
    â€œI’ll see you first thing in the morning.”
    â€œI’ll be ready,” she said in a raspy voice. “In the meantime, do you need me to do anything for you tonight?”
    His long, hungry stare might have shocked her if she hadn’t already been so afraid. His cold gaze raked her lips, then dragged down her throat, finally lingering on her thermal shirt and the way it stretched over her full chest.
    â€œI’ll see you in the morning, Miss Meadows.” He abruptly turned and left.
    She walked to the door and shut it. Alone in her room, she breathed deeply, trying to release the adrenaline pumping through her body.
    She couldn’t afford to offend the man. She would have to be scrupulously careful in the future. Too much depended on her.
    But when her initial fears ebbed, her heart still raced with a strange excitement. She closed her eyes and could still see him in her doorway, his face hard and handsome, his jeans shrugged on over bare feet as if he was just anyone, rather than a billionaire.
    The signals her body gave her put her into raging denial. Her breasts, her lips tingled just from his stare. She dreaded to think how she would react should he ever try to touch her. Her conflict certainly had something to do with the fact that Seth Morgan was a man, and an extremely attractive man at that. The gulf between them economically was too large to bridge, andmore than that, she didn’t want to get hurt, not the way her mother had been hurt by her father.
    As her father had gained stature as an expatriate, he’d decided to trade up on his wives. Kirsten believed he was on his fourth right now, and this one was younger than she was.
    Certainly, if her father who had only some power could do what he had to her mother, then Seth Morgan would be able to put her in a blender.
    So he was not worth it and never would be.
    Exhausted, she slipped out of her clothes and found her nightgown in her luggage. Sliding beneath the sheets, she was determined to put Seth out of her mind. She would do the job perfectly, and anything else that might be messy she would stay away from. She would keep theirs a straightforward relationship. A piece of cake. All she had to do was