Blackmailed Into Bed Read Free

fondest wish had been never to lay eyes on her again?
    His brain was in chaos, struggling to process the conflicting feelings, while at the same time, he was kicking himself for still finding her even moderately attractive. He was like a man with split personalities: a part of him wanted to help her and part of him wanted to punish her.
    “ Wait,” he called out, just as her long, red-tipped fingers curled around the knob of his office door.
    Slowly, with obvious reluctance, she turned to face him.
    “ I’ ve got a proposition for you,” he told her, pushing away from his desk and moving closer, stopping before his actions could be considered intimidating.
    “ I happen to be in need of a female companion. A beautiful woman to accompany me on business trips and to related dinners and events.”
    He straightened his tie and smoothed the lines of his jacket. His statement was at least half true. He might not need a companion, but it certainly would be convenient to have one at his disposal. He just couldn’ t figure out why he felt compelled to offer the position to this particular woman.
    But it didn’ t keep him from pressing forward, even though she had yet to respond.
    “ If you agree to be available to me whenever I need you, I’ ll agree to give your father the same amount of time to do what he can to save SRS. A day, a week, a month— it’ s entirely up to you.”
    Her lips twitched, as though she was about to speak, but before she could utter a word, he held up a hand to stop her. “ You should know, before making a decision, that there will be sex involved. I’ ll expect you to share my bed, if that’ s something I require.”
    Elena’ s eyes widened and she barely stopped herself from reaching out to slap him. What kind of woman did he think she was?
    “ Aren’ t there women you can hire for that sort of thing?” she snapped. “ I’ m not a prostitute.”
    “ I never said you were. I’ m simply telling you what it is that I need, and what you can do to help your father save his business.”
    “ So you’ re asking me to be your mistress. Where you want me to be, when you want me to be there— a living doll you can take out of its box to look pretty and satisfy your physical needs, then put back when you’ re finished.”
    He shrugged and stuffed his hands into the front pockets of his slacks, causing the sides of his suit jacket to bunch.
    “ That’ s not exactly how I would have put it, but yes. I need a mistress and you need to buy time for your father to save his company. That’ s the deal, take it or leave it.”
    “ You bastard,” she muttered with a breathless laugh that was anything but amused.
    “ Quite possibly,” he said. “ But you’ re the one who came to me. And you should consider yourself lucky I’ m making you any sort of offer at all. I could have just as easily given you a firm no and sent you on your way.”
    She wished she could argue, but knew he was absolutely right. Coming here had been a long shot, and the fact that he was suggesting any compromise at all was a blessing.
    The question was: did she have a choice?
    If she turned him down, she would have to go home and watch her father lose the business he loved, the company that essentially defined her family and made their name so well-known across Texas and the surrounding states.
    But becoming Chase Ramsey’ s mistress… Sleeping with a virtual stranger was a difficult concept to swallow, but she was pretty sure this particular near stranger hated her with every fiber of his being. It was probably the driving force behind his proposition, since she couldn’ t picture him sitting across from any other woman who came to his office to discuss business and announcing that he would give her more time if she agreed to go to bed with him.
    She took a deep breath, letting the fresh oxygen fill her lungs and pump through her bloodstream. Her fingertips turned numb from the death grip she had on her handbag.
    “ Can