Fugitive Millionaire (Fugitive Millionaire Book One) Read Free Page B

off the rack Macy’s little black dress. Since she doesn’t have expensive jewelry, she decided to go light on the accessories. Her diamond stud earrings are real, but they are tiny in comparison to the large rocks dangling from these lady’s ears.
    A servant walks up to her holding out a tray of champagne poured into elegant glasses. She politely waves him off. “No thanks.”
    Claire refuses to drink a drop of alcohol until after she is safely with Fabian. She has no clue what to say to these rich people. As soon as she opens her mouth, it will be obvious that she’s not one of them. The last thing she wants to do is to get tipsy and look like a fool. Plus, she doesn’t want to do anything to embarrass Nathan.
    After she witnessed that little episode in his office between him and Sloane Cooper, her boss has bent over backwards to be nice. He’s even delegated her tedious tasks out to other office workers. So, now she has her own assistants. Guilt is making her working life a breeze.
    Claire spots Fabian standing alone near the mansion’s main entrance. She just can’t stop herself from grinning like a love struck fool. She is crushing so hard on him it’s not even funny. But, she is going to contain her giddiness long enough to make him try a bit harder to win her over. Guys like Fabian get hit on all the time. She’s not going to be just another eager beaver that fawns over him as if he were a rock star. Sure, he’s hot, but he needs to earn her respect first before she’ll let him have what he wants.
    Fabian’s face lights up when he spots Claire. “Claire! Over here.”
    Claire makes her way over to the handsome Cooper heir. “Hi. Wow. You look great in that suit.”
    Fabian is wearing a dapper black suit, white dress shirt and no tie. She figures he’s not into ties that much. She’s not sure if she likes his casual or dressed up look better. One thing is for sure, if they sold boyfriends through catalogues, she’d order Fabian by express delivery.
    “Thanks. You look absolutely stunning. I love your sexy legs.”
    “Flattery will get you everywhere.”
    Fabian takes Claire’s arm and escorts her inside the mansion where he lives. Claire is in awe of the high ceilings, marble floors, classic Greek statues and the collection of fine art paintings that hang on the walls. The place even smells wealthy.
    “Oh, Fabian. I can’t believe you live here. It’s beautiful.”
    “Not as beautiful as you, Claire.”
    Claire suppresses the urge to blab out a giddy thank you. Instead, she makes herself stick to playing it cool. “Okay, that’s enough flattery. You’re making me feel awkward.”
    Fabian reacts like a true gentleman. “Sorry. That’s the last thing I wanna do. Um, I would take you on a tour, but there’s all these rich people roaming around. Let’s head out to the garden where we can spend some quality time alone.”
    “Sounds great.”
    Claire’s mind keeps drifting back to the princess scenario. She’s still having a hard time wrapping her mind around the fact that Fabian Cooper is showing so much interest in her. He can have his pick of any pretty girl at their office—and there are several stunners. Why is she the lucky one that gets to be invited to this fabulous mansion to hobnob among the elite?
    For the life of her, Claire cannot remember saying or doing anything special to win his affections. She’s a very down-to-earth person and what you see is what you get. She doesn’t have a pretentious bone in her body. Maybe that’s what he likes?
    Whatever it is, she is happy to be here with him right now strolling arm-in-arm in the garden on a warm summer night. She is truly swept up in this moment and is sure she’ll dream about it—that is, if she can even fall asleep after all this excitement.
    Fabian leads her to a stone bench in a secluded area of the garden.
    “This is where I escape to when I need to temporarily get away from my family. Well, mainly it’s my old man