Some Like It Ruthless (A Temporary Engagement) Read Free

usual stuffed into his trailer, was watching. Watching her slim skirt ride up just a touch, watching her shimmy it back down.
    She sniffed as she passed him and murmured, “So predictable.”
    He resisted the urge to throw his water in her face just to prove how predictable he was.
    He closed the door behind her, trying not to inhale the light, crisp scent she wore. Tried not to notice that it was different from the musky scent she wore six years ago. Different from the flowery scent she’d worn in high school.
    Cole set his water bottle down gently, out of reach, and sat down behind his desk. He stared at her, waiting for her to tell him why she’d come down and disrupted his operation.
    It would be good, he had no doubt. Maggie wouldn’t seek him out for anything less.
    She said, “Remember that deal you asked me for six years ago?”
    He cocked his head. “The one where you turned me down?”
    She nodded her head.
    He looked up at the ceiling and remembered a man so desperate he’d begged a Caldwell for help. He said, “What about it?”
    Her face remained cool and calm but he heard her take in a deep breath. She said, “I’m interested in that deal now.”
    He smiled, a slow grin that worked its way from slightly amused to full-out entertained. He raised his eyebrows and said, “You want to marry me.”
    “Not particularly. But I need. . . some time.”
    He tapped the desk, his smile fading. “How bad is it?”
    “Bad.” She moved her hands palm out, indicating him and his office. “I wouldn’t be here otherwise.”
    He knew how that went. A woman had to be pretty damn desperate to come to a Montgomery for help.
    He swiveled his chair to look out his window, out into the parking lot full of muddy trucks and busy men.
    She said, “I don’t want your money. But I need your name.”
    She laughed bitterly and he couldn’t stop the breath that rushed out. Margaret Caldwell, one of the scions of Dallas, needed him . A no-good Montgomery from the wrong side of the tracks.
    He felt a cold sneer take over his face and knew what he would look like. His bastard of a father had sneered whenever he got the upper hand over someone. Anyone.
    Cole wiped his face clean, and breathed, and continued to watch muddy trucks and muddy men. Too busy to care what image they were presenting.
    Maggie said, “I need the time your name will give me.”
    He swiveled his chair back around to find her eyes closed, her hands folded tight in her lap. He watched until her eyes opened. The color of her eyes changed from cool green to brilliant turquoise, depending on her mood.
    Right now green was winning and it pissed him off. She’d come in here in that skirt and those shoes with clear green eyes.
    He said, “You know what I want in exchange.”
    She looked taken aback, as if surprised that she was still what he wanted. Or maybe she was surprised that a grown man would still be making deals with his Johnson in mind.
    She shook her head, her expression torn between amused and insulted. “No.”
    “Then no deal.”
    She rose. “Good.”
    “You have an interesting way of negotiating.”
    “I’m not negotiating. I’m appeasing my sister.”
    “I thought I was your last option. I can’t imagine you would come beg if you had any other way out.”
    “You aren’t my last option. Just the quickest one. And I don’t remember begging.”
    Cole raised an eyebrow. “And just what are your other options? Street-walking is harder than it looks.”
    One corner of her mouth quirked up. “Not if you get the right clients.”
    He plopped one booted foot onto his knee, hopefully hiding a certain portion of his body and its growing interest in their conversation. He could all too clearly see her cool, calm and in charge .
    He said, “Let me get this straight. You’d rather sleep with anybody who’s got two nickels to rub together than sleep with me?”
    “I’d rather sleep with any thing than sleep with you. I don’t really care if