The Billionaire's Bidding Read Free Page B

traffic?” he asked, instantly regretting the impulse to make small talk. He wasn’t nervous. He was cool as a cucumber when it came to business deals. And this one was no different than any other.
    If she said no, she said no. He’d either change her mind or come up with plan B. Ryan was making way too much of this wedding thing, anyway. Alex’s future didn’t depend on Ms. McKinley’s whims.
    His study was back to being immaculate, as he knew it would be. The newspaper had been folded and placed in the front center of the desk. Alex knew he should sit behind it, putting himself in a position of power. But instead he touched one of the wing chairs clustered around the stone fireplace, gesturing for Emma to sit down.
    She nodded her thanks, sinking into the chair and crossing one shapely leg over the other. She smoothed her ivory skirt and tucked the frivolous handbag in beside her.
    Then she folded both her hands over her slender knees and looked up.
    He quickly cleared his head of the picture her legs made and sat down across from her.
    â€œTraffic was fine,” she said.
    He nodded, telling himself to get straight down to business. “And you’ve made up your mind?”
    She drew back ever so slightly. Then she nodded. “Yes. I have.”
    He cocked his head. “And?”
    She twisted a sapphire-and-emerald band around her right ring finger. “I’ll marry you.”
    She sounded like she was agreeing to the gallows.
    Well, it wasn’t going to be any picnic for him either. He was about to saddle himself with a reluctant wife, curtailing his social life, curtailing his sex life and, given her current expression and body language, conjugal relations weren’t going to be any part of this union.
    Which meant he was celibate. For the duration. Wasn’t that just wonderful.
    â€œThank you,” he forced out.
    She gave a sharp nod and made to rise.
    â€œWait.”
    She arched a brow.
    â€œYou don’t think we have more to discuss?”
    â€œWhat’s to discuss?” she asked. But she did sit back in the chair and recross her legs.
    â€œFor starters, who do you absolutely have to tell?”
    â€œThat I’m marrying you?”
    He shook his head. “That it’s a fake.”
    â€œOh.”
    â€œYeah. That part. My business partners know.”
    â€œMy sister knows.”
    â€œAnyone else?”
    â€œMy lawyer.” It was her turn to sit forward. “You can expect a call from him on the prenup.”
    Alex coughed out a laugh. “You want a prenup?”
    â€œOf course.”
    â€œYou check my net worth in Forbes last year?” A prenup protected him a whole lot more than it protected her.
    The expression in her brown eyes was more than a little judgmental. “Of course not. I couldn’t care less about your net worth.”
    He found that somewhat hard to believe. But, whatever. The important thing was to get this farce moving along. “First thing we have to do is get engaged.”
    â€œI thought we just did that.”
    He opened his mouth, but she kept talking.
    â€œYou said ‘marry me or I’ll bankrupt you.’ And I decided to take the lesser of two evils.” Her pretty lips pursed. “And, you know, I really don’t think it gets any more romantic than that.”
    Sarcasm? She was getting millions of dollars, while he was accepting an inferior business deal for the sake of his reputation, and she was handing out sass?
    â€œYou’re not very grateful, are you?” he asked.
    â€œYour blackmail victims are usually grateful?”
    He shook his head in disbelief. So much for Emma being panicked and intimidated. “You were expecting champagne and flowers?”
    â€œI was hoping for a bank loan and a good actuary.”
    â€œWell, you got me instead.”
    She nodded slowly, peering down her delicate nose at him. “That I did.”
    This bickering