The Magnate's Manifesto by Jennifer Hayward

Author:Jennifer Hayward
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-11-06T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

THE LOOK ON Bailey’s face sent a cold rush through Jared, like the mistral gone awry right up the center of him. He dropped her to the floor so fast she didn’t have time to brace herself, and his hands at her waist were the only thing that held her up.

“Tell me you’re joking,” he repeated harshly.

She pushed a hand against his chest and stood back, her chin lifting to a defiant angle. “What’s the big deal?”

His eyes rounded. “You’re a twenty-nine-year-old, former stripper, virgin?”

Her face went even hotter. “Are you going to tag that description on every time you talk about me now? Because I’m afraid that doesn’t work for me.”

He closed his eyes and raked his hair back from his face. “I don’t understand how this could happen.”

Her mouth flattened. “Simple. I haven’t gotten into bed with a man. Not that you’d understand anything about that. Half the women in the Valley are walking around with your cute little diamond charm bracelets on as if they were the Medal of Honor.”

He let out a harsh breath and opened his eyes. “It was the combination of your age and background, Bailey. You haven’t exactly been living in a nunnery.”

She put her hands on her hips and stared at him. “What were you hoping? That I’d have all sorts of tricks up my sleeve, living the life?”

His gaze narrowed. “I wasn’t actually thinking, Bailey. As you can imagine after what just happened.”

Taking her to bed and having her until sunrise had been the only thing in his head…no thinking involved there.

His mouth twisted in a scowl. Not happening now, that was for sure. Virgins wanted rings on their fingers. Assurances of undying love. That part of his manifesto hadn’t been wrong.

“Why?” His frustrated, sexually aroused body wanted to know. “Why would you be twenty-nine and a virgin?”

She wrapped her arms around herself. “I dunno, Jared. I’d have to be a psychologist to say.” His scowl grew as she tossed his words back at him. “I didn’t date in Vegas. The men who asked me out were only after one thing, given my profession. They didn’t exactly want to court me. Then when I came to the Valley I was just too busy working.”

“And your father,” he pointed out. “He can’t have given you a very good picture of men to work with.”

No. He’d broken her heart. Her mother’s heart. All of their hearts again and again to match his own broken one. Twenty years of wanting to be the hero you once were.

She brushed her hair out of her face. “I’m sure that had something to do with it.”

He frowned. “I don’t buy that you were too busy to date in the Valley. I’ve seen the men pursue you.”

“Because I’m a challenge,” she pointed out. “You think I don’t know what they say about me? The wagers they make? The minute I go to bed with one of them it’s going to be all over the airwaves faster than your manifesto.

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