Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
I might have been young, but I knew how the world worked.
Money bought a person influence.
And influence gave a person power for change.
With my fortune and a good marriage, I could influence legislation and policy as well as affect real change in people’s lives through better education, supporting the arts, scholarships.
The sky was the limit.
My parents had never believed in my altruistic vision, especially my father.
While I grieved for their loss and would never have wished them harm, their deaths had freed me.
Finally I could realize my goals and have a real purpose in life beyond being the dutiful daughter.
And none of this included becoming the kept, trophy wife of Lucian Manwarring.
People jeered behind his back that his first wife had really died of hypothermia instead of in childbirth. While I thought that was an impossibly cruel thing to say about anyone, even him, I couldn’t help thinking there was a reason why his name hadn’t been attached to any woman since her death twenty years ago.
The man was nothing but a ruthless monster, intent on amassing power and an even impossibly larger fortune to lord over everyone.
With renewed determination, I resisted him.
“Get off of me!” I cried out as I struggled within his embrace.
With both of my hands on his muscular shoulders, I pushed as hard as I could.
He didn’t move an inch. “Make me.”
“Please,” I begged again as his mouth then moved down, pulling one of my nipples out of my bra and sucking the tip, nibbling just enough to give it a slight twinge of pain with the pleasure.
My core tightened, and I bit into my bottom lip to stop myself from moaning.
My pussy pulsed with need.
His mouth felt so good. The illicit pressure built in my core as a flush of heat moved from my head down to my toes and back again.
“Tell me what I want to hear, and I will reward you,” he said before sucking on my other nipple while pinching the first.
His other hand moved down my side. Grasping the hem of my skirt, he wrenched it high over my hip before sliding his hand under my ass. The tips of his fingers played with the elastic edge of my panties.
“I don’t know what you want to hear.” I was practically panting, but I didn’t want him to know I was on the verge of coming apart at the seams.
My brain was screaming no, but my body was begging for more.
“Tell me you’ll be a good girl for me. That you’ll do as you’re told.”
My first instinct was to tell him what he wanted to hear.
To tell him that I needed him to touch me more. That I would be a good girl for him.
Then I opened my eyes, seeing past his shoulder and the room around us. It was a stark reminder of where we were, who I was with, and why.
With a strength I didn’t know I had, I pushed aside the hormones, the need, and the craving for his heat. “Go back to hell, Lucian Manwarring.”
CHAPTER 6
LUCIAN
“Do you want a chance to rethink those words, little one?”
It had never been my intention to fuck her in the courthouse, but if she continued to defy me, I wouldn’t be responsible for my actions.
The idea of bending her over that nearby conference table and pounding my cock into her from behind until she screamed for mercy had a strong appeal.
This lack of control was not characteristic of me, but there was something about her.
I had to resist the urge to squeeze her throat tighter until I controlled the very breath that entered her lungs. I wanted her on her knees, begging me for her very life.
I wanted her grateful for the slightest kindness I deemed to show her.
I wanted her.
Pure and simple.
Wanted her in a way I hadn’t wanted another woman… in well… a very long time.
It didn’t make sense, but then again, I wasn’t exactly thinking with my brain.
Logic had no place in this.
“You may be able to force a puppet judge to take my fortune, but even you couldn’t force me to marry you.”
My thumb brushed over her lower lip. “So naive.”
Poor little thing didn’t realize just how much power I wielded in this city.
If I wanted her for my wife, she could protest all the way to the altar, and it wouldn’t make a difference.
She would be my wife.
Morally wrong? Probably. Not that I gave a damn. “Keep fighting me, and there will be consequences.”
I backed up just enough to let her body slide down mine before stepping away from her.
Stella’s gaze darted around the room while she gripped both sides of her shirt, trying to cover her full breasts with her hard nipples peeking through the delicate pink lace of her bra.
“Consequences?” She barked out a laugh. “What more could you do? You’ve already taken everything from me.”