The Tycoon's Red Hot Marriage Merger (3 page)

Marco Delgado could be her future redemption.

Maybe, just maybe, within the terms of their agreement, they’d find mutual respect. Perhaps, if the feelings he’d inspired in her were any indication, they’d even discover compatibility in the bedroom. And in the boardroom. Because she had a codicil to her negotiations that she refused to budge on even if it meant losing her tenacious grip on the one solution she had decided would save her family’s company.

She hadn’t studied so long and pushed herself to get her advanced degrees in engineering and computer science to exist in the shadow of any man. Nor did she have any intention of giving up her intellectual property in Nelson Industries. Not even for her husband.

The song ended and they finally stilled. He tilted her chin up and she gazed into his gleaming green eyes. Passion stirred in their depths and she stood, transfixed.

She gave him a steady look that belied the way her heart raced behind her sternum. “Now that you’ve proven we move well together,” she said, though her inexperience in that area would become clear enough on their wedding night, “I’d like to negotiate a position to become Chief Operating Officer of my family’s company.”

Chapter Two

Marco threw back his head and laughed. The woman standing in the circle of his arms was fearless in her demands despite her predicament. One her family had set in motion when their accusations had forced her muckety muck upper crust society to reject him.

“You don’t have the necessary experience that presiding over the day-to-day operations of Nelson Industries requires.” Though the promise her body had given him on the dance floor demonstrated a quick aptitude. “I want you in my bed, not the boardroom.” In no way would he allow Cassandra to dictate what he chose to do now.

He moved with her in time to the next song, painfully aware of every feminine nuance hiding behind her geeky glasses and starchy wardrobe. Her floral scent, the soft curve of her rounded bottom, and the indentation of her slim waist threatened his ability to think rationally.

“You’ll want me in both.” She pressed her palms into his lower back and shook her head, the silky fall of her ebony hair tumbling over her shoulders. “I may only be twenty-six, but I know this company. If you read my resume, you’ll learn that I’m more than qualified.”

Her touch, the image of her hair fanning his face while he claimed her, ignited a fire in him, catching him off guard. After one dance he’d already unleashed a lessening of her starch. What would she be like once he had her in bed?

“I’m not open to this line of negotiation.” He executed a series of complicated salsa movements. “However, you may continue designing your boats for the company—which is what you’re trained to do.” Nothing, not even sex, would influence his decisions where she was concerned.

She stumbled and stepped on his foot. “I came here with a simple
get in and get out of marriage jail for free plan
, but you’ve demanded that I shackle myself to you for a lifetime. I demand control over Nelson Industries for compensation.”

Marco’s toes suffered another round of ill-timed steps. He doubted she had tripped over her feet accidentally. Cassandra lacked experience dancing, but she more than made up for it with her ability to provoke him.

A first. No one had ever dared to cross him professionally, or personally. Tonight Cassandra had done both.

She was different. And that made her intriguing and raised his curiosity. That he wanted to unravel her mystery unnerved him more than he cared to admit. Still, this was business, nothing more. He couldn’t afford to lose sight of his original objective. Revenge.

He twirled her away, then back into his frame. “Experience and age trump education and brains.” He would maintain the upper hand in all things related to Cassandra Nelson. “I’m the one in control. You have no wiggle room.”

She met his gaze, unflinching. Her eyes reminded him of the glaciers and the northern Atlantic seas, and sexy bedroom promises flashed in their darkening pupils.

“You need more than my name, Marco. I know the company—was raised in it from the time I could toddle across the living room floor. In addition to having a lifetime of experience to supplement my Ivy League education, I know the people you want to impress,” Cassandra said, shifting her glance to the left, then back to meet his. “This plan will fail if you don’t install me as Chief Operating Officer.”

“I’m a traditional man who has traditional expectations.”

She snorted. “You don’t act very traditional according to the last tabloid article I read.”

“You shouldn’t believe everything you read in those magazines.” He dipped her low, holding her close, their faces separated by scant millimeters. “If I’m going to look like I belong in your world, you have to act like you want to be in charge of our social calendar, which is exactly why the plan will succeed.”

Pink tinted her cheeks and her breath hitched. “You don’t want to throw a woman with my pedigree and degrees into the country club to drink cocktails and schmooze with other wives. Not when I’m the brains behind my company’s success.”

Her breath mingled with his. Minty. Sweet. Tantalizing. He wanted to break the distance between them. Taste her lips.

Marco moved Cassandra closer, swirling her round again. “Frankly, I’m wondering if you have the equipment to be a proper wife,” he said, raking his gaze from the top of her head to below her waistline.

A hint of hurt flashed in her expressive blue eyes, then she gave her head a little shake as if trying to give herself an inner pep talk. “I assure you that I’ve got everything it takes to become your wife.” Cassandra’s voice matched the coldness in her stare, and then she pressed the fullness of her breasts against him. Quickly, she twirled away from his grasp and looked south. “Do you have what it takes to make me one?” she asked, raising her left brow.

He laughed again. Twice she’d surprised him with her snappy comebacks. Though he’d done his best to put her off her game, she refused to let him win. And damn it all to hell and back, he liked her quick mind and her ability to hold her precarious ground.

His chest tightened and a warning sounded deep within him. She could be dangerous if he allowed her to get too close. Once again, he had to remind her who was in charge of the deal.

Marco pulled her back into his body, then tilted her chin upward, bringing his mouth an atom’s breadth from hers. “Oh, trust me. I have all the necessary equipment.”

Cassandra’s eyes widened. “Obviously you’re more than capable,” she said, then she shifted against the evidence of his desire.

“I assume you’re
capable
, too.”

The color in her face traveled lower, lower, lower. He could see the rosy hue blush at the apex of her cleavage. He could feel her breasts tighten against him through the layers of their clothing. Oh, she had everything it would take to satisfy him.

“To be honest, I’ve never tested the equipment.”

Shock reverberated through him. He hadn’t expected her blunt confession, nor the instant uptick of his attraction to branding her as his. “Why not?”

“The opportunity never arrived.”

“You sure you want to go through with this?” He couldn’t ask her to give up a lifetime of love for her idiotic family. But if he was honest with himself, he sure hoped she said yes. Because he wanted her more now than ever.

She raised her chin and held his gaze. “Absolutely,” she said. “So, do we have a deal?”

The music’s energy pulsed through him. His blood roared in his ears with ferocity. Excitement warred with caution. Her innocence came with a high price tag. He’d wanted revenge, and making Cassandra his wife in every way that mattered would be an added bonus to make up for all her father had stolen.

Everything within him ached to be with Cassandra—to melt her icy exterior and fire her soul into a blazing siren. “I have one more condition,” he said. He had to know if she could separate her heart from this union.

“What more can you possibly want?” she asked.

He gazed into her questioning indigo eyes. His chest tightened and the music around him faded. “Children. I expect them. And I expect you to love my sons and daughters though I will never give you the same affection,” he warned. If she flinched at his command, he’d walk away from her offer no matter how enticing the deal.

Understanding. Something more—an answering kinship—softened her features. She chewed her delectable lower lip, contemplating. “Love isn’t in the equation. I agree to the terms.” She straightened her shoulders and squared her stance. “After all, they will be my children, too. Anything less will not be tolerated. You have my word.”

The band constricting his lungs loosened. Marco exhaled a deep breath. Until now he’d planned to takeover her family’s company and ram his way back into her world to prove a point. Cassandra Nelson had provided him with a surprisingly easier solution. One with a built in, non-emotional sexual commitment, and the possibility of his sons gaining from their union. Every snob who had turned their backs to him would regret their false accusations.

“Perfect, then I’ll marry you,” he said, then brushed his mouth over hers. A feather light kiss meant to seal the deal, not send a jolt of electricity through his entire body.

###

Time slowed and Cassandra was only aware of Marco. Of his hard muscles and male scent. Of his commanding mouth fusing with hers. Of his delicious taste—tangy, and spicy, and all man. Heat fired through her even though she reeled mentally, spiraling out of control, with the ramifications of her decision.

The incredible feeling of his body twining around hers on the dance floor unleashed something wild within her. Something she’d never believed existed. Because until now she had seriously questioned her ability to be sexual, wondering for years if maybe she had been flawed or born with some weird defect that had no cure.

Obviously not.

She could hear a rush of thunder in her ears, and warmth pooled low in her belly. Wanting unfurled, its tendrils twining through her limbs and loosening her resistance. She came alive once he possessed her. Wanton. Shocking public behavior. Behavior which would scandalize her family. But in this moment, none of that censure could stop her from craving more.

Instinctively, she parted her lips, her rebellious body craving more. More of him. More of what was to come later. His tongue slipped inside her mouth, mating with hers in an age old dance. Over and over he delved inside her, feasting on her like she was a decadent dish only he could devour.

His hands were everywhere. Her hair, her back, and dangerously close to the swell of her breasts. She knew she should stop him, but she couldn’t fight the sudden surge of need rushing through her.

She’d saved her virginity for love. But right now she’d hand it over to Marco without a second thought to end the unbearable aching between her legs—to bring relief to the need swirling through her fevered senses.

Cassandra twined her hands around his neck, pressing closer. She felt his erection grow larger. An electrical current traveled into her most intimate places, sparking a dangerous desire. To know that he wanted her was thrilling. He’d seen something more in her and had gone after it with a vengeance.

Her body. Not her. Her logical brain was quick to assert the difference.

Marco had no use for her other than as a fast reentry pass into the regatta world. She was merely a conquest in his bed for bonus points. And a mother to the children he claimed he wanted her to bear. Cassandra internally calculated a difficult quantum mechanical theory to restrain her traitorous hormones, then wrenched her face from his.

“Stop,” she said, panting. “I really don’t want to test my equipment on the dance floor.”

The corner of his lip lifted in a half smile. He caressed her cheek with his broad palm. “Privacy sounds great. The sooner the better.”

Heat filled her cheeks. “Not until after we’re married, and once I have your guarantee in writing that I have the chief operating position at Nelson Industries.” She deserved both contracts, especially the position she had bargained her body for and for which her body was quite incredibly happy to comply. But rebelling hormones or not, she also had a right to more than a cheap start to this sham marriage. No matter what internal forces had driven her to propose marriage to her father’s enemy.

Marco edged her out of the crowd, and the heat, and the insanity of the dance floor, escorting her with a skillfulness only he could command. A skillfulness he would no doubt wield in the bedroom.

Her stomach did a sudden pitch and roll. Would he be gentle? Giving? Patient? Or would he be ruthless? Savage? Wild? Or would he give her the exhilarating combination of both? The question teased her with the prospect of its tantalizing outcome.

He caressed her back and waist, keeping her near him while he returned them to his office. An office that suddenly seemed far too small for two people now that she had experienced the intensity of his passion unleashing her suppressed sensuality. Her libido had awakened with a violent need. A need to be claimed by the one man who had set out to destroy her world and had brought her to this untenable place.