Million Dollar Marriage Read Online Free Page A

up at his father’s portrait. The
     golden boy looked down at him. His smile seemed to Holden almost mocking. Blond hair,
     blue eyes, clean-cut, all-American, rich SOB. It was like looking into a mirror. Holden
     lifted his glass in mock salute. “You win, Dad.” Then he downed the contents. As he
     did, he spotted exactly what he’d been looking for. Someone he could take home, take
     to bed, and ravage in every possible way until he got this will stuff out of his system.
    She was standing near the barbecue pit, talking to Matthew and his wife Claudia. Her
     back was to Holden, but he could see enough. She was…exquisite. Jet hair, so black
     it seemed almost blue in the slanting afternoon sun. So smooth…like satin. He’d bet
     her eyes were dark, too. Ebon, and slanted. Native American eyes, to go with that
     bronze skin. Slender, yeah, with just the right curves to her. She was hot. Dressed
     to hide it, sure. Forest-green silk suit. But that skirt was short, and tight, and
     her legs looked as if they never ended. She’d be a wild woman in bed.
    “Now there’s someone I’d like to meet,” he mutteredto Ryan, and when his uncle didn’t answer, Holden turned to see he’d lost Ryan’s attention.
     It had been stolen the second Lily Cassidy had entered the room. As usual, Uncle Ryan
     only had eyes for the dark beauty who’d captured his heart thirty years ago, and only
     recently come back into his life. Lily’s heart was in her eyes as she crossed the
     room and Ryan took her hands. If anyone in the world deserved to be happy, it was
     those two. Holden wished for the millionth time that Sophia would just agree to the
     divorce and set his uncle free. Everyone knew it was the money she’d been after all
     along.
    With a sigh, he returned his attention to the other dark beauty, the one out in the
     courtyard with his cousin the doctor. He supposed he ought to be grateful for at least
     one of his father’s traits—he’d never yet met a woman who would tell him no. And from
     the looks of her, he didn’t expect this one to be the first. Holden exchanged his
     empty glass for a full one at the portable bar set up in the great room, and sauntered
     out through the wide-open patio doors to the pit where Matthew tended the ribs. He
     pretended great interest in the cooking process, all the while keeping one eye on
     the lucky woman he’d chosen to ease his misery tonight. “Anything I can do, cousin?”
    “Hand me that platter. This batch is done.”
    Holden snagged the platter and held it obediently as Matthew began piling ribs on
     it. The smell was heavenly. But Holden was more interested in watching the two women—Claudia,
     Matthew’s wife, and that hot little number she was talking to. She’d turned a little
     as he’d come out. He still couldn’t get a good look at her face. The platter grew
     heavier in his hand. “So,Claudia, where’s the guest of honor? Not sleeping through his own party, is he?”
    Claudia glanced his way with a smile. She and Matthew had never seemed happier. His
     cousin had something—something Holden would never have. A wife who adored him. A family.
     A future. Holden felt a flash of envy and a hint of self-pity. He squelched both.
    “That’s exactly what he’s doing,” Claudia said. “All the excitement of the christening
     wore him right out.”
    The darker one looked his way. He caught her eye, but she quickly averted her face.
     There was something familiar about her. “You…haven’t introduced me to your friend.”
    Matthew suppressed a chuckle. Claudia just shook her head. “Oh, come on, Holden. You
     know Lucinda.” At Holden’s blank look she went on. “Lucinda Brightwater? From high
     school?”
    And then, even as he blinked in shock, the woman spoke.
    “I’m afraid I never made that much of an impression on your cousin, Claudia,” she
     said, her voice slightly chilly. Yet deep and rich, like warmed honey. At last, she
     faced him.
    Holden