Shayla Black Read Online Free

girlishness. From the soft curve of her breasts and the ripe swell of her hips, to the determination in those amazing gray eyes, she was a stunning woman. He’d almost hated her for arousing him in the first ten seconds.
    “ So old earl told Lady Madeline about the money,” his father mused.
    “ So much for our secret gentlemen’s agreement.”
    “ I suspect he never considered you much of a gentleman,” Jack said. “I told you accepting the money was a mistake.”
    “ I had no choice. I took it as a loan, and it gave me my start on to my future.” The future he had ached to share with Maddie until she had married a titled arse.
    “ I’ll wager old Avesbury had convinced his daughter that you took the money in exchange for abandoning her.”
    Brock frowned. “She believes exactly that. But I couldn’t take care of her penniless. She knew that. With that money, I could have returned to marry Maddie within months, not years. Instead, she leg-shackled herself to Sedgewick.”
    “ So what now?”
    Brock shrugged. “I gave her a week to decide her fate.”
    The money she owed wasn’t important. Nearly seven thousand pounds was more than cheeseparings and candle ends, but he could afford it. For her deception, however, she owed him her status.
    “ No doubt she appreciates her options,” Jack said wryly.
    Maddie had appreciated nothing about his visit. Since leaving, Brock had been unable to stop thinking about her bravado. Still, he couldn’t miss her fear-filled eyes. Damn it, he’d never actually throw her and her daughter in Fleet. If she knew him at all, she should know that. He was ruthless, yes. But a monster? Never. Still, he hoped like hell Maddie didn’t call his bluff.
    “ Piss off,” Brock shot back glumly.
    Jack laughed and refilled his brandy. “Oh, before I forget, Mr. Stephenson popped in while you were out.”
    Brock rubbed his hands together, relishing the topic of business. It engendered no anger or guilt or other misplaced sentiment. “Did my fine engineer have good news?”
    “ Indeed. He said he has extended the frames of the engine rearward and added a trailing axle behind a much larger firebox. He said you would be well pleased because rail travel will be safer and smoother. Cargo haul will be much faster.”
    Brock smiled in triumph at the realization he would beat his competition, the shrewd Lord Belwick, in every way. “Smashing. Stephenson is a brilliant engineer.”
    “ Because you pay him to be.” Jack chuckled. “So, have you given more thought to whom you’ll approach about investing in the railroad, now that you have this wonderful engine?”
    The proposed T & S Railroad was his life these days, the passion that would take him from merely wealthy to sinfully rich. Recently, however, it had also become a sticky situation. Besides the fact he’d sunk a sizable chunk of his fortune into this venture, he needed Maddie. More precisely, he needed her land. Hence, another reason for his offer of marriage now.
    In researching the idea of a passenger railroad between London and Birmingham, he had mapped out all the necessary parcels, particularly areas that would shut down competing canals and avoid his competitor’s proposed track. To his shock, Maddie owned a parcel in Warwickshire. However, her father had left it to her in retainer, in the event she took another husband. It suited Brock’s purpose well that she couldn’t legally sell it. Because she would be good for his business, his rising social placement, and the railroad, he planned to be her husband.
    Marrying her had nothing to do with love. Nothing at all.
    Ah, but he would make certain she desired him. He would master her body, have her soft and wet and begging every damn day before he fucked her. Then he’d give her what she wanted, not stopping until they were both sated and exhausted. Perhaps not even then. He liked the idea of addicting her to his touch.
    “ Brock?” Jack prompted, snapping his fingers.