The Marriage Bargain Read Online Free Page B

thanks to him. One who has a ton of student loans coming due, and no way to pay them. One who was afraid of being penniless and forced to live on the streets . That’s who.
    Margo’s promise to blackball her on the L.A. circuit hadn’t done a thing to temper that fear. In fact, it magnified it. Whether her ex-boss could do that kind of damage or not was overshadowed by the possibility. And when she added all that to Julian’s vulnerable expression when he talked about not wanting to get roped into a loveless marriage, Camille found saying ‘no’ impossible.
    That settled it. She was a desperate idiot who was about to agree to marry a hopeless fool.
    J ulian wanted to distract his father, and Camille Chandler was the perfect facade as well as a most agreeable diversion.
    “Chéri, I can promise you it won’t be as bad as you imagine.” He’d stop calling her Chéri, but he liked the way it angered her and brightened her eyes.
    Feistiness was the one quality she’d need, the spunkier the better, to mount a satisfactory defense against his father and Madeleine, Papa’s choice for Julian. Camille would have to be warned, he couldn’t risk them blindsiding her. But not until they arrived in France.
    Acutely aware of his selfishness, Julian decided to wait because he didn’t want to begin his search again for a suitable replacement. It wasn’t like he was doing Camille a disservice. She’d held her own against him and she’d hold her own when confronted by his nemeses.
    He eased back down onto the couch and gestured to the empty space at the other end. She looked at the vacant gap between them, at him and then back at the sofa again. Her hands nervously smoothed her skirt before she grudgingly sat and folded her hands in her lap.
    “I promise it won’t be that bad,” he said again, not quite sure if he was trying to reassure her or himself.
    “Yeah, so you say.” Her tone told him all he needed to know. She didn’t trust him.
    “All right. Care to make a little wager?” The suggestion was nothing more than a means to ease the tension. Besides, a side bet might be fun. And who knew, if she’d enter into wagers so easily, then perhaps she’d end up in his bed just as effortlessly.
    She cut her eyes at him. “What kind of wager?”
    “Of course it will require that you declare complete honesty.” He let the mystery linger a little longer, simply because it aggravated her.
    “How will you know I’m being completely honest?”
    “I trust you, Chéri.” He held back the snicker, only releasing bits and pieces.
    She let out a snort and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I’ll be as honest as you are sincere.”
    “Aren’t they the same?”
    She skewed her face into a twisted knot. “Can we get back to the point?”
    Ah, good. She wouldn’t let his father or Madeleine trick her into disclosing information. “The point is that Pacifique de Lumière is well-known throughout Europe. You won’t be able to resist its charm and beauty.”
    “Pacifique de Lumière,” she repeated, not nearly as fluently or confidently.
    “It’s my family’s home near Marseilles.”
    “So, what do you...live in a castle or something?” She snickered, as if her words were funny. “You know, I hear those things are like cold and damp.”
    “No, Chéri. Not a castle.” A happy memory from his childhood, of his mother chasing him and Andre through the grove, paraded through his thoughts. A mild, pleasurable chuckle rippled up his throat. “Just a chateau that’s been in my family for about four hundred years.”
    She sighed and frowned again.
    “Oh, it’s been fully renovated and updated with all the latest modern-day amenities.”
    That didn’t get her either. Her stoic expression suggested she couldn’t care less about his family’s home.
    “Yeah, whatever.” She rolled her eyes and her voice faded, losing its steely edge. “What’s your point?”
    “If you are not entirely mesmerized by the view, if not the