The Tycoon Takes a Wife Read Online Free Page B

he spent by her side. “We don’t want them to hear us fighting, do we, dear?”
    Jonah slipped his arm around her shoulders andtucked her by his side, her soft curves pressed enticingly against him.
    She stiffened. “You can’t be planning to tell them…uh…”
    “About your father?”
    Her brown eyes flashed with warring anger and fear. “About your theories. About you and me.”
    “My lips are sealed, princess.”
    “Stop calling me that,” she said through gritted teeth as the footsteps thunked louder and closer.
    “You and I both know it’s true. There’s no more denying it. The only question is, how far will you go to keep me quiet?”
    She gasped. “You can’t mean—”
    “Too late to talk, Eloisa dear.” He squeezed her lightly as the group closed in, her family leading. “Trust me or not.”
    The older man in the lead fanned a hand over his wind-blown blond hair, whisper thin along the top. His daughter—the bride to be—was an even paler version of her father. Even her hair seemed bleached white by the sun, yet she didn’t sport even a hint of a tan. Her fiancé hovered behind, fists shoved in his pockets. He shuffled from foot to foot as if impatient to be anywhere but here. A small crowd gathered behind them while others watched from the deck railing.
    Jonah extended his hand to Eloisa’s stepfather. “Sorry I’m late, sir. I’m Eloisa’s date for tonight’s shindig. I’m Jonah Landis.”
    She wouldn’t be able to dismiss him as easily this time.
    Harry Taylor’s eyes widened. “Landis? As in the Landises from Hilton Head, South Carolina?”
    “Yes, sir, that would be my family.”
    “Uh, Harry Taylor, here. Eloisa’s father.”
    The guy all but had dollar signs flashing in his pupils like some cartoon character.
    Jonah stifled the irritation for Eloisa’s sake. He appreciated the advantages his family’s money had brought him, but he preferred to make his own way in the world.
    Meanwhile, though, Jonah knew how to deal with money suck-ups like this. He’d been on guard against them since the sandbox. Even kids figured out fast whose dad had the biggest portfolio.
    A photographer stepped from the back of the pack, lifting the lens to his eyes. Eloisa tucked behind his shoulder as flashes spiked through the night.
    Smiling widely, Harry shuffled aside to clear the way for the photographer to get a better angle. The old guy all but offered to hold the photographer’s camera bag.
    Audrey elbowed her yawning fiancé, hooking arms with him and stepping closer. “When did you and Eloisa meet, Mr. Landis? I’m sure our guest—the editor of the local events section of our illustrious paper—will want plenty of deets for her column.”
    “Call me Jonah.” He could feel Eloisa’s heart beat faster against him.
    He could claim her easily here, but then their separation would be out in the open as well. He intended to be much closer to her. “I met Eloisa during her study-abroad program last year. I found her impossible to forget and here I am.”
    Every word of that was true.
    Eloisa’s sigh of relief shuddered against him.
    Audrey loosened her death grip on her fiancé’s armlong enough to sidle beside her sister for the next round of pictures. “Aren’t you full of surprises?”
    “Not by choice.” Eloisa smiled tightly. “Besides, this is your night. I wouldn’t want to do anything to detract from that.”
    Her stepsister winked, eying Jonah up and down. “Hey, if he were my date, I’d be lapping up all the media attention.”
    What the hell kind of family was this?
    Jonah pulled Eloisa closer to his side, sending a clear “back-off” signal to Audrey. She simply smiled in return, tossing her hair over her shoulders playfully. Her fiancé seemed oblivious, poor bastard.
    Eloisa buried her face against Jonah’s shoulder and he started to reassure her—until he realized she wasn’t upset or even seeking him out. She was just hiding from the clicking camera.
    The