The Tycoon's Red Hot Marriage Merger, page 1
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
About the Author:
Acknowledgements:
Other Books by Christine Glover
The Tycoon’s Red Hot Marriage Merger ©2015 Christine Glover
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Edited by: Deadra Krieger
Cover and formatting by Sweet 'N Spicy Designs
This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to locales, or persons living or dead is coincidental.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, and transmit in any form or by any means. For information on subsidiary rights contact the author via her website.
www.christinegloverauthor.com
The Tycoon’s Red Hot Marriage Merger
Christine Glover
No one had ever called her pretty before. She was the brain, never the beauty.
But in Marco’s arms, she came alive. His muscular thighs shifted subtly between hers and the placement of his hands on her hips guided her through the song’s rhythmic beats. Electricity skimmed along her nerves and flashed heat into every erogenous zone she possessed. She felt like she’d been made to be with him, melding into Marco’s body with every practiced movement he executed. In spite of the crowd, everyone else ceased to exist. There was only Marco and the throbbing music that connected them in a primal rhythm.
“You’re a fast study,” he said, raising her right hand high and spinning her until her back was pressed against the length of his athletic body.
“I did get a top score on my college entrance exams,” she said. “Obviously I can be taught.”
He moved his hands lower, caressing the swell of her hips, intimately swiveling his in a slow and seductive pattern. “Clearly you’re a genius,” he murmured.
She felt the ridge of his arousal. And her body responded like a straight A student.
To making dreams come true!
Chapter One
The Friday night crowd at Marco Delgado’s night club danced to the Latin music pulsing through the rooms, but he only had eyes for the woman moving with purpose across the lower floor. Marco knew one of the Nelson Industries board members would want to negotiate a deal with him, but he hadn’t expected this particular opponent. Interesting development. And surprising. From what he had learned about Cassandra Nelson, she spent all of her time chained to her computer.
He moved closer to the office window that overlooked his club and watched her weave through the throng. With the height of a runway model, Cassandra stood taller than most of the women on the dance floor. She reached the metal spiral staircase leading to the second level and climbed them, her full hips swaying back and forth in a sensuous rhythm. Not at all like the image he associated with her known reputation as a computer geek.
Heightened awareness prickled along his nerve-endings. She had changed remarkably from the awkward young woman he met four years ago. “Open the door, then disappear,” he said to his bodyguard and he returned to sit behind his desk. This woman presented no danger. Instead she presented an intriguing challenge.
“Si, Senor Delgado,” the man said.
Moments later, Cassandra Nelson stood across from him, hands on her hips and her face pinched into tight lines. “You’re a hard man to track down, Mr. Delgado,” she said.
Marco swirled his scotch. Ice cubes clinkety-clinked against the glass while he considered her. “I hadn’t realized I was lost,” he said, allowing himself the luxury of taking in the full measure of the woman glaring at him like he was the devil incarnate. She wore one of the most unflattering outfits he’d ever seen—black business pants, a charcoal vest over a gray pinstriped shirt, and practical low-heeled pumps. “Now that you’ve found me, tell me why you’re here.”
She pushed her black-rimmed glasses a little higher up the bridge of her nose and raised her chin. “I know why you’re destroying my family’s company. I want you to back off.”
The oversized frames didn’t hide her large indigo eyes fringed with lush curling lashes. Her severe ebony ponytail contrasted starkly with her translucent, creamy skin and finely drawn features. His fingers itched with a need to touch. Though Cassandra had done everything humanly possible to conceal her curvaceous hips and the swell of her breasts, something stirred low in his belly.
And that shocked him. This Ivy League educated, blue-blooded brainiac was not his type. Not in the least. He preferred uncomplicated, chic women.
He took a long swallow of his smoky-flavored scotch, and waited a beat while he studied her. “I merely took advantage of your father’s rash decisions, Cassandra.” He pointed to the chair across from him. “Sit. There’s nothing you can do to stop the bankruptcy from proceeding.” Afterward he planned to sweep in, takeover her family’s failing shipbuilding company, and stamp it with his name.
Delgado Enterprises might never gain the blue blood status that Nelson Industries had by virtue of birthright, but Marco had learned the hard way that money pried open locked doors. Even doors that had slammed shut and remained bolted to keep him out of the regatta society after a freak racing accident killed his father and Cassandra’s brother. Her father had accused his regatta team—and Marco—of being responsible for the crash. Marco wanted to prove to these elite snobs that they had made a huge mistake when they turned their backs on him four years ago. Owning Nelson Industries, commanding their ships, would help him surpass that problem.
Cassandra didn’t sit. “You set my father up, Delgado.”
“Si.” Why deny the truth?
She gripped the mahogany desk’s edge, slanting across it. Her unexpected movement gave him a delicious view of the very feminine landscape hiding beneath her button-down shirt and manlike vest. Pink lace and satin covered her all-female luscious breasts. Heat rushed through him and slammed him hard in the groin. Dios. He’d been without a woman far too long if this asexual genius could make him lust for her.
“You know why I want your family’s company,” he said, folding his arms behind his head and feigning nonchalance.
Her pulse hammered in the hollow against her neck. “You intend to race again,” she said.
“Yes,” he said. “Your family’s company is the top boat builder in the world. Its reputation for excellence and precision gives strong teams a competitive edge.” And potential crew members wouldn’t shun him or refuse his money when he approached them again this year. They’d fight for the opportunity to crew with him on one of the Nelson renowned yachts.
“Taking over Nelson Industries won’t change what happened four years ago. Nor will it give you the key into the regatta world.” She pushed back from the desk. “Which is why you have to listen to me.”
The insistent throb of Latin inspired dance music pulsing outside his office joined the thundering tempo clanging in his ears. The memory of the days following his father’s death flashed. A brutal reminder of the bitterness consuming his soul even now. Despite all he had gained and amassed in the years since that tragic day, he had failed to lose the stigma of being Ramone Delgado’s bastard son. A son who’d been left with nothing but a permanently damaged regatta racing catamaran, a small trust fund, and a shattered reputation.
Before him stood a representative of the very world that had ostracized him, expecting him to back down. “What can you offer me that will insure my reentry, Cassandra?”
She looked down her perfectly straight nose. “Legitimacy.”
###
“Legitimacy in what way?” Marco asked.
Cassandra waited a heartbeat, then two, and then three while she stared into his piercing green eyes. Eyes that accentuated his drop-dead gorgeous face. Time had only perfected Marco’s features. His strong jaw with a hint of sexy stubble begged for a woman’s caress. Tawny-colored hair curled temptingly at his collar, slightly too long for a businessman of his stature. The thin white scar slashing a line across his right cheekbone heightened Marco’s raw masculinity.
And his mouth. Oh, that full and dangerously sensual mouth promised more than delicious kisses in the heat of the night.
She inhaled a breath, and counseled herself to stay strong and keep her focus on attaining the final objective. Her pulse slowed to a steady cadence. “Full acceptance into the society you’re bullying your way back into,” she said in a practiced haughty voice—one she’d perfected to keep cruel, taunting people at bay.
A tic jumped in his jaw. “And this will happen how?” he asked in a sinfully sexy low tone.
Her stomach dipped and rolled. How could she ever have convinced herself that an attractive and powerful man like Marco Delgado would even look at her twice? She had never been so brave during her entire life. But she had to pretend a confidence she didn’t feel if she was going to save her family’s company.
A shiver traveled down her spine. Don’t let him see you flinch. Be strong. Hold your head high. “By marrying me,” Cassandra said. She willed herself to remain calm, poised, and quiet. If he said no, she’d lose ev erything all over again.
“An interesting suggestion,” he said after what seemed like years of waiting instead of only seconds. “One with merit. Tell me more.”
Her pulse kicked up a notch. Though relieved he hadn’t actually laughed in her face, his near-instant willingness to hear her out gave her pause. Still, he was her one shot at saving Nelson Industries, and also herself. She had to marry Marco to redeem all that her parents and Marco had lost the day of the crash.
She’d come too far to stop now.
Mentally computing the sine of an obtuse triangle, Cassandra steadied her pulse. “It would be a temporary fix,” she said. “I’m your ticket into the crème de la crème society that’s shunned you ever since…” She hesitated and looked away, unable to articulate more.
“The accident that took your brother’s life.”
She looked back and met his gaze head on. “And your father’s.”
He straightened and something stark glinted in his emerald gaze. It was like she could see into the depths of his soul—the loss behind the actions that had driven him to destroy her family’s world. Her grief mirrored his. The staggering consequences of her miscalculation weighed heavily in her chest.
Oh, she recognized the unbearable loneliness all too well.
But then he settled back in his leather chair with exaggerated casualness. “Sit,” he commanded again, then indicated the chair with a sweep of his large hand, breaking their brief connection. “We’ll discuss this proposal logically.”
Logic she could understand. What had happened a few days ago? Not so much. Discovering her fiancé in bed with another woman nearly destroyed her. But when her father refused to understand why she’d broken off the engagement and tried to force her into the marriage to save the business? The words her father screamed that night still rang in her head. She was nothing to him unless she agreed to the marriage in order to save the business.
She couldn’t marry Peter, but Cassandra was determined to prove her father wrong. She’d give him a reason to believe in her once again. Even if it meant marrying the very man who had forced her family’s company into financial arrears. A situation she could have averted had she come forward with the truth about her brother, Justin’s, severe dyslexia. She couldn’t reverse history, but Cassandra could change the course of her and Marco’s future.
She slipped into the seat and opened her oversized purse, drawing out her paperwork. “This agreement outlines the terms of our marriage should you decide to enter into the contract.” Her solution was the only way to rectify her mistake four years ago, find absolution, and give Marco authentic reentry into her society.
“You’re very prepared.” He locked eyes with her, his fingers drumming across the file. “I like that in a woman.”
The air between them sizzled and her cheeks heated. “This is business, Marco.”
He arched his brow. “Explain this arrangement.”
His tantalizing aroma of man and musk spiraled inside her senses, waking up every single one of her dormant hormones. Hormones which had no right interfering with what should be a clear cut negotiation. One which shouldn’t have even been necessary.
Seven days ago Cassandra had believed she had been engaged to the man of her dreams, but her fiancé Peter had been a pawn in her father’s scheme to save Nelson Industries. And she’d discovered the hard way that happily-ever-after endings didn’t exist.
At least not for her.
But if she could convince him to agree to this marriage, both she and Marco would benefit from the temporary arrangement. “You’ll gain your legitimate re-entry into the regatta world by marrying me. After a short time, once you’re established in the network, we’ll annul the marriage.” After all, she had no intention of sleeping with him. The first time she made love, it would be with the right man.
Marco Delgado, with his rugged good looks and commanding masculine presence, was not that man. Still, she hadn’t anticipated the strength of her attraction. Though years ago she’d developed a typical crush on the handsome Argentinian man when she had been a teenager. During the days before the ill-fated regatta, she’d drooled over his physical and earthy Latin sensuality along with every other young woman at her family’s yacht club. Even then, in her innocence, she had known better than to believe she’d attract Marco.
His mouth twisted sardonically while he contemplated her proposal, making her feel like a specimen in a Petrie dish. “Your father despises me. So does your mother,” he said. “They won’t accept this marriage.”
A band of regret joined the guilt tightening around her lungs. In the days following Marco’s boat crashing into the Nelson team, she had been too numb with grief to comprehend what had happened. Months later, after recalibrating the ship’s onboard computer data, had she discovered her Justin’s reversed numerical input even though she had gone over the correct calculations repeatedly with him. She had been sure he’d memorized the sequences. But her brother had panicked during the race, which had led to Justin forgetting everything she had taught him.
And that grievous error had tipped the sail into the ocean. The Nelson team’s racer had upturned, and started to capsize. Delgado’s team didn’t have space to maneuver. The resulting crash had cost two lives, countless injuries, and the thin white scar on Marco’s cheek.
She still remembered the desperation in Justin’s eyes when she lost her hold on him and he slipped into the ocean. Even being on board to insure the outcome, she had failed. Cassandra swallowed hard. “My father will come around when you infuse our company with the necessary funds to save it, and my mother does whatever he wants,” she said. “You’ll regain entry into the regatta yacht racing world you want with his support.” Plus, she’d save her current catamaran design without dishonoring her brother’s memory, or revealing his disability.
“Your parents blamed me for crashing into your team’s boat.”
“They were overwhelmed with sorrow.”
Her father loathed Marco for a crime he hadn’t committed and couldn’t have avoided. But Cassandra had discovered the information about her brother’s screw up too late to exonerate Marco. He parents had been locked in grief, and she hadn’t wanted to ruin their memories about her older brother. So she remained silent about her findings.
Besides, she blamed herself. She wanted to produce another winning Nelson ship, and she’d let her brother convince her to man the onboard computer in spite of her misgivings. That bad decision had killed her brother and Marco’s father. Not intentionally. But her responsibility, her guilt, consumed her on a daily basis.
Marco tilted his head and observed her through hooded eyes. “So there’s no one else you can trade your name for in return for an investment?”
“No.”
When she’d discovered her fiancé’s infidelity and broke their engagement, her father had been outraged. Not by her ex’s betrayal, but by Cassandra’s refusal to go through with the wedding. Until a week ago, she had no idea that her family’s company was in financial jeopardy. Nor had she known that her father had bartered her to the highest bidder without filling her in on the details.
“I’ve got nowhere else to turn,” she replied quietly.
Who better to save her future than the man sitting across from her? She pushed her glasses further up her nose, trying to hide her fear behind the over-sized geek chic frames. “Read over the terms, Marco.” She nudged the paperwork closer to his side of the desk. “We can get on with this fake marriage until the right time comes to end it.”
“I’m not interested in faking anything,” Marco said. “Not when I can have the real thing any time I want with whomever I want.”
A sharp pain cut into her sternum. Obviously her proposal was being rejected. She was rejected—even in an above board, straight forward, no strings proposal.
Breathe, Cassandra. Just breathe. “I’m sure after you think about it, you’ll change your mind and when you do, here’s my contact information.” She stood on shaky legs, pulled her business card from her bag and tossed it on the table. Then she settled her purse carefully over her shoulders, pretending nonchalance. She couldn’t let him see how desperately she needed him to accept her crazy suggestion.
