Read Online Bachelor Unclaimed by Brenda Jackson - Free Book Online Page B

thought a paid dancer was just as bad as a stripper and she had lost the election. Then it seemed her father had gotten hospitalized due to a heart attack the day after the election. Reports had speculated that the negative campaign against his daughter had been too much for the old man.
    From all accounts, it seemed Ainsley wanted to return to the job at The New York Times that she had resigned from and figured he would be her first interview.
    Like hell he would! No matter how good she’d been in bed—and she had been off the charts—nothing would make him change his mind.
    What about that offer you made to her? About giving you a day and a night ?
    His thoughts burned deep in his mind. He’d only thrown that out there because he’d known she would refuse to do such a thing. And she had.
    But what if she had agreed?
    She hadn’t and that was that. When they’d said their goodbyes yesterday, they’d both known they were final. Neither of them intended to budge.
    A few moments later he had washed up and was in the kitchen about to prepare lunch when Charley’s security buzzer went off. “Warning! Warning! Intruder!”
    Winston rubbed his hand down his face. For crying out loud, not another reporter. That was all he needed. “Scan perimeters, Charley.”
    “Vehicle left parked. South meadows. Oceanside.”
    That meant the person was on foot. Did the person actually assume they could scale the fence and not be seen? “Find and scan.”
    “Female. Same from twenty-four hours ago.”
    Winston frowned. Ainsley was back? “You sure?”
    “Charley always sure.”
    Winston’s frown deepened. Arrogant machine.
    “Intruder scaling flagpole.”
    She was scaling the flagpole? This he had to see. “Display on monitor.”
    The screen flickered to life and within seconds he could see a curvy, feminine figure using her slender, lithe body to climb the flagpole. Damn. He felt his body get hard just watching her. She was more acrobatic than he’d imagined or remembered. She had worked that body of hers that night, but now he realized she had skills he hadn’t even tapped into. Now he was beginning to wonder if perhaps she had been a stripper at one time like her mayoral opponent had claimed. Dressed in a black full-body leotard, she looked good with her legs wrapped around that pole, and a part of him wished they were wrapped around him instead.
    He figured he had seen enough when she finally jumped down on other side of the fence and grabbed the duffel bag she’d tossed over earlier. On the other hand, he thought, maybe he hadn’t seen enough when she started to strip off her leotard, down to her bra and panties.
    “Notify authorities?” Charley barked out.
    Winston’s pulse rate escalated and heat surged through him. He found it hard to look away when she opened the duffel bag and pulled out a blouse and a pair of jeans and slid her curvaceous body into both.
    “Notify authorities?” Charley asked again.
    He wiped sweat from his brow. “No need,” he said, pushing away from the kitchen counter. “She’s about to be greeted by a welcome party of one.”
    “Repeat command. Didn’t understand. Failed communication.”
    “No authorities.” A smile touched his lips as he strode quickly to the nearest door.
    * * *
    Tucking her shirt into her jeans, Ainsley reached down to zip her duffel bag. Hopefully by the time she was detected she would have made her way to—
    Her breath caught at the same time her heart leaped. She looked down at the hand clutching hers, and then raised her gaze to stare into the dark penetrating eyes she was getting to know so well. Where on earth had he come from?
    “Back so soon? I was left with the impression after our conversation yesterday that you’d refused my offer. Glad to know you’ve reconsidered,” he said.
    “I have not!” she snapped, snatching her hand from his hold.
    “Then you have five seconds to start telling me why you’ve trespassed on Barrett Shores again, or