Read Online Bought by a Millionaire by Heidi Betts - Free Book Online Page B

accomplished. His only regret was that he hadn’t reached Shannon sooner, before she became so sick.
    â€œYou can make it up to me by not arguing about this,” he told her as he felt the limo ease to a stop in the underground garage of his Michigan Avenue office building, which also housed his personal penthouse apartment.
    â€œAbout what?” she asked blankly.
    The driver opened the door and Burke lifted her into his arms, exiting the car and heading for the elevator.
    â€œWhere are we?”
    â€œMy place.”
    â€œWhat?” Her voice rose until it cracked, her head swinging back and forth as she glanced around. “Why are we here? Why aren’t you taking me back to my apartment?”
    â€œBecause your apartment is substandard. The heat has been broken so long, you got sick. There’s no one there to take care of you; and unless my people have taken care of the problem already, you’re still missing a functioning door.”
    The last part caught her attention and she quit wiggling around in his hold. “What happened to my door?” she wanted to know.
    â€œYou didn’t answer when I knocked, so I broke it down.”
    Shannon watched Burke closely, his face only inches from her own. She noticed the five o’clock shadow lining his jawfrom a long day spent in the emergency room with her. His dark eyes were storm-gray and focused straight ahead as he walked. His arms around her were warm and comforting.
    She should probably be outraged about the destruction of her door, she thought, but couldn’t seem to work up enough energy for a good mad. And to be fair, he’d done it out of concern for her well-being.
    But as grateful as she was to him for taking her to the doctor and helping her get treatment for a cold she didn’t realize had gotten out of hand, she didn’t think staying at his apartment was a good idea. She should go back home and deal with both her illness and lack of heating on her own.
    For the first time in a long time, though, she couldn’t think of how to broach her concerns. He’d said she could pay him back for causing him so much trouble by not fighting. What kind of person would she be to argue with him now, after he’d done so much for her and asked her specifically not to argue?
    â€œUm, Burke…”
    His gaze darted in her direction, then back to the closed elevator doors as it whisked them silently skyward. “It’s killing you, isn’t it?”
    â€œWhat?” she asked, concentrating on the muscles of his jaw. She swore she’d seen them twitch.
    â€œYou don’t want me taking you up to my penthouse, and it’s killing you not to say so.” His glance met hers for a long, drawn-out moment. “Am I right?”
    The wind went out of her sails and the tension out of her bones. “Is it that obvious?”
    â€œOh, yeah.” He laughed. “I’ve figured out quite a bit about you in the past couple months, Shannon Moriarty. Stubborn and independent are vying for first place on your list of personality traits.”
    â€œI’m not stubborn,” she insisted.
    â€œBut you are independent.”
    She shrugged a shoulder, letting her fingers twist aimlessly on the soft material of his camel hair coat. “That’s not necessarily a bad thing,” she mumbled.
    â€œOf course not. But it’s also not a bad thing to let other people help you out once in a while.”
    The elevator doors whooshed open and Burke carried her across the hall and through a single doorway into a pristine, professionally decorated penthouse apartment. The sunken living room and part of the kitchen were visible from the small foyer area, and both reminded her of his office. Stark design, a lot of chrome and black, and very few personal items on display. To her, the apartment felt like an expensive hotel suite, where different guests could stay every night and never have any real