Read Online Not the Marrying Kind by Nicola Marsh - Free Book Online

better than to challenge a go-getter.
    “Who are you trying to convince?” His smoldering gaze dipped to her lips. “Because from where I’m standing, making this marriage appear real in every way is my number one priority.”
    Poppy couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, his preposterous proposal reverberating through her head until she wanted to bang it against the wall. He made a fake marriage sound logical, but could she really pretend to be this guy’s wife?
    Beck Blackwood encapsulated everything she despised: arrogant, commanding, bossy. Being shackled to him, albeit for a good cause, would be insufferable. But she couldn’t lose out on the twenty grand for his buddy’s party, so she better couch her refusal wisely.
    “Thanks for the offer, and I appreciate you discussing how this would pan out, but I’m afraid my answer’s no.”
    Shock flared in his eyes before he blinked. When he reopened them, the eerily cool green almost sent a shiver of trepidation down her spine. “And I’m afraid you’ve misunderstood me.”
    Huh?
    “I need a wife ASAP or I’m screwed. You need to protect your sister and I can help do that. Marriage is a speedy resolution for us both.”
    Uh-oh. His steely stare wasn’t that of an altruistic man. It was the “You’ll do as I say or else” stare that foreshadowed a threat. Plus he didn’t mention the money to save Sara’s business. He’d said protect. What did he mean?
    She shook her head. “Sorry. Not interested—”
    “It’s quite simple. Either you marry me or I let slip your precious secret.” His silky tone raised the hairs on the nape of her neck. “And I’m sure you wouldn’t want your sister to hear you’re touting divorce in her condition.”
    No effing way. He was blackmailing her into marriage?
    Red spots of rage danced before her eyes and she almost swayed, wishing she could punch him.
    How many times had she seen guys like him coerce their way in and out of situations? Her dad had been a classic example, buying his way into the local country club, paying off a patient who threatened to go to the media when she wasn’t happy with his work, throwing lavish gifts at her to assuage his guilt at being a lousy dad.
    His friends had been the same, too, assuming money gave them the right to control anything and anyone. It made her sick, and now she could add Beck Blackwood to the Rich Pricks Society.
    Poppy dragged in several deep breaths, wisely waiting until the red spots faded before speaking. “I take it planning the party’s off the table if I refuse?”
    “Smart girl.” He took a step closer and she forced her feet not to instinctively back away. “So what’s it going to be?”
    “Honestly? I’m over the blackmail routine you have down-pat.” She tilted her head up to eyeball him. “So you can take your dumbass proposal and—”
    He kissed her, effectively shutting her up. A novel silencing technique, one she had no intention of submitting to. But as her brain sent a snappy message to her knee—aim for the groin—a strange thing happened.
    “Please,” he murmured against her mouth. “This deal is everything to me.”
    She heard a hint of vulnerability beneath his surprisingly honest declaration and it resonated like nothing else. She knew the kind of desperation that made people do crazy things, was doing it for Sara in turning up here in the first place.
    “I can’t—”
    He coaxed her lips apart, confident and demanding and oh so delicious. There was no sweet seduction, no hesitation, as he plied her with a skill that left her breathless and reluctantly clinging to him.
    She’d never been the helpless female type, taking as good as she got, but there was something about Beck’s take-charge attitude that made her weak-kneed and a little off-kilter.
    His arms slid around her waist and pulled her flush against his erection at the same time his tongue invaded her mouth, sending a jolt of pure lust shooting to her core.
    She shouldn’t