Alle Kapitel von The Billionaire Bargain : Kapitel 81 – Kapitel 90

In the luxurious interior of the limousine Elizabeth was sitting next to Henri, her fingers jerking whenever there was the slightest touch against his body. Henri was looking at her in a most intense way. Why was he staring at her like that? Was there something wrong with her dress? Had her makeup or hair not been properly styled? Or even worse—was her baby bump already visible?Finally, Henri broke the heavy silence by saying, "You look exquisitely beautiful tonight."Elizabeth said thanks in a soft, rich voice.I hope you are not feeling nervous."No," she answered, looking away to show that she had said it.He watched her carefully, noticing the tension tight in the muscles of her neck, and then reached across the leather seat to take her hand.Although you don't often attend things of this kind, you needn't feel nervous, he whispered, lowering his voice. "I'm here with you to protect and look after you.""There will be a lot of people there," she said, looking down at the hands wh

Elizabeth unconsciously rubbed the bare skin of her arms up and down as she was trying to get some warmth against the mild chill that was blowing through the courtyard. Soft and melodic piano music filtered through the outdoor speakers and floated above the landscaped gardens; however, even though the melody was rich, it could not entirely overcome the slight, rhythmic sound of water splashing in the fountain nearby.She took a steady breath and looked at the moonlight sparkling on the surface of the pool. "Don't you want to give a speech any time soon?"She kept an eye on him out of the corner of her eye. He calmly and slowly placed his wineglass on the smooth, flat surface of the stone bench, the stemware producing a quiet clicking sound against the masonry.​"Yes," he replied softly.She gasped at the sudden sensation of his hand—warm, strong, and clearly steady—curling around hers and pulling her forward. Moving in a state of sensory confusion, she was drawn to him, completely abs

At the time he had taken over Gagnon Autos he had thought that his success would give him a peaceful and contented feeling. Instead, it spurred in him a much more dangerous desire: he wanted to secure her. He wanted to build a fortress around her and give her safety, peace, and an unshakable sense of pride on a silver platter.The extent of his desire to give this to her shocked him right down to his core.Previously in his office Elizabeth Stone had been someone you could only observe and never touch, like the Mona Lisa safely kept behind bulletproof glass; but now she was more real to him than his own irregular heartbeat. She was no longer just a refined aesthetic or a quiet figure taking notes on his mahogany desk. She was flesh and blood with a body. She was a woman.The intense, dark attraction he had previously managed to keep under control had completely lost all restraint the moment he pressed his lips to hers. Or maybe, if he were completely honest with himself, it was exactl

It was painful to smile and it was even more painful to feign the idea that she wasn't picking up the whispers drifting through the room like smoke. Yet hadn't he himself shown her how to feign hearing? In fact, he had mastered it. Until a few minutes ago she had been pleased with the way she had got through the evening—remembering the important names, holding on to the boring small talk, and maintaining that careful, practiced smile.However, when the quiet conversations became too loud to ignore, the suffocating atmosphere finally reached her. She managed to pull herself free from a group of women, her shoes making clicking sounds on the polished marble as she walked around the edge of the dining tables. Her only intention was to get out of there. She looked throughout the ballroom for Mrs. Warren, Chloe, or any familiar face to give her some comfort, but even they appeared to be completely absorbed in the most recent rounds of high-society gossip.She suddenly halted in her tracks,

The sharp click of Elizabeth’s heels echoed off the smooth marble floor of the foyer, producing a sharp and alone beat against the immense space of the penthouse. Next to her, Henri moved with the quiet, careful elegance of a predator that was completely at ease, his tailored jacket thrown over one arm and his tie loosened slightly so as to show the taut curve of his throat. They travelled in dead, flat silence to the top floor by the private elevator. Henri looked as though he was entirely absorbed in his own thoughts, with his jaw set in a firm, unyielding manner, while Elizabeth was completely lost in hers. As the elevator doors opened onto the main entry hall, she didn't pause and went straight to the master bedroom, her heart pounding in her ribs like that of a bird trapped inside. It took her ten minutes—during which he was in the living room taking short, sharp phone calls to Matthew and his legal team—to pack up the few belongings she had once, whether mistakenly or not, left