Blackmailed Into a Fake Engagement / Tempted Into the Tycoon's Trap: Blackmailed Into a Fake Engagement

Shocked, Luc turned to look at Gwen. “What in hell—”

“I had to stall,” she said, shrugging helplessly. “That question wasn’t on the list. I wasn’t prepared for it. And you know what they say. Sex sells.”

His cell phone began to ring and he swore. “Do you realize how much heat I’m going to take for this? My family, my business associates.” He picked up the phone and spit out his name. “Luc Hudson.”

“Mr. Hudson, I’m with Hottie Magazine, and we wondered if you would consider doing a centerfold spread for—”

“No, but thank you very much,” he said and turned off the phone. He turned to Gwen as she attempted to ease her way out of the room. “Not so fast. You’ve just created my headache of the week.”

“Sorry,” she said with a slight wince. “But you did say you wanted a distraction from Nicki’s problems, and…” Her voice trailed off as he walked toward her.

“And?” he said.

She gave a nervous chuckle. “And better you than me.”

Six

Better you than me.

Seeing the light of challenge in Luc’s eyes, Gwen immediately got the uneasy feeling she’d made a big mistake.

“Maybe we’ll just have to make sure you know what you’re talking about when you describe me as ‘amazing in bed,’” he said, brushing his muscular body against her.

Gwen felt a ridiculous weakening in her knees and tried to stiffen them.

Luc met her gaze, then leisurely glanced down her body the same way she imagined he would move his hands over her. He made her burn, just by looking.

He raised his finger to her cheek, skimmed it down to her mouth and lingered there before he slid that same finger over her chin and down her throat to where her pulse raced.

“Why is your heart beating so fast?” he asked in a low, mocking voice that made her nerve endings oversensitive. He dipped his finger still lower between her breasts. “You’re breathing fast, too. Signs of arousal?”

The way he touched her tempted her. She liked the feeling of his hand on her, the promise it made, the promise his eyes made. He was so solidly male, and he made her more sensually aware of herself than ever before. He made her aware of her femininity deeper than just in her skin, or even into her bones, it seemed to permeate to a cellular level.

How could this be anything but a big mistake? She took a deep breath. Fighting the urge to give in to her own urges, she grabbed his wrist and stared at it. His skin was darker than hers, his hands much larger. His muscles flexed beneath hers, but he didn’t pull away from her.

“I don’t want to be stupid,” she whispered.

“I will make you feel a lot of things, Gwen. Stupid isn’t one of them.”

She took another deep breath, willing the need to go further with him to lessen. It didn’t, but she was relieved that he wouldn’t use her weakness for him against her.

“I won’t take you until you’re ready, but soon enough, you will be,” he said.

That should have sounded arrogant as hell, but Gwen was too close to the edge, too full of wanting to deny the truth. She withdrew her hand from around his wrist and took a step back. She desperately needed the space. “I—uh—I should go check on Pyrrha.”

He nodded with a knowing expression on his face. “You know where to find me.”

Her heart still hammering in her chest, she felt as if she were looking her fate in the eye. She tore her gaze from his and fled to her office, closing the door behind her. She didn’t want this complication in her life right now. She didn’t want to feel this way for a man who was so much a part of the life she’d left behind.

Torn in opposing directions, she looked at the monitor and did a double take. She narrowed her eyes at the screen. “What—” she muttered under her breath, checking for a different view of Pyrrha’s stall, then another.

Her blood ran cold. Oh, no, it couldn’t be. It couldn’t—“Luc,” she yelled, frantic, bursting through the door. “She’s gone, Luc. Pyrrha is gone.”

She and Luc immediately started to search. Dennis instructed them to stay in touch and said he would bring the horse trailer as soon as they called him. It turned out that the barn help hadn’t completely closed the door to Pyrrha’s stall and the horse had literally walked out the door.

It was pitch-black, bitter cold, and snow fell sideways owing to the raging wind.

Luc decided to use an ATV to follow Gwen’s Lab, June, as the dog searched for Pyrrha’s scent. Gwen was worried out of her mind. “She wasn’t ready for this,” she said to Luc. “She hadn’t rested enough. Her scrapes hadn’t healed.”

“We’ll find her,” he said, focusing on the dark, icy terrain.

“How can you be sure?”

“Because we’re both too hardheaded not to find her,” he said and spared her a quick glance.

His confidence quieted her panic to a dull roar inside her. It felt as if they were crawling behind June. Every moment seemed to take forever.

After an hour, Luc gave June some water and put slippers on the dog to protect her paws. Their breath left visible vapor trails in the air. He turned to Gwen. “It’s too cold out here. I’ll call Dennis to take you back to the house.”

She shook her head vehemently. “No, I’m okay.”

“Gwen—”

She shook her head again. “Really, I’m okay. Being beside you is keeping me warm,” she admitted.

“Okay,” he conceded reluctantly. “A little longer.”

They continued on for another twenty-five minutes and Luc stopped the ATV. He touched her cold nose. “I can’t let you stay out here any longer.”

“I’m f-fi—” She broke off, appalled that her chattering teeth revealed how chilled she was.

“That’s it,” he said.

June raced ahead, barking loudly.

Gwen’s heart raced in hope. “She’s f-found something. We have to follow her.”

Luc followed the lab to a small wooded area and killed the engine. He helped Gwen out of the ATV and grabbed a rope and halter. “You sure you can do this?”

She nodded emphatically, but silently, because she didn’t want him to hear her teeth chattering again. Stepping into the footsteps he created in the snow, she followed him into the woods. June continued to bark, and she could hear a scrambling sound.

“Sounds like June has cornered something,” Luc said.

Less than a moment later, they heard a neigh. He stopped to listen, and another neigh sounded. Glancing back at Gwen, he nodded with a smile and offered her his hand. “That dog deserves a steak when we get back.”

“Sh-she’ll get it,” Gwen said, hanging on to Luc as he picked up his pace. Meandering through the trees, they stopped when they found Pyrrha trapped between two trees with a stone wall at her back and June guarding her escape. Gwen immediately called Dennis on her cell phone to give him their location.

“Ho,” Luc said and approached the horse.