The Hot-Blooded Groom

No sharing. No desire to share. Complete shut-out. Hurt and disappointment held her silent for a moment as she realised beyond any doubt that there could be no happy future for them. A bitter urge to show him what he’d done, how low he had fallen, had her wrenching the diamond ring off her finger.

‘Here!’ She held it out to him. ‘You can pawn it. Get some more money to throw down the drain.’

It rocked him. ‘Now look here, Sunny…’

‘No. Try looking at yourself, Derek. It’s over for me.’

‘Well, if you feel that way…’ His eyes glittered as he took the ring. ‘You’ll change your mind when I win a bundle.’

He was unreachable on any level. ‘I won’t change my mind. We’re through, Derek,’ she said with absolute finality.

His gaze had dropped to the diamond in his hand, and Sunny had the gut-wrenching impression he was assessing what he could get for it. Her eyes blurred—all the inner torment of hopes and dreams being just swept away suddenly catching her by the throat. For their eight-month-long relationship to come to this…

She swung away, swallowing hard to stop herself from bursting into tears and making a spectacle of herself. Her legs moved automatically, driven by the need to get out of the casino, out of this dreadful playground which trapped people and drained them of any soul she could relate to.

The slot machines jangled around her, a cacophony of sound that seemed to mock her misery. She completely lost her bearings, not knowing what direction led to an exit. A moment’s enforced reasoning told her to head for the hotel’s reception desk from where the lobby was definitely in view.

It was such a relief to break free of the vast gambling area, tears swam into her eyes again. This time she simply put her head down and followed the walkway to the lobby, hoping not to run into anyone who knew her.

The limousine was waiting. His plane was waiting to fly him back to L.A. Kristen was waiting for him to return to her, no doubt ready to sweeten her prenuptial demands with how well she would accommodate his needs. Bryce Templar told himself that what he’d just witnessed didn’t change anything, but still he lingered in the lobby, watching Sunny York.

She’d taken off the diamond ring.

The man she’d handed it to wasn’t following her.

Her haphazard flight from what was clearly a distressing scene had finally been checked and she was heading towards him. Not consciously. She hadn’t seen him. She wasn’t seeing anything except the floor stretching ahead of her.

‘Your bag is in the car, sir,’ the bellhop informed him.

He nodded, unable to tear his eyes away from the long beautiful legs of Sunny York, walking her towards him. The memory of her warm vibrancy played havoc with his usual cool decision-making processes. Here was opportunity. The guy at the blackjack table was one hell of a big loser and that loss was right in front of Bryce to be capitilised upon. The urge to do so was more compelling than any urge he’d had for a long time.

She was free.

He wasn’t, Bryce sternly reminded himself. Kristen was wearing his ring. But not a wedding ring yet. And before he could have any further second thoughts, a fierce surge of highly male instincts moved him to intercept Sunny York’s path to the exit doors.

‘Miss York…’

Legs were planted in front of her—the legs of a big man—and that voice…her heart quivered as a weird certainty crashed through the daze of misery in her mind. Bryce Templar was addressing her. Bryce Templar!

Her feet faltered, hesitating over making a wild sidestep to escape him. Even blinking furiously, she couldn’t hide the moisture in her eyes. Impossible to face him…yet impossible not to. A man like Bryce Templar would not be snubbed. Not by an employee of his company.

‘I was looking for you after the awards presentation,’ he said purposefully.

It surprised her into raising her gaze to his. ‘Looking for me?’ His eyes were green, pouring out interest in her, and despite her embarrassment, Sunny found she couldn’t look away.

He smiled. ‘You impressed me very much this morning.’

At the vivid memory of how he had impressed her, heat whooshed up her neck and scorched her cheeks. It reduced her to total speechlessness.

‘You have a remarkable gift for selling,’ he went on.

Somehow she managed to get her mouth around, ‘Thank you.’

‘I wondered if I could interest you in a proposition.’

Like having a baby with me?

Sunny blushed even more furiously at that terribly wayward thought. Her mind was hopelessly out of control. Bryce Templar had to be talking about a business proposition, which was stunning in itself…the big man thinking she had a special talent for sales.

‘Were you on your way somewhere?’ he asked.

Realising her gauche manner was probably putting him off—putting Bryce Templar off!—Sunny tried desperately to adjust to this totally unexpected situation.

‘I…I was just going for a walk. Out of the hotel. We’ve been closeted inside all day…’

‘Yes, of course,’ he said understandingly. ‘I’ll walk with you. If you’ll just excuse me a few moments while I rearrange my schedule…’ He smiled again, showering her with warm approval. ‘…I would like to talk to you.’

She nodded, completely dumbstruck at the prospect of strolling down the street, accompanied by Bryce Templar. Her whole body started tingling as she watched him stride over to the concierge’s desk. He was rearranging his schedule to be with her! It was incredible, world-shaking.

Green eyes…she hadn’t been close enough to see their colour before. They gave his face an even more striking character. Or so it seemed to her.

She watched him command the concierge’s attention. He would naturally command attention anywhere, Sunny thought, even without the weight of his name and position. His height, the breadth of his shoulders, the sheer physical authority of the man, drew the gaze of everyone around him.

For once in her life, Sunny had the uplifting feeling of her own tallness ceasing to be a burden that had to be bypassed in her reaching out to others. She was short enough to hold her head high next to Bryce Templar without diminishing his sense of stature in any shape or form. Not that her height would be of any concern to him—a man of his power—but it was a relief to her not to feel conscious of it.

He made some quick calls on a cell phone, then spoke again to the concierge. Sunny was grateful for the time to pull herself together. A business proposition, he’d said, which was what she should be focusing on instead of letting foolish personal responses to him turn her into a blithering idiot. She had a future to consider…a future without Derek.

Yet when Bryce Templar turned back to her, his green eyes targeted her with an intensity that didn’t feel business-like at all. Sunny was instantly swamped with an acute awareness of being a woman, every feminine instinct she had positively zinging with the electric possibility that he found her worthy of mating with.

It blew her mind off any consideration of business. Her pulse was a wild drumbeat in her temples. Her stomach clenched at his approach. He stretched one arm out in a gathering-in gesture and some madness in her brain saw him naked and intent on claiming her. Then his other arm pointed to the exit doors and the crazy anticipation rocketing through her was countered by a blast of sanity.

A walk…

That was the sum of his invitation.

Somehow she pushed her shaky legs into walking.

Bryce Templar did not, in fact, touch her. A bellhop rushed to open the door. When they emerged from the hotel, the big man fell into step beside her and Sunny instinctively chose to turn right because he was on her left and bumping into him was unthinkable in her dreadfully hyped-up state with fantasies running riot.

‘Have you enjoyed being in Las Vegas?’

It was a perfectly natural question but his voice seemed to purr in her ear, heightening her awareness of him. Sunny kept her gaze trained straight ahead, not trusting herself to look at him and keep sensible. Business, business, business, she recited frantically.

‘I haven’t really had much time to explore the city,’ she answered carefully. ‘The conference has been pretty much full-on. Which is what we’re here for,’ she quickly added in case it sounded like a criticism. ‘And I have learnt a lot.’

‘You apply what you know extremely well,’ he remarked admiringly.

She shrugged. ‘I like giving our customers the best deal I can.’