Read The Tycoon's Defiant Southern Belle Online
Authors: Elizabeth Lennox
The Tycoon's Defiant Southern Belle
The Tycoon’s Defiant
Southern Belle
By Elizabeth Lennox
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Copyright 2013
All rights reserved
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, business, places, events and incidents
are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner.
Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
The glare of the flashlight could barely cut through the heavy darkness. Was it possible
that the night was thicker here in this house? The beautiful, Spanish style mansion
was rumored to be haunted and as Jade walked through the long, spooky hallways, she
understood how the eerie rumors could have evolved. There was an unnerving, mysterious
presence here. Something that just didn’t feel normal.
Jade shook off the feeling, thinking she was being ridiculous. There was no such
thing as ghosts or spirits or anything like that. Just a stubborn, obnoxious cat
that continuously seemed to be running away lately. “Jasper! Where are you?” She
wasn’t sure why she was whispering since the house had been vacant for several decades.
“I swear you’re not getting any peanut butter for a week!”
She froze as a strange, ominous sound came to her. Was that laughter? Or was it
just her imagination? She felt her heart rate increase, her blood pounding in her
veins and fear started to clog her throat. Impossible! No one had lived in this
house for decades! She was just imagining things.
Jade shivered again, wishing she were back in her comfortable cottage instead of here
in this dark, cold, creepy place. No matter how fascinated she was with the house
during the daylight hours, she couldn’t deny that something abnormal was here right
now. There was a sense of….something alive. And despite the heat of the day, the
house felt freezing! How in the world could a house be cold in the middle of summer?
It had been over ninety degrees today! But inside this house, her bare arms were
covered with goose bumps from the strange temperature.
She continued through the house, but her steps faltered when she saw the peculiar
glow coming from the main living area. Her body froze, her mind racing as she tried
to figure out what the light could be. Fire? Her heart skipped a beat at the idea
of the beautiful place being destroyed by the merciless talons of fire. Her pace
picked up as she hurried down the long hallway, her mind frantically trying to figure
out a way to stop the fire, if it really was a blaze.
Despite her constant reassurances that there were no such things as ghosts, in the
back of her mind, she couldn’t stop the possibility from creeping up on her. The
cold, the darkness, the odd light…they all roused her imagination, terrifying her
as the adrenaline suddenly surged through her body.
She couldn’t slow down, she couldn’t stop! Jasper was in here somewhere and this
gorgeous house couldn’t be destroyed by fire! No, it just couldn’t!
“Talk to me Jasper. What’s going on?” she called out, knowing in her mind that the
cat couldn’t talk. It still made her feel better to say the words, to hear her voice
as it echoed against the vacant hallway.
She skidded to a halt in the doorway of the great room, her eyes scanning the area.
The first thing she saw was the fire. There truly was a fire and it was enormous,
but thankfully, it was contained within a massive, stone fireplace with beautiful
tiles surrounding the floor, making the glow actually shine upwards and reflect off
of the ceiling and as she took it all in, she realized that the ceiling was painted
in some amazing mural with cherubs dancing in the clouds.
But only a portion of that part of the scene broke through her consciousness since
every cell in her mind and body was focused on one thing. And it wasn’t the fire.
There was a very large, very scary man sitting in the wing-back chair.
Or was he a man? Was he even human?
There was a darkness that surrounded this man that had nothing to do with the night
wrapping around the outer glow of the fire. As she stared, she knew that the darkness
wasn’t caused by the tight, black shirt and black pants. It wasn’t even the black
hair or the man’s eyes that were shaded somehow even though the fire seemed to be
illuminating all the other hard planes of his face. And it wasn’t the being’s enormous
size, although that definitely contributed.
As she halted just inside the large, elaborately decorated room, she stared at the
person sitting in the old, wing-back chair, her eyes taking in every detail, her lips
parting with amazement and her body shivering, but this time for a completely different
reason.
No, there was something dark about this man, something….broken. Something painfully
sad. Jade didn’t know what it was that told her that but she knew it with a deep
down instinct that reached out to her and squeezed her heart.
And then her eyes moved downward and she caught the large, elegant hands gently caressing
her cat. “Jasper!” she admonished with a hint of nervousness in her voice.
Angelo had heard the footsteps approaching but didn’t bother to get up. With the
cat purring away on his lap, he listened carefully to the tread of the steps coming
down the hallway to his new home. He wasn’t overly concerned about whoever had invaded
the reputedly haunted, almost destroyed house. With the fire burning in the fireplace
and the fur covered feline on his lap, he simply relaxed against the cushions of the
relatively comfortable chair and waited, wondering who might have the courage to enter
this building at night. He’d heard the stories about the ghosts, knew that the rumors
plus the overgrown gardens, broken concrete and shattered windows generally kept people
away. There was a peculiar essence to this place that helped incite one’s imagination
towards the macabre.
Besides, the steps approaching the great room were soft, too light to be a danger.
An intruder would have to be pretty big to concern Angelo since he was a large man
himself, a fact which had terrified others in the past. Or was it the look in his
eyes, the one that warned people to stay away?
Either way, he wasn’t overly concerned about whoever was coming towards him. It simply
broke the monotony of the night and pulled his black gaze away from the fire as he
awaited whoever was coming down the hallway to appear.
He had to chuckle when the soft, feminine voice chided the cat, threatening him with
punishment but had she really told the cat that he wouldn’t get peanut butter? Angelo
wasn’t sure that peanut butter was the best thing for animals, but what did he know?
Except for his two best friends, Zayn and Dominic, he pretty much kept to himself
out of necessity. And perhaps habit.
As the woman approached, Angelo was astounded by how soft and round her delectable
body was, but slender and adorable in all the right places. His eyes took in her
lush, full breasts and her slender, sleek arms. She was short, he could see, but
her legs were long and strong but still feminine. His mind instantly pictured those
legs around his waist, his interest increasing tenfold as she stood there staring
at him.
And why the hell was she wandering around at night in that outfit? Her camisole was
thin with just those spindly spaghetti straps to hold everything in place while her
draw string pants were soft and loose, resting low on her hips. There was even a small
gap between where the camisole ended and the pants began, showing him her lean, flat
stomach.
Jade suddenly realized that she was staring and her conscience broke through her fascination
with the tall, gorgeous and definitely dangerous stranger. She shook her head, but
her eyes remained wide as her mind took in the details of the sad but strikingly attractive
man.
“Goodness!” Jade exclaimed as she came closer, pushing her irrational fear aside.
The man had been in shadows but as she approached to retrieve Jasper and introduce
herself to her new neighbor, she was stunned by the man as he became clearer to her.
“I’m so sorry that Jasper intruded on your night,” she said, but the sound came out
as a whisper, her mind freezing at the astounding strength and breadth of his arms
and shoulders, slowly revealed as her eyes adjusted to the light.
Her eyes rose slowly, taking in all of the man including the bulging muscles revealed
by the black material stretched to its limit across broad shoulders and muscular arms,
his long legs extended out in front of him and those shoulders! Gracious, they stretched
across the width of the chair. The man wasn’t just large like some of the other men
she knew. This man was massive!
She took a deep breath, forcing her eyes to stop looking at the man and introduce
herself. But as soon as her eyes lifted to the man’s, she felt a jolt, something
almost electrifying and very uncomfortable.
Those eyes! There was heat and interest and….amusement?
And then her own eyes adjusted to the man’s dark image. “Angelo Donati,” she gasped,
finally recognizing the dangerous man who was slowly buying up all the pharmaceutical
companies in the area. “What are you doing here?” she demanded.
Angelo’s black eyebrows went up when this tiny, interestingly beautiful woman recognized
him. “Have we met before?” asked, standing up and allowing Jasper, the traitor, to
climb up onto his shoulders. Angelo supposed he’d been in the news recently due to
his last few acquisitions. But he’d thought he could be a bit more anonymous here
in this small, sleepy beach town.
He supposed, with all the controversy lately due to his management changes, it would
be hard to remain anonymous. Too many people in this area worked for the companies
he’d just acquired.
Jade watched with reluctant fascination as the enemy’s long, sensuous fingers started
scratching her cat’s ears. Her body tingled with awareness and she wondered what
it would be like for those fingers to be touching her body instead of her cat’s.
Would he be gentle? Would he be kind and considerate? Or would he take what he wanted?
Making her want it as well, just like he was doing with all the businesses in the
area?
She shook herself mentally, refusing to admit that she was more fascinated than scared
of this man. He wasn’t a man to be trifled with, she reminded herself. Even Dan
was worried about his job after Mr. Donati’s latest management sweep had left several
of the vice presidents looking for other employment. Of course, Dan had been complaining
about several of those executives’ decisions lately, but Jade wasn’t sure if those
decisions had been bad or just not what Dan wanted.
Either way, she was being rude by simply staring. She chided herself for not being
more gracious. She was a southern lady, after all. It was her duty as a neighbor
to welcome the man, even if she might not like him or agree with his brutal, merciless
business tactics.
“My name is Jade Phillips and I’ve lived on Sullivan’s Island for more than sixteen
years. It’s very nice to meet you,” she said, reaching out and extending her hand
politely. And then she messed it all up by saying, “Why are you buying up all the
businesses in the area? What’s so enticing about these companies that you can’t just
find another town to own?”
Angelo almost laughed with delight as the woman in front of him sparkled with anger
and passion. Angelo took her hand in his, amazed at how small her bones felt and
how…alluring her entire being was. He knew should back off, maybe even explain his
plans. But there was something about this woman that pushed a button inside of him.
He wouldn’t even release her hand and, what’s worse, he wanted to see her bristle
even more. She was absolutely fascinating! “Perhaps I’m just an evil man who is
intent on buying up the world.”
She was shaking with anger already, glaring up at him but the horrid man didn’t seem
to care that he was incurring her wrath. In the back of her mind, she realized that
her anger seemed disproportionately intense, seeing as how she’d just met the man
a moment ago and he probably had legitimate reasons for the way he ran his business.
None of that seemed to matter at the moment and she couldn’t seem to back down. Then
again, his taunting words caused her anger to only deepen. “That seems like such
a horrible thing to say and I don’t believe it for a moment.” She wanted desperately
to stomp away, get away from this man completely but he still had Jasper on his shoulder.
“May I have my cat please?” she asked, not sure exactly what to do if he refused.
“By all means,” he said, but stood there, waiting. This woman was fascinating, he
thought. Most women considered him too dangerous to taunt or even confront. He always
suspected that women approached him more on a dare than physical attraction. He took
what they offered, but none of them had ever touched him beyond a mild sense of satisfaction.
Not the way this woman was doing by just standing in front of him not cowering in
fear. She didn’t even realize that he was still holding her hand in his and he wasn’t
inclined to break that contact. His thumb caressed the amazingly soft, tender skin
of her hand while his long finger gently touched the underside of her wrist, feeling
the rapid pulse and his body reacted instantly.
“Why is it that you don’t want me to buy up the businesses?” he asked softly when
she didn’t reach up to retrieve her cat. He stepped closer to her, releasing her
hand but only to take her arm so he could lead her down the long hallway. “I’ll walk
you home and you can tell me all about your own plans for the town.”
Jade didn’t like the sound of amusement in his voice. “What makes you think that
I have plans for the town?”
Angelo chuckled, a deep, rusty sound. He seldom laughed. He rarely found anything
in life amusing. As he’d grown up, he’d discovered the hard way that life wasn’t
fair or fun. Life was hard. One had to fight, scrape and claw to maintain one’s
hold on one’s assets. He never laughed at life, one approached life as if it were
a war with every battle mercilessly fought.
