KATHERINE GARBERA
SIX-MONTH MISTRESS
This book is dedicated to my sisters…
Donna and Linda sisters by birth. Nancy, Mary Louise,
Eve and Beverly sisters by chance.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
One
“Jeremy Harper is here to see you.”
“Send him in,” Isabella McNamara said, even though he wasn’t on her calendar. She hung up the phone and settled back in her leather executive chair, blowing out a long breath. This was just another meeting. She faced heads of Fortune 500 companies all the time—facing Jeremy would be no different.
Yeah, right.
She wiped her sweaty palms on the fabric of her silk skirt and immediately regretted it. She wanted to look her best, to pull off some of Angelina Jolie’s charm and confidence. Taking a deep breath, she repeated a few words in her head—calm, cool, clever.
Everything was always different with Jeremy. She’d seen him exactly twelve times in the last three years. And each of those meetings had left her shaken, hungry and wanting more of the man. Of course, since she’d pretty much signed away her body to him, every time they’d met all she could think about was what it would be like to feel his naked skin rubbing against hers.
Oh, God, he’d turned her into a sex fiend. She knew that being a man’s mistress wasn’t about sex; it was about money. But Bella had never been able to think of anything to do with Jeremy as only business.
She didn’t have to guess why he was here. Three short years ago, she’d made a deal with Jeremy and now it was time to pay up. She didn’t kid herself that he was here for any reason other than to collect on that debt.
The door to her office opened and she stood to greet him. He wore a Dolce & Gabbana suit with the same ease that teenagers wore jeans and T-shirts. He sauntered into the room as if he owned it.
She caught her breath, wishing for a minute she didn’t find him so attractive. But she always had. And that was probably why she was in the position she was: Owing this man a debt she had no idea if she would survive paying.
The door closed firmly behind him, but she barely noticed. Instead she tried to ignore the spicy scent of his aftershave and the way his bluer-than-blue eyes watched her.
He was her devil. The man she’d sold her soul to—and he was here to collect. She twisted her fingers together, trying desperately to believe that she wasn’t scared of a six-foot-two man. But she was.
“Hello, Bella.”
His voice was deep and low-pitched. She’d spoken to him on the phone countless times, yet his voice always sent little shivers of awareness pulsing through her veins.
“Jeremy,” she said, then remembered a very important lesson that her mother had taught her. Never let them see you sweat. Of course, her mom had been referring to the Palm Beach jet set they’d once been a part of, but Bella figured the same rule applied to sexy billionaires. “Please have a seat.”
He moved farther into the room, seating himself in one of her guest chairs. She sank down into her leather chair, opening her center desk drawer and touching the jewel-encrusted Montblanc fountain pen that had once been her mother’s and was now Bella’s lucky charm. She rubbed her fingers over it before taking it out of the drawer and placing it on the desk.
“What can I do for you?” she asked carefully. He might be here for another reason. Maybe he wanted her to cater an event for his company or his family’s annual Fourth of July bash.
“I think you know.”
She sighed. Not an event after all. “Time’s up.”
He laughed, a rich sound that filled the room, and for a moment she forgot to be afraid. Forgot that he held all the cards in this situation by her own design.
“I was hoping time would have helped alleviate your fears.”
“I’m not afraid of you,” she said, very aware that her words were a lie.
She didn’t care if Jeremy knew it, either. She’d spent most of her life dealing with people she was afraid of, ever since her father had died when she was fourteen and they’d gotten the news that his entire fortune was gone. She’d learned to deal with the fear of being mocked by the same people she’d once called friends.
She’d faced fear again when her mother died four years later and the sole responsibility for raising her fourteen-year-old brother, Dare, had fallen to her. She’d known real fear—survival fear—and she’d never once admitted to it out loud.
Jeremy arched one eyebrow at her—an arrogant gesture that fit him to a tee.
She forced a smile. “Dare is still in college.”
“He’s graduating at the end of summer. And he has a job lined up with Fidelity starting in the fall.”
“How do you know that?” she asked. Dare had only just called this afternoon with the job news. She’d known then that she needed to call Jeremy. To let him know that she was now ready to fulfill her part of the bargain.
“I told you I’d make sure your brother’s future was taken care of.”
“I thought you meant the scholarship.” But she’d suspected he’d done more. Dare had mentioned a few times that Jeremy had visited him at school.
He shook his head. “I’m not here to discuss your brother.”
No, of course he wasn’t. He was here to discuss her and the contract she’d signed three years ago. A contract in which she’d agreed to be his mistress for six months in return for the help he’d given both her and her brother.
“So, it starts tonight?” she asked at last. For three years he’d been waiting for her to be free of her obligation to her brother. For three years she’d seen him every three months to affirm that the deal was still on. For three years she’d dreamed of his passionate embraces…and the hope that, once they started their affair, she’d be able to convince him that she was meant to be more than his mistress. Because she wanted to be Jeremy’s wife.
“I believe you’re free,” he said.
She was available tonight. The new manager she’d hired had proven himself capable of handling all the events, so she was taking a rare night off. How did he know? “Did Dare tell you?”
“He didn’t have to. I asked your assistant.”
“You’re a very thorough man.” She was going to have a talk with Shelley about giving out personal information. Her hands were shaking and she clenched them together so he wouldn’t notice. He was just a man. But for some reason he’d always been more to her.
“When I see something I want…” he said.
“And you want me?”
“After the kisses we’ve shared, I know you don’t doubt that.”
She didn’t. But by the same token, she’d always sort of wished she’d just imagined the intensity in Jeremy’s eyes when he looked at her.
She had no real idea how to respond to that. “Um…I…”
He stood up and walked around her desk to stand next to her chair. She tipped her head back to look up at him. “Changed your mind?”
She couldn’t read the emotion in his eyes—there wasn’t any. For all the reaction she saw, he might not care either way. And that was why she was afraid. She’d been desperate when she’d agreed to the contract, wanting to stop feeling so alone in the world. People she knew left but, if she had the chance, she knew she could convince Jeremy to stay.
Jerem
y had gone beyond what he’d said he would do, introducing her to business partners of his and recommending her party-planning services before she had any real references. He’d helped tremendously to get her business off the ground, and to ensure its success.
And she wanted him, she did. She was just afraid that the secret crush she’d always had on him would make it too easy for her to believe there was something more between them than a contract.
She was attracted to Jeremy. She’d been in lust with him since she’d first met him when she was sixteen. She’d been working at the Palm Beach Yacht Club as a waitress and he’d been dining with a bunch of his college friends. He’d been tan and fit and incredibly handsome. And polite—the nicest to her by far.
When he’d finally approached her a few years later, she’d been thrilled at first. Until she realized that what he was offering was a business arrangement. An arrangement that she’d never regretted not turning down.
“I haven’t changed my mind. I gave you my word.” She didn’t feel guilty about the contract she’d signed. A lot of women married for money and then divorced and married again. In essence she was doing the same thing.
“And your word is your bond?”
“It has to be. I didn’t have anything else when you made your offer.” She didn’t like to remember those days, the despair and the sense of failure that she’d been mired in.
“You had your pride,” he said softly, running one finger down the side of her face. He cupped her jaw in his hand and she held her breath.
His gaze fell to her mouth and stayed there. She licked her dry lips and his gaze narrowed. Silly as it sounded, she could feel his eyes on her lips.
“I still do.”
“Good.”
She leaned away from him. “It would make me feel more comfortable if everything you said didn’t sound so arrogant.”
“I can’t help that.”
“You can, you just choose not to.”
“I’ve had thirty-four years to get this way.”
“And no one has ever complained?”
“Not to my face.”
“I don’t think I’m going to be able to keep my comments to myself.”
“I wouldn’t want you to. I’m not asking you to pretend to be someone you aren’t.”
But he was. The woman she was today was different from the one she’d been three years ago. And at twenty-six she wasn’t sure she could pretend they were dating when she knew the truth. That she was his mistress. That the relationship was stamped with an expiration date. And that he was planning to walk away from her without looking back or leaving any of his emotions behind.
Jeremy stared down into Bella’s big brown eyes and felt like he’d taken a punch to the gut. He’d waited lifetimes for this night. True, he knew it had been only three years, but they seemed long—too long. His skin felt too tight and if she didn’t lose the nervous look, he wasn’t sure what he was going to do.
She was his. For the last three years that knowledge had been in the back of his mind. His life had gone the same as always. But in the back of his mind he knew that Bella McNamara belonged to him. Finally he could claim her.
He had a contract with her signature on it. A legal document that proclaimed she’d be his mistress for six months. But even he wasn’t that big of a bastard—he wouldn’t force Bella into his arms and his bed if she didn’t want to be there.
Still, he’d have absolutely no qualms about seducing her into his bed. About using the passion that had always been between them to gain her acceptance and get her where he wanted her.
“Um…how is this going to work? Will we go to your place right now?” she asked. A strand of her hair had escaped the clip at the back and curled against her cheek. She tucked it behind her ear absently.
She bit her lower lip. Her mouth was full and enticing. It was the second thing he’d noticed about her. He had tasted her lips before, when he’d held her in his arms. But the way he felt about her was…hell, he couldn’t define what he felt for her. He wanted to groan out loud.
“No, not now. We’re attending the Tristan-Andrew Cancer Institute charity benefit tonight. Our arrangement will stay private. In public, it will seem like we’re dating.”
“Thank you,” she said.
“For?”
“For keeping our arrangement private. I don’t really want the world to know,” she said, her words breathy. A soft little confession.
Jeremy didn’t pretend he understood women but he did know that socially a girlfriend and a mistress weren’t in the same league. He’d seen that firsthand with his own father’s women. Bella had enough marks against her socially. But this was the only arrangement she would accept from him. And mistresses he understood.
He’d hoped for a different sort of evening—an intimate dinner for two on his yacht, followed by dancing under the stars. But at least at the charity benefit there would be music and he could hold her in his arms.
The last three years had been the longest of his life. He hadn’t been celibate, but every woman he’d slept with had become Bella in his head. He wanted her. When he woke in the morning he imagined her soft brown eyes opening to meet his. She’d become an obsession—and a successful businessman couldn’t afford to be obsessed with anything other than business.
She licked her lips again and his body clenched. He wanted to know the taste of her mouth. It had been too long since he’d last kissed her. This time he did groan out loud.
“What?”
He shrugged. The safe bet would be to play it off as not wanting to go to the charity event. He liked social events, normally. Tonight he was being generous in letting her have this time to adjust to being in a relationship with him.
The event had been organized by his mother. His family was a major benefactor to the local cancer institute. They were hosting the charity fashion event this evening at Neiman Marcus. His mother had called to remind him that plenty of single ladies would be in attendance, all of them suitable to become Mrs. Jeremy Harper III.
Which made this the perfect night to be seen with Bella.
He rubbed the back of his neck to keep from reaching out and capturing that strand of hair that was once again curled against her cheek. “Are you familiar with the event?”
“We lost the bid to cater it.” She said it almost absently. She straightened some papers on her desk and only then did he notice the fine trembling of her hand.
“Forget about your business for one night,” he said, trying to process her reaction. His own hands shook at the thought of being alone with her. The feelings she evoked in him were that intense.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why not?” he asked.
“Business is all we have between us,” she said, staring up at him. He knew he was missing something in the words and her expression, but he couldn’t figure out what it was. If it was just business between them, then he couldn’t have her. He never wanted to be more involved than his partner in an intimate relationship.
“Our business is very personal,” he said at last, capturing that curl and wrapping it around his finger. It was what he wanted to do with her. Wrap himself in her curvy body and silky limbs.
“Yes, it is. And, oh God, I’m not sure—”
He covered her mouth with his fingers. Her lips were plump and moist from her breath. “You can change your mind.”
She shook her head. “I don’t want to.”
He smiled then, hoping his relief didn’t show. It was unnerving to be so attracted to a woman. He’d jumped through hoops for Bella that he wouldn’t have for any other woman. After all, he’d waited three years for her.
“Then let’s go to the party and see where the night leads.”
“What about the contract?” she asked, clearly still uneasy with him.
He struggled for a way to put her at ease. He knew he could be charming, but with Bella he wasn’t his usual self. From the moment he’d suggested that she
become his mistress, he’d been out of control.
At the time she’d seemed so young—only twenty-three—and so fragile.
“We can discuss it over dinner after the party,” he said. He wasn’t ready to let her out of the contract. He knew a better man would have torn the document up a long time ago, but frankly it was the only leverage he had with Bella. Leverage he didn’t want to let go of.
“Okay. I can have my secretary make us a reservation,” she said, trying to take control of the situation.
He held back a smile. He admired her bid for power but there was no way he was letting her take charge. “I’ll take care of that. Just get your purse or briefcase and we can leave.”
“Leave?” she asked. Her face flushed and she looked like she wanted to tell him off. Finally he felt like they were getting somewhere. He saw the real Bella in that instant. The woman he’d first been attracted to. The woman of passion and pride and determination. Not someone who was biddable and afraid of him, something he didn’t want.
“Yes. My driver is waiting out front.”
She smiled sweetly at him. “Thanks for the offer of a ride, but I have to go home and get changed.”
“I have a dress for you.”
“That’s nice, but I’d prefer to wear my own clothes.”
“And I’d prefer you to wear the dress I selected.”
“I think we’re at a stalemate.”
“No, we’re not.”
“We’re not?”
“No.”
She shook her head. “I know you think you’re going to get your way, but—”
“I don’t think it, Bella, I know it.”
“Why?”
“Because as my mistress you’ll put my preferences first.”
Six-Month Mistress (The Mistresses Book 2) Page 1
