LITMIR.BIZ

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      The ugly words sliced through Bryce’s pleasurable mission-plan, and the sight of Derek Marsden advancing on them switched his mind to red alert! Beside him he felt Sunny’s whole body jerk with shock and her feet came to an abrupt halt, which halted him, as well, since no way was he about to let go of her.

      ‘Derek?’

      The name spilled from Sunny’s lips, even as her mind recoiled from the horrible name he had called her. The shock of seeing him was stunning enough, having expected him to fly out on the plane to Los Angeles, but to be so insultingly labelled in public…

      ‘Yeah,’ he jeered. ‘Thought you’d neatly got rid of me, didn’t you? Sneaky bitch!’

      ‘That’s more than enough!’ Bryce rapped out in a steely voice.

      Sunny felt the surge of aggressive tension whipping through him, his hand on her waist gripping harder, pulling her protectively closer.

      ‘She’s taking you for a ride, Templar,’ Derek threw at him, his eyes shooting daggers. ‘Want to see the ring she gave back to me yesterday so she could go after you?’

      ‘That’s not true, Derek!’ Sunny cried, appalled by this attack on her integrity.

      He ignored her, plucking the engagement ring out of his shirt pocket, holding it in his clenched fist with the diamond pointing at Bryce, shaking it at him as he poured out more venom. ‘No doubt you can buy one bigger than this.’

      ‘That has nothing to do with why I broke with you, Derek, and you know it!’ Sunny fiercely protested.

      He turned on her in vicious accusation. ‘You left me and went straight off with him.’

      Sunny shook her head, bewildered by the totally unfair interpretation of the situation.

      ‘At my instigation,’ Bryce sliced in. ‘You are mistaken. It was I who approached Miss York, not the other way around.’

      ‘Miss York…huh!’ Derek snorted derisively. ‘Think I didn’t see you in a clinch in the elevator just now?’

      ‘I have asked her to marry me,’ Bryce stated with icy dignity.

      ‘Marry you?’ Sheer fury twisted Derek’s face. ‘Well, let me tell you she was marrying me this time yesterday.’ His eyes blazed at Sunny. ‘What did you do? Give him the eye all the time you were sitting in the front row of the conference room?’

      ‘No! I didn’t do anything!’ she cried, flushing with the guilt of having nursed lustful thoughts. But only in a fantasy way, not aimed to draw Bryce’s attention to her.

      ‘Like hell you didn’t!’ came the bitter rebuttal. ‘You got your eye on the main chance and goodbye Derek.’

      The sheer injustice of his slurs on her character whipped up Sunny’s fury. ‘It was goodbye Derek because all you could think about was gambling!’

      ‘Well, it’s you who’s gambling now, you scheming little gold-digger! And I hope Templar sees you for what you are before he’s fool enough to marry you.’

      ‘I am not a gold-digger! It’s you who wanted easy money.’

      ‘At least I earn what I spend. I don’t trade in sex for it.’

      ‘Oh! Oh!’ Sunny gasped, reduced to speechlessness.

      ‘That is too offensive!’ Bryce growled, his whole body clenching, ready to spring.

      But it wasn’t his fight, Sunny thought frantically. It was hers. And she had to fight back.

      ‘Offensive!’ Derek hurled at Bryce, too aroused to be intimidated. ‘I track her here and discover there’s no room in the name of Sunny York. She spent the night with you, sleeping her way to the top. That’s offensive.’

      ‘You’re right!’ Sunny snapped, leaping in to defend herself. ‘I did sleep with him. He found me more attractive than a roulette wheel.’

      ‘Well, you just keep spinning for him. I don’t want a whore as my wife.’

      ‘You insult Sunny once more and I’ll ram the words down your throat,’ Bryce bit out, violence shimmering in the air.

      ‘No!’ Sunny instantly swung towards him, slamming a hand on his chest, desperate to prevent any movement towards Derek who was shaping up to slug it out.

      Fists wouldn’t resolve anything. It would only make the whole scene uglier and more public than it already was.

      She glared at her ex-fiancé over her shoulder. ‘We have nothing more to say to each other. Please go, Derek.’

      He glowered at Bryce to prove he wasn’t intimidated, then sliced a look of contempt at Sunny. ‘Screw you! I’ll have plenty to say to everyone else about why you ditched me.’

      ‘You keep your filthy mouth shut or I’ll shut it for you,’ Bryce threatened, his chest swelling against Sunny’s hand.

      ‘You don’t have that much power, sucker!’ Derek challenged, and on that jeering note, turned his back on both of them and strutted off as though he was cock-of-the-walk.

      ‘Don’t do anything, Bryce,’ Sunny pleaded, frightened by the aggressive jut of his chin and the fighting strength that was teetering on the edge of exploding.

      His gaze lowered reluctantly to hers, eyes glittering. ‘You want me to let him get away with that slimy slander?’ he demanded, rage clipping every word.

      ‘It’s true I broke my engagement to him yesterday,’ she said, trying to excuse some of the offence.

      ‘And none too soon,’ Bryce ground out. ‘There was no love for you in that outburst, Sunny.’

      No…no love…just wounded ego and vile nastiness. Her stomach felt sick with it. ‘Did you believe…’ She anxiously scanned the glittering green eyes. ‘Did you believe anything of what he said about me?’

      The question brought a beetling frown. ‘You know I don’t. How could I? I’ve been with you every step we’ve taken together.’

      But her staying with him as she had was open to misinterpretation. ‘You don’t think I’m a…a gold-digger? Out for what I can get?’

      ‘Not you, Sunny,’ he declared with ringing certainty.

      She felt intensely grateful for his belief in her. Into her distressed mind flashed the image of Bryce always standing by her, ready to defend, to protect, caring with the kind of strength Derek had never had.

      ‘Do you still want to marry me?’ she asked.

      ‘You think he could change what I feel?’ came the incredulous challenge.

      ‘No. Not you,’ she answered, somehow knowing that very deeply. Bryce Templar trod his own path, and suddenly she wanted very much to share that path with him. It looked safe. It looked secure.

      He cupped her face in his hands, commanding her full attention as his eyes blazed into hers. ‘I want you, Sunny York. I’d marry you right this minute if I could.’

      The warmth of his skin took away the dead coldness left by Derek’s emotional kicks in the face. Bryce’s desire for her sizzled into her bloodstream, bringing a vibrancy that re-energised her whole body.

      ‘Then I will…I will marry you, Bryce,’ she heard herself say, as though the words were drawn from a place she was barely conscious of, yet she knew even as she said them, she wouldn’t take them back.

      Bryce knew instantly it was a rebound decision. Her eyes were focused on him but they had a calm, almost distant expression in them, not one sparkle of happiness or even warm pleasure in the thought of being his wife. He should have felt an exhilarating zing of triumph, having achieved his goal so quickly, but the achievement wasn’t his. It was Marsden’s. Nevertheless, the prize was there to take, and Bryce

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