The Tycoon's Defiant Southern Belle Page 0,1

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