The Tycoon's Defiant Southern Belle Page 0,2

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