Her Sworn Enemy (Men of the Zodiac) Read Online Free

where they’d first been planted. God knew she’d never come across a dependable male yet, and that included her own father. But more than either of those things she never had, Bella missed the awe and respect wealth bought in a society where there were still prejudices going back generations. Here the words Creole and Cajun weren’t just tourist terms, but deeper degrees of freedom and color, power and wealth, and a family’s place in society.
    “I thought there were only three kids in Phillip’s family.”
    “Yeah. His side. Never met any of them. But apparently he gets to be Prince Phillip at home, since he’s the only boy.” There was enough rancor in the way he said “only” that Bella could tell it bothered him.
    “Shall we get back on point?” he said in a tone that indicated he had no intention of continuing to discuss his family.
    Bella hesitated. “I need to know one more thing before I can decide if I’ll work with you.”
    “What?”
    “ Why do you want to work on this project?”
    Intense blue eyes locked with hers. Bella sucked in a breath at the spark of awareness that shot all the way to her toes and made her girly parts sit up and take notice.
    Tucker McCormack was not a man to be manipulated, which meant she was going to have her work cut out for her. So she did what any sane woman would do when she wanted something and had obviously just pissed off the person who could make her dream a reality. She appealed to his ego. “What I mean is, well, if you are a McCormack, you obviously have more money than you possibly need. So, what’s the draw for you in this? It’s pocket change where you come from.” If it was possible, he looked even more pissed off by her comment. Great.
    “That’s an interesting assumption to make when you don’t know the first thing about me.” His voice was cool, and his eyes telegraphed his annoyance. “It isn’t about the money. Never has been.”
    Easy to say if one had plenty of it , Bella thought bitterly, but kept her mouth shut.
    He splayed his fingers through his hair, making the golden tips stand on end. “Haven’t you ever had a dream? Something you wanted so bad you’d do anything to get it?”
    A bubble of excitement welled up inside her chest, and she nodded. Of course she had. Why else take this fool’s risk on the Rapid ?
    “Sure.” Bringing up the Rapid had been her dream as long as she could remember, the one that had caused the rift between her and Phillip. When he’d told her it was him or the Rapid , she’d chosen the Rapid . That had been a blow his ego couldn’t take, so he’d dumped her.
    “You okay?” The rough edge of his voice shook her out of her thoughts.
    “Yes. Dream. Please continue.”
    He looked at her a moment, his eyes drilling into her, sampling her soul. He must have found something he was looking for, because he continued. “Well, my dream is to make a name for myself, a name that has nothing to do with the McCormack name. I want a legacy. I want my time on Earth to mean something.”
    Bella felt any connection beyond attraction to him was lost again. Just because Tucker was at odds with his family, and bore them a great deal of resentment, apparently, didn’t mean he wasn’t part of it, even if that part was only financial. If his mother had been the father’s mistress, he must’ve provided well for her and his son.
    This guy wasn’t financially destitute. She couldn’t even conceive of the kind of power and influence his family held in their deep pockets, and yet he was acting like it was the bane of his existence. Hell, she was happy to make sure their mortgages got paid so they weren’t out on the streets. He might claim to have been down and out once upon a time, but he came from wealth and the rarified air of it still clung to him.
    “And how is this project going to help you?”
    “You can keep half of whatever your salvage operator’s cut of the find would normally be.” He paused a