The Right Mr. Wrong Read Online Free Page A

to breathe through the moments beyond climax. The most beautiful woman he’d ever known.
    And he’d known plenty in the last five years.
    Yet none had left the same impression. None had left this residual irritation—like a barb beneath his skin. None had led to another moment of madness—the one that had brought him here. Liam tried to rein in the energy building in him—the very, very red blood pulsing round his body. Victoria Rutherford.
    Too hot to handle. Too hot to last.
    For a moment his mind was so fogged with tumultuous memories he couldn’t speak. It could have been an hour ago when she’d been soft, warm, willing and he’d lost himself in her. He’d not meant to get that physical that quick once they’d walked out on everything. But she’d stunned him with her sweetness and he’d been unable to resist. Taking what she’d offered. Stupidly, he’d become more jealous of Oliver than he’d been before. She’d drilled him open until he’d never felt so unsure in his life. He’d asked her stupid, insecure questions, needing to know that what was between them was better. But whatever had brought them together eroded—again more quickly than he’d imagined it could.
    She’d left and he didn’t just lose his heart. But everything he’d achieved.
    Business contacts, work, his world. She’d no idea how much it had cost him. No idea what he’d brought himself up from only to be dumped in an even worse place. He’d had to start all over again—from below the line he’d started. Because he then had the reputation, the ostracism, to overcome. He’d betrayed someone who should have been like a brother to him. But Liam had never had a brother. Never had anything anyone could call a family. And that was the way it would stay—no long-term lover, certainly no marriage. Career came first and always would. It was the one constant in his life and what gave him greatest satisfaction.
    Which wasn’t to say he didn’t like sex. Usually he pursued plenty of it—and won. Now he had the money and status that came with success, he won even more. Which gave him more reason to doubt a woman’s motivation. Because back in the day when all he’d had to offer was himself, it hadn’t been what she’d wanted. It hadn’t been him at all. Victoria Rutherford had used him all those years ago and he’d suffered through hell because of it.
    He took another sip of his drink and told his imagination to settle and his pulse to slow. It wasn’t that she’d broken his heart. It had been a crush . He’d been tempted by the forbidden and by hormone-fuelled fantasy. And he’d recovered what he’d lost. He’d worked round the clock. He’d had to leave the UK and try Europe—doing anything and everything. Clawing his way back up the ladder. In truth, he’d probably done better than he would have had he stayed, because he’d had to reach round for other business opportunities. It had cost him hours and hours of sheer graft, struggle and sweat but he’d done it. Single-handed. And single he would remain. Always. He’d never risk his security again.
    So, for now he’d sort out this photo shoot deal with the designer. It was a win-win proposition and the old bird already knew it. He could handle a few meetings with Victoria. He’d pull a satisfactory outcome from this lame burst of curiosity. But right now that curiosity bit harder. Liam looked across the room to where she stood in the corner, yapping into her mobile phone. He pegged it as defensive—a way of disengaging from the scene in the room and the threat of a scene with him.
    Too bad. He started walking. Because it was time for the kind of scene Victoria had once loathed.
    * * *
    A frisson of awareness skittered down Vivi’s spine. She turned and watched Liam walk nearer. He watched her in a way that set her teeth on edge. Compelling, confident he’d get her attention. Of course he bloody would. He got everyone’s attention. She’d done some quick