Read 1925 - Millionaire's Secret Seduction for Free Online

fresh copies, folded it, and stuck it into a leather briefcase propped against the machine.
    So. The copies were going home with her.
    She took the originals from the machine and disappeared through a door on the far side of the room. He heard a metal file drawer opening.
    He glanced at the digital face of his watch: 10:28.
    What in the heck was she doing here, copying documents in the middle of the night?
    She emerged, face bent over a new file, golden-brown hair hiding her features. She shoved a hank roughly behind her ear, pulled out a sheet and scrutinized it.
    Then something made her look up.
    “Aaaa!” She jerked violently and dropped the file. Papers fluttered in the air and scattered about the small copy room.
    Her eyes fixed on his, wide with alarm.
    Dominic widened the door opening. “Sorry to startle you.”
    “Wh—wh—what are you doing here?”
    “Watching you.”
    “Why?” She glanced down at the papers on the floor, as if scanning them for incriminating evidence.
    “You make compelling viewing.”
    Her eyes flashed. “You shouldn’t be here at this time of night.”
    “Says who? It’s my dad’s company, isn’t it?” He leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms. “I’m thinking you’re the one who’s not supposed to be here.”
    “Why shouldn’t I be here?” she snapped. She crouched and gathered the strewn papers. “They’re all out of order now.”
    “Let me help you.” He wanted to get a look at the pages. He picked up the closest one, which was covered in typed formulas.
    She snatched it from his hand. Her fingertips grazed his palm and his skin tightened at the reminder of their mesmerizing kiss.
    “What are these papers?” He picked up another one. Couldn’t make heads or tails of it. He could read a balance sheet upside-down from twenty paces, but chemistry was way out of his league.
    “Research. Some reading for the train.”
    “The midnight train to Georgia? You were running to catch your train nearly an hour ago.”
    “I missed it. I came back to kill some time.”
    “We’re more than ten blocks from Grand Central.”
    “I had a lot of time to kill.” Her gray gaze stuck him like a steel blade.
    “I don’t believe you.” His words hung in the air.
    Her startled expression only enhanced his conviction that she was guilty. Of something.
    He decided to push. Maybe just to see how hard she’d push back. “I think you’re stealing secrets.”
    “And doing what with them?” she snapped.
    “I don’t know that. Yet.” He crossed his arms over his chest. He was intrigued by anyone daring enough to risk getting on the wrong side of Tarrant Hardcastle.
    She tossed her head and picked up more papers. “I’m just doing my job.”
    “Then you won’t mind me looking at those papers in your briefcase?” Why was he doing this? He wanted to get past the cool scientist demeanor as much as he’d wanted to see what lay under that white lab coat. And he had the strings to tug at it. “I am a Hardcastle, after all.”
    No need for her to know those pages made as much sense as Cyrillic script to him.
    She hesitated, blinking. “I’m not stealing anything.”
    “Prove it.”
    Her breath came in hard gasps. He could see her chest rise and fall beneath her silk blouse. He stepped into the copy room, narrowing his eyes against the fluorescent light. “Where are the file cabinets?”
    “Why are you doing this?” Her voice was shaky.
    Why indeed? Yes, he’d had the uniformed pleasures of being both an altar boy and a boy scout, but he couldn’t cry morality on anyone going up against Tarrant Hardcastle. With his background, he’d be first in line to fight him with them.
    Maybe it was the overbearing way she tried to order him out of her lab and called security on him. He’d spent too much time as a scrappy outsider to appreciate being treated like one now.
    One thing was for sure: he certainly wasn’t motivated by filial desire to protect the interests of