Read Falling for Alexander (Corkscrew Bay #2) for Free Online

journalist on the hunt for her next scoop.

 
     
    Chapter Five
     
     
     
    Why the blazes did the man have to smell so good? With every breath, she inhaled another dose of Alexander Gerardo. The faintest traces of spice, forest and pine. All male and thoroughly intoxicating.
    Debating lyrics of what she still thought of a s a romantic duet wasn’t helping her cause. Not by half. Since when did a guy pay that much attention or express that much insight? Especially one with dubious scruples that included, but possibly not limited to, random threats, unreasonable firings, community snubbing and suspicious helicopter activity.
    He was under her skin, an itch. The kind of itch you couldn ’t wait to get your claws into, to scratch long and deep with no regard for the devastation left behind. Oblivious to all and everything until that itch had been sated.
    Oh, God, I ’m in such trouble. How far was he going to take this stupid road trip anyway? His version of a scenic route had taken them onto a potholed, narrow road that swerved from one bend to another as it followed the shape of the coastline. If they’d actually been on their way to Penryn—which she’d looked up on the map last night and discovered it was indeed a small town directly across the peninsula—this diversion would have put at least an hour onto their journey.
    She pulled her g aze in from outside, from the ocean swelling on a rising tide, and risked a glance his way. Her eyes skimmed over his profile, a jaw with hard, clear lines that could have been sculptured from pure granite, down the sinful layers of black hair that dropped into the curve of his shoulder. His shirt was off-white and long-sleeved, one of those thin cotton cashmere hybrids that slithered against his lean, rippled torso and crept over the waistline of his jeans.
    A pang of hot desire rammed her low in the belly , shattering all her rock-solid reasons for despising this man.
    With a grumble of disgust at herself, she snapped her eyes straight ahead, staring out the windshield as she mentally grabbed the shattered reasons and glued them together.
    Even if he hadn’t fired Mrs. Pinnings.
    Even if he wasn ’t an aloof billionaire who didn’t care that Darrock Castle was part of the town’s identity. Didn’t care that one couldn’t fully function without the other.
    Even if they weren ’t engaged in a battle of lies, a fickle foundation for a house cards of that would come tumbling down before the end of the day.
    There was that look he ’d given her. The not even if you were the last female on earth look.
    And the fact that he thought he had her. He thought all he had to do was delay l ong enough until her nerves cracked. That she’d suddenly remember an urgent engagement requiring her to return to Corkscrew Bay immediately and she’d never dare broach the subject of his housekeeper again.
    Huh.
    Maybe she should call his bluff. Admit she wasn’t Mrs. Pinnings’ niece and pull a U-turn on this charade. Contrary to whatever he thought, she had no interest in blackening his name all over the front pages for the sheer fun of it. The Corkscrew Weekly wasn’t that kind of rag.
    All she wanted was the truth as and how it affected the town and its people. And okay, on a really honest day, she admitted it was highly unlikely there was anything illegal going on at Castle Darrock. But seriously, the way some people lived their lives just invited snooping!
    “ What do you do for a living?” she asked him, suddenly desperate for some validation that she wasn’t completely mad. That she hadn’t gone along with this ridiculous scheme when the line of direct questioning she usually applied would have worked.
    He didn ’t answer, didn’t even glance at her.
    “ You know what I do,” she said with a tart bite in her tone. “It’s not like I’m trying to pry a state secret from you.”
    As soon as she ’d said it, of course, she wondered. It was those helicopters. The cloak he