Read Her Tender Tyrant for Free Online Page A

feet dropped to the floor with a thud. “No need,” he practically growled. “Besides, you have that stupid conference this week. You can’t give it all up just to come out here and babysit.”
    Antonio laughed, realizing that he’d finally gotten a rise out of his brother. “For a beautiful woman, there’s no end to the amount of sacrifice I am willing to make.”
    Marcus was furious. Dylan should have kept his mouth shut. “Just go to your damn conference, Antonio. If you show up here, I guarantee that you won’t like the consequences.”
    Antonio laughed hard and long at that threat. “She’s that pretty, eh?” he finally said when he was back under control.
    “Just stay out of it,” Marcus growled. With that, he ended the call. He was glaring at the phone when a feminine voice broke through his frustrating thoughts.
    “So it isn’t just me that you’re rude to. You’re rude to everyone.”
    Marcus looked up and saw the lovely woman in question and instantly his body reacted, hardening to the point that he was sincerely grateful for the large, wooden desk his father used. “Actually, I’m only rude to a select few who have earned my wrath.” He watched as her lovely, pale cheeks flared with color at the direct hit.
    “No wonder you’re still single,” she snapped.
    “Ah, but you’re going to turn me into a love sick puppy, aren’t you?”
    “Only so I can put a leash around your neck!” she retorted quickly. And with that, she spun around and walked out, her cute butt swishing invitingly. Unfortunately, the really frustrating part was that she probably had no idea what she was actually inviting! Damn woman!
    Sitting back in his father’s chair, he went through the papers and tried to organize his desk himself. He had a lot of work to do and didn’t have time to get Linda down here. Besides, she was in Paris making sure everything worked smoothly there.
    Okay, and perhaps he didn’t want anyone else in the house while he…what was he doing? What exactly was his goal where Juliette was concerned?
    Hell, he didn’t know. He could look at a corporate spreadsheet and figure out a ten year plan for exponential profit growth. He could take a flailing company and turn it around in less time than it took some people to choose a new car. And women? In general, he considered himself luckier than most. He could charm and make a woman swoon with very little effort.
    But Juliette was a mystery to him. She wasn’t his normal type. She hid from him constantly, and when she was around him, she was either timid and trembling or she was sparking his temper to new heights.
    There was just something about her. His eyes searched for glimpses of her soft, lush body all day long and he listened for sounds of her in the kitchen to make sure she was eating properly and he couldn’t get to sleep until he knew that she was in bed. He’d seen the light under her door and knew she would either work or study late into the night, but she was always gone by the time he woke up each morning.
    His phone rang and he answered it abruptly. “What?” he snapped, irritated to be disturbed while he tried to devise a plan about what to do with his Juliette.
    “Whoa,” a feminine voice said through the phone. “I read in the paper that you’re still the Wall Street guy of the year. Word on the street is that you got that company everyone else was fighting for, so why are you such a grouch?” Adriana said. Adriana was his older sister by six years but she was already married with two adorable kids, Ella who was now fourteen and in high school, a fact which made him cringe as he thought back to his high school days and how he’d lured the pretty girls into his clutches, and Zane, an up and coming computer hacker who had just turned eleven. Thankfully, his dad was onto his little hobby and had channeled his efforts into more legal avenues. Both Ella and Zane were too smart for this world, he thought with a smile.
    Marcus