“Why do you think the Handels want to see us?” Allyson stood in front of the bedroom closet, mulling over which exquisite designer outfit to choose for tomorrow.

They had spent the past two days trying to reassure staff at the Prescott family’s various New York properties that they were definitely going to be paid for the next three months. There was still money that Dane had gotten as a salary last year, combined with the money that some of the properties brought in. After that, the well would likely run dry.

At their meeting with Tanya Olson at the Prescott Sports Bar, Allyson had gotten Tanya to talk more about the inner workings of Prescott Global. None of the information was earth-shattering, but Allyson made sure to store some of it away for later. A plan was swirling in her head, but she wasn’t sure if it was good enough. Not yet anyway.

“To gloat.” Her husband unbuttoned his jacket and tossed it onto the bed. He had just come back from a lunch meeting with managers of some local gyms the family owned.

Meanwhile, she had spent the day with her brother James and her sister-in-law, helping them move into their new apartment in the city.

She gazed at Dane, desire making her body heat up. Watching him take his off his expensive suit aroused her, made her desperate with need. It was like watching a knight take off his armor. Stripping himself down to the essence of what he was. Tanned skin. Hard muscle.

Her stomach quivered at the sight of him tearing off his shirt. Kicking off his shoes. Unbuckling his pants. Until he was down to nothing but his underwear.

Dane caught her staring at him. He raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“Nothing,” she said, impressed that she managed to keep the breathlessness out of her voice. “We should focus on tomorrow.”

“Still not used to us living together?” A smile played on his lips, like he could figure out that she was thinking dirty thoughts.

“Are we even still allowed to be living here?” she blurted out, wanting to keep things from getting too hot to handle. Her body craved his, and ordinarily that was a good thing. But they had so much to deal with right now. Besides, if she gave in to her desire now she was liable to give in to Dane’s demands. Give in and let him handle everything on his own. Right now, she needed to be strong. Stand her ground. Not give in to the throbbing between her legs.

“Yes,” he replied. “I still own it. If I don’t find a fast way to deal with our financial troubles, I’ll sell my other properties first. We can stay in this apartment for now.”

“Are we going to have to sell the property in the Bahamas?” she asked. The thought of their villa being sold off sent a painful pang through her heart.

“We will never sell the villa,” he growled.

She let out a relieved sigh. “Thank you.”

He grimaced. “Don’t thank me just yet. Your husband is still broke, remember?”

“I don’t care about that,” she said. “At least not in the way you think. Dane, I love you. Not your money.”

“All I’ve ever had to offer you is money,” he ground out.

“That’s not true,” she said desperately. “How can you believe something like that?”

He shrugged. “It’s the way I was raised. We were our money, our name, our empire, our class, our breeding. Never ourselves.”

She crossed the room and stopped in front of him. “I don’t love you because of what you own or because of the company you run. I love you because you care about the people around you. You fight for them. I love you because you’ve always protected me no matter how much I object. I love you because you’re a good man. Because you’re the best man I’ve ever met.”

“Allyson…” He put his hand on her cheek, gazing at her with fire in his eyes. The ice in them had burned away. All that was left now was the heat in his gaze, blazing out of control.

The warmth of his touch had to be enough to satisfy her. If she let herself get distracted, or lost in what his body could give her, she would give in to what he wanted. Wanting to keep her distance, she walked back to the closet.

“I need to figure out what to wear for tomorrow,” she said softly. “We can’t let the Handels see that they’ve gotten to us.”

“You don’t have to play Katherine’s game.”

“No,” she said, “but I do have to stand by my husband. I have to be strong.”

He hesitated. “I don’t think you should come to this meeting.”

“The Handels want both of us there,” she said. “I’m coming with you.”

He blew out a breath. The room fell silent, the two of them staring at each other, waiting for the other to stand down. Give in. “I don’t want you doing anything that’s against what you believe in,” he finally said. “I know before our wedding I said that my wealth hadn’t changed your values. But I wonder if my lack of wealth now is forcing you to become something you’re not. I would never forgive myself if you had to taint your soul to save me.”

“I’m not going to stand by and do nothing while everything crumbles around you,” she breathed. “Do you seriously expect me to watch while you lose everything and I have all this wealth that you gave me? What am I going to do—wear fancy clothes, eat fancy food while you and your parents starve? I refuse to do that. If you won’t take back the money, then you’ll just have to deal with me trying to help you.” She crossed her arms defiantly. “I’m coming to this meeting.”

He scowled at her. “Not unless you tell me what your plans are.”

His arrogance should have irritated her. It didn’t. Instead, his demanding bossiness was making her entire body tingle. Making her pulse race. Damn, she wanted him. Desperately. Completely.

But she wasn’t going to give up her plans that easily. First, she wanted something in return. Fair was fair, after all.

She gazed at her husband. He was almost completely naked. She took in every inch of his hard body. Reveled in the way his tanned skin contrasted with his golden hair. Her body quivered. There was a danger of her giving him everything he wanted just so she could get a taste of him. If she had to give, he had to give a little, too.

Allyson swallowed hard. “Come here.”

 

*   *  *

 

She had actually commanded him. His wife had just told him what to do. And he wanted to do it. Because, from the hungry way she was looking at him, he knew exactly what she wanted him. Dane had no idea if she was simply stalling for time to avoid revealing her plans, but he was more than intrigued.

“Why?” he asked in a low voice.

“Because I said so.”

The husky way she said it shot straight to his groin. He suppressed a groan and let his eyes wander up and down her body. They had been circling each other for days. Trying to hold back their pent-up aggression. Certainly, he had. Frustration had been raging within him since the morning he lost his fortune. Since he had gone from being on top of the world to being at the very bottom.

But he wasn’t at the bottom. He was married to this beautiful, incredible, sexy woman who didn’t know when to leave well enough alone. Who didn’t back down. Who picked herself back up whenever things got tough.

As if she could read his mind, she continued, “You’ve been treating me like I’m some fragile thing that can break, and I’ve let you. No more. Get over here. Now.”

With a cocky smile playing on his lips, he swaggered across the room to his wife.

A blush rose in her cheeks, and she licked her full lips. There was something about how she managed to look both innocent and seductive that aroused him. Made him hard, and aching to be inside her.

He leaned forward to breathe into her ear, “I’m here now. What do you want with me?”

Wrapping her arms around his shoulders, she brought her mouth to his. A low groan sounded in the back of his throat as she slipped her tongue into his mouth. She tasted so sweet. Like heaven. His tongue met hers, dueling as they both took from each other. If he thought the kiss was going to be tender, he would have been wrong. It was hard. Punishing. As he feasted on her, he felt the control he had been holding on to for days slip away.

Suddenly, her hand was on his bare chest, her touch scorching him. She broke the kiss, her lips glistening. Without a word, she pushed him back until he fell back onto the bed.

“I want all of you,” she said, a look of wanton determination on her face. “Are you ready for me?”

“Always.”

In a frenzy, she yanked off her dress, kicked aside her shoes, and peeled off her lace panties. He propped himself up on his elbows to get a better look at her. With her panties off, the most intimate part of her was exposed to him now and he was dying to touch her.

Allyson reached for his boxer briefs and quickly pulled them off. She took his hard length into her hand. One touch from her nearly sent him over the edge. Pleasure shot through him, making it almost impossible to breathe. Damn, he was so aroused and way too close to coming already. She smiled wickedly, taking in his eager reaction to her.

Somehow, he had to rein in his desperation for her and let his wife take control.

Licking her lips, she climbed onto the bed to straddle him. When she lowered herself onto his erection, the pleasure shot through him so fast he almost choked. Her tight, wet heat felt so good. So right. Like she was made for him.

She placed her hands on his chest to steady herself and started to ride him. Hard. Her back arched as she ground her hips into him. Needing to hold onto something, he gripped her supple thighs. Gripped her like she was the only thing in the world he had left to hold on to.

Dane stared up at her, his eyes falling on her full breasts. She still had on her lacy bra, the contrast of the black lace against her flesh exciting him. A loud, ragged moan escaped her throat.

He felt her clench around him. Then, another all-consuming wave of pleasure. His eyes fell on hers, and he found himself lost in their green depths. He was losing himself in her. Letting her body wield his. As she rocked into him faster and faster, he knew he was close to his own release.

Allyson whimpered and cried out his name. The sound of his name on her lips pushed him over the edge and his climax came hard and fast. She collapsed on top of him, breathing so hard that he knew she had climaxed, too. He kissed the top of her head. Then he held her close until his heart rate went back to normal.

“All right, you’ve convinced me,” she said, finally breaking the silence.

“To do what? Give up on coming to the meeting with me?”

“No.” She paused. He felt her smile against his bare chest. “To give up my secrets.” 

“Your secret plan?” His chest tightened in apprehension over what she might say. The plan could very well be so underhanded that it would taint them both forever.

“We need to find a way to convince the Handels to step down. To willingly release control of Prescott Global,” she said.

“How do we pull off something like that? It won’t just happen magically.”

She pulled away from him to sit up on the bed. Her flushed skin glowed with a sheen of sweat. Her usually-sleek bobbed hair was disheveled from their lovemaking. Taking her in now, he knew that no matter how many times he bedded his wife he could never get enough of her. Never get enough of seeing her in the aftermath of her pleasure. “You’re not going to like the idea.” She grimaced. “I figure we could use Nicholas Handel’s feelings for me against him. Maybe I can tell him that you and I have split up and I could figure out a way to manipulate him into giving me the shares.”

Dane narrowed his eyes. “Manipulate him?”

“Nothing like that!” she cried, suddenly taking in his meaning. “I could agree to go on a date with him, show up to his place and…I don’t know. Steal some essential paperwork.”  

“He’d never believe that,” he said flatly. Just the thought of Allyson pretending to throw herself at Nicholas Handel was making his insides hot with rage.

“I guess it wasn’t that great an idea.” She sighed, disappointment on her face. Clearly, she had wanted to come up with something that would help him.

It killed him to see how distraught his money woes were making her. He didn’t like the fact that she was getting involved in this, but it was obvious that Allyson wanted to fit into his world in some way. “It’s not a bad idea,” he said. “It’s just that the Handels would see something like that coming. As much as Nicholas likes you, and as much as Katherine likes me, I don’t think they trust us.”

“So, we need someone they trust.” She chewed her lower lip while she thought. “They trust Monica.”

“True, but Monica doesn’t trust us,” he said. “It would be tough to convince her to knife the Handel siblings in the back on your behalf.”  

She waved her arms excitedly. “There is someone they trust who might help us.”

“Who?”

“Their father,” she replied. “I’ve heard the way Katherine talks about him. She doesn’t seem the least bit threatened by him at all, so she underestimates him.”

He whistled. “Allyson, that’s devious.”

“Think about it…John Handel probably wants revenge on Nicky for pushing him out of Handel and Company.”

He nodded. That made sense. Years ago, John Handel had been the president of Handel and Company only to be pushed out of the position by his own son. Word was that John hadn’t seen it coming. After the betrayal John had stuck around as his son’s underling, working as the vice president of the company he used to run. Something like that must have been a massive blow to John Handel’s ego. “The Handel siblings always seemed to think of their father as mild-mannered. Too nice for the cutthroat corporate world.”

“Which means they won’t see him coming,” Allyson said.

“Do you think a man like John Handel would go for something like that?” he asked. “He doesn’t seem like the revenge type.”

A spark smoldered in her bright green eyes. “There’s only one way to find out.”