The Bachelor's Promise
Bachelor Auction, #3
By Naima Simone
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Release Date: August 29, 2016
Aiden Kent never
expected to see Noelle Rana again. He’s determined to keep his distance from
the beautiful enigma wrapped in denim and leather. He can’t trust anyone with
the last name Rana. But he made a promise to his dying mother, and it isn't
long before Noelle invades his personal space. He can't stop thinking about the
exotic beauty's alluring curves.
He wants the
daughter of his enemy, and he’s determined to have her…if only for one night.
If Noelle wants
to move forward with her life, she must make a deal with the devastatingly
gorgeous, broody millionaire Aiden. He made a promise years ago, and she’s come
to collect—even if it means facing down the only man who ever broke her heart.
And there's a really good chance he'll do it again.
“What exactly do
you want from me, Noelle?” Aiden shifted forward, his tone hardening, the
patrician lines of his face sharpening.
Noelle inhaled a
deep breath…a big mistake. His clean, fresh, rain-and-earth scent filled her
until she could practically taste it. Taste him.
The hell? Where
had that thought come from? Whatever feelings she’d once had for him had been
ground under the heel of humiliation, rejection, and pain.
“I need you to
pay my graduate-school tuition.” She paused. “For Boston University.”
“Boston
University,” he repeated, ice dripping from each syllable. “You’re applying to
Boston University.”
“Have applied,”
she corrected, voice soft. Wary. “And have been accepted with a partial
scholarship. I start in January. I can cover all of my other expenses. Only the
rest of the tuition has to be paid.”
“What are you
playing at, Noelle?” he growled. Anger seemed to radiate from him, beating at
her. “Of all the cities and colleges, you choose here? Do you think I’m
stupid? I’m not one of your father’s marks. You can’t con me. What else aren’t
you telling me?”
“Nothing,” she
insisted, insulted. “I have an apartment and a job. I arranged those before I
left Chicago. I’ve been providing for myself and others for years without your
assistance, and I really don’t want it now, but I have no choice.”
Screw this. Yes,
her father hadn’t been a model citizen—unless it was a citizen of the Cook
County DOC. But she wasn’t him. Damn if she’d let him—him—make her feel…dirty.
Unworthy.
She stalked
forward, allowing anger and hurt—yes, damn it, hurt—to propel her forward when
caution would’ve been prudent…safer.
“Look, believe
what you want. I could quote the damn Bible from Joseph to Jesus, and it
wouldn’t change your opinion or erase your suspicions. But if you think coming
to you and asking for help was easy, then all those millions have made you soft
in the head.” She snorted, shaking her head. “At this moment, though, I need
you to keep your promise to Caroline more than I care about offending your
tender sensibilities with my presence. She wanted me to have the money. So how
about this? Send the tuition payment directly to the university, and you don’t
have to worry about seeing me again. You can go on pretending I don’t exist,
and I can forego the pleasure of you staring at me like I’m something you
scraped off the bottom of your shoe.”
Giving him a
tight smile, she pivoted and marched for the door, desperate to escape the room
before she did something stupid…like allow the tears stinging her eyes to fall.
Damn it! She’d been teased, bullied, and sneered at more times than she could
remember, much less count. Yet none of those mean girls or leering guys who
assumed she was an easy fuck just because of her last name had been able to
drag one tear from her.
Only Aiden
possessed that power.
Damn him.
“Noelle, we’re
not finished. Don’t you walk out that door.”
Like hell she
wouldn’t. She was a grown-ass woman. Self-sufficient. Mature.
So she did the
only thing a grown-ass, self-sufficient, mature woman could do in her
situation…
She flipped him
off and walked out.
Book 1: Beauty and the Bachelor
Book 2: The Millionaire Makeover
Naima Simone’s
love of romance was first stirred by Johanna Lindsey and Linda Howard many
years ago. Though her first attempt at writing a romance novel at age 11 never
saw the light of day, her love of romance and writing has endured. Now, she
spends her time creating stories of unique men and women who experience the
dizzying heights of passion and the tender heat of love.
She is wife to
Superman—or his non-Kryptonian, less bullet proof equivalent—and mother to the
most awesome kids ever. They all live in perfect, domestically-challenged bliss
in the southern United States.
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