âWe need to talk and I didnât want to wake Abby.â
Raine rolled her eyes. âYou couldnât have waited until I was dressed?â
Like a predator to its prey, Max stepped forward, narrowing the distance between them. Apparently he didnât know the term personal space.
âThereâs nothing you have that I havenât seen,â he told her, eyes locked onto hers. âThrow your pants on if that makes you feel better.â
âTurn around.â
That cocky grin spread across his face. âAre you really going to stand there and act like youâre not turned on? That the fact weâre stuck here together hasnât had you thinking, wondering?â
It was all the thinking and wondering that was driving her out of her mind. Hormones were evil. They reared their ugly heads when nothing could be done. Well, something could be done, but at what price?
* * *
Snowbound with a Billionaire is part of the No.1 bestselling series from Mills & Boon>® Desire>â¢âBillionaires & Babies: Powerful menâ¦wrapped around their babiesâ little fingers.
National bestselling author JULES BENNETTâs love of storytelling started when she would get in trouble as a child and would tell her parents her imaginary friends were to blame. Since then, her vivid imagination has taken her down a path sheâd only dreamed of. And after twelve years of owning and working in salons, she hung up her shears to write full-time.
Jules doesnât just write Happily Ever After, she lives it. Married to her high school sweetheart, Jules and her hubby have two little girls who keep them smiling. She loves to hear from readers! Contact her at [email protected], visit her website, www.julesbennett.com, where you can sign up for her newsletter, or send her a letter at PO Box 396, Minford, OH 45653, USA. You can also follow her on Twitter and join her Facebook fan page.
One
Max Ford maneuvered his rental car carefully through the slushy streets. Granted this old, dirty snow lining the thoroughfares was nothing new to Lenox, Massachusetts, for the month of February, but it was quite a jump from the palm-draped avenues he was used to back in L.A.
He hadnât been back to Lenox in years and hadnât driven in snow in even longer, but, as he eased off the gas, he realized heâd missed doing this. Shooting a scene for a movie in the snow wasnât the same as spending time off enjoying the pristine white surroundings. Besides, usually when he would shoot a winter locale, it was with man-made snow and not the God-given kind.
Since Max had grown up here, Lenox would always hold a special place in his heart. The population may be small, but the bank accounts of the residents were anything but. The sprawling estates had stood for decades; some were main residences, others second homes.
The two narrow lanes wound through town, and, just as Max rounded the last turn, he spotted a car off the side of the road, its back end sticking up out of a ditch. The flashers were on, and the back door opened. The afternoon sun shone through the car windows, revealing a womanâbundled up with a stocking cap over her head and a scarf wrapped around her neck and mouthâstepping out.
Instinct told him to slam on his brakes, but he was born and raised on the East Coast and knew better.
Carefully easing his car off the road just ahead of the wreck, Max left the engine running as he stepped out into the frigid temperatures. Damn, that biting cold was something he hadnât missed.
Since heâd come straight from L.A., he didnât exactly have the proper shoes to be trudging in the snow, but there was no way he would leave a woman stranded on the side of the road. Granted he was only a mile from his destination and couldâve called someone, but that wasnât the type of man he was raised to be.
âMaâam,â he called as he drew closer. âAre you all right?â
He wondered if sheâd hear him over the howling wind, but when she froze at his voice, he assumed sheâd realized she wasnât alone.
The woman in a long, puffy gray coat turned. All Max could see was her eyes, but heâd know them anywhere. Those bright emerald-green eyes could pierce a manâs heart...and once upon a time, they had penetrated his.
âRaine?â
Her eyes widened as she reached up with a gloved hand to shove her scarf down below her chin. âMax, what are you doing here?â
It was too damn cold to be having a discussion about anything other than her current predicament, so he asked again, âAre you all right?â