Priceless Treasure(73)

Derek saw a beautiful woman approach David, stepping up on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. David didn’t even bother to turn and acknowledge her. The man noticed nothing around him if it didn’t have dollar signs on it, not even his stunning daughter.

Derek’s eyes narrowed to slits. He hadn’t seen Jasmine for ten years, and those years had been very good to her. It wasn’t at all what he’d been expecting, although, with her supreme shallowness, he should have known she’d have focused first and foremost on her appearance.

The top of her dress hugged her body, dipping low in both the front and back. Her curves were even more pronounced now that her body had matured. Her gleaming dark hair was swept up in a classic bun, with tendrils floating around her delicate face. Her chocolate eyes had once mesmerized him. They had a hypnotic quality, with a deceptive innocence shining through the thick lashes.

His gut tightened at just the sight of her, and that outraged him. Was he still a complete fool about her? She’d nearly destroyed his entire family, and yet he still wanted her. But that was all right. After all, his full revenge included her; he would have her in his bed again, and then she’d be begging him not to leave. Shrinks might call it closure. To him, everything was far more primitive.

“I’m leaving now, Dad. There’s nothing he can do tonight, and tomorrow’s a busy day for me,” Derek said. After clasping his father’s hand, he turned away and walked from the room without once looking back.





Chapter Two


Jasmine spotted Derek across the room, and fire and ice waged war within her. How dare he walk around as if he owned the place? She knew the kinder, gentler side of him, but that boy was long gone. He probably never really existed beyond her girlish imagination.#p#分页标题#e#

The man she’d spotted tonight wasn’t the boy who had taken her virginity and promised her forever. She wished she could forget that summer so many years ago when she’d waited at the abandoned church all day, waited and waited, hoping something had happened to make him late. As the sun had faded from the sky, she’d finally had to admit he wasn’t coming. It had all been lies.

Just as her father had said, Derek had told her all he needed to get her to have sex with him. Once he’d added her to his list of conquests, he’d been finished with her. The remembered pain was almost too much to bear, even ten years later.

She watched him turning and walking from the room. He was by far the sexiest man at the party, with his custom tuxedo and piercing blue eyes. Although he sat in an office all day, his body betrayed no hint of softness. Her heart fluttered as she dwelled again on those long summer nights of touching and tasting those hard muscles.

Derek disappeared around the corner just as he’d disappeared that summer ten years before. Back then, she’d believed in fairy tales and magic.

No more.

Jasmine had grown up very wealthy in a small town outside of Seattle, Washington. Her father owned a multimillion-dollar medical-equipment company, and she’d always had more than most people could ever hope for.

Her mother had died while giving birth to her, and her father never remarried. He dated a lot of women, but none of them really acknowledged her existence, so she didn’t grow attached to any of them. Sometimes, Jasmine had thought it would be nice to have a woman help her pick out a dress or teach her how to do her hair. But the staff, at least, always spoiled her a bit, which she knew irritated her father.

She’d seen Derek in school from the time she was young, but she got to know him only the summer before her senior year in high school. His family was dirt poor, but he was always determined to make a success out of his life and turn things around. He ended up helping her with math, and soon they were fast friends. She’d loved his hunger and motivation and the way he never talked down about anyone. She thought he was every one of her fairy-tale heroes come to life.

Soon, she found she was spending every waking moment with him. When her father found out she was dating a boy from the poor side of town, he’d been furious and demanded that she end the relationship. It was the first time in her life her father told her she couldn’t have something she wanted. It also was the first time she’d defied him.

She’d continued to see Derek behind her father’s back. She loved that Derek seemed to like her for who she was and not for her money. He wouldn’t let her spend money on him — ever. He worked hard for a construction company, which would frustrate her at times because she wanted him to be with her and not at a job. He’d laugh at her frustration, but he always made it up to her on the weekends.