The Magnate's Manifesto(23)

She let out the breath she’d been holding. Requested a martini for the pure, unadorned hit of alcohol it would provide. Jared leaned down to her. “What is wrong with you?”

“I’m just not feeling…quite right.”

His penetrating blue gaze ate through her. “A martini might not be the best thing, then. Let me get you some water.”

“I’m fine,” she said sharply. “It’s probably just the boat. I’ll get over it.”

The martini helped. She sipped it, feeling the alcohol inject itself into her bloodstream, bite into the unreality gripping her. She had to find a way through this that didn’t involve jumping off the boat and getting as far away from that man as she could. She had to pull herself together. But how? He had definitely recognized her. Her mind riffled through the options, desperately, not entirely clearly. She had to continue to pretend she’d never met him. Treat him as if he was just a business acquaintance. But it was just her luck that Alexander was seated across from her at dinner. And the red shirt he had on made it impossible to forget the last time she’d seen him.

She’d danced in her signature red lace dress and underwear as Kate Delaney that night at the Red Room—the highest-end strip club in Vegas, legendary for its beautiful women and sumptuous interiors. To wear red and dance last meant she was the owner’s favorite, the most requested dancer of the week. Which wasn’t unusual for her. She pulled in a ton of regulars who came to see her cool, untouchable beauty uncovered; to watch the sensual, erotic transformation unfold.

None of them could have known it was all an act for their benefit. That it was as far from the real Bailey as you could get.

Alexander Gagnon had sat in the front row that night. As he had every night for the past three. She’d felt his eyes on her, dark and unmoving. Despite the fact that there had been at least a hundred and fifty other men in the club, she had only been conscious of him. Of the tall, dark figure who had approached her each night to have a drink with him and whom she’d turned down flat despite the money he’d thrown at her, because there was something about the exquisitely dressed stranger with his thousand-dollar ties that said red light to her.

That night she had retreated to the dressing room, strangely affected by the intensity of the experience. The magnitude of the tip Alexander had left her. Her fellow dancers had showered and dressed in a mad rush to hit the town. Since she’d just been heading home to study for an exam the next day, Bailey had taken her time, sat at her dressing table and removed her thick, dramatic makeup. At some point she’d looked up to find the tall dark stranger standing inside the doorway. That all the other girls had gone. If you were to look past the dangerous edge to him that smoldered just below the surface, she would have called him inordinately handsome. Distinguished. But all she could smell was the scent of her own fear as she got to her feet, heart pounding.

“You can’t be in here.”

He’d lifted a brow. “Bruno owes me one. He gave us five minutes.”

Her manager had let him in? “Get out.”

He’d leaned back against the doorway, his gaze moving over her so slowly, so assessingly, she’d had to fight the urge to pull the edges of her blouse together. “After I give you my proposition, Kate.”

She should have walked to the door then and had him thrown out, but she’d been afraid of him.

“You’ve rejected my requests to join me for a drink three nights in a row,” he’d murmured, eyes glittering as he pushed away from the door and walked toward her. “I figured I’d try another strategy.” She’d backed up until her behind was against the dressing table, trying hard not to show her fear. “I know you’re a student, Kate. I’m offering you fifty thousand dollars for a night. Any hard limits, I’ll respect them.”

She had stared at him, shocked. Shocked that anyone would pay that much for a night with someone. Shocked that that person would be her. She was the woman men shoved money at in a dirty, covetous thrill. Not a high-priced escort.

For a second, for one split second, it had crossed her mind that fifty thousand dollars would cover her tuition and living expenses for the year. She could spend the days going to school and studying like a normal student. She wouldn’t have to be exhausted all the time turning her nights and days upside down…snatching a couple hours’ study before she passed out at night. She could leave the backbreaking pain of her four-inch heels behind. Just like that.

Then hot shame had flooded through her. How could she even be considering it?