Free The Tycoon's Marriage Exchange by Elizabeth Lennox Page B

looking robot.  S he turned around and glared up at him , poking him in the chest as her anger increased . “Okay, look buddy!  Tonight is about getting to know each other and it would be great if we could be married not being strangers.  But we’re both doing this for reasons other than love, even though I have no idea what your motivation is.  So let’s at least try to talk to each other.  Otherwise, I’ll just head home right now and we can have these painfully stilted conversations after the wedding but I won’t waste my time trying before the ceremony.”
    Hector almost laughed as this tiny little woman glared up at him, her hands fisted on her hips and challenging him in a way that no one had dared in quite a long time.  “Are you telling me my options are a cold wife now or a cold wife later on?”
    She didn’t like the sound of either of those.  “How about if we just try to find some middle ground here so that neither one of us came across as frosty and unfeeling?”
    “And are you?  Cold and unfeeling?” he asked.
    “Only when shut out by a grouchy giant who doesn’t understand me and refuses to even try to communicate with me.  I don’t know what I did to anger you but I’m really sorry for whatever it was.  If you could just….relax with me, maybe we could at least be friends.”
    He looked down at her, wanting desperately to pull her into his arms and kiss her.  But she disliked his touch, which is now glaringly clear to him.  So he pulled his hands back behind his back in an effort to keep from touching her once again, and considered his options.  She was right.  They had to find some middle ground, some way to break through this impasse they had with each other.  And the only way he was going to get through to her was to talk to her, under s tand her better and figure out what she might like in a man.  And maybe, if he was incredibly lucky, he could become that man. 
    “Fair enough.  You’re right and we do need to get to know each other.  I apologize for deviating from my stated intent for the night.  Shall we continue?” he asked and gestured towards the living room off to the right. 
    Hector walked into the room, leaving her to stand in the foyer or follow him.  He poured a scotch for himself, then handed her a glass of wine, white because that’s what she’d been drinking all the other times he’d seen her with a drink in her hands. 
    “Thank you,” she said stiffly, looking around at the white on white decorations, which were interrupted only by the dark wood of the furniture or table.  It would be a sterile room if it weren’t for the green plants that gave some welcome relief.  The shocking green leaves in the corners, plus the large off white hydrangeas gracing the middle of the table made the room more inviting, almost romantic. 
    “You’re welcome.  Would you like to sit down and talk?”  He gestured towards the white sofa facing the crackling fire.  It looked deep and comfortable and she wished that she could snuggle up to this man on that sofa.  She didn’t think Hector was a snuggling up kind of guy though.  And she still didn’t have the courage to touch him first.  Hopefully she could work up to that. 
    She sat , but she was still more than a little irritated about the way their evening had started.  “Why do you ride around in a limousine all the time when you have that kind of car available?”
    “If I answer that question, will you admit that you’re a speed junkie?”
    She shrugged and watched him carefully.  “It depends.”
    “On what?”
    “On whether you’ll let me drive that toy some day.”
    He laughed and shook his head. “I doubt it.  I don’t think my insurance could handle it.”
    “I might be an extremely good driver,” she countered with a hopeful smile. 
    He watched her closely. “How many speeding tickets have you received recently?”
    She tilted her head and pretended to count.  “Define