Kissing A Stranger, Engaged To The Magnate

"After we get married, you can quit your job. You'll just need to take good care of me at home and give me a healthy son within a year. No daughters, please-they cost a fortune to raise!"

The sheer audacity of that tone.

The man sitting across from Corinne Carew was her potential partner for this blind date. Pushing forty, he sported a receding hairline and a prominent gut.

Her stepmother, Lilliana Reece, constantly complained that Corinne's standards were too high, which was how she had been forced into meeting this crude, middle-aged man.

Initially, the man had grimaced at Corinne's heavy makeup-way too much eyeshadow for his taste. But as his gaze tracked over her slender figure and quiet demeanor, his mind clearly began to wander to what she might look like naked in front of him.

"And how tall are you, by the way?" he asked.

Corinne absentmindedly stirred her coffee, not even bothering to look at him. "5 feet 6 inches."

The man looked delighted. "Hmm... That's just about what I need. I'm almost 8 feet, so I guess we have the perfect height difference! You'll have to stand on your tiptoes to kiss me, but that's not a problem-I can always just take you from behind."

Fun fact: men who brag about being "almost 8 feet" rarely break 5'9'' in reality.

Corinne finally looked up, her eyelids heavy with deliberately caked-on makeup. "I don't think you're tall enough for a woman to have to stand on her tiptoes to kiss you."

The man frowned, visibly annoyed. "What do you mean by that?"

At that exact moment, a tall man with a stern expression pushed open the café doors. He had to be pushing 6'5''.

Corinne looked up at him, a mischievous gleam flashing in her eyes. She stood up and walked straight over to the newcomer.

"Hey, handsome. Do me a favor for a second-just to show this guy what a real height difference looks like?"

The tall man frowned. Before he even had time to answer, Corinne grabbed his tie, yanked him down toward her, and, standing on her tiptoes, pressed her mouth firmly against his thin lips.

"See?" She pulled back. "You have to be at least as tall as him for a woman to stand on her tiptoes to kiss you!"

"How dare you..." The potbellied man leaped to his feet, pointing a trembling finger at Corinne, his face red with rage. "You shameless little tramp! Who kisses strangers like that? I'm telling the matchmaker. Your reputation will be ruined, and you'll never find a single soul to marry you in this circle!"

"Perfect!"

Once word got back, her stepmother Lilliana would have a much harder time forcing her into these ridiculous blind dates.

Corinne let out a contemptuous snort, aimed a mock kick at the nuisance of a date as he stormed off, and then waved at the stranger who had unwittingly "rescued" her at just the right moment.

"Thanks for the help, sir! See you around, maybe. Bye!"

She pivoted to leave, but a cold hand clamped down around her wrist.

"You kiss me without my permission, and now you plan to just walk away?"

A husky, composed male voice reached her ears. A shiver ran straight down her spine. She looked up, finally taking in his face-and something inside her stalled.

He was disconcertingly handsome.

His hair was styled with cold precision. Between his sharp features and striking eyes, something about his overall presence exuded a quiet authority and a deep, restrained sense of danger.

Oops.

Corinne, so absorbed in her little act, had just grabbed the tallest guy in the room without paying the slightest attention to his face.

Looking at him closely now, she realized she had stumbled upon someone exceptional-and someone far more dangerous than he first appeared.

She narrowed her eyes slightly. "What do you want from me?"

The man stared her down, his dark eyes unreadable. His lips parted slightly, on the verge of speaking.

Just then, his assistant, dressed sharply in black, hung up a phone and stepped forward with a grave expression. "Sir, we have a situation. Sophia's plane had to turn back due to weather conditions-she won't make it back today. What's the play? The engagement banquet is tonight, and we're almost out of time."

The man absorbed the news in silence. This banquet was no trivial matter. His grandfather, who had recently undergone a heart transplant, had set a strict condition for accepting the surgery: his grandson, still single at almost thirty, had to get engaged that very evening and married three days later.

Sophia was the woman he had hired to play the role of his fiancée to appease the old man. Now, she wasn't coming.

Since the man still hadn't let go of her wrist, Corinne sighed impatiently. "Do you need something else, sir? Can you let me go now?"

Jeremy Holden observed her in silence, something indecipherable shifting in the depths of his eyes. A cold smile curved his lips.

"This young woman offered herself up. She will do in Sophia's place," he said to his assistant.

His assistant, Tommy Jenkinson, shifted with visible discomfort. He sized Corinne up: the heavy eyeliner, the messy hair, the chaotic, whimsical outfit that looked like it belonged on a teenager. Not exactly the profile of a partner worthy of his employer.

"But sir, she's a bit..."

"It's decided. We're taking her."

Tommy didn't push it. "V-very well, sir."

Corinne felt like she had missed a step. "Me? Why me? What exactly are you planning to do to me?"

The man stared at her coldly. "I expect you to take responsibility for kissing me."

"Responsibility?" Corinne's face froze. "Are you joking? I gave you my first kiss, you know. And you're asking me to face the consequences?"

The man raised an eyebrow. "Your first kiss?"

Corinne let out a plaintive groan. "I saved it for twenty years, and I just wasted it on you!"

She certainly had nerve.

Jeremy's face hardened. "Take her," he ordered coldly.

Within seconds, several men in black suits corralled Corinne out the door and shoved her into the back of a luxurious black sedan.

In the heart of the New Capital stood Lunar Century Manor, the most prestigious urban address in the country. It was here that Jeremy, the young heir to the powerful Holden family, was hosting his engagement banquet.

"Who's Jeremy's lucky bride-to-be?"

"She has to be exceptional-good family, remarkable pedigree. An ordinary woman could never hold his attention!"

"Look, there he is! God, he's gorgeous..."

"Wait. The girl next to him... is that his fiancée? She looks a little... how should I put it..."

"Not exactly what we pictured...?"

All eyes locked onto Jeremy as he guided a young woman with a decidedly eccentric appearance toward the center of the stage. The banquet host stepped forward, microphone in hand.

"Good evening, everyone, and welcome to Mr. Jeremy Holden's engagement ceremony!"

Corinne's heart hammered against her ribs. She'd spent the entire ride regretting that impulsive kiss. At worst, she had expected him to hand her over to the police for assault. She would have gladly taken the punishment.

What she hadn't anticipated was this: being dragged onto a brightly lit stage, forced into an engagement with a terrifying stranger in front of half the city's elite.