The Care and Feeding of an Alpha Male

218 Pages·2012·1.15 MB·English

by  Clare Jessica

THE CARE AND
FEEDING OF AN
ALPHA Male
Titles by Jessica Clare
THE GIRL’S GUIDE TO (MAN)HUNTING
THE CARE AND FEEDING OF AN ALPHA MALE
eSpecial
THE BILLIONAIRE OF BLUEBONNET
THE CARE AND
FEEDING OF AN
ALPHA Male
JESSICA CLARE
HEAT
New York
THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a
division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) • Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England •
Penguin Group Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.) •
Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of
Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.) • Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel
Park, New Delhi—110 017, India • Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New
Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.) • Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee
Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
This book is an original publication of The Berkley Publishing Group.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business
establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and
does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
Copyright © 2012 by Jessica Clare.
Cover art by Collage Photographer / Veer.
Cover design by Lesley Worrell.
Text design by Tiffany Estreicher.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without
permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the
author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
HEAT and the HEAT design are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
PUBLISHING HISTORY
Heat trade paperback edition / October 2012
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Clare, Jessica.
The care and feeding of an alpha male / Jessica Clare.—Heat trade paperback ed.
p. cm.
ISBN: 978-1-101-61180-7
I. Title.
PS3603.L353C37 2012
813’.6—dc23
2012007753
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ALWAYS LEARNING
PEARSON
For my parents, who pass out bookmarks at bingo, wear T-shirts
of my book covers, and tell everyone quite proudly that their
daughter is a romance novelist. I love you guys.
Table of Contents
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
ONE
S
o when are you going to marry that nice young man of yours?”
The elderly woman smiled, the sequins on her green evening gown blinding
as she bent over and signed her name to the silent auction paperwork that Beth
Ann held out to her. “I think you’ve kept him waiting long enough, young lady.”
“Oh, I think he’ll have to wait a bit longer,” Beth Ann said lamely. She
wished the woman would just go away. God, this party was a mistake. Beth Ann
should have guessed that everyone here would still consider her and Allan as a
couple. It didn’t matter that they’d been history for the last year now. No one at
this party was more than a casual acquaintance, or a business partner of a family
member, and they wouldn’t know that Beth Ann and Allan had broken up again,
this time for good. And a cocktail party? Not the place to discuss the status (or
lack of one) of her previous relationship.
Beth Ann shoved the envelope into Mrs. Douglas’s hand. “Thank you for
your donation. The Bluebonnet Historical Society appreciates your
participation.”
Mrs. Douglas took the envelope she’d won and reached out and patted her
on the hand. “I’m just saying, my dear, that you shouldn’t keep a man like that
dangling too long, or you might lose him.”
That’s my hope, Beth Ann thought to herself. She exchanged a few more
pleasantries with the elderly woman, and then made a hasty getaway to the
refreshment table, trying to keep the smile pinned to her face despite her
simmering thoughts.
She was starting to hate parties like this. Or rather, she’d hated them ever
since she’d dumped Allan once and for all. He was a nice guy. Great with kids.
Ambitious. Her high school sweetheart. She knew him better than anyone else.
And he couldn’t keep his dick in his pants.
The first time he’d confessed to cheating on her, she’d blamed herself.
Their sex life had gotten cold, so it must have been her fault that he had strayed.
She’d gone to counseling to work through her anger and at home, tried to be
more adventuresome in bed. She’d gone out of her way to make the relationship
work. Forgave him when he groveled. Things had gone back to normal, and
she’d prided herself on loving her relationship—and her man—enough to work