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Broken Resolutions: A Rule Worth Breaking / The Man She Can't Forget / Billionaire Boss, M.D.
Maggie Cox
Olivia Gates
A Rule Worth Breaking by Maggie CoxWorld-class music producer Jake never gives into temptation when it comes to work. But Caitlin is an irresistible force… and the ultimate test of his golden rule.The Man She Can't Forget Maggie CoxWhen Gabriel swoops back into Lara’s life he brings with him a whirlwind of emotion. Gabriel knows he should walk away… but Lara is breaking down the walls around his heart.Billionaire Boss M.D. by Olivia GatesDr Liliana Accardi has a new boss, billionaire Antonio Balducci and from their first encounter she’s mesmerised by him! It’s only after their passionate affair has begun that she discovers his plan was always revenge!
The day MAGGIE COX saw the film version of Wuthering Heights, with a beautiful Merle Oberon and a very handsome Laurence Olivier, was the day she became hooked on romance. From that day onwards she spent a lot of time dreaming up her own romances, secretly hoping that one day she might become published and get paid for doing what she loved most!
Now that her dream is being realised she wakes up every morning and counts her blessings. She is married to a gorgeous man and is the mother of two wonderful sons. Her two other great passions in life—besides her family and reading/writing—are music and films.
USA TODAY bestselling author OLIVIA GATES has written over forty books in action/adventure, thriller, medical, paranormal and contemporary romance.
Her signature is her uber-alpha male heroes. Whether they’re gods, black-ops agents, virtuoso surgeons or ruthless billionaires, they all fall in love once and for life with the only women who can match them and bring them to their knees. She loves to hear from readers always, so don’t hesitate to email her at oliviagates@gmail.com (mailto:oliviagates@gmail.com).
Broken Resolutions
A Rule Worth Breaking
Maggie Cox
The Man She Can’t Forget
Maggie Cox
Billionaire Boss, M.D.
Olivia Gates
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-08151-1
BROKEN RESOLUTIONS
A Rule Worth Breaking © 2014 Maggie Cox The Man She Can’t Forget © 2014 Maggie Cox Billionaire Boss, M.D. © 2016 Olivia Gates
Published in Great Britain 2018
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
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www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Table of Contents
Cover (#u5e32de98-5326-55ca-a664-8f2c1e2f6216)
About the Authors (#u542ddda9-4568-5ae8-a6f2-ef0dc3b67a5e)
Title Page (#ufb4de937-a322-5086-8c86-1c21315672bc)
Copyright (#u5e32de98-5326-55ca-a664-8f2c1e2f6216)
A Rule Worth Breaking (#ue87bd5ea-604f-51fb-a2ce-d47cc700e2fe)
Dedication (#uc72e69c2-26cb-5340-8844-ccf32f1e14dd)
CHAPTER ONE (#u1169f8b3-71b0-537a-9d7b-0d730bed7855)
CHAPTER TWO (#u27d06e7b-8070-5b7d-93df-4419614df9a1)
CHAPTER THREE (#u0a1c057a-7584-5e2d-b47c-d1c8bd539218)
CHAPTER FOUR (#u50a64920-ef40-5ad3-b852-9a13b2e5fbd1)
CHAPTER FIVE (#u82e6fbb4-8638-5bb3-adf2-a05f1cbb9815)
CHAPTER SIX (#u962fa0b5-baee-5905-bc66-6ef3bebf7daf)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#u11e8ddfd-6c4a-52e8-a408-38c2c543c459)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#u65ba8f1d-c0a0-5ab1-bad6-a146665de80e)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)
The Man She Can’t Forget (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWO (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER THREE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)
Billionaire Boss, M.D. (#litres_trial_promo)
Back Cover Text (#litres_trial_promo)
One (#litres_trial_promo)
Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Three (#litres_trial_promo)
Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
A Rule Worth Breaking (#u43d3e29c-96b1-53b5-a622-ceff093f1dd3)
Maggie Cox
To Joy
You were and always will be one of the true lights of my life.
With love and affection,
Maggie x
CHAPTER ONE (#u43d3e29c-96b1-53b5-a622-ceff093f1dd3)
‘WHAT DO YOU THINK?’ Unable to suppress the disagreeable sense of disappointment that was churning in his gut, Jake Sorenson glanced up at the stage at Rick—his ‘partner in crime’—who was all but wearing out the floor, pacing back and forth in his worn Cuban-heeled boots. The auditions weren’t exactly going well.
Rick abruptly stopped pacing to spear an exasperated hand through his dull gold hair. Studying Jake, he snapped, ‘What do I think? I think that Rosie Rhys-Jones, or whatever her name is, just isn’t good enough. God knows Marcie is a hard act to follow, but Rosie…’
‘Josie.’
‘Josie. Whatever…’ Scowling, Rick folded his muscular arms across his leather waistcoat and continued. ‘The woman would be fine on a cruise ship, entertaining folk with more money than taste, but she’s not lead vocalist material and that’s a fact. Bottom line is, Jake, I can’t see any of the singers we’ve heard so far fronting a potentially great band like Blue Sky—can you?’
In answer, Jake stared off into the distance. Mentally reviewing the past few auditions, he couldn’t help but agree. He returned his arresting blue gaze to his friend and the characteristic dimple that highlighted a rare smile appeared at the side of his mouth.
‘You’re right, of course. We’ll just have to keep on looking.’
Jake rarely elaborated. Not unless he absolutely had to. But he knew that when it came to making a decision ultimately the final say would be his. Although Rick had been in the music business even longer than he had—at the height of his career Jake had been one of the most successful record producers in the business—he knew that the other man valued his expertise and judgement.
‘Is there anyone left outside to see?’ Yawning as he rose to his feet, Jake stretched his arms high above his head. The movement made his shirt ride up several inches to reveal a taut flat stomach tapering into lean hips and long-boned thighs, currently encased in faded dark blue denim.
At the same time Rick expertly jumped off the stage and ambled across the dusty wooden floor to join him. ‘Not unless they’re lurking in the graveyard out there’ he joked.
He feigned an exaggerated shiver, his bemused expression conveying exactly what he thought about conducting auditions in an obscure village hall deep in the heart of rural England. But Jake knew that doing things this way at least afforded them a certain amount of privacy that wasn’t always possible in London.
The music press and tabloids were always keen to know what he was up to. He was the man who had famously brought several acts from the UK to prominence. But at the height of his career he’d been caught up in a destructive scandal that had cut short his seemingly unstoppable rise to the top when it hit the headlines. After that Jake had dropped out of producing and promoting bands to lick his wounds, reassess his life and reflect on what he might do instead.
For a few years following his very public fall from grace he’d become a perpetual nomad, travelling the world. And while he’d thought he would never entertain the idea of working in the music industry again, when he’d been travelling he’d begun to listen to and study the ethnic music of other cultures and realised that he couldn’t leave music alone. It had always been and still was his abiding interest—the thing that made life worth living. And when he’d finally brought his explorative sojourn to an end he’d returned to the UK and made the decision to go back to his roots.
He’d started out managing a band long before he’d become a producer and now, after fifteen years in the business, had come full circle to manage Blue Sky.
Glancing down at his watch, he grimaced. ‘Anyway, I think I’ve heard enough to know that we haven’t found our singer yet. Want to call it a day?’
Dropping his hands to his hips, Jake glanced across at the three band members who were waiting expectantly for him to make a decision about what they were going to do next.
‘No doubt these guys have had enough, too. So let’s go get a hot pie and a beer. We can make an early start in the morning. There’s a girl from Birmingham that might be a possibility. She’s lead vocalist in a band that have attracted quite a following in her home town’
Despite trying to sound hopeful, Jake knew his downbeat tone conveyed that the girl from Birmingham was more than likely another no. What he was looking for—what they were all looking for—was someone extraordinary, a girl who stood out from the crowd, who could hold her own fronting a band that had been on the brink of major success before Marcie’s sudden and abrupt departure.
It was a crying shame that the woman should have decided at the eleventh hour that she’d rather marry her childhood sweetheart and go and cultivate grapes in the Dordogne than front a rock band. But that, as they said, was showbiz. Still, if anyone could work a miracle Jake knew that he could. All he needed to prove it was to find an amazing singer.
A door slammed loud and hard and the shock in the room was tangible. The sound reverberated round the vaulted high-ceilinged hall like a cannon exploding. What the hell…?
Jake was taken aback when he saw the perpetrator. Tall, slim and dark-haired, she was struggling with the belt of her raincoat, which he could see had become trapped between the hall’s back doors when they’d slammed shut. His transfixed gaze worked its way up from long black suede boots to slim toned legs clad in sheer black hosiery. For a long moment he was fixated by a shapely knee, where its smooth flesh peeped intriguingly through a frayed tear the size of a small coin. As she struggled to free her belt the girl emitted a breathy little sound that might have been a curse.
Briefly turning his head, Jake found Rick grinning. He knew it wasn’t just because the girl had got herself in a fix. When she finally extricated the belt and lifted her head to murmur a blushing apology he felt as though all the air had just been punched out of his lungs. She was absolutely stunning. Even at a distance he could see that her eyes were the most dazzling emerald-green he’d ever seen in his life. Add to that apple cheeks, and full, luscious lips stained the colour of ripe cherries, and Jake sensed all the testosterone in the room heave a collective sigh—his own included.
Rick was the first to recover. ‘Hi. Can I help you?’ he called out cheerfully.
