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The Billionaire’s Fake Engagement / Man from Stallion Country: The Billionaire’s Fake Engagement / Man from Stallion Country
Robyn Grady
Annette Broadrick
Be swept away by passion… with intense drama and compelling plots, these emotionally powerful reads will keep you captivated from beginning to end.The Billionaire’s Fake Engagement Robyn Grady A scandal threatened one of Australia’s most powerful bachelor billionaires. The solution? A proposal. Alexander Ramirez was committed to the idea of family and his lover Natalie Wilder certainly brought the right assets to his bedroom. But Natalie had a secret…Man from Stallion Country Annette Broadrick As owner of a successful ranch, and soon to be married, Jordan Crenshaw had everything in order. So when gorgeous city girl Janeen White visited, Jordan was certain that any attraction he might have felt for her was pointless. Until he suddenly found himself single once more.
The Billionaire’s Fake Engagement by Robyn Grady
He pressed a lingering kiss to her brow. “You will wear my ring.”
She ran her fingertips over his back. “I can’t think now.”
“I don’t want you to think. I want you to feel…My ring, Natalie.”
Whether it was his bone-melting heat sliding against her or the dark-chocolate voice at her ear, in that moment he convinced her. This was their house, their new beginning. She did feel and she felt wonderful. So utterly right she was dizzy with the magic of it.
“Yes,” she murmured.
Man from Stallion Country by Annette Broadrick
“If you’re afraid of hurting my feelings, don’t be. I’m tough. I can take it.”
“OK,” he said slowly. “Here goes.” He cleared his throat. “Having you here is driving me crazy. I keep thinking about you no matter how hard I try to get you out of my mind. I don’t want to be attracted to you. I’m going to marry Cindy.”
Janeen stared at him in disbelief. He couldn’t be serious! She tried to think of something to say.
He muttered something under his breath and moved towards her. He pulled her to him and kissed her like a man would drink if he was dying of thirst and had just found a gushing fountain. When he finally loosened his hold and stepped back from her, she was almost too weak to stand.
Available in June 2010 from Mills & Boon
Desire
Conquering King’s Heart
by Maureen Child
&
Montana Mistress
by Sara Orwig
The Billionaire’s Fake Engagement
by Robyn Grady
&
Man from Stallion Country
by Annette Broadrick
The Illegitimate King
by Olivia Gates
&
Friday Night Mistress
by Jan Colley
The Billionaire’s Fake Engagement
by
Robyn Grady
Man From Stallion Country
by
Annette Broadrick
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
The Billionaire’s Fake Engagement
by
Robyn Grady
Dear Reader,
To err is human, to forgive divine is a noble adage to live by. But have you ever been so badly burned that you were unable to forgive the person responsible? Sometimes forgiving ourselves over enduring regrets can prove even more difficult than forgiving others.
On the surface, Natalie Wilder, my heroine from The Billionaire’s Fake Engagement, has it all together. She’s successful, poised, well-liked and respected. However, beneath the mask Natalie is tormented. Six years ago, she suffered a woman’s worst nightmare…the loss of a child…and she blames no one but herself.
Enter Alexander Ramirez: intelligent, masterful and committed to the idea of family. He’s a man ready to take the next step…with the right woman. Could his mysterious and beautiful Natalie be the one? After a sizzling start, however, their relationship runs into a massive roadblock and the blows just keep coming! But the mounting challenges only see Alexander more determined to make Natalie his bride. until a final secret is divulged – a complication that Alex might be able to forgive but can never forget.
Hope you enjoy Alex and Natalie’s story!
Best wishes,
Robyn
Robyn Grady left a fifteen-year career in television production knowing that the time was right to pursue her dream of writing romance. She adores cats, clever movies and spending time with her wonderful husband and their three precious daughters. living on Australia’s glorious Sunshine Coast, her perfect day includes a beach, a book and no laundry when she gets home. Robyn loves to hear from readers. You can contact her at www.robyngrady. com.
To our Nan, coz, baby, you’re the best!
With huge thanks to my editor, Diana Ventimiglia, for her faith and stellar enthusiasm and my agent, Jennifer Schober, for her brilliant advice and support.
Chapter One
“I believe this is our dance.”
Achingly aware of the masculine heat at her back, Natalie Wilder bit down on her lip—an attempt to quell her full body quiver. Above the soft strains of music she’d heard his sable-smooth voice, but should she pretend that she hadn’t?
Rather than a request, his words had been more a decree, and she wasn’t the kind to be pushed. At least she wasn’t that kind anymore.
Still, tonight she was intrigued.
On the romantically lit dance floor, she edged away from her current partner’s hold—a nice man she’d met five minutes earlier—and turned to gaze into a pair of eyes. Penetrating, entrancing, smiling dark eyes.
Her heart began to race.
Everyone here knew this man. He was of Spanish descent, charming, mysterious—some might even say dangerous. For the last few minutes, she’d secretly watched him watching her from a shadowed corner of the ballroom. His name was an exotic elixir she craved to taste on her tongue.
Natalie gifted him a smile. “Alexander Ramirez, isn’t it?”
Onyx eyes flashed before his beautifully sculpted mouth curved…a mouth that knew how to kiss. How to love.
He lifted her hand to that warm mouth now and murmured, “At your service.”
When she’d arrived tonight, she’d taken in a view of the majestic Opera House shells presiding over Sydney’s famous harbour. The bridge was a glittering arc to the left of a low-slung full moon, which radiated lazy ribbons of gold over the shifting twilight waters. That extraordinary sight paled in comparison to this man’s casual yet compelling gaze.
Be wary, it seemed to say. Approach at your own risk.
Ramirez was anything but nice.
Acceding to his competition, Natalie’s ousted partner thanked her for the dance and Mr. Ramirez gathered her in strong tuxedo-clad arms. Beneath a shower of slow-spinning lights, she took note of his rock-solid heat and masculine scent, so clean and in-toxicating the sexual awareness it created was close to drugging.
While his thumb grazed a slow circle between her shoulder blades, Natalie deigned to ask, “Isn’t cutting in a little presumptuous?”
He spoke to her lips. “No.”
She raised her brows. “Such a simple answer.”
“’Twas a simple question.”
She tingled at his accent, its sensual slide as subtle as a brush with warm black satin. Reckless, no doubt, but she wanted to feel it again.
“I have another question.”
“Be my guest.”
“Are you in the habit of undressing women with your eyes from across crowded rooms?”
When his handsome face tipped closer, glossy black hair fell over one side of his brow. “Not until tonight.”
She grinned. Smooth didn’t come close.
“You didn’t stop to think that your examination might’ve made me uncomfortable.”
“Only in a welcomed way.”
She laughed softly. “Mr. Ramirez, you’re shameless.”
“And you’re beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, I’m tempted to whisk you away from here directly to my bed.”
A rush of heat flashed through her centre, tightening the tips of her breasts beneath her gown’s silver-white bodice. His gaze challenged hers even as it mesmerised and roped her in.
But she wouldn’t reward him with any hint of surrender. She was having far too much fun teasing.
Her gaze flicked away. “I hardly think that’s appropriate talk, here, in front of—”
“I’m not finished.” Hot fingertips ironed down the sensitive curve of her back, stopping at the small of her spine, coaxing her hips that much closer to his. He leaned near, her neck arced back and his parted lips grazed hers. “When you’re naked and trembling with want beneath me, I’ll devour you, first with my hands, then my mouth…”
She swallowed and trembled inside. “What then?”
“You know what then.” His calculating eyes crinkled at the corners. “You’re looking forward to what then.”
Her heart galloped on. “Has anyone mentioned you’re incredibly arrogant?”
The beast chuckled. “No one would dare.”
“I’d dare.”
“Like you dared to leave my bed at some ungodly hour this morning?” His fingers delved lower, over the arc of her behind, releasing a sensual spill of lava through her veins. “I pulled you back and you stayed another hour. I should have persuaded you to stay two.”
Melting from the inside out, she pretended to look over her shoulder. “Your hand’s a little low. What will the other guests say?”
His smile eased wider. “Lucky man.”
Sighing, she combed her fingers over his impossibly broad shoulder then upward to cup his firm raspy jaw.
Her lover of three glorious months was enjoying their private seduction game as much as she was. Every day they were together, the thrill of seeing each other—touching each other—only grew. The knowledge was like a brewing storm…intense, volatile, at times forbiddingly dark, at others super-nova bright. But there’d been no talk of a future. Nor would there be.
Some people’s pasts couldn’t be left behind.
Six years ago, seventeen-year-old Tallie Wilder from Constance Plains accepted that she’d put on weight for a reason. Quaking inside, she’d informed Chris Nagars in the dispatch room of his father’s hardware store that she was late. They were pregnant. Her boyfriend had spliced a hand through his shock of dark hair, had pledged his love and had split town the next day. Crushed, Tallie summoned the courage to tell her parents over Sunday roast.
She wanted to keep her baby.
At the head of the table, a dazed Jack Wilder had slowly hooked his thumbs under his braces while Tallie’s poor mother had cried softly into her dinner napkin. Constance Plains was an old-fashioned town. Girls who got in trouble weren’t forgotten, or forgiven, and at twenty weeks she was beginning to show.
The next month, walking home from the grocery store where she tended till, Tallie had been daydreaming of escaping Constance Plains, of being independent and smart enough to succeed, when she stumbled and hit the pavement hard. A crippling pain gripped her tummy before a rush of warm water emptied in her pants.
Her parents rushed her to the six-bed hospital where she’d given birth prematurely. May Wilder was by her daughter’s side the entire time, her near colourless grey eyes glistening with unconditional love and support.
