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Bought: Damsel in Distress
Lucy King
Billionaire's bid. . . Luke Harrison is always in control. But ever since he bid for the chance to save a green-bikinied beauty he's felt his self-possession slipping away. . . Blind date. . . Independent Emily does not want rescuing ; until Luke, a smouldering knight in shining armour, swoops in on his private jet and starts to change her mind! Secret baby?Neither is prepared for the heat between them as Emily unbuttons her steely-eyed billionaire, or for when their no-strings fling leads to pleasure beyond their imagining. . .
She saw her own surprise and confusion, and something else reflected in his eyes. She was too close. She stumbled back, but his hands shot out, and before she realised what was happening he was pulling her back against him, wrapping his arms around her and crashing his mouth down on hers.
Her hands found their way to his back and her fingers bunched the fabric of his jacket, itching to delve underneath to touch his skin everywhere. The hard length of his erection pressed against her stomach. His hand curved round to brush the side of her breast and she moaned into his mouth.
She froze. The sound of her own desperate longing brought her thundering back to reality. What on earth were they doing? Locked together, kissing frantically, about to rip each other’s clothes off. In the lobby of a five-star hotel.
An identical thought had obviously occurred to Luke at exactly the same time. His hands stilled and he pulled back, staring down at her, his eyes so dark they were almost black and his breathing ragged as he struggled to get his body back under control.
‘Oh, dear,’ he said huskily, letting her go, turning on his heel and striding out of the hotel.
Dear Reader
Last year I read an interview with a singer whose sister once needed to get to a funeral in Ireland but was thwarted by rough seas and industrial action. So he put her up for auction on the internet as a damsel in distress. The highest bidder whisked her off to the funeral in his helicopter, they fell in love, and six months later they were married. How intriguing and romantic is that?
At around the same time Mills & Boon launched its ‘Feel the Heat’ competition on iheartpresents.com. Aspiring authors were invited to submit the first chapter and a synopsis of a Modern Heat™ story. My mind raced with possibilities. What sort of girl might end up for auction on the internet, and why would a man bid for her? And just how turbulent can the journey towards love be? Well, if you take a workaholic control freak like Luke, and a fun-loving spirit like Emily, it can turn out to be pretty bumpy! Anyway, I sent off my entry and hoped for the best while expecting the worst.
But then, to my utter amazement, I won. The prize was the invaluable advice and support of an editor, and this is the result. My first novel. Actually published. I don’t think the thrill will ever fade.
I hope you enjoy Luke and Emily’s story as much as I loved writing it.
Lucy
Lucy King spent her formative years lost in the world of Mills & Boon
romance when she really ought to have been paying attention to her teachers. Up against sparkling heroines, gorgeous heroes and the magic of falling in love, trigonometry and absolute ablatives didn’t stand a chance.
But, as she couldn’t live in a dreamworld for ever, she eventually acquired a degree in languages and an eclectic collection of jobs. A stroll to the River Thames one Saturday morning led her to her very own hero. The minute she laid eyes on the hunky rower getting out of a boat, clad only in Lycra
and carrying a three-metre oar as if it was a toothpick, she knew she’d met the man she was going to marry. Luckily, the rower thought the same.
She will always be grateful to whatever it was that made her stop dithering and actually sit down to type Chapter One, because dreaming up her own sparkling heroines and gorgeous heroes is pretty much her idea of the perfect job.
Originally a Londoner, Lucy now lives in Spain, where she spends much of the time reading, failing to finish cryptic crosswords, and trying to convince herself that lying on the beach really is the best way to work.
Visit her at www.lucyking.net
BOUGHT: DAMSEL IN DISTRESS
BY
LUCY KING
MILLS & BOON
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk/)
To my family, for their unfailing support.
CHAPTER ONE
‘YOU must be wondering what sort of girl ends up for auction on the internet,’ said Emily, picking up her glass of champagne and taking a quick sip. If she’d known such a course of action would lead to being swept off to the south of France by a gorgeous man in his private jet she’d have done it years ago, and to hell with what sort of girl it made her.
‘The thought had crossed my mind,’ Luke replied. He reached for his briefcase and flicked open the catches.
Emily settled back into the beige leather seat and looked out of the window, down at the fields and towns outside London as they blurred into ever smaller smudges of grey and green. ‘What conclusions did you draw?’ she said distractedly.
‘I couldn’t possibly comment.’
‘That bad?’ Was he being serious? Emily stifled a tiny sigh of defeat. Trying not to stare at the handsome face, broad shoulders and lean body of the man sitting diagonally opposite her, trying not to ogle the big tanned hands extracting a report from a folder, wasn’t working. It was like struggling to ignore the pull of a very strong magnet. Impossible. Her eyes swivelled to the dark head bent over the papers.
‘Unrepeatable,’ he replied, glancing up at her.
There went her stomach again. Slowly flipping over at the combination of eyes the colour of the Mediterranean in summer, the sexy half-smile and the deep, rumbling voice. Swooping in a way that had nothing to do with the flight.
Emily wrinkled her nose. ‘I can imagine. I’d have run through Lonely to Loopy with a stop-off at Desperate on the way. Not that I am any of those, of course,’ she added hastily.
‘Of course not,’ he said, in a tone that suggested he thought just that. ‘How did you guess?’
Ooooh, ouch. ‘I simply imagined what sort of person would respond to an ad like that,’ she replied sweetly.
Luke sat back and fixed her with a coolly amused stare. ‘I see you’ve regained the power of speech. It’s back with a bite.’
Emily fought the urge to squirm under his penetrating gaze and gave him what she thought might look like an apologetic smile. ‘Today has taken on an unexpectedly surreal quality. I’m only just getting my head round it.’
The moment they’d met, the instant she’d put her hand in his to shake it, she’d been struck uncharacteristically dumb. Her body had felt as though it had received a thousand-volt charge. Her heart had jumped and she’d gone momentarily dizzy, the blood racing to parts of her body that had been out of action for so long she’d forgotten she had them. She’d never experienced sexual attraction like it, and it was making her feel slightly unhinged.
‘You don’t invite strange men to transport you to foreign countries often?’ he asked, tilting his head to one side.
‘I don’t invite strange men to transport me anywhere ever.’
‘In that case why are you here?’
Emily shuddered. ‘You met my sister.’
He nodded. ‘A formidable woman.’
He sounded as if he thought this was an admirable quality. Emily frowned and pinched the bridge of her nose. ‘You have no idea.’
Four hours earlier
‘You did what?’ Emily nearly dropped her muffin into her cappuccino as her head snapped up and she gaped at her sister.
‘I said I sold you. On the internet.’ Anna glanced at her watch and then wiped her sons’ faces.
Emily felt a sliver of concern and raked her gaze over her sister’s immaculate exterior. Had she gone mad? Anna certainly looked normal, but who knew what could be lurking beneath the surface? If this was what motherhood did to a previously perfectly intelligent, clear-thinking woman then she was glad she’d made the decision never to have children herself.
She nodded as if in understanding. ‘Right. You sold me. On the internet. Aren’t there laws against things like that?’
‘Apparently not. It was surprisingly easy,’ replied Anna, calmly folding the tissue and placing it on her empty plate.
‘You are joking, aren’t you?’
Anna fixed Emily with a stern stare. ‘Not at all. I’m deadly serious.’
It was a look Emily was very familiar with. As realisation dawned, her smile slipped from her face. ‘Oh, my God. You are serious.’
‘Of course. I wouldn’t joke about a thing like this.’
Emily began to hyperventilate.
‘Now, don’t get hysterical,’ said Anna, thrusting a glass of water into her hand. ‘Deep breaths...If it makes you feel any better, I didn’t exactly sell you.’
Emily flapped her other hand in front of her face and fought for breath. ‘So what did you sell?’ she said, when she was finally able to speak.
Anna shrugged. ‘A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. In this age of equality, a chance to be chivalrous. The rescue of a damsel in distress.’
What? Since when had her sister developed a romantic streak? ‘And I’m the damsel?’
Anna nodded.
‘But why would you do that?’ Emily asked, utterly bewildered. ‘I’m not in distress.’
‘You are. The French baggage handlers are on strike.’
Oh, no, not this again.
‘Don’t look at me like that,’ said Anna indignantly. ‘Your obstinate refusal to go to Tom’s wedding is not healthy. You haven’t been out for so much as a drink with anyone since you split up. That’s not a single date in over a year. You need closure, and you’re not going to get it until you see the rat safely hitched to some other poor woman. Then you’ll be able to move on.’
‘He may have dumped me and got engaged to an aristocratic French floozy two months later, but he’s not a rat,’ said Emily wearily, ignoring the sceptical look Anna threw her. ‘And for the millionth time I have moved on.’
Anna glanced at her watch. ‘Talking of moving on, we need to go home.’ She turned, and with an imperceptible nod of her head signalled for the bill.
‘Why?’ Emily said carefully, tendrils of suspicion winding round her nerves.
‘Because the person who won the auction is turning up at any minute.’
Emily gaped in horror. ‘What? Now?’
‘Of course,’ Anna replied, standing up and brushing a crumb off her front. ‘The wedding is tomorrow, isn’t it?’
Emily could only nod in dumb stupefaction.
‘Well, then. You leave this afternoon.’ Anna marched to the bar to pay, leaving Emily to unravel the chaos of the last five minutes. But it was all too much. Where did she start?
‘Who won?’ she managed eventually as they started along the path that led across the common to Anna’s house.
‘A man called Luke Harrison. He was very determined. The bidding went right to the wire. It was gripping stuff, I can tell you.’
‘I’m so glad.’ Emily’s sarcastic tone went unnoticed.
‘So was I. greatsexguaranteed was also extremely persistent, but I had a funny feeling about him.’
‘Can’t think why. So how is this Luke Harrison going to help me get to France?’ Emily panted, struggling to keep up with Anna’s brutal pace.
‘Private jet. Rather inspired, I thought.’
‘But I have plans this weekend. I can’t just drop everything.’
Anna shot her a sceptical look. ‘A pot that urgently needs glazing?’
Emily bit her lip and nodded.
‘You’re twenty-eight. You should be Out There. Meeting men. Not hunched over a wheel with clay under your nails. Pots won’t keep you warm at night.’
Emily glared at Anna mutinously. ‘I have an electric blanket.’
Anna marched on, undeterred.
Emily tried again. ‘How do you know he’s got a plane? How do you know he’s going to turn up? He might be a lunatic. I mean, what sort of person bids for a woman in an internet auction? He could be a kidnapper, a murderer—anyone.’ Her voice was rising, becoming more desperate. Anna merely looked at her witheringly and Emily threw her hands up in exasperation. ‘You’re insane.’
‘I’m a genius. Don’t be so melodramatic. I spoke to his mother on the phone and discovered that we have friends in common.’
Emily’s jaw dropped. ‘His mother?’
‘I had to get references,’ said Anna defensively. ‘You don’t think I’d send you off with just anyone, do you?’
‘I am suddenly at a complete loss as to what you would do.’
‘I’ve arranged for him to pick you up here so that we can check him out first. Just in case.’
Emily ground her teeth. ‘It’ll be a wasted journey. I’m not going.’
Anna stopped at the bottom of the steps leading up to her front door and rummaged in her bag for the keys. ‘Think of the charity.’
Emily’s eyes narrowed. ‘What charity?’
‘The money Mr Harrison paid is going to a charity that investigates and helps prevent maternal mortality.’
Emily gasped. A familiar dull pain clenched her heart and she felt the blood drain from her face. ‘That’s a low blow, Anna,’ she said quietly.
‘It’s not meant to be, darling. But I spent years bringing you up and I hate to see you wasting your life over that loser. Will you do it for me?’
Emily wavered. She owed her sister so much. Anna had made huge sacrifices on her behalf. When their father had died, fourteen years after their mother, it had been left to Anna to raise her. And she knew she hadn’t been the easiest of teenagers to handle. Besides, her sister in this mode was unstoppable, and there was only so much battering she could take. Her resistance crumbled and she let out a resigned sigh. ‘OK. Assuming he’s not crazy, or worse, I’ll go. Can I take David with me?’
‘No husband borrowing. Besides, he’s at a conference in New York.’
