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Rumours: The Ruthless Ravensdales: Ravensdale's Defiant Captive (The Ravensdale Scandals) / Awakening the Ravensdale Heiress (The Ravensdale Scandals) / Engaged to Her Ravensdale Enemy (The Ravensdale Scandals)
MELANIE MILBURNE
Scandal follows the notorious Ravensdale family! Holly Perez has one last chance to sort out the train wreck her life has become. But being housekeeper to reclusive CEO Julius Ravensdale is as close to a prison as Holly could imagine. Julius may be devastatingly gorgeous but he’s also brooding, formal and completely off-limits! Miranda Ravensdale’s first experience of love ended in tragedy so she buried her heart along with her memories. No man has ever broken through Miranda’s quiet façade…until billionaire Leandro Allegretti. Leandro is determined to bring Miranda’s sensuality to life…kiss by seductive kiss… When Jasmine Connolly’s third engagement is broken off, she decides to make her man jealous by enlisting the help of her enemy, playboy Jake Ravensdale! But what’s to stop her from falling prey to the playboy’s charms…?
About the Authors (#u2749712f-7352-5476-818a-34ed57cbdfd4)
An avid romance reader, MELANIE MILBURNE loves writing the books that gave her so much joy as she was busy getting married to her own hero and raising a family. Now a USA Today bestselling author, she has won several awards—including The Australian Readers’ Association most popular category/series romance in 2008 and the prestigious Romance Writers of Australia R*BY award in 2011.
She loves to hear from readers!
www.MelanieMilburne.com.au (http://www.MelanieMilburne.com.au)
www.Facebook.com/Melanie.Milburne (http://www.Facebook.com/Melanie.Milburne)
Twitter @MelanieMilburn1 (http://www.twitter.com/MelanieMilburn1)
Rumours: The Ruthless Ravensdales
Ravensdale’s Defiant Captive
Awakening the Ravensdale Heiress
Engaged to Her Ravensdale Enemy
Melanie Milburne
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-09612-6
RUMOURS: THE RUTHLESS RAVENSDALES
Ravensdale’s Defiant Captive © 2015 Melanie Milburne Awakening the Ravensdale Heiress © 2016 Melanie Milburne Engaged to Her Ravensdale Enemy © 2016 Melanie Milburne
Published in Great Britain 2019
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 (#u906f4697-d13e-58d1-b44b-b0f64176d721)
About the Authors (#u4ab69c3a-32d5-548c-a353-a33386f7cd20)
Title Page (#ua3a961d8-822a-58ce-9659-75cba683cda4)
Copyright (#u70a56b3d-00ed-537e-8a57-4b9c70da445c)
Ravensdale’s Defiant Captive (#u422bc91e-bd9a-52f7-aab0-1c03f1c5a93d)
Dedication (#ud036157c-2d23-56ed-9d53-385e20bf5de8)
CHAPTER ONE (#u94dadfbc-9764-574d-a90c-6076739fd02c)
CHAPTER TWO (#u414c49c2-de17-5023-98cd-4686e1ac784a)
CHAPTER THREE (#uace7dd11-ad95-53f2-9bfd-233bf96b6e57)
CHAPTER FOUR (#ufdd9760f-1cf5-583a-aba4-b4041404bca0)
CHAPTER FIVE (#u9665c9f9-91eb-5619-9578-ce0cf35047e7)
CHAPTER SIX (#u8bd903f4-ef46-5fbe-8104-53fca06d66ef)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#ubf10fc3e-e33d-5a7a-939b-9fb25036d93e)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#u3b556d21-694d-5e2f-ad17-aa67d97c4301)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)
Awakening the Ravensdale Heiress (#litres_trial_promo)
Dedication (#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)
Engaged to Her Ravensdale Enemy (#litres_trial_promo)
Dedication (#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)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
Ravensdale’s Defiant Captive (#u2749712f-7352-5476-818a-34ed57cbdfd4)
Melanie Milburne
To Ella Carey, a talented writer,
a dear friend and a wonderful person.
I love our writing chats! xxx
CHAPTER ONE (#u2749712f-7352-5476-818a-34ed57cbdfd4)
JULIUS RAVENSDALE KNEW his housekeeper was up to something as soon as she brought in his favourite dessert. ‘Queen’s pudding?’ He raised one of his brows. ‘I never have dessert at lunch unless it’s a special occasion.’
‘It is a special occasion,’ Sophia said as she put the meringue-topped dessert in front of him.
He narrowed his gaze. ‘Okay, tell me. What’s going on?’
Sophia’s expression was sheepish. ‘I’m bringing in a girl to help me run the house. It’s only for a month until this wretched tendonitis settles. The extra pair of hands will be so helpful and I’ll be doing my bit for society. It’s a win-win.’
Julius glanced at the wrist brace Sophia had been wearing for the past couple of weeks. He knew she worked far too hard and could do with the extra help but he liked to keep the staff numbers down in the villa. Not because he was mean about paying them. He would pay them triple to stay away and let him get on with his work. ‘Who is it?’
‘Just a girl who’s in need of a bit of direction.’
Julius mentally rolled his eyes. Of all the housekeepers he could have chosen, he had employed the Argentinian reincarnation of Mother Teresa. ‘I thought we agreed your lame ducks were restricted to the stables or the gardens?’
‘I know, but this girl will go to prison if—’
‘Prison?’ he said. ‘You’re bringing a convicted criminal here?’
‘She’s only been in trouble a couple of times,’ Sophia said. ‘Anyway, maybe the guy deserved it.’
‘What did she do to him?’
‘She keyed his brand-new sports car.’
Julius’s gut clenched at the thought of his showroom-perfect Aston Martin housed in the garage. ‘I suppose she said it was an accident?’
‘No, she admitted to it,’ Sophia said. ‘She was proud of it. That and the message she sprayed on his lawn with weed killer.’
‘She sounds delightful.’
‘So you’ll agree to have her?’
Julius took in his housekeeper’s hopeful expression. His sarcasm was lost on her. Sophia was the most charitable person he knew. Always doing things for others. Always looking for a way to make a difference in someone’s life. He knew she was lonely since both her adult children had moved abroad for work. What would it hurt to indulge her just this once? He would be busy with fine-tuning his space software. He had less than a month to iron out the kinks in the programming before he presented it to the research team for funding approval.
He let out a long breath. ‘I don’t suppose you’ve ever thought of taking up knitting or cross-stitch instead?’
Sophia beamed at him. ‘Just wait until you meet her. You’re going to love her.’
* * *
Holly considered making a run for it when the van stopped but the size of the villa and its surrounds made her pause. It was big. Way big. Massive. It probably had its own area code. Maybe its own political party. It was four storeys high, built in a neo-classical style with spectacular gardens and lush, rolling fields fringed by thick forest. It didn’t look anything like the detention centre she’d envisaged. There was no twelve-foot-high fence with electrified barbed wire at the top. There was no surveillance tower and no uniformed, rifle-toting guards—or, at least, none she could see— casing the joint. It looked like a top-end hotel—a luxurious and very private resort for the rich and famous. Which kind of made her wonder why she’d been sent here. Not that she’d been expecting chains and bread and water or anything, but still. This was seriously over the top.
‘It’s only for a month,’ Natalia Varela, her caseworker, said as the decorative wrought-iron gates opened electronically, allowing them access to the long, sweeping limestone driveway leading to the immaculately maintained villa. ‘You got off lightly considering your rap sheet. I know a few people who’d happily swap places with you.’
Holly grunted. Folded her arms across her breasts. Crossed her right leg over her left. Jerked her ankle up and down. Pouted. Why should she look happy? Why should she act grateful that she was being sent to live with some man she’d never heard of in his big, old fancy villa?
A month.
Thirty-one days of living with some stranger who had magnanimously volunteered to ‘reform’ her. Ha-ha. Like that was going to work. Who was this guy anyway? All she’d been told was he was some hotshot techie nerd from England who had made the big time in Argentina designing software for space telescopes used in the Atacama Desert in neighbouring Chile. Oh, and he was apparently single. Holly rolled her eyes. He’d agreed to take on a troubled young woman for altruistic reasons? And the correctional authorities had actually fallen for that?
