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In The Enemy's Embrace
Mindy Neff
Brides of the Desert Rose:Return to the scene of scandals and seduction in this follow-up to the bestselling TEXAS SHEIKHS series.The Only DaughterLet Nick Grayson teach you the ropes around the office, her family said, and even feisty Jessica Coleman could not deny her duty–especially since one day she would inherit the family business. But still shamed by her teenage infatuation with the arrogant executive, Jessica decided to play it cool and distant…all the while making Nick drool and regret what he'd so carelessly turned down years ago. However, her carefully laid out plan spun out of control when Nick took her in his arms for a soul-searing kiss that led to a heated night of passion. Soon Jessica wondered how she'd survive falling for the enemy with her heart intact….
Brides of the DESERT ROSE
Harlequin American Romance
invites you to return to Bridle, Texas,
and the Desert Rose Ranch—
the scene of scandals and seduction
based on the bestselling Texas Sheikhs series….
IN THE ENEMY’S EMBRACE
by Mindy Neff
HAR #925
AT THE RANCHER’S BIDDING
by Charlotte Maclay
HAR #929
BY THE SHEIKH’S COMMAND
by Debbi Rawlins
HAR #933
Dear Reader,
What better way to celebrate June, a month of courtship and romance, than with four new spectacular books from Harlequin American Romance?
First, the always wonderful Mindy Neff inaugurates Harlequin American Romance’s new three-book continuity series, BRIDES OF THE DESERT ROSE, which is a follow-up to the bestselling TEXAS SHEIKHS series. In the Enemy’s Embrace is a sexy rivals-become-lovers story you won’t want to miss.
When a handsome aristocrat finds an abandoned newborn, he turns to a beautiful doctor to save the child’s life. Will the adorable infant bond their hearts together and make them the perfect family? Find out in A Baby for Lord Roderick by Emily Dalton. Next, in To Love an Older Man by Debbi Rawlins, a dashing attorney vows to deny his attraction to the pregnant woman in need of his help. With love and affection, can the expectant beauty change the older man’s mind? Sharon Swan launches her delightful continuing series WELCOME TO HARMONY with Home-Grown Husband, which features a single-mom gardener who looks to her mysterious and sexy new neighbor to spice up her life with some much-needed excitement and romance.
This month, and every month, come home to Harlequin American Romance—and enjoy!
Best,
Melissa Jeglinski
Associate Senior Editor
Harlequin American Romance
In The Enemy’s Embrace
Mindy Neff
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mindy Neff published her first book with Harlequin American Romance in 1995. Since then, she has appeared regularly on the Waldenbooks bestseller list and won numerous awards, including the National Readers’ Choice Award, the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award, as well as nominations for the prestigious RITA
Award.
Originally from Louisiana, Mindy settled in Southern California, where she married a really romantic guy and raised five great kids. Family, friends, writing and reading are her passions. When Mindy is not writing, her ideal getaway is a good book, hot sunshine and a chair at the river’s edge at her second home in Parker, Arizona.
Mindy loves to hear from readers. You can write to her at P.O. Box 2704-262, Huntington Beach, CA 92647, or through her Web site at www.mindyneff.com (http://www.mindyneff.com), or e-mail at mindyneff@aol.com (mailto:mindyneff@aol.com).
Books by Mindy Neff
HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE
644—A FAMILY MAN
663—ADAM’S KISS
679—THE BAD BOY NEXT DOOR
711—THEY’RE THE ONE! * (#litres_trial_promo)
739—A BACHELOR FOR THE BRIDE
759—THE COWBOY IS A DADDY
769—SUDDENLY A DADDY
795—THE VIRGIN & HER BODYGUARD* (#litres_trial_promo)
800—THE PLAYBOY & THE MOMMY* (#litres_trial_promo)
809—A PREGNANCY AND A PROPOSAL
830—THE RANCHER’S MAIL-ORDER BRIDE † (#litres_trial_promo)
834—THE PLAYBOY’S OWN MISS PRIM† (#litres_trial_promo)
838—THE HORSEMAN’S CONVENIENT WIFE† (#litres_trial_promo)
857—THE SECRETARY GETS HER MAN
898—CHEYENNE’S LADY†
902—THE DOCTOR’S INSTANT FAMILY† (#litres_trial_promo)
906—PREACHER’S IN-NAME-ONLY WIFE† (#litres_trial_promo)
909—THE McCALLUM QUINTUPLETS “Delivered with a Kiss”
925—IN THE ENEMY’S EMBRACE
Contents
Chapter One (#ucfb65a10-b50a-5028-91d5-46fb52955f75)
Chapter Two (#ua7cfb859-3df9-5770-8c91-44cf782fc159)
Chapter Three (#uef4a51ad-f692-5be7-aab9-9371a7992208)
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)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One
Jessica Coleman hugged the scratchy wool blanket around her shoulders and shivered in the balmy June night air, the tremors from nerves, not cold.
Before her, the downtown Dallas apartment she’d called home for the past two months oozed smoke out its balcony windows like a baby dragon throwing a hissy fit.
Jessica felt a little like throwing a hissy fit herself, but realized it would do no good. Roll with the punches, her cousins always told her, stand proud and project a regal presence even if you don’t feel it.
Easy for them to say. Her cousins, whom she’d been raised with, were indeed royalty. Bona fide sheikhs. All of them married now—thanks in part to Jessica’s matchmaking skills.
She sniffed and wiped her nose on the scratchy blanket the firefighter had given her, her throat burning from the cloying smell of smoke. Destruction was always so painful to see. Especially destruction of a person’s home.
Thankfully Jessica wasn’t emotionally attached to the apartment, didn’t have any keepsakes there—other than the photographs of her parents and cousins that she’d snatched up and shoved in her purse on her way out of the smoke-filled building. The rest of her belongings of any value to her were at home on the Desert Rose Ranch in Bridle, Texas, northwest of Austin.
Except her clothes of course. Now that was a big loss.
On the bright side, though, losing one’s entire wardrobe was a great excuse to go shopping.
She glanced around at her neighbors and felt badly about her frivolous thought. My gosh, what was wrong with her? Was she on the verge of hysteria?
Unlike her, she imagined these people had lost irreplaceable keepsakes and memories. A couple had nearly lost their lives. That thought made her shiver—especially as the image of little Timmy, her neighbor’s boy, sliding on his stomach toward an open flame replayed in her mind like a preview clip of a horror movie. He’d broken away from his parents, running back toward his apartment to search for his cat. The untied shoelaces on his sneakers had tripped him and sent him tumbling.
Tugging her mass of red hair from beneath the blanket, she turned at the sound of tires screeching on asphalt. Her heart lurched into her throat.
A black Mercedes sedan.
Nick Grayson—her absentee boss.
Well, sort of her boss. He was the son of the Grayson half of Coleman-Grayson Investment Company, and she was the daughter of the Coleman half. His handsome features made her knees weak, yet his bossiness left her spitting like a she-cat more often than not. She knew her parents had asked him to watch over her, teach her the ropes in the family business, but at twenty-five, she was well past needing a baby-sitter and resented his superior attitude.
She sighed, watching him approach. His long stride and rigidly set shoulders beneath a black polo shirt didn’t bode well for harmony. At least not between the two of them.
The subtle smell of sandalwood cologne surrounded her as he drew near, giving her a second’s respite from the acrid stench of smoke. Heat coursed through her. Her insides still trembled like soft-set pudding—nerves and something more now.
Why in the world couldn’t she be her normal “catch me if you can, baby” self around this man? It was thoroughly disquieting, a failing she’d had since she was thirteen. You’d think she would’ve gotten over her adolescent crush.
“Are you all right?” he asked, his deep voice concerned, edgy.
Annoyed that she wanted to say no and turn into his wide chest for comfort, Jessica clutched the blanket more snugly around her shoulders. “Do you have spies? Had my phones tapped? What?” Why was it he always showed up when she needed him?
She didn’t want to need him, even though the smell of his skin and the intensity of his dark-brown eyes made her heart do cartwheels in her chest.
“Did you make a phone call?” he asked, his tone dripping with censure. “I don’t recall mine ringing.”
When he cocked a dark brow in that sexy, annoying way of his, she didn’t know whether to hit him or jump his bones.
“Obviously it must have rung sometime,” she said. “Otherwise, why would you show up like a thief with a posse on his tail?”
“A thief?”
She shrugged. “Black car, windows tinted black, dressed in all black. A person would think you’re a bad guy or something.”
The long look he gave her did indeed telegraph danger. Sexual, rather than physical.
“The color of the car isn’t readily changeable. The clothes were what I put my hands on first in the closet. I was understandably anxious to get out of the house.”
“You had ESP or something that drew you out of bed and told you my apartment building was burning down?”
