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Rumours: The Dishonoured Copelands: The Fallen Greek Bride (The Disgraced Copelands) / His Defiant Desert Queen (The Disgraced Copelands) / Her Sinful Secret (The Disgraced Copelands)
Jane Porter
A family in the headlines – for all the wrong reasons! Her reputation in tatters Morgan Copeland seeks her estranged husband’s help. But she knows that to convince merciless Drakon Xanthis, she will have to get down on her knees and beg…•When Sheikh Mikael catches notorious model Jemma Copeland flaunting Saidia’s laws – and her body – in his desert, he knows revenge against his family’s destruction is within his reach! To achieve it he makes Jemma an offer: become his bride!•Logan Copeland cannot look away from tycoon Rowan Argyros as he declares that her life is in danger. All she can think is that Rowan took her virginity, heartlessly rejected her after a night of reckless abandon…and is the father of her child!
About the Author (#udd42c7e6-0d69-5761-9af1-29f90cda1bb9)
JANE PORTER grew up on a diet of Mills & Boon romances, reading late at night under the covers so her mother wouldn’t see! She wrote her first book at age eight, and spent many of her high school and college years living abroad, immersing herself in other cultures and continuing to read voraciously. Now Jane splits her time between rugged Seattle, Washington, and the beautiful beaches of Hawaii, with her sexy surfer and three very active sons. Jane loves to hear from her readers. You can write to her at PO Box 524, Bellevue, WA 98009, USA. Or visit her website at www.janeporter.com (http://www.janeporter.com)
Rumours: The Dishonoured Copelands
The Fallen Greek Bride
His Defiant Desert Queen
Her Sinful Secret
Jane Porter
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-09881-6
RUMOURS: THE DISHONOURED COPELANDS
The Fallen Greek Bride © 2013 Jane Porter His Defiant Desert Queen © 2015 Jane Porter Her Sinful Secret © 2017 Jane Porter
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 (#ua6d465e3-c2e5-5cf6-bc8d-6fd5a8222a08)
About the Author (#u21063f5a-91cb-5e5b-81cb-5641e39bee6a)
Title Page (#uc66f8951-77d6-5c63-9fbd-c90c6a9f6317)
Copyright (#ua85242be-73f7-5c5c-b129-7e397dc385ea)
The Fallen Greek Bride (#u9281e57b-db39-51af-93c4-3ced88ea1f63)
Dedication (#uc15d861b-36fb-5ceb-aa15-a25b5ff325e0)
CHAPTER ONE (#u82d71591-b594-52cd-9e75-b55f5b55ea3d)
CHAPTER TWO (#ubcdcdc76-0724-5e06-806c-200f892c1249)
CHAPTER THREE (#ued3e3878-f23b-5f22-b373-fc8f1aacbe87)
CHAPTER FOUR (#u5b3bed3c-6b32-54c4-ab42-ca120368a67a)
CHAPTER FIVE (#ue6d9ef19-eeb9-52a5-aa08-9307b3cc4fcb)
CHAPTER SIX (#u19958f25-0094-52ce-bc18-79dd005b1bf5)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#u432c2844-4402-5d15-b2a9-74235bc6be94)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#u6e803498-adb6-5fb6-883b-b4d6d2d1de92)
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)
EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)
His Defiant Desert Queen (#litres_trial_promo)
Dedication (#litres_trial_promo)
PROLOGUE (#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)
CHAPTER THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIFTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
Her Sinful Secret (#litres_trial_promo)
Back Cover Text (#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)
EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
The Fallen Greek Bride (#udd42c7e6-0d69-5761-9af1-29f90cda1bb9)
Jane Porter
For Randall Toye—thank you
for the friendship and support.
CHAPTER ONE (#udd42c7e6-0d69-5761-9af1-29f90cda1bb9)
“WELCOME HOME, MY WIFE.”
Morgan froze inside Villa Angelica’s expansive marble and limestone living room with its spectacular floor-to-ceiling view of blue sky and sea, but saw none of the view, and only Drakon’s face.
It had been five years since she’d last seen him. Five and a half years since their extravagant two-million-dollar wedding, for a marriage that had lasted just six months.
She’d dreaded this moment. Feared it. And yet Drakon sounded so relaxed and warm, so normal, as if he were welcoming her back from a little holiday instead of her walking out on him.
“Not your wife, Drakon,” she said softly, huskily, because they both knew she hadn’t been his anything for years. There had been nothing, no word, no contact, not after the flurry of legal missives that followed her filing for divorce.
He’d refused to grant her the divorce and she’d spent a fortune fighting him. But no attorney, no lawsuit, no amount of money could persuade him to let her go. Marriage vows, he’d said, were sacred and binding. She was his. And apparently the courts in Greece agreed with him. Or were bought by him. Probably the latter.
“You are most definitely still my wife, but that’s not a conversation I want to have across a room this size. Do come in, Morgan. Don’t be a stranger. What would you like to drink? Champagne? A Bellini? Something a little stronger?”
But her feet didn’t move. Her legs wouldn’t carry her. Not when her heart was beating so fast. She was shocked by Drakon’s appearance and wondered for a moment if it really was Drakon. Unnerved, she looked away, past his broad shoulders to the wall of window behind him, with that breathtaking blue sky and jagged cliffs and azure sea.
So blue and beautiful today. A perfect spring day on the Amalfi Coast.
“I don’t want anything,” she said, her gaze jerking back to him, although truthfully, a glass of cool water would taste like heaven right now. Her mouth was so dry, her pulse too quick. Her head was spinning, making her dizzy from nerves and anxiety. Who was this man before her?
The Drakon Xanthis she’d married had been honed, sleek and polished, a man of taut, gleaming lines and angles.
This tall intimidating man in front of the picture window was broader in the shoulders and chest than Drakon had ever been, and his thick, inky brown and black hair hung in loose curls to almost his shoulders, while his hard fierce features were hidden by a dark beard. The wild hair and beard should have obscured his sensual beauty, rendered him reckless, powerless. Instead the tangle of hair highlighted his bronzed brow, the long straight nose, the firm mouth, the piercing amber gold eyes.
His hair was still damp and his skin gleamed as if he’d just risen from the sea, the Greek god Poseidon come to life from ancient myth.
She didn’t like it. Didn’t like any of this. She’d prepared herself for one thing, but not this….
“You look pale,” he said, his voice so deep it was almost a caress.
She steeled herself against it. Against him. “It was a long trip.”
“Even more reason for you to come sit.”
Her hands clenched into fists at her sides. She hated being here. Hated him for only seeing her here at Villa Angelica, the place where they’d honeymooned for a month following their spectacular wedding. It’d been the happiest month of her life. When the honeymoon was over, they had left the villa and flown to Greece, and nothing was ever the same between them again. “I’m fine here,” she said.
“I won’t hurt you,” he replied softly.
Her nails pierced her skin. Her eyes stung. If her legs would function, she’d run. Protect herself. Save herself. If only she had someone else to go to, someone else who would help her, but there was no one. Just Drakon. Just the man who had destroyed her, making her question her own sanity. “You already did that.”
“You say that, my love, and yet you’ve never told me how—”
