Wed on His Terms: Million-Dollar Marriage Merger

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Wed on His Terms: Million-Dollar Marriage Merger
Charlene Sands

Million-Dollar Marriage MergerWhen Tony Carlino marries his best friend’s widow, Rena Montgomery, it has everything to do with business… and nothing to do with the desire he feels for her. But calling beautiful Rena his wife is making resisting her more difficult than ever!Seduction on the CEO’s TermsTired of her boss Joe Carlino ignoring her, PA Ali Pendrake opts for a make-under – to prove she’s more than the sum of her highlights! But while he may have been able to resist his glossy PA before, Joe is now determined to take the real Ali to bed!The Billionaire’s Baby ArrangementA road crash has reunited Brooke with tycoon Nick Carlino, who broke her heart years ago. She’d rather walk away… but with no one else to ask, injured Brooke must ask Nick to help her care for her baby girl. And before long, old sparks begin to fly…

CHARLENE SANDS resides in Southern California with her husband, school sweetheart and best friend, Don. Proudly they boast that their children, Jason and Nikki, have earned their college degrees. The “empty nesters” now enjoy spending time together on Pacific beaches, playing tennis and going to movies, when they are not busy at work, of course!

A proud member of Romance Writers of America, Charlene has written more than twenty-five romance novels and is the recipient of the 2006 National Readers’ Choice Award, the 2007 Cataromance Reviewer’s Choice Award and the Booksellers Best Award in 2008 and 2009.

Wed on His Terms

Million-Dollar Marriage Merger

Seduction on The CEO’s Terms

The Billionaire’s Baby Arrangement

Charlene Sands

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

Table of Contents

Cover (#ua65b8bc7-9a72-53c0-9ce3-cf46d6bb96d3)

About the Author (#ud0428078-df65-579c-9d61-2561bfe214d6)

Title Page (#uee6c0206-de15-5691-bfc1-8a408eecddea)

Million-Dollar Marriage Merger (#ue0d23374-b462-5e50-8cf1-1f5bab11e7de)

Dedication (#ue3fac4ad-083e-5c68-bd3f-a42c2d567c0f)

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Seduction on The CEO’s Terms

Dedication (#litres_trial_promo)

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

The Billionaire’s Baby Arrangement

Dedication (#litres_trial_promo)

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

Million-Dollar Marriage Merger (#u7d6127dc-e3bf-576e-b74e-3e1e7f64c101)

Charlene Sands

To my husband, Don,

the man I’ve been sharing chardonnay with for all our years. A really good man, like a fine wine, only gets better with age.

One (#u7d6127dc-e3bf-576e-b74e-3e1e7f64c101)

From the time Tony Carlino was six years old, he’d been infatuated with cars, speed and danger. Back then, the hills of Napa that create award-winning merlot and pinot had been his playing field. Racing his dinged up scooter down the embankment, he’d hit the dirt falling headfirst into a patch of fescue grass a hundred times over. But Tony never gave up when he wanted something. He hadn’t been satisfied until he’d mastered that hill with his scooter, his bicycle and finally his motorcycle. He’d graduated to stock car racing and had become a champion.

Newly retired from racing, his present fascination had nothing to do with cars and speed and everything to do with a different kind of danger.

Rena Fairfield Montgomery.

He glimpsed the blue-eyed widow from across the gravesite where dozens were gathered. Valley winds blew strands of raven hair from her face, revealing her heartbroken expression and ruffling her solemn black dress.

She hated him.

With good reason.

Soon he’d walk into a land mine of emotion and nothing posed more danger to Tony than that. Especially when it came to Rena and all she represented.

Tony glanced beyond the gravesite to those hills and Carlino land, an abundance of crimson hues reflecting off foil covering the vines, keeping grape-eating birds from destroying the crop. The land he once resented, the vines that had fed his family for generations was his responsibility now. His father had passed on just months ago, leaving the Carlino brothers in charge of the huge empire.

Once again, Tony glanced at Rena and a face devoid of emotion, her tears spent. She walked up to the bronze coffin, staring blankly, as if to say she couldn’t believe this. She couldn’t believe that her beloved husband, David, was gone.

Tony winced. He held back tears of his own. David had been his best friend since those scooter days. He’d been there for Tony through thick and thin. They’d kept their friendship ongoing, despite a bitter family rivalry.

Despite the fact that Rena had loved Tony first.

Rena held back a sob and bravely reached out to the blanket of fresh flowers draped along the coffin. She pulled her hand back just as her fingertip touched a rose petal. At that moment, she glanced at Tony, her sad eyes so round and blue that a piece of him unraveled.

He knew her secret.

But Tony didn’t give that away. He stared at her, and for that one small moment, sympathy and the pain of losing David temporarily bonded them.

She blinked then turned around, stepping away from the gravesite, her legs weak as all eyes watched the beautiful grieving widow say her final farewell to her husband.

Nick and Joe, Tony’s younger brothers, stood by his side. Joe draped an arm around him. “We’re all going to miss him.”

“He was as good as they come,” Nick added.

Tony nodded and stared at the car as Rena drove away from the cemetery.

“Rena’s all alone now,” Joe said, once Nick bid them farewell. “It’ll be even more of a struggle for her to keep Purple Fields going.”

Tony drew a deep breath, contemplating his next move. They’d been rivals in business for years, but her winery had been failing and was barely holding on. “She won’t have to.”

Joe stiffened. “Why, are you planning on buying her out? She won’t sell, bro. You know she’s stubborn. She’s had offers before.”

“Not like this one, Joe.”

Joe turned his head to look him in the eye. “What, you’re making her an offer she can’t refuse?”

“Something like that. I’m going to marry her.”

Rena got into her car alone, refusing her friends’ and neighbors’ well-meaning gestures to drive her home, to sit with her, to memorialize David Montgomery. She never understood why people gathered after a funeral, had food catered in and specialty wines flowing. They filled their plates, chattered and laughed and most times forgot the real reason they had come. She couldn’t do that to David. No, he was too young to die. Too vital. He’d been a good man, an excellent and loving husband. She couldn’t celebrate his life; he’d had so much more to live. So she spoke the words with sincerity to the guests at the funeral site, “I hope you understand that I need to be alone right now,” and had driven off.

She rode the lanes and narrow streets of the valley as numbness settled over her. She knew this land so well, had traveled every road, had grown up in Napa and had married here.

She wept silently. Tears that she thought were all dried up spilled down her cheeks. She found herself slowing her old Camry as she passed the Carlino estate, the vibrant vineyards sweeping across acres and acres.

She knew why she’d come here. Why she parked the car just outside the estate gates. She blamed Tony Carlino for David’s death. She wanted to scream it from the hilltops and shout out the unfairness of it all.

A flashy silver sports car pulled up behind her, and she knew she’d made a mistake coming here. From the rearview mirror, she watched him step out of the car, his long legs making quick strides to the driver’s side of her car.

“Oh, no.” She grasped the steering wheel and rested her forehead there. Biting her lip, she took back her wish to scream out injustices. She didn’t have the energy. Not here. Not now.

“Rena?”

The deep rich timbre of Tony’s voice came through the window of the car. He’d been her friend once. He’d been her world after that. But now all she saw was a drop-dead handsome stranger who should have never come back to the valley. “I’m fine, Tony,” she said, lifting her head from the steering wheel.

“You’re not fine.”

“I just buried my husband.” She peered straight ahead, refusing to look at him.

Tony opened the car door, and she glimpsed his hand reaching out to her. “Talk to me.”

“No … I can’t,” she said with a shake of her head.

“Then let’s take a walk.”

When she continued to stare at his hand, he added, “You came here for a reason.”

She closed her eyes holding back everything in her heart, but her mind wouldn’t let go of how David died. Spurred by renewed anger, she ignored Tony’s outstretched hand and bounded out of the car. She strode past him and walked along the narrow road lush with greenery. From atop the hill, the valley spread out before her, abundant with vines and homes, both big and small, a hollow of land where many families worked side by side to ensure a healthy crop.

She had promised David she’d hold on to Purple Fields, an odd request from his deathbed, yet one she couldn’t refuse. She loved Purple Fields. It had been her parent’s legacy, and now it was her home, her sanity and her refuge.

She marched purposely ahead of Tony, which was an accomplishment in itself, since he’d always been quick on his feet. His footsteps slowed. Then he let go an exasperated sigh. “Damn it, Rena. David was my friend. I loved him, too.”