скачать книгу бесплатно
Susan Stephens Selection: The French Count's Mistress / The Spaniard's Revenge / Virgin for Sale / Bedded by the Desert King
Susan Stephens
Susan Stephens Selection…The French Count’s MistressWhen Kate Foster decides to open a business at her family's cottage on the estate of a French chateau, she discovers that all the other properties on the estate have been sold to the millionaire Count Guy de Villeneuve.Guy is determined to prevent Kate from setting up her business on his land – until he realizes the intense physical chemistry that burns between them is impossible to resist. He will have his land and Kate as his mistress – whatever it takes!The Spaniard's RevengeThe Ford family caused Xavier Bordiu's brother's death. Now Sophie Ford works for him! Tempted by her beauty, Xavier will take his revenge in the most pleasurable way…Sophie is still a virgin. But, as Xavier's skillful seduction awakens Sophie's sensuality, he finds the ice around his own heart beginning to melt. This is not the kind of revenge on which the Spaniard has bargained!Virgin For SaleConstantine Zagorakis has left poverty behind to become a billionaire known for his ruthless tactics….Lisa Bond has defied her past, too; now she's independent and successful.Their deal: One week on Constantine's private island to talk business–and he'll show her the pleasure of being with a real man…. But when theweek is over, and their working deal sealed, both may pay a price on which they hadn't bargained….Bedded by the Desert KingZara Kingston has gone to the desert city of Zaddara to confront the man she blames for her troubled past. But when, during a sandstorm, she's protected by a dark stranger, she finds that the desert holds hidden treasures.Zara soon realizes that the man she yearns for is Sheikh Shahin–the thief of her happiness! Shahin knows that Zara is a virgin–forbidden, no matter how strong his desire. But it's forbidden fruit that tastes the sweetest…
Susan Stephens Collection
The French Count’s Mistress
The Spaniard’s Revenge
Virgin for Sale
Bedded by the Desert King
Susan Stephens
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Table of Contents
Cover (#u3d1dc637-f238-5ea1-b175-f1a241b1dc4d)
Title Page (#u337a0db5-c25c-510d-ac49-1031c5f161b8)
The French Count’s Mistress (#u500ab986-26b0-533a-a8cb-bce25eea76eb)
About the Author (#u2d63ca6a-9662-5926-9807-2629842b940c)
Chapter One (#u71d54f20-37a1-53ce-aca5-febae7c51ada)
Chapter Two (#u7b0ce80f-9975-527c-87cd-e5d3fdff4d5a)
Chapter Three (#ua74e1618-7772-5efd-bc03-8c27e93d133d)
Chapter Four (#uc1480024-8322-5126-a5ad-0c98a22a4cf3)
Chapter Five (#uf2d3ddbe-bd89-527d-a2cd-544f203a57a8)
Chapter Six (#u4e49ce97-cea6-500a-87a5-98f8115cdf61)
Chapter Seven (#ue8d6753c-61e1-5939-ac87-679efacf07a7)
Chapter Eight (#ub6db58f8-72ed-5b3f-b980-db26e78dec3a)
Chapter Nine (#u5fea7364-39ea-5c37-9a5e-31c5200fbe53)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
The Spaniard’s Revenge (#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)
EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)
Virgin For Sale (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Author (#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)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Bedded by the Desert King (#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)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
The French Count’s Mistress
Susan Stephens
SUSAN STEPHENS was a professional singer who now loves nothing more than reading and writing romance. She lives in cosy chaos in a converted blacksmith’s cottage in Cheshire surrounded by cats, dogs, guinea pigs, children and a very understanding husband. She loves playing the piano and singing, as well as riding and cooking and gardening and travel. When she isn’t writing she’s usually daydreaming about her next hero!
Don’t miss Susan Stephen’s exciting newnovel, The Ruthless Billionaire’s Virgin, available in May 2009 from Mills & Boon
Modern™.
CHAPTER ONE (#u980907a6-e312-53db-8103-36f3f3c12f63)
‘BUT, mademoiselle… Monsieur le Comte is in a meeting. He is not receiving anyone.’
‘He will see me,’ Kate Foster said confidently, sweeping past the liveried servant into a vast room that seemed little changed over the years.
But she had changed, Kate thought in the split second between taking in her surroundings and identifying her quarry. She was not intimidated, as she had been as a child, maybe because success allowed her to weigh material possessions on a very different set of scales. A group of men seated around an oval table in the centre of the room turned to stare as she approached, then they got to their feet, but only one held her interest.
‘Kate?’ he exclaimed softly.
The commanding voice connected with something so deep she had to fight to keep her eye-line steady. She had forgotten how tall he was…how striking… Guy de Villeneuve wasn’t just handsome; he seemed to have been formed from exclusive constituents. His tanned skin appeared more luminous, his ebony hair lusher, his lashes longer, his sable brows more expressive and his lips—she looked away quickly, conscious that she too was being appraised, and those piercing steel-grey eyes were a vivid reminder of what awaited anyone foolish enough to be swept away by the Count de Villeneuve’s dazzling good looks. No, Kate reminded herself, the Count’s strongest suit had always been his iron will and fierce intelligence, gifts he cloaked behind the deceptive guise of inborn elegance, and… Her cheeks flamed when she recognised another, more elusive quality to be smouldering sensuality.
Pretending interest in several seascapes hanging on the wall, she allowed her gaze to diffuse and seek multiple targets rather than the one devastating individual waiting across the room. Even if courtesy had forced him to accept her intrusion, Kate knew that very different emotions would be brewing behind his hawkish stare.
‘Count Guy de Villeneuve,’ she said as she reached him, keeping the greeting intentionally cool.
His sardonic query at the formal style of address showed briefly in his eyes, but as far as Kate was concerned it was ten years since they had last met and this was not a social visit. She had followed Guy de Villeneuve’s career closely enough to know that charm and beauty were common currency in his world. Anyone foolish enough to imagine that feminine wiles could possibly influence him where business was concerned would soon discover their mistake. She could almost see the cogs flying round in his mind. Reading her mood had always been easy for him, she remembered, watching his steel-grey eyes narrow with conjecture. Now she was back in a familiar game—one in which he was used to taking the lead. A game where provoking the short-fused, Titian-haired visitor to his family’s vast estate had been an annual amusement for the young Count. But ten years had intervened since their last spat. Ten years in which she had built up and lost one career and was currently riding the crest of another. Ten years in which she had learned to deal with men like—
‘So, Kate,’ he said, cutting into her thoughts. ‘It’s been a long time. How can I help you?’
Halting a safe distance away, Kate flicked back her glossy tumble of hair, thankful that she knew the rules of his game now. But today she was seeking a very different outcome from Guy, Count de Villeneuve. And she needed to move things along fast.
‘Kate?’
The warmth had spilt from his eyes, leaving something hard to pin down but troubling, and for a split second she wondered if she had made a mistake coming to him direct. The deep, lightly accented voice was seductive and disarming and it was hard to ignore the fact that ten years had only honed his lean athletic frame into an even higher state of perfection. Dragging her gaze away, Kate inclined her head just a little to acknowledge the slight dip of his head. ‘I apologise for the intrusion, Monsieur le Comte, but I really must speak to you.’
‘About what, exactly?’
He was a good head taller than the men around him, with a face that might have graced a movie screen had the expression in his eyes been more calculated to disarm, Kate thought, watching as he made a gesture to suggest that his colleagues should be seated. Lifting her chin, she took a few steps towards him. ‘It’s a matter I should like to discuss with you in private.’
‘As you can see, I am in a meeting. My secretary—’
‘This won’t wait.’ She was pleased to hear her voice so steady as she drew herself up to confront him. But it was impossible not to notice the speculation behind his faintly amused gaze and she was relieved when he turned away briefly to study some documents on the table in front of him.
‘An appointment would have made everything possible,’ he said evenly, but when he glanced up a flash of something hot in his eyes belied the reasonable tone of voice.
The implied challenge only fanned Kate’s determination and the characteristic glow in her emerald eyes dwindled then froze into shards of green ice. ‘I telephoned your secretary before I left England, asking for an appointment, but she said your diary was full for the rest of this month.’
The Count brought his head up slowly to confront her. ‘Did you leave your name, mademoiselle?’ His stress on the last word was intentional—calculated to provoke. It did its job.
‘Yes, of course,’ Kate retorted in a clipped tone that suggested he should know her better than to imagine she was so inept. But how could he know anything about her? she realised with a jolt, stopping short of slipping into the combative argot of her youth. Guy de Villeneuve only knew the child she had been and not the woman she had become. ‘I asked your secretary most specifically to inform you that Kate Foster had called.’ She was pleased to hear the change in her voice—and to see a shadow briefly darken the Count’s face as he realised that a member of his staff was to blame for the oversight. But she also knew he was far too subtle to make his displeasure public.
‘Well, Kate Foster,’ he said, enunciating each syllable with sardonic precision. ‘Until I know what it is you want to talk to me about, I can hardly be expected to ask these gentlemen to leave.’
Kate confined herself to a raised brow as their eyes clashed, but then her gaze was drawn to a muscle flexing in his jaw—a jaw that was already shaded with stubble so early in the day. Her eyes flickered up to his lips and bounced away again fast—but not before she had seen the knowing smile tugging remorselessly at the corners of his mouth.
It both troubled and excited her to know he hadn’t lost the art of reading her responses. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the other men beginning to relax. The confrontation promised some light relief for them. She blanked them out. ‘I am here to discuss La Petite Maison.’
