Harlequin Presents: Once Upon A Temptation June 2020--Box Set 2 of 2

by Lynne Graham

  ‘Try to get under my skin again. I’ve had it with you doing that.’

  ‘You thought you walked in on me sharing something intimate with Isabella and, yes, you did, but not in the way you think. Isabella is gay. I’ve known that for a long time and that’s why the marriage made sense. I didn’t believe in love. It wasn’t for me. And Isabella wanted the cover of a traditional marriage to hide her sexuality from her parents. Not ideal and I tried to persuade her to come out, but she refused, and I suppose, in a way, the arrangement suited me as it stood.’

  He sighed, wondered where doing what was right stopped and doing what was convenient began. The lines had become blurred over time when it came to Isabella. ‘She was crying because she’d finally decided to tell her parents so that she could be with her partner of eighteen months. She was a wreck and I was trying to comfort her and tell her that it would be okay. That was the scene you interrupted and I was a fool for not explaining myself immediately, for telling you that you had to trust me. Who the hell did I think I was?’

  ‘Isabella is gay? But you were planning on getting married…’

  ‘And who knows? Maybe we would have if she hadn’t met the woman she’s in love with. Or maybe, if I hadn’t broken it off, the worst would have happened and she would have married me because it would have been what tradition demanded. We would have both been miserable in the end.’

  ‘Luca… I wish you had said something. Told me the situation from the start. You have no idea…what’s been going on in my head.’

  ‘Old habits die hard.’ He grimaced. ‘And besides,’ he admitted, ‘I might have been forced to recognise what I’d been hiding from myself.’

  ‘What’s that?’ Cordelia asked breathlessly.

  ‘That I’m in love with you. That you were the woman I have been waiting for all my life.’

  * * *

  Afterwards, everything happened very fast. It was a blur. He loved her. She’d questioned him, of course she had. He could be making it up! But she knew he wasn’t because it just wasn’t something he would ever make up.

  He’d never believed in love, he’d told her. Love had destroyed his father. He had lost his only love and then worse had followed when he had reacted by hurtling from one ghastly and costly mistake to another. And he, Luca, young and grieving the loss of his mother, had been a casualty.

  What was there to admire about that lifestyle? Only a fool, Luca had confided, would have chosen to emulate it. Only a fool would have blithely believed in the restorative power of love, having witnessed first hand its ability to destroy.

  Not for him, and that was the rule he had lived his life by. He would marry for convenience and that way he would never risk getting hurt.

  Every word had been music to her ears.

  She had had to pinch herself several times because she couldn’t believe that the man she had given her heart to had given his heart back to her, not when she had spent so long bracing herself for just the opposite.

  Now, back in the gown but on cloud nine, she slipped her hand into his and gazed at him at the top of the stairs.

  Her father was due any minute. Preparations were well under way. Noise levels had escalated. As she gazed down, she could see that the hall was festive with lights and flowers and the smell of food was wafting through the house, making her mouth water.

  ‘I love you.’ She smiled at Luca and reached up to kiss him very lightly on the mouth. ‘I feel I’ve spent my life sitting there by the sea, looking out at a horizon and imagining what might lie beyond it. I never, ever thought that I would find everything I could ever hope for and more.’

  ‘The mermaid who found her legs,’ Luca murmured, curving his hand against her cheek. ‘Mine for ever.’

  His eyes slid past her and he smiled.

  ‘Your father is here,’ he said, ‘and I’m guessing that the buxom blonde clinging to him is none other than the woman he didn’t want around because he was too set in his ways?’

  Cordelia stared and then burst out laughing because that was Doris, all right. Her case was bulging and Cordelia could only guess at what outfit might be inside. Doris had never been known for her modesty when it came to dress code.

  ‘I don’t believe it,’ she breathed as they headed down the stairs. She gave a little wave to her father and braced herself for the conversation that would soon be taking place, although, now, it was a conversation she wouldn’t be having with a heavy heart.

  ‘Didn’t I say?’ Luca murmured into her ear. ‘All’s well that ends well, wouldn’t you agree?’

  * * *

  Yes, she would.

  There could be no better endings, in fact. She thought that as she looked down at the softly breathing baby in the basket next to the bed.

  Three weeks ago, her contractions had kicked in, sending Luca into frenzied panic, even though he had been as cool as a cucumber as the time for the birth had drawn ever closer, wisely telling her when she should pack her bag for the hospital and assuring her that it was all probably going to be far calmer than she feared.

  He had stayed with her for the duration of the ten-hour labour, had even helped to deliver their daughter and had only admitted afterwards that he had been close to passing out several times.

  He was the most devoted father Cordelia could have hoped for. Now, she felt his arms around her as he shifted against her, levering himself up to gaze at their daughter, breathing softly in her basket, her tiny hands balled into fists. She had a mop of curly dark hair and was pale gold. She was the most wonderful thing they had ever seen and they never tired of admitting it.

  Her father had flown over three days after Giulietta was born, along with Doris, and, after fussing over his granddaughter, he had shyly announced that he and Doris would be joining forces to expand the business.

  ‘When you say joining forces…’ Cordelia had encouraged and he had gone a deeper shade of scarlet.

  ‘Woman’s only gone and proposed,’ he’d said gruffly, while Doris had looked at him with such tenderness that Cordelia had wanted to rush over and give her a huge hug.

  The solitary man who had spent a lifetime mourning the life that had passed him by was finally waking up and Cordelia couldn’t have been happier.

  There would be another wedding in three months’ time and Luca was already making noises about having a proper honeymoon afterwards. Somewhere hot and sunny, with a private beach, where they could relive good times, specifically the good times that had brought their beautiful baby into the world.

  ‘She’s a miracle,’ Luca murmured, wrapping his arm around his wife and nestling closer to her. ‘In case I haven’t mentioned it, you girls are the two most important people in my life.’

  ‘I think you’ve mentioned it before.’ Cordelia smiled. She wriggled until she was facing him and their bodies were pressed against one another.

  ‘Have I mentioned, in that case, that I am already thinking that when it comes to family numbers, four seems a far more rounded number than three?’

  Cordelia laughed, eyes gleaming. ‘Is that a fact?’

  ‘I never thought I’d hear myself say it, my dearest love, but loving you is the best thing that ever happened to me…’

  * * * * *

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  ISBN: 9781488059582

  Expecting His Billion-Dollar Scandal

  Copyright © 2020 by Cathy Williams

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

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  A match made for revenge…

  Or redemption?

  Family is everything to tycoon Vincenzo. The man who ruined his mother’s life will pay, and Vincenzo has planned the perfect revenge. He’ll wed his enemy’s adopted daughter: Alessandra. The flaw in his plan? Their fiery attraction…and his need to protect her.

  Supermodel Alessandra is used to men wanting her for her fame. What she’s not used to is a man wanting to know the real her. Alessandra trusts that Vincenzo is that man. But to have her, the Italian must stop his quest for vengeance…

  Dear Reader,

  I’ve always been fascinated by what makes a hero a hero. Especially in the context of the thrilling, dominating heroes who populate our favorite Harlequin Presents novels. For me, even the most irredeemable hero still has a core of something inside, a quality that just needs to be teased out by our spunky heroine.

  Just like in The Frog Prince. I believe that depending on whichever version of the original Brothers Grimm tale you like, it took the heroine to not only see something heroic about the hero but also to give him that kiss or nudge or sometimes even to break the walls down—as in the case of Alessandra Giovanni, who makes Vincenzo see that at the core of him, he is a hero.

  Especially when it comes to the woman he loves.

  I hope you enjoy my version of The Frog Prince.

  Tara

  Once Upon a Temptation

  Will they live passionately ever after?

  Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was a billionaire—or eight! Each billionaire had riches beyond your wildest imagination. Still, they were each missing something: love. But the path to true love is never easy…even if you’re one of the world’s richest men!

  Inspired by fairy tales like Beauty and the Beast and Little Red Riding Hood, the Once Upon a Temptation collection will take you on a passion-filled journey of ultimate escapism.

  Fall in love with…

  Cinderella’s Royal Secret by Lynne Graham

  Beauty and Her One-Night Baby by Dani Collins

  Shy Queen in the Royal Spotlight by Natalie Anderson

  Claimed in the Italian’s Castle by Caitlin Crews

  Expecting His Billion-Dollar Scandal by Cathy Williams

  Taming the Big Bad Billionaire by Pippa Roscoe

  The Flaw in His Marriage Plan by Tara Pammi

  His Innocent’s Passionate Awakening by Melanie Milburne

  The Flaw in His Marriage Plan

  Tara Pammi

  Tara Pammi can’t remember a moment when she wasn’t lost in a book—especially a romance, which was much more exciting than a mathematics textbook at school. Years later, Tara’s wild imagination and love for the written word revealed what she really wanted to do. Now she pairs alpha males who think they know everything with strong women who knock that theory and them off their feet!

  Books by Tara Pammi

  Harlequin Presents

  Conveniently Wed!

  Bought with the Italian’s Ring

  Blackmailed by the Greek’s Vows

  Sicilian’s Bride for a Price

  Brides for Billionaires

  Married for the Sheikh’s Duty

  Bound to the Desert King

  Sheikh’s Baby of Revenge

  The Drakon Royals

  Crowned for the Drakon Legacy

  The Drakon Baby Bargain

  His Drakon Runaway Bride

  The Scandalous Brunetti Brothers

  An Innocent to Tame the Italian

  A Deal to Carry the Italian’s Heir

  Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.

  CONTENTS

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Epilogue

  CHAPTER ONE

  “LET’S GET MARRIED, PRINCESS.”

  Vincenzo Cavalli adopted his usual composed expression but it didn’t come easily this time. Shock made it hard for him to pretend as if he’d been planning to say those words all along. As if they hadn’t erupted out of some place inside him that he didn’t even know existed.

  Alessandra Giovanni—top supermodel and the most beautiful woman he’d ever met, froze in the act of pushing her hair back from her face, her expression arrested.

  It was as if a circuit in his brain had shorted, bypassing years of unwritten rules he’d always lived by. Every step in his life for the last two decades had been planned meticulously, building toward a future he’d pictured for himself as a young boy denied everything—love and basic security.

  Every step dictated by his final goal—to take over Brunetti Finance International and nothing else. Every hour of every day he’d poured sweat and blood into pulling himself up from poverty to be able to claim his birthright one day.

  Pursuing Alessandra Giovanni had initially been a part of that carefully crafted plan, as he’d discovered Alessandra was attached to all the Brunettis, especially the matriarch of the family, Greta Brunetti, who had thrown his mother and him out to starve.

  Asking her to marry him—no. That was as much a surprise to him as it was to her.

  But now that the words were out, he found he meant them. And not because he was an honorable man who kept his word at all costs.

  Honor had always been a luxury he couldn’t afford—like shoes or three meals a day when he’d been growing up on the streets of Milan.

  Honor had no place in his world.

  No, this request was purely selfish. Maybe the first selfish, nonstrategic thing he’d done in a long time. In forever, actually.

  It was irrational and illogical, but the shocked look in Alessandra’s eyes, the quick flare of excitement she buried the next second, the flush of color dusting her cheeks as her chest rose and fell, the fast rush of blood in his own veins as he imagined facing the famed Brunettis with Alessandra at his side as his wife—he knew this was utterly right.

  More than anything, he wanted Alex in his life.

  The chemistry of their instant connection had taken him aback when he’d hunted her down to this perfect corner of Bali. Their mutual attraction a useful tool he hadn’t counted on. But now that he had her, he wasn’t going to give her up. />
  As to the fact of her being connected to the very family he’d been planning to destroy for so long, he was certain he could persuade her to see his point of view. Once he explained his reasons, Alessandra would take his side. She wasn’t a blood relative of theirs. She would understand his need to topple them all. Her strong sense of right and wrong, her championing of causes around the world—it was an innate part of her nature, a quality that only added an extra dimension to his already magnetic attraction to her.

  He raised the glass of champagne in his hand while never breaking eye contact with her.

  Clad in a sky blue bikini that hugged her firm breasts like a lover’s caressing hands, she looked voluptuously beautiful. As a supermodel who had worked for most of the large international design houses, he hadn’t been surprised by her punishing fitness routine. But the natural energy of the woman as she geared up to take on the world and its myriad injustices… It still amazed him.

  The blue of the infinity pool they were standing next to, in the grounds of her private villa, with the backdrop of Bali’s lush hills and valleys surrounding it, couldn’t equal the breathtaking quality of Alessandra’s beauty. Hers was not simply the beauty of flawless skin or perfectly symmetrical features or curves most women would die for, though she possessed all those things.

  It was her imperfections that delighted him, the quirks that made Alessandra Giovanni one of the most beautiful women in the world.

  The gap between her front teeth, that fresh-faced girl-next-door quality, the awkward, self-deprecating sense of humor, her mad obsession with the world of boxing, her incredible verve for life, the audacious drive to fix all the injustices of the world…

  On paper, she’d been too good to be true, stoking Vincenzo’s curiosity into a wildfire.

  In real life, she was magnificent, a force to be reckoned with, and he’d stood no chance against her from the second their eyes had met.

  And then there was her air of wary vulnerability that innumerable magazines and countless photoshoots had never managed to accurately capture.