Harlequin Presents--April 2021--Box Set 2 of 2

by Dani Collins

  But he had his own stress to deal with in his personal life—the stress of missing Zoey.

  He missed everything about her—her smile, her laughter, her feistiness when she didn’t agree with him on something, her touch, her kisses, the explosive way she responded to his lovemaking. There was a constant ache in his chest, a dragging ache that distracted him during the day and kept him awake at night. He had never reacted to a break-up so badly. But then, he had always been the instigator of his previous break-ups with casual lovers. He never allowed anyone the power to hurt him, to abandon him—he always got in first. Was that why his break-up with Zoey was so hard to handle? He hadn’t seen her as a casual lover—she was in a completely different category, but he wasn’t exactly sure what it was.

  Finn hadn’t even thought of taking another lover. His stomach turned at the thought. So much for his playboy lifestyle. He was turning into a monk. A miserably lonely monk. He spent most evenings with only his one-eyed cat for company.

  Finn felt a strange sense of camaraderie with his battered and brooding cat. Tolstoy had been hurt in the past and went out of his way to avoid further hurt. That was why, when Finn had gone away to New York and then Monte Carlo, Tolstoy had punished him on his return. Fear was behind that behaviour, fear of being permanently rejected. But, since Finn had been home every evening over the last month, Tolstoy had built up enough trust to lose some of his guardedness. It occurred to him then that Tolstoy loved him and was terrified he might not come back.

  Why hadn’t he realised that before now?

  Maybe it wasn’t Finn’s dented pride that was causing this infernal pain in his chest. Maybe he was a little more like his cat than he realised. Didn’t they say pets and owners became alike? Finn didn’t like to think of himself as the sort of man who couldn’t move on after a woman had ended a fling. He knew how to let go—he’d been doing it without a problem for years.

  But this didn’t feel like a cut and dried case of injured male pride.

  It felt like something else...something he had never felt before...something that was threatening the entire basis on which he lived his footloose and fancy-free life. Something beyond a fleeing attraction...something deeper—a sense that if he never saw Zoey again he would be missing something essential to his existence. Without her, he would not be the person he was meant to be. He would be stunted in some way, reduced, lacking. She inspired him, enthralled him, delighted and fulfilled him.

  Zoey hadn’t said the words ‘I love you’ out loud but she had told him she had developed feelings for him. Feelings that had grown from negative to positive. Feelings he had rebuffed out of fear. Why hadn’t he seen that until now? He was as one-eyed as his cat not to have seen it. He’d been afraid to love her in case he lost her and yet he had lost her anyway. He had spent his whole life avoiding love, avoiding emotional attachment in case he was rejected. But he had rejected the most amazing love from the most amazing woman. The only woman he could envisage having permanently in his life. The only woman with whom he wanted a future.

  Zoey was his future.

  * * *

  Zoey decided there was no more painful thing than watching one of your best friends get married, knowing you would never experience the same exhilarating joy. It was a month since she’d left Finn in Monte Carlo and, apart from the odd email or text message regarding business issues, she had not seen him in person.

  Zoey listened as Ivy and Louis exchanged vows under an archway festooned with white and soft pink roses. The love they felt for each other was written all over their glowing faces, both of their voices poignantly catching over the words, ‘Till death do us part’. Zoey wasn’t a habitual weeper but seeing such depth of emotion in the young couple made tears sting at the back of her eyes. She had so dearly hoped that one day she would stand exactly as Ivy was doing, exchanging vows with the man she loved with her whole heart. But instead, her heart was broken, shattered by the realisation Finn would never love her.

  Zoey heard Millie begin to sniffle beside her, no doubt eagerly awaiting her own wedding day the following month. But if there was anything positive to be had out of the pain of the last few weeks it was this—her father was in full-time residential rehab and his estranged wife Linda had been visiting him every day. It was wonderful to see her dad finally taking responsibility for his drinking and, while it would take a while for Zoey to feel close to him, she knew things were heading in the right direction.

  Ivy and Louis’s reception was a joyous affair and Zoey got swept up in the celebrations, determined not to allow her own misery to spoil her friends’ special day.

  ‘Time to throw the bridal bouquet!’ the Master of Ceremonies announced. ‘Single ladies, please gather in the centre of the room.’

  Millie nudged Zoey. ‘Go on. That means you.’

  Zoey rolled her eyes. ‘No way.’

  Millie grabbed her by the arm and all but dragged her to where the other young women were eagerly assembled. ‘Come on. Ivy wants you to be in the circle. And make sure you catch it.’

  Why? There was only one man Zoey wanted to marry and he was the last man on earth who would ever ask her. But Millie had a particularly determined look in her eye, so Zoey stepped into the circle with a sigh of resignation. The band struck up a rousing melody to get everyone cheering and Zoey had never felt more like a fish out of water. The other women were right into the spirit of the event, cheering and whooping and jumping up and down, arms in the air, hoping for Ivy’s bouquet to come their way.

  Zoey, on the other hand, was trying to hide behind a larger woman, hoping to avoid the floral missile. The drum roll sounded, the women in the centre of the room became almost hysterically excited and Zoey closed her eyes, figuring she wouldn’t catch the bouquet if she couldn’t see it. But then something soft and fragrant hit her in the face and she reflexively caught it in her hands. She stared at the bouquet she was holding while the crowd cheered and clapped around her.

  But she had never felt so miserable in her life.

  Zoey finally managed to escape all the noise and cheering by slipping out of the venue to the garden, where there was a summer house covered in a rambling pink clematis. She sat on the padded seat inside the summer house and looked at the bouquet still in her hands.

  ‘I’m really glad you caught that,’ Finn O’Connell said, stepping out of the shadows.

  Zoey blinked as if she was seeing things. The way her heart was carrying on, he might as well have been a ghost. ‘Finn? What are you doing here? I didn’t know you were invited.’

  ‘I gate-crashed,’ he said with an inscrutable smile. ‘May I join you?’ He indicated the bench seat she was sitting on.

  Zoey shoved a little further along the seat, the bouquet still in her hands—or at least what was left of it. She had been shredding it without realising, the petals falling like confetti around her. Her pulse was thumping at the sight of him, her senses reeling at his closeness. ‘Why are you here?’ She gave him a sideways glance. ‘It’s not very polite to gate-crash someone’s wedding. If it’s a business matter, then surely it could have waited?’

  He removed the now sad-looking bouquet from her hands and set it to one side. ‘It is a business matter—our business.’ His dark gaze held hers in a tender lock. ‘Zoey, my darling, I have come to realise what a damn fool I’ve been. I’ve been fighting my feelings for you for months, even before we got involved. But I was too frightened to admit it even to myself, let alone to you.’

  He took her hands in both of his. ‘I love you madly, deeply, crazily. My life is empty without you. Just ask Tolstoy. He’s witnessed every miserable minute of me moping about my house for the last month. Please forgive me for not telling you sooner. For not realising it sooner.’

  Zoey swallowed, her heart beating so hard and fast, she felt light-headed. ‘I can’t believe I’m hearing this...’ Her voice came out as a shocked whisper. S
hocked but delighted.

  He gave a self-deprecating smile. ‘I can’t believe I’m saying it. I never thought I would fall in love with anyone. I didn’t think I had the ability to until I met you. But you are the most wonderful person and I can’t imagine being without you. Please say you’ll marry me.’

  ‘You want to get married?’ Zoey gasped.

  Finn got off the bench and knelt down in front of her, holding her hands in his. His eyes looked suspiciously moist, and her heart swelled until she could barely take a breath. ‘My darling Zoey, will you marry me and make me the happiest of men?’

  She threw her arms around him with a happy sob. ‘Oh, Finn, I will, I will, I will. I love you, love you, love you.’

  Finn rose from the floor of the summer house, bringing her to stand upright with him. His arms came round her, his expression as joyful as her own. ‘I love you so much. I will never get tired of saying it. I want you to come back and work with me. I want your name as well as mine on the letterhead. We’ll hyphenate them—Brackenfield-O’Connell Advertising. It’s got quite a ring to it, hasn’t it?’

  ‘You mean you don’t want me to change my name to yours after we get married?’

  His arms tightened around her. ‘I don’t want to change anything about you, my darling girl.’

  ‘Oh, Finn, I never thought I could be so happy,’ Zoey said, gazing up into his eyes. ‘Being at Ivy and Louis’s wedding has been like torture. Seeing them so happy made me realise how miserable I was without you. And when I accidentally caught the bouquet just then, I wanted to curl up and hide. Millie just about frogmarched me out there to join in. I thought it was a little mean of her at the time, because she knows how unhappy I’ve been.’

  Finn’s eyes began to twinkle. ‘I heard she’s a fabulous jewellery designer. Do you think she’ll design our rings for us? She seems the most helpful and obliging sort of person.’

  Zoey’s eyes widened. ‘Oh, my God, she knew you were going to propose! No wonder that bouquet came straight at me. She made sure it did. But she’s normally hopeless at keeping a secret.’

  He grinned. ‘I might have mentioned to her I was dropping by to see you.’ He brought his mouth down to hers in a lingering kiss. He finally lifted his mouth off hers to smile down at her. ‘How soon can we get married? I don’t want to wait for months on end.’

  ‘Nor do I,’ Zoey said. ‘But I thought you never wanted to get married. And what about kids?’

  ‘I never envisaged making a family with anyone before I met you,’ he said. ‘But the idea is increasingly appealing. I bet you’ll be the most beautiful mother in the world.’

  ‘And you the most amazing father,’ Zoey said. ‘Speaking of fathers...did you know my dad has been in rehab for the past month? He’s doing really well so far.’

  ‘I’m really glad for you and for him,’ Finn said. ‘And I’ve even thought of contacting my parents to ask them about their backgrounds. You got me thinking that there may be more to their behaviour than I thought.’

  He brought her even closer, his gaze tender. ‘You have taught me so much about love and caring about people. I found it near impossible to trim down the staff from Brackenfield in the takeover.’

  Zoey hugged him again. ‘I’m glad you found your heart. I knew it was there inside you somewhere.’

  He tipped up her face to look deeply into her eyes. ‘It was there waiting for you, my darling.’

  * * * * *

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  ISBN-13: 9781488073366

  One Hot New York Night

  Copyright © 2021 by Melanie Milburne

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  WE HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS BOOK FROM

  Escape to exotic locations where passion knows no bounds.

  Welcome to the glamorous lives of royals and billionaires, where passion knows no bounds. Be swept into a world of luxury, wealth and exotic locations.

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  Love Harlequin romance?

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  ISBN-13: 9781488073380

  Copyright © 2021 by Harlequin Books S.A.

  The publisher acknowledges the copyright holders of the individual works as follows:

  Ways to Ruin a Royal Reputation

  Copyright © 2021 by Dani Collins

  The Italian’s Forbidden Virgin

  Copyright © 2021 by Carol Marinelli

  Cinderella in the Boss’s Palazzo

  Copyright © 2021 by Julia James

  One Hot New York Night

  Copyright © 2021 by Melanie Milburne

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