by Marinelli, Carol; Hayward, Jennifer; Stephens, Susan; Anderson, Natalie
Harlequin® Presents brings you a collection of four new titles! This Presents box set includes:
SICILIAN’S BABY OF SHAME
Billionaires & One-Night Heirs
by Carol Marinelli
When chambermaid Sophie encounters Bastiano Conti, his raw sexuality tempts her untouched body! Bastiano’s conscience flickers when he discovers that after that unforgettable indiscretion, Sophie was left destitute and pregnant. He must claim his child…by seducing Sophie into wearing his ring!
SALAZAR’S ONE-NIGHT HEIR
The Secret Billionaires
by Jennifer Hayward
Alejandro Salazar takes the opportunity to expose the Hargrove family—by working in their stables! Alejandro mustn’t be distracted by Hargrove heiress Cecily’s innocent passion. But when their bliss results in pregnancy Alejandro will restore his family’s honor…with a diamond ring!
THE SECRET KEPT FROM THE GREEK
Secret Heirs of Billionaires
by Susan Stephens
Damon Gavros and Lizzie Montgomery’s searing desire sweeps her back to their exquisite night eleven years ago! But Lizzie’s hiding something, and Damon’s determination to discover it is relentless. Until he finds out Lizzie’s secret is his daughter!
CLAIMING HIS CONVENIENT FIANCÉE
by Natalie Anderson
When Catriona breaks into her old family mansion to retrieve an heirloom, she doesn’t expect to get caught by Alejandro Martinez! Kitty’s recklessness ignites Alejandro’s animal urges. So when Kitty is mistaken for his fiancÉe he’ll take full advantage—and unleash their hunger!
Be sure to collect Harlequin® Presents’ July 2017 Box Set 1 of 2!
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Harlequin Presents July 2017 Box Set 2 of 2
Sicilian’s Baby of Shame
Salazar’s One-Night Heir
The Secret Kept from the Greek
Claiming His Convenient Fiancée
Carol Marinelli
Jennifer Hayward
Susan Stephens
Natalie Anderson
Table of Contents
Sicilian’s Baby of Shame
By Carol Marinelli
Salazar’s OneNight Heir
By Jennifer Hayward
The Secret Kept from the Greek
By Susan Stephens
Claiming His Convenient Fiancée
By Natalie Anderson
Seduced…
When hotel chambermaid Sophie delivers room service to Sicily’s most dark-hearted tycoon, Bastiano Conti, his raw sexuality tempts her to take the ultimate risk—surrendering her untouched body to his!
Shamed…
Bastiano’s ruthlessness is renowned, but even his conscience flickers when Sophie is fired for their indiscretion—the memories of which are branded onto his very soul—and disappears.
Pregnant!
Bastiano finds Sophie working in a bar—disgraced, destitute and pregnant! Rejected by his own family, Bastiano is determined to claim his child…by seducing defiant Sophie into wearing his ring!
There was a gap between their chests, but so in tune was Sophie to Bastiano’s every move that she felt as if their bodies touched.
It was time to stay or go, Sophie knew. Even at this stage she could smooth it over and make her farewells.
Or she could meet those lips and discover bliss.
“Come here,” Bastiano moaned, and his hand came up and pulled her head down onto his.
Always she had avoided such contact, yet now she craved it.
His mouth was soft, and the dark shadow of his skin did not make her skin crawl with its tickle; instead, it was rough and delicious and matched the building desire in her.
Now, instead of resisting, she opened her lips, wanting and willing.
His tongue felt like a reward as it coiled around hers. They tasted each other, and they inflamed each other, and not just with their mouths. He was stroking her breast through the fabric of her dress and Sophie ached for bed.
His bed.
Billionaires & One-Night Heirs
Secret babies they are determined to claim!
Raul, Alim and Bastiano—three billionaires renowned the world over for their charisma and commanding ways.
Lydia, Gabi and Sophie—three innocents who cannot resist their seductive appeal.
And when sizzling nights lead to nine-month consequences, there is no other option—these billionaires will claim their heirs!
The Innocent’s Secret Baby
Bound by the Sultan’s Baby
Sicilian’s Baby of Shame
Available now!
You won’t want to miss this addictive new trilogy from Carol Marinelli!
Sicilian’s Baby of Shame
CAROL MARINELLI
Carol Marinelli recently filled in a form asking for her job title. Thrilled to be able to put down her answer, she put “writer.” Then it asked what Carol did for relaxation and she put down the truth—“writing.” The third question asked for her hobbies. Well, not wanting to look obsessed, she crossed her fingers and answered “swimming”—but, given that the chlorine in the pool does terrible things to her highlights, I’m sure you can guess the real answer!
Books by Carol Marinelli
Harlequin Presents
Billionaires & One-Night Heirs
The Innocent’s Secret Baby
Bound by the Sultan’s Baby
One Night With Consequences
The Sheikh’s Baby Scandal
The Billionaire’s Legacy
Di Sione’s Innocent Conquest
Irresistible Russian Tycoons
The Price of His Redemption
The Cost of the Forbidden
Billionaire Without a Past
Return of the Untamed Billionaire
Harlequin Medical Romance
Their Secret Royal Baby
Paddington Children’s Hospital
Their One Night Baby
The London Primary Hospital
Playboy on Her Christmas List
Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.
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For my wonderful editor, Flo Nicoll
Thank you for being you
Carol xxx
CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
&nbs
p; CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
EPILOGUE
PROLOGUE
BASTIANO CONTI HAD been born hungry.
And born a problem.
His mother had died giving birth to him and had never disclosed who his father was. All she had owned had been left to him—a ring.
It was Italian gold with a small emerald in its centre and some seed pearls dotted around it.
Bastiano’s uncle, who had four children of his own, had first suggested that the nuns raise the orphaned baby who’d lain crying in the small maternity ward in the Valley of Casta. There was a convent that overlooked the Sicilian Strait and orphans had usually been sent there.
But the convent was on its last legs.
The nurses were busy but occasionally one would take pity and hold Bastiano a little longer than it took to feed him.
Occasionally.
‘Familia,’ the priest had said to his uncle. ‘Everyone knows that the Contis look after their own.’
The Contis ruled the valley to the west and the Di Savos held the east.
Loyalty to their own was paramount, the priest told him.
And so, after a stern talk from the priest, Bastiano’s zio and his reluctant wife had taken the little bastard to their house but it had never, for Bastiano, been a home.
Always Bastiano had been considered an outsider. If something had gone wrong, then he’d been the first to be blamed and the last to be forgiven.
If there had been four brioches for lunch, they had not been split to make five.
Bastiano had done without.
Sitting in school next to Raul Di Savo, Bastiano had started to understand why.
‘What would your parents save in a fire?’ Sister Francesca had asked her class. ‘Raul?’
Raul had shrugged.
‘Your father,’ she prompted, ‘what would be the first thing that Gino reached for?’
‘His wine.’
The class had laughed and Sister Francesca, growing more exasperated with each passing moment, had turned her attention from Raul.
‘Bastiano,’ she snapped. ‘Who would your zia save?’
His serious grey eyes had lifted to hers and Bastiano had frowned even as he’d given his response. ‘Her children.’
‘Correct.’
She had turned back to the board and Bastiano had sat there, still frowning, for indeed it was the correct answer—his zia would save her children. But not him.
He would never be first.
However, aged seven, Bastiano was sent to collect the brioches and the baker’s wife ruffled his hair and so unused to affection was he that his face lit up and she said that he had a cute smile.
‘You do too,’ Bastiano told her, and she laughed.
‘Here.’ She gave him a sweet cannoli just for brightening her morning and Bastiano and Raul sat on the hill and ate the gooey treat.
The boys should have been sworn enemies—for generations the Contis and the Di Savos had fought over the vines and properties in the valley—yet Bastiano and Raul became firm friends.
The small encounter at the baker’s was enough for Bastiano to learn that he could get by better on charm.
Oh, a smile worked wonders, and later he learnt to flirt with his eyes and was rewarded with something far sweeter than cannoli.
Despite their families’ protests, Bastiano and Raul remained friends. They would often sit high on the hill near the now vacant convent and drink cheap wine. As they looked out over the valley, Raul told him of the beatings his mother endured and admitted that he was reluctant to leave for university in Rome.
‘Stay, then.’
It was that simple to Bastiano. If he’d had a mother, or someone who cared for him, he would not leave.
And he did not want Raul to go, though of course Bastiano did not admit that.
Raul left.
One morning, walking down the street, he saw Gino storm out of Raul’s house, shouting and leaving the front door open.
Raul was gone and, given what his friend had told him, Bastiano thought he ought to check that his mother was okay.
‘Signora Di Savo…’ He knocked on the open door but she did not answer.
He could hear that she was crying.
His zia and zio called her unhinged but Maria Di Savo had always been kind to Bastiano.
Concerned, he walked inside and she was kneeling on the floor of the kitchen, crying.
‘Hey.’ He poured her a drink and then he got a cloth and ran it under the water and pressed it to the bruise on her eye.
‘Do you want me to call someone?’ he offered.
‘No.’
He helped her to stand and she leant on him and cried and Bastiano did not know what to do.
‘Why don’t you leave him?’ he asked.
‘I’ve tried many times.’
Bastiano frowned because Raul had always said that he’d pleaded with her to leave yet she’d always refused.
‘Could you go and stay with Raul in Rome?’ Bastiano suggested.
‘He doesn’t want me there. He left me,’ Maria sobbed. ‘No one wants me.’
‘That’s not true.’
‘You mean it?’
She looked up then and he went to correct her to say that what he had meant was that he was sure there were people who wanted her…
Not him.
She put a hand up to his face and held his cheek. ‘You’re so handsome.’
Maria ran a hand through his thick black hair and it did not feel like when the baker’s wife had; this felt more than an affectionate ruffle and, confused, Bastiano removed her hand and stepped back. ‘I have to go,’ he told her.
‘Not yet.’
She wore just a slip and her breast was a little exposed; he did not want Maria to be embarrassed when she realised that she was on display, so he turned to leave.
‘Please don’t go,’ she called out to him.
‘I have to go to work.’
He had left school and worked now in the bar that was a front for the seedier dealings of his zio.
‘Please, Bastiano…’ Maria begged. She reached for his arm and when he stopped she came around so that she stood in front of him. ‘Oh,’ she apologised as she looked down and saw that her breast was exposed to him, but Bastiano did not look. He was still pretending that he had not noticed.
And she would cover herself now, Bastiano thought, yet she did not. In fact, she took his hand and placed it on her plump, ripe skin.
He was good with the girls but in those cases he was the seducer. Maria was around forty, he guessed, and, for heaven’s sake, she was the mother of his best friend.
‘Signora Di Savo…’ Her hand pressed his as he went to remove it.
‘Maria,’ she said, and her voice was low and husky. He could feel and hear her deep breathing and when she removed her hand, Bastiano’s remained on her breast.
‘You’re hard,’ Maria said, feeling him.
‘Gino might—’
‘He won’t be back till dinner.’
Bastiano was usually the leader and instigator, but not on this hot morning. Maria was back on her knees but this time by her own doing. It was over within minutes.
As he left, he swore he would never return there.
But that very afternoon Bastiano made a trip to the pharmacy for protection, and an hour later they were in bed.
Hot, forbidden, intense—they met whenever they could, though it was never enough for Maria.
‘We’re getting out,’ Bastiano told her. He had been paid and, if all else failed, he had his mother’s ring. He could not stand the thought of her with Gino for even a moment longer.
‘We can’t,’ she told him, even
as she asked to see the ring and he watched as she slipped it on.
‘If you love me,’ Maria said, ‘you would want me to have nice things.’
‘Maria, give me back the ring.’
It was all he had of his mother but still Maria did not relent. Bastiano left.
He walked up the hill to the convent and sat looking out, trying to figure it all out. All his life he had wanted a taste of this elusive thing called love, only to find out he did not care for it. It was Bastiano who now wanted out.
And he wanted his mother’s ring.
He stood, walking with purpose to the town below, where he saw it unfold.
A car driving at speed took a bend too fast. ‘Stolto,’ he muttered, and called the driver a fool as he watched him take another bend…and then the car careered from the road.
Bastiano ran in the direction of the smoking wreck but as he approached he was held back and told that it was Gino’s car that had been in the accident.
‘Gino?’ Bastiano checked.
‘No!’ a woman who worked in the bar shouted. ‘I called Maria to say that Gino was on his way home and angry. He had found out about you! She took the car and—’
* * *
Maria’s death and the aftermath had not painted Bastiano in a very flattering light.
Raul returned from Rome and on the eve of the funeral they stood on the hill where once they had sat as boys.
‘You had your pick of the valley!’ Raul could barely contain his fury.
‘I went to check on her—’
But Raul did not want to hear that his mother had been the seducer. ‘And you turned on that fake charm…’ Raul had seen him in action after all. He knew how Bastiano could summon even the shyest woman with his eyes and melt restraint with a smile. ‘I was a fool to trust you,’ Raul said. ‘You as good as killed her.’
Yes, he was the first to be blamed and the last to be forgiven.
‘Stay away from the funeral,’ Raul warned him.
But Bastiano could not.
And the next day things went from bad to worse. After a bloody fight at the graveside, it later transpired that half of Maria’s money had been left to Bastiano.