“Pleased to meet you, Ms. Gould.”
It appeared Logan was happy to pretend he’d never met Honor before. Never met her, never kissed her, never touched her body so intimately that Honor was in danger of flaring into a plume of smoke at the sheer memory of what Logan had done to her, with her. But she could see the questions in his eyes and she knew she’d have to face them down.
She hadn’t anticipated the electricity that sizzled through her palm as his larger hand firmly clasped hers.
“And you, too, Mr. Parker,” she finally managed to say. “Your arrival here is quite a surprise.”
“I can imagine,” Logan Parker replied.
Was that a twinkle in his eye? Did he find this situation funny? She had to clarify this situation and ensure that he would keep what they’d done strictly between them.
But could she trust him?
* * *
Seducing the Lost Heir by Yvonne Lindsay
is part of the Clashing Birthrights series.
Dear Reader,
Welcome to the first in my new series, Clashing Birthrights! Like many people, I’m often drawn to news stories about babies being swapped at birth (by accident or design), or stolen at birth and as adults finding their true families. These situations always get me thinking.
For this book, Seducing the Lost Heir, Logan Parker discovered on his “mother’s” death that she wasn’t his birth mother after all! In fact, she’d stolen him from the nursery after her own baby had died and spirited Logan away. Feeling as though his whole life has been a lie, he’s determined to claim the life and family, including his identical twin brother, he’s never known.
Poor and disadvantaged all her childhood, Honor Gould is determined to climb the corporate ladder at Richmond Developments any way she can. Even if it means marrying the boss’s son and heir apparent, Keaton Richmond. When her fiancé surprises her one night at a conference hotel, the last thing she expects to discover the next morning is that she’s slept with the wrong twin!
Thank you for picking up Seducing the Lost Heir. I hope you will enjoy reading Logan and Honor’s journey to a true happy-ever-after and that you will keep an eye out for Keaton’s story, Scandalizing the CEO, coming soon!
Happy reading!
Yvonne Lindsay
Yvonne Lindsay
Seducing the Lost Heir
Award-winning USA TODAY bestselling author Yvonne Lindsay has always preferred the stories in her head to the real world. Married to her blind-date sweetheart and with two adult children, she spends her days crafting the stories of her heart. In her spare time she can be found with her nose firmly in someone else’s book.
Books by Yvonne Lindsay
Harlequin Desire
Wed at Any Price
Honor-Bound Groom
Stand-In Bride’s Seduction
For the Sake of the Secret Child
Marriage at First Sight
Tangled Vows
Inconveniently Wed
Vengeful Vows
Clashing Birthrights
Seducing the Lost Heir
Visit her Author Profile page at Harlequin.com, or yvonnelindsay.com, for more titles.
You can find Yvonne Lindsay on Facebook, along with other Harlequin Desire authors, at Facebook.com/harlequindesireauthors!
This book is dedicated to all the amazing people (including some of my own family) who had to stay on the front lines and put themselves at risk during the pandemic. I salute and thank you all!
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
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Excerpt from Taking on the Billionaire by Robin Covington
One
She’d only had two glasses of champagne, but she was already beginning to feel a little buzzed. Definitely time to stop drinking alcohol. Honor Gould had learned the hard way, by watching her mom, what happened when buzzed turned to drunk and drunk turned to dangerous and stupid decisions.
The noise in the downtown Seattle hotel bar had reached deafening levels as conference delegates poured in. It never failed to amaze her to see so many people who could be totally professional in their day-to-day business get so messy when they let their hair down. She rarely let go of her rigid self-control, and certainly never among strangers. No, Honor had a plan, and getting a little too drunk or a little too loud was not anywhere on her list of things to do.
One of her fellow conference delegates passed her a fresh glass of champagne. Honor shook her head.
“No, thanks, I’ve had enough,” she said firmly.
“Aw, come on. It’s not every year you get to celebrate being commercial interior designer of the year,” the guy protested, pushing the flute of sparkling golden liquid back in her direction.
To shut him up, Honor accepted the glass and lifted it in a toast, but the glass never made it to her lips.
“Thank you,” she said with a smile that masked her irritation.
“That’s more like it,” he said. Then, to her relief, he turned his attention to a new group of people coming into the bar, their raucous laughter filling the air.
Honor moved away from the crowd to find a quieter spot at the end of the bar. From here she could do her usual observations before heading up to the room she’d booked to ensure she’d be fresh for the early session she was presenting tomorrow morning before going into work. She doubted the session would be particularly well attended, given that many of her fellow conference goers would likely need to sleep in after tonight. But that didn’t bother her. She was mostly interested in adding the presentation to her résumé. After dragging herself up from the gutters her mother had been satisfied dwelling in, Honor was on a trajectory to success and wealth of the kind she’d perpetually dreamed as a little girl. The award at the dinner tonight, her presentation at this prestigious conference—they were all tiny steps along the way to reaching her goals. To security. Comfort. Choices.
She put the untouched champagne flute on the bar behind her and ordered a sparkling mineral water from one of the bar staff, who were run off their feet with the steady influx of patrons. She’d drink her water and head back up to her room. No one would notice she was missing, and it would give her an opportunity to go over her notes for tomorrow again.
Honor had just received her drink and raised the glass to her lips for a sip when she felt a frisson of awareness send a trickle of heat down her spine. She turned slightly, her gaze instantly arrested by the arrival of a newcomer to the bar.
Keaton? He was here? Had he come to surprise her?
She couldn’t believe her eyes. Her fiancé was not a man of spontaneous actions. When she’d told him she’d be at the hotel for the conference for two days, he’d merely nodded and continued with his work. When she’d invited him to attend the awards dinner as her plus-one, he’d mentioned some business dinner he couldn’t get out of. And yet, here he was, heading past the bar toward a small table set against a wall.
He was a handsome man. A real head-turner. But Keaton always acted as if he was completely unaware of his appeal to others, and today was no exception. He looked tired. Shattered, in fact. He lowered his ta
ll frame into a chair and looked up with a smile at the waitress who instantly approached him. Interesting that in a room packed full of patrons and potential tips, she made a beeline for Keaton, Honor thought with an ironic smile. She realized she was using the thumb of her left hand to twirl her engagement ring back and forth, like she always did when she was slightly anxious about something, and forced herself to stop.
There was an air of something different about him tonight that she couldn’t quite put her finger on, but then she got it. He was dressed far too casually. Keaton Richmond was the kind of man who never dressed down—not even for a picnic. Not that they’d made a habit of casual al fresco dining, she conceded. But the leather jacket draped over his shoulders looked well worn and soft, as if he’d owned it for years. She didn’t remember seeing it on him ever before, but then again, as they didn’t live together, it wasn’t as if she was privy to everything he had in his wardrobe.
He lifted his head and scanned the room, his eyes skimming past her before doubling back to give her another look. She smiled at him. He didn’t smile back initially, but then his lips curved into a half smile that sent a bolt of longing straight to her core. She straightened and was about to move toward him, but he turned his head and continued to survey the room before focusing his attention to the bar snacks menu standing on his table.
So, he was playing a game now, was he? Pretending he didn’t even know her. Honor didn’t know whether to be annoyed or intrigued. Maybe he’d actually listened the last time they’d had a discussion about where their relationship was heading. Goodness knew they hadn’t had sex in months and, even then, it had been an outlet rather than an expression of devotion. She’d begun to wonder if all her hopes and dreams for her future were on the road to being dashed.
Keaton had been noncommittal when she’d suggested they spice things up in the bedroom, maybe even move in together before the wedding, for which they had yet to set a date. This limbo they’d allowed themselves to fall into had begun to niggle at her in ways it shouldn’t have. She and Keaton had worked together at his family’s firm since she’d joined it five years ago, and they’d begun to date two years ago. They’d gotten engaged eighteen months later.
It had hardly been the romance of the century, but then again, Honor had told herself she was never looking for romance. Look at where that had gotten her mom. No, when she’d won her role at Richmond Developments, she’d set her sights on the top of their corporate ladder, and if marrying the CEO’s son would get her there faster, then she was prepared to do even that to reach her goal. Besides, it wasn’t as if she didn’t like or respect Keaton. They just needed to rekindle the spark now and then.
But games weren’t his style.
So why was he playing one now?
It intrigued her on a level that made her want to play along and see exactly where this was headed. The waitress brought a tall lager over to Keaton’s table. Again, he surprised her. She’d never known Keaton to drink beer. Not even on a hot summer’s day. She continued to observe him as he lifted the frosted glass to his lips and tipped it up, taking long, steady gulps. She watched the muscles of his throat work as he swallowed, saw the moisture glistening on his lips as he set the glass down again. Felt the visceral tug of desire that pulled hard inside her as he licked his lips. He looked up again. Caught her eye.
He looked surprised to find her still staring at him, and he gave her that half smile again. Honor felt her nipples tighten into hard nubs that rubbed against the lace of her demi-cup bra. Wow. She couldn’t remember when she’d felt this uncontrollably drawn to him. It was time to stop playing games and time to act. Honor reached into her clutch and extracted one of the two room key cards she’d been given at check-in and palmed it in her hand.
* * *
The woman sashayed across the room; there was no other way to describe it. She was dressed in a formfitting black cocktail dress with very interesting cutouts at the waist that fit as if it had been made for her. Logan watched as she determinedly made her way through the crowd. Several people tried to draw her into conversation, but she smoothly turned each attempt aside, her focus solely on him.
He’d had no sleep on the twelve-plus-hour flight that had left his home city of Auckland, New Zealand, at nine last night. On arrival in Los Angeles, he’d caught a connecting flight up to Seattle. Severely jet-lagged and trying desperately to adjust to a time zone that was twenty hours behind his own, he’d forced himself to go for a walk and stay awake on arrival. Now all he craved was a cold beer, a light meal and bed. He wasn’t looking for polite conversation or company, but it looked as though company was coming, whether he wanted it or not.
And, he had to admit, she was a darn fine-looking woman. Her blond hair was long and thick and swept over one shoulder, the ends of it just reaching her breasts. Breasts he could see a glimpse of through the keyhole at the front of her dress. The garment was sophisticated and sexy. Even so, he’d bet it would look better off. Like on the floor of his hotel room.
Logan shook his head. Nope, nope, nope. He wasn’t here for any of that. He was here to find his identity, however lame that sounded. Hell, he was a grown, thirty-four-year-old man. If he didn’t know who he was by now, he was probably making a mess of his life. But he’d been confident he knew exactly who he was—right up until he’d found that box tucked away in the back of his late mom’s wardrobe when he was clearing her house for sale. Everyone joked about finding skeletons in a closet after someone had passed away. He hadn’t expected to be the skeleton.
A sense of frustration beat at the back of his mind. He’d spent his whole life calling Alison Parker Mom. But, as it turned out, she wasn’t his mother. And now he was here in the United States to find the people who were his real parents and hoping like hell they’d accept him.
In his moment of reverie, the stunning creature in the killer black dress had drawn up closer to him. He felt her presence before he became fully aware of her intentions. Her hand caught his chin and tilted his face up to hers and then, quite shockingly, she kissed him.
At first Logan didn’t respond—in fact, his overtired brain was in such a state of disbelief he couldn’t even react, but then instinct won over. The silky softness of her lips on his sent every nerve in his body into screaming overload. His eyes slid closed, and he focused solely on the sensation of her mouth on his. On the feel of her tantalizing lips, and then on the thrilling texture of her tongue as she licked the seam of his mouth. All sound around them faded into nothing. All he could hear was the pounding of his blood through his veins as his heart rate went into double time. All he could smell was the sultry, spicy hint of her fragrance.
And then it was over. She was moving away. His eyes flicked open. He went to speak, but she put one forefinger against his lips.
“Don’t say a word, lover. Room 6035. Meet me upstairs in ten minutes.”
With that, she pressed a key card into his palm and walked away. He watched in stunned amazement as she continued out into the foyer and toward the elevator bank. Logan’s fingers closed tight around the key card. There was no way in hell he was going to follow her upstairs. No way. Therein lay trouble for certain. He’d be drugged, have organs stolen and wake up in a bath packed with ice.
Or he’d have the best freaking night of his entire life.
The sliders and fries he’d ordered arrived, together with a second beer. He eyed them both before rapidly consuming the sliders and leaving the beer. No more alcohol for him. He needed a clear head. He flicked a glance at his watch. Ten minutes was up. He could still feel her lips on his own. Before he even realized he had reached a decision, Logan left a handful of bills on the table and was on his feet and walking toward the elevators.
He got out on the sixth floor and walked down the corridor, hesitating a moment outside room 6035. Then he raised the key card to the reader at the door. The light went green, and he stepped inside. The room was di
mly lit, but he had no difficulty finding the enticing creature who’d kissed him senseless in the bar and then made him break with every ounce of common sense he’d ever possessed. What was he doing, coming to a stranger’s hotel room like this?
The woman still wore her dress but had slipped off the killer heels.
“I’m glad you came,” she said, walking toward him.
She wound her arms around his neck and reached up to kiss him. Again, that intoxicating blend of her fragrance wafted gently around him, seducing his senses into believing that coming here was a very, very good idea. Logan felt his entire body go up in flames. He wanted her like he’d wanted nothing else. Regret, doubt, confusion—those were all emotions for other people to worry about. Not him. Not now. Not here.
He slid his arms around her waist and pulled her in closer. He didn’t feel the need to speak, had no desire to break the spell. He deepened the kiss, letting his tongue slide between her lips and experiencing the stimulating taste that was uniquely this woman. She splayed her hands through his short-cropped hair, her nails gently raking his scalp and sending tiny electric jolts through his entire body.
And then her hands were at his shoulders, sliding his leather jacket off and tugging at his shirt. He moved his hands to assist her and broke contact with her lips for only as long as it took him to tear the shirt up over his head and away from his overheated flesh. When their lips met again, he could feel the texture of her dress against his bare skin, but it wasn’t enough. His hands slid around her back and up to the neckline of her dress, feeling for the zipper. Success! He caught the tab between a thumb and forefinger and slowly, slowly pulled it down.
Logan wrenched his mouth from hers and stepped away, not wanting to miss a moment of this reveal. At first the woman looked coy, as if she had suddenly grown shy, but then as he watched she lifted her hands to her shoulders and shrugged the top of her dress loose before letting it slide down her body. His breath caught in his throat at the sight of her. Honey-gold skin gleamed in the low light of the hotel room. Her breasts swelled and spilled over the half cups of her black bra, and a matching pair of briefs slung high on her hips, making her legs look as if they went on forever.
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