by Kendrick, Sharon; Lawrence, Kim; Crews, Caitlin; Milburne, Melanie
Harlequin® Presents brings you a collection of four new titles! This Presents box set includes:
THE PREGNANT KAVAKOS BRIDE
One Night With Consequences
by Sharon Kendrick
Ariston Kavakos makes impoverished Keeley Turner a proposition: a month’s employment on his island, at his command. Soon her resistance to their sizzling chemistry weakens! But when there’s a consequence, Ariston makes one thing clear: Keeley will become his bride…
A RING TO SECURE HIS CROWN
by Kim Lawrence
Why is Sabrina Summerville so drawn to her betrothed’s dangerous younger brother, Prince Sebastian? An abdication makes Sebastian ruler – so he must marry Sabrina himself! If the sparks between them are any indication, their marriage is going to be explosive…
THE BILLIONAIRE’S SECRET PRINCESS
Scandalous Royal Brides
by Caitlin Crews
Princess Valentina swaps places with her identical twin, but she quickly realizes that fooling her ‘boss’ Achilles Casilieris is going to be difficult when he makes her burn with longing. Their powerful attraction will push Valentina’s façade to the limit…
WEDDING NIGHT WITH HER ENEMY
Wedlocked!
by Melanie Milburne
Allegra Kallas both detests and longs for Draco Papandreou, so she’s horrified when he’s the only man who can save her family’s business. Draco has a sinful plan: he’ll make Allegra his wife and seduce her into his bed…
Be sure to collect Harlequin® Presents’ July 2017 Box Set 2 of 2!
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Harlequin Presents July 2017 Box Set 1 of 2
The Pregnant Kavakos Bride
A Ring to Secure His Crown
The Billionaire’s Secret Princess
Wedding Night with Her Enemy
Sharon Kendrick
Kim Lawrence
Caitlin Crews
Melanie Milburne
Table of Contents
The Pregnant Kavakos Bride
By Sharon Kendrick
A Ring to Secure His Crown
By Kim Lawrence
The Billionaire’s Secret Princess
By Caitlin Crews
Wedding Night with Her Enemy
By Melanie Milburne
Hired by the Greek billionaire…
Shipping magnate Ariston Kavakos expects stunning blonde Keeley Turner to be just like her gold-digging mother. So the only way to keep her away from his brother is to make her a proposition himself: a month’s employment—at his beck and call—on his private island…
Her family’s finances in dire straits, Keeley reluctantly accepts Ariston’s offer. Soon her resistance to his smoldering good looks, and their sizzling chemistry, weakens! But their spectacular night together has an unforeseen consequence, and Ariston makes one thing clear: he won’t rest until Keeley becomes his bride…
“So you won’t give this baby up and neither will I,” Ariston said softly. “Which means that the only solution is to marry you.”
He saw the shock and horror on Keeley’s face.
“But I don’t want to marry you! It wouldn’t work, Ariston—on so many levels. You must realize that. Me, as the wife of an autocratic control freak who doesn’t even like me? I don’t think so.”
“It wasn’t a question,” he said silkily. “It was a statement. It’s not a case of if you will marry me, Keeley—just when.”
One Night With Consequences
When one night…leads to pregnancy!
When succumbing to a night of unbridled desire, it’s impossible to think past the morning after!
But, with the sheets barely settled, that little blue line appears on the pregnancy test and it doesn’t take long to realize that one night of white-hot passion has turned into a lifetime of consequences!
Only one question remains:
How do you tell a man you’ve just met that you’re about to share more than just his bed?
Find out in:
An Heir to Make a Marriage by Abby Green
The Greek’s Nine-Month Redemption by Maisey Yates
Crowned for the Prince’s Heir by Sharon Kendrick
The Sheikh’s Baby Scandal by Carol Marinelli
A Ring for Vincenzo’s Heir by Jennie Lucas
Claiming His Christmas Consequence by Michelle Smart
The Guardian’s Virgin Ward by Caitlin Crews
A Child Claimed by Gold by Rachael Thomas
The Consequence of His Vengeance by Jennie Lucas
Secrets of a Billionaire’s Mistress by Sharon Kendrick
The Boss’s Nine-Month Negotiation by Maya Blake
Look for more One Night With Consequences stories coming soon!
The Pregnant Kavakos Bride
SHARON KENDRICK
Sharon Kendrick once won a national writing competition by describing her ideal date: being flown to an exotic island by a gorgeous and powerful man. Little did she realize that she’d just wandered into her dream job! Today she writes for Harlequin, featuring often stubborn but always to-die-for heroes and the women who bring them to their knees. She believes that the best books are those you never want to end. Just like life…
Books by Sharon Kendrick
Harlequin Presents
A Royal Vow of Convenience
The Ruthless Greek’s Return
Christmas in Da Conti’s Bed
Wedlocked!
The Sheikh’s Bought Wife
The Billionaire’s Defiant Acquisition
One Night With Consequences
Secrets of a Billionaire’s Mistress
Crowned for the Prince’s Heir
Carrying the Greek’s Heir
The Billionaire’s Legacy
Di Sione’s Virgin Mistress
The Bond of Billionaires
Claimed for Makarov’s Baby
The Sheikh’s Christmas Conquest
At His Service
The Housekeeper’s Awakening
Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.
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For the ever-amusing Amelia Tuttiett, who is a brilliant ceramicist and an inspirational teacher
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
SHE WAS EVERYTHING he hated about a woman and she was talking to his brother. Ariston Kavakos grew very still as he stared at her. At curves guaranteed to make a man desire her whether he wanted to or not. And he
most definitely did not. Yet his body was stubbornly refusing to obey the dictates of his mind and a powerful shaft of lust arrowed straight to his groin.
Who the hell had invited Keeley Turner?
She was standing close to Pavlos, her blonde hair rippling beneath the overhead lights of the swish London art gallery. She lifted her hand as if to emphasise a point and Ariston found his gaze drawn to the most amazing breasts he had ever seen. He swallowed as he remembered her in a dripping wet bikini with rivulets of water trickling down over her belly as she emerged from the foamy blue waters of the Aegean. She was memory and fantasy all mixed up in one. Something started and never finished. Eight years on and Keeley Turner made him want to look at her and only her, despite the stunning photographs of his private Greek island which dominated the walls of the London gallery.
Was his brother similarly smitten? He hoped not, although it was hard to tell because their body language excluded the rest of the world as they stood deep in conversation. Ariston began to walk across the gallery but if they noticed him approach they chose not to acknowledge it. He felt a flicker of rage, which he quickly cast aside because rage could be counterproductive. He knew that now. Icy calm was far more effective in dealing with difficult situations and it had been the key to his success. The means by which he had dragged his family’s ailing company out of the dust and built it anew and gained a reputation of being the man with the Midas touch. The dissolute reign of his father was over and his elder son was now firmly in charge. These days the Kavakos shipping business was the most profitable on the planet and he intended to keep it that way.
His mouth hardened. Which meant more than just dealing with shipbrokers and being up to speed with the state of world politics. It meant keeping an eye on the more gullible members of the family. Because there was a lot of money sloshing around the Kavakos empire and he knew how women acted around money. An early lesson in feminine greed had changed his life for ever and that was why he never took his eye off the ball. His attitude meant that some people considered him controlling, but Ariston preferred to think of himself as a guiding influence—like a captain steering a ship. And in a way, life was like being at sea. You steered clear of icebergs for obvious reasons and women were like icebergs. You only ever saw ten per cent of what they were really like—the rest was buried deep beneath the self-serving and grasping surface.
His eyes didn’t leave the blonde as he walked towards them, knowing that if she was going to be a problem in his brother’s life he would deal with it—and quickly. His lips curved into the briefest of smiles. He would have her dispatched before she even realised what was happening.
‘Why, Pavlos,’ Ariston said softly as he reached them and he noticed that the woman had instantly grown tense. ‘This is a surprise. I wasn’t expecting to see you here so soon after the opening night. Have you developed a late-onset love of photography or are you just homesick for the island on which you were born?’
Pavlos didn’t look too happy to be interrupted—but Ariston didn’t care. Right then he couldn’t think about anything except what was happening inside him. Because, infuriatingly, he seemed to have developed no immunity against the green-eyed temptress he’d last seen when she was eighteen, when she’d thrown herself at him with a hunger which had blown his mind. Her submission had been instant and would have been total if he hadn’t put a stop to it. Displaying the sexist double standards for which he had occasionally been accused, he had despised her availability at the same time as he’d been bewitched by it. It had taken all his legendary self-control to push her away and to adjust his clothing but he had done it, though it had left him hard and aching for what had seemed like months afterwards. His mouth tightened because she was nothing but a tramp. A cheap and grasping little tramp. Like mother, like daughter, he thought grimly—and the last type of woman he wanted his brother getting mixed up with.
‘Oh, hi, Ariston,’ said Pavlos with the easy manner which made most people surprised when they learned they were brothers. ‘That’s right, here I am again. I decided to pay a second visit and meet up with an old friend at the same time. You remember Keeley, don’t you?’
There was a moment of silence while a pair of bright green eyes were lifted to his and Ariston felt the loud hammer of his heart.
‘Of course I remember Keeley,’ he said roughly, aware of the irony of his words. Because for him most women were forgettable and nothing more than a means to an end. Oh, sometimes he might recall a pair of spectacular breasts or a pert bottom—or if a woman was especially talented with her lips or hands, she might occasionally merit a nostalgic smile. But Keeley Turner had been in a class of her own and he’d never been able to shift her from the corners of his mind. Because she’d been off-limits and forbidden? Or because she had given him a taste of unbelievable sweetness before he’d forced himself to reject her? Ariston didn’t know. It was as inexplicable as it was powerful and he found himself studying her with the same intensity as the nearby people peering at the photos which adorned the gallery walls.
Petite yet impossibly curvy, her thick hair hung down her back in a curtain of pale and rippling waves. Her jeans were ordinary and her thin sweater unremarkable yet somehow that didn’t seem to matter. With a body like hers she could have worn a piece of sackcloth and still looked like dynamite. The cheap, man-made fabric strained over the lushness of her breasts and the blue denim caressed the curves of her bottom. Her mouth was bare of lipstick and her eyes wore only a lick of mascara as they studied him warily. Hers was not a modern look—yet there was something about Keeley Turner… An indefinable something which touched a sensual core deep inside him and made him want to peel her clothes from her body and ride her until she was screaming his name. But he wanted her gone more than he wanted to bed her—and maybe he should set about accomplishing that right now.
Deliberately excluding her from the conversation, Ariston turned to his brother and summoned up a bland smile. ‘I wasn’t aware you two were friends.’
‘We haven’t actually seen each other for years,’ said Pavlos. ‘Not since that holiday.’
‘I suspect that holiday is an event which none of us particularly care to revisit,’ said Ariston smoothly, enjoying the sudden rush of colour which had made her cheeks turn a deep shade of pink. ‘Yet you’ve stayed in touch with each other all this time?’
‘We’re friends on social media,’ Pavlos elaborated, with a shrug. ‘You know how it is.’
‘Actually, I don’t. You know my views on social media and none of them are positive.’ Ariston made no attempt to hide his frosty disapproval. ‘I need to talk to you, Pavlos. Alone,’ he added.
Pavlos frowned. ‘When?’
‘Now.’
‘But I’ve only just met up with Keeley. Can’t it wait?’
‘I’m afraid it can’t.’ He saw Pavlos shoot her an apologetic glance as if to apologise for his brother’s bullish behaviour but social niceties didn’t bother him. He’d worked hard for most of his life to ensure that Pavlos was kept away from the kind of scandals which had once engulfed their family. He’d been determined he wouldn’t go the same sorry way as their father. He’d made sure that he’d attended a good boarding school in England and a university in Switzerland, and he had carefully influenced his choice of friends—and girlfriends. And this pretty little tramp in her cheap dress and come-to-bed eyes was about to learn that his baby brother was strictly off-limits. ‘It’s business,’ he added firmly.
‘Not more trouble in the Gulf?’
‘Something like that,’ Ariston agreed, irritated at his brother’s attitude and wondering why he’d forgotten you didn’t talk family business in front of strangers. ‘We can use one of the offices here at the gallery—they’re very accommodating,’ he added smoothly. ‘The owner is a friend of mine.’
‘But Keeley—’
‘Oh, don’t worry about Keeley. I’m sur
e she has the imagination to take care of herself. There’s plenty for her to look at.’ Ariston turned to give her a hard version of a smile, noticing that her knuckles had suddenly whitened as she clutched her thin shawl. For the first time he spoke directly to her, dropping his voice to a silken murmur which his business rivals would have recognised as being a tone you didn’t mess with. ‘And plenty of men hanging around who would be all too happy to take my brother’s place. In fact, I can see a couple watching you right now. I’m sure you could have a lot of fun with them, Keeley. You really mustn’t let us keep you any longer.’
Keeley felt her face freeze as Ariston spoke to her, wishing she could come up with a suitably crushing response to throw at the powerful Greek who was looking at her as if she was a stain on the pale floorboards and talking to her as if she was some kind of hooker. But the truth was that she didn’t trust herself to speak—afraid that her words would come out as meaningless babble. Because that was the effect he had on her. The effect he had on all women. Even when he was talking to them—or should she say at them?—with utter contempt in his eyes, he could reduce them to a level of longing which wasn’t like the stuff you felt around most men. He could make you have fantasies about him, even though he exuded nothing but darkness.
She’d seen the way her own mother had looked at him. She could see the other women in the gallery watching him now—their gazes hungry but wary—as if they were observing a different type of species and weren’t sure how to handle him. As if they realised they should stay well away but were itching to touch him all the same. And she could hardly judge them for that, could she? Because hadn’t she flung herself at him? Pressed her body hard against his and longed for him to take away the aching deep inside her. Behaved like a cheap little fool by misinterpreting a simple gesture on his part and managing to make a bad situation even worse.
The last time she’d seen him her life had pretty much imploded and eight years later she was still dealing with the fallout. Keeley’s mouth tightened. Because she’d come through far too much to let the arrogant billionaire make her feel bad about herself. She suspected that the mocking challenge sparking from his blue eyes was intended to make her excuse herself and disappear, but she wasn’t going to do that. A quiet rebellion began to build inside her. Did he really think he had the power to kick her out of this public gallery, as once he had kicked her off his private island?