The Double Deal

by Catherine Mann

  Snowbound with a sexy stranger...

  Will sharing his bed destroy her plans or lead to forever?

  Naomi Steele knows it’s sneaky to sleep with Royce Miller without revealing her true identity. So is neglecting to mention she’s pregnant. Still, being stranded with the reclusive scientist provides the perfect opportunity to convince him to work for her family’s company. Yet once the snow melts and the truth is revealed, Naomi could be dealing with double the trouble...

  “Well, I guess there really isn’t any use in denying the sparks, is there?”

  Her bright eyes searched his, an eagerness dancing there. One he wanted to act on. Damn the logic.

  “Attraction is what it is. Even my scientific mind knows it’s not logical—but it is tangible.” He leaned forward on the table, his knee brushing hers. She stared at the point of contact, the place where electricity seemed to build, coursing through him.

  “I’m not a judgy kind of person.” She lifted her head, fixating now on his mouth. The warmth of her body teased him as she continued, her voice lower, as if confessing a secret. “But I’ve also never indulged in the one-night-stand gig.”

  “From the looks of the storm and the piles of snow out there, we’ll be here far more than one night. If you’re so inclined to…indulge.”

  * * *

  The Double Deal is part of the Alaskan Oil Barons series, the eight-book saga from USA TODAY bestselling author Catherine Mann!

  Dear Reader,

  Plotting the eight-book arc for the Alaskan Oil Barons has been an exciting adventure and an exploration of this powerful dynasty. Especially as it all takes place in such a snowy, rugged terrain! My grandparents lived in Alaska long ago, but I still vividly recall waiting for Granddad’s shipment of canned salmon and moose steaks. (My younger sisters actually thought he was sending us a moose!)

  The mystique of Alaska has been a blast to research, from the majestic snow to the northern lights. And yes, I got a special kick out of coming up with exotic food choices for the hero, Royce Miller, PhD, and the heroine, Naomi Steele, to share during those romantic nights trapped by a blizzard.

  Snuggle up and happy reading.

  Cheers,

  CatherineMann.com

  Catherine Mann

  The Double Deal

  USA TODAY bestselling author Catherine Mann has won numerous awards for her novels, including both a prestigious RITA® Award and an RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ Choice Award. After years of moving around the country bringing up four children, Catherine has settled in her home state of South Carolina, where she’s active in animal rescue. For more information, visit her website, catherinemann.com.

  Books by Catherine Mann

  Harlequin Desire

  Diamonds in the Rough

  One Good Cowboy

  Pursued by the Rich Rancher

  Pregnant by the Cowboy CEO

  The Lourdes Brothers of Key Largo

  The Boss’s Baby Arrangement

  His Secretary’s Little Secret

  Alaskan Oil Barons

  The Baby Claim

  The Double Deal

  Visit her Author Profile page at www.Harlequin.com, or catherinemann.com, for more titles.

  To my sisters, Julie and Beth

  “A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life.”

  —Isadora James

  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

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from Lone Star Lovers by Jessica Lemmon

  Excerpt from Best Laid Plans by Brenda Jackson

  Prologue

  Naomi Steele wasn’t naive.

  Her life had brought enough challenges to make her wise—if not jaded. She’d expected pregnancy to bring changes too. Yes, hormonal upheaval. But also miraculous transformations, full of shimmering emotions and realized dreams.

  She just hadn’t expected to feel such a ferocious internal roar—a primal drive—to protect her child at all costs.

  Or possibly children. Plural? Twins ran in her family and having used in vitro increased her odds of fraternal twins. A wave of nerves—and nausea—hit her.

  Breathe. Breathe. Focus.

  With a report from the private investigator to her left and her computer screen to her right, she compared notes on the world-famous research scientist who could bring her the business coup—the security—she needed for her child. Sure, she had a large, wealthy family, and she lived in the confines of their estate outside of Anchorage, Alaska. Her suite was large. The enclosed balcony offered her magnificent views of both the bay and the mountains.

  But none of that helped her feel as though she had a real stake in the family business. A legacy to share with her child. And since her pregnancy had been accomplished by in vitro fertilization with a sperm donor, she was utterly on her own to create that legacy. That lasting piece of the Steele portfolio that couldn’t be taken away.

  Her family was in a state of upheaval. Her father’s upcoming marriage to a former business rival and the resulting merger of their two oil empires meant everyone in both families were fighting for roles in the new company—Alaska Oil Barons, Incorporated. Naomi needed to contribute to the business in a way that was undeniably hers.

  And research scientist Royce Miller was her ticket to making that happen.

  She let the corners of the private investigator’s report brush over her thumb like a flip book, information she already knew about Royce Miller, PhD, by heart. She let her gaze fall on her computer screen, where a rare image of him filled the space. He was a brilliant man, a reclusive genius. He was all compelling eyes and brooding good looks, his intelligence as evident as his strong shoulders.

  She needed him to cement her value in the family business.

  Was the anonymous father of her child half that smart? Half that strong? All moot musings. She’d chosen her path as a single parent, on her own.

  Up to now, that independence had suited her just fine.

  Since her battle with cancer as a teenager, she’d lived her life for herself, and with abandon. She’d embraced her competitiveness. In play, and later in her work as an attorney for her family’s Alaskan-based oil business. She preferred no strings in all her dealings, outside the connection to her widowed father and her siblings.

  Now, she was still going her own way, but the stakes were higher than ever.

  She had seen often enough how quickly a successful company could crash. And with the tumultuous merger of the Steele oil holdings with the Mikkelson oil family—thanks to her father’s surprise engagement to the Mikkelson matriarch—Naomi was more concerned than ever about the future of the business. Their competitor, Johnson Oil United, was hot on their heels, hoping to use the uncertainty during the merger as a chance to surge ahead in the market.

  Naomi couldn’t grow complacent. She couldn’t back down.

  Right now, her private detective and crazy good internet skills were her best advantages in tracking down her ace in the hole.

  Finding the scientist and persuading him to bring his research on ecological advancements in oil pipelines to her family was paramount. At the very least, she needed to locate him and sneak a peek at his
research. Aside from the benefits to her family’s company, his research could be the key to reducing environmentally based cancers, a passion she shared with her ecologist sister Delaney. Doubling the stakes, really.

  After tireless searching for Dr. Miller, Naomi finally had a lead on the sequestered scientist. He’d retreated to the mountains to work on his research in an isolated but luxurious glass igloo.

  Now that she’d found him, she just needed to come up with a plan to meet him. Hang out with him. And use her creative maneuvering to wrangle an afternoon together where she could work her way into his good graces and secure the deal of a lifetime.

  One

  Research scientist Royce Miller didn’t have a problem shifting from cerebral to alpha mode to save a woman from a hungry Alaskan grizzly that should have been hibernating.

  But he needed to put on some clothes first.

  Royce gathered up his jeans, boots and a parka to go over his boxers and T-shirt. Beyond the thick paned glass of his remote getaway, a shaggy brown bear stalked toward an SUV. Parked in his snow-piled driveway, the driver—someone in a blindingly pink parka—honked the horn repeatedly. The blaring would have alerted a couple of city blocks, except this happened to be the only cabin for nearly a hundred miles.

  Well, not a cabin exactly.

  Renting this insulated glass igloo out in the middle of nowhere had given him the irresistible opportunity to soak up some rare Alaskan rays this month as he immersed himself in developing new safety measures for oil pipelines. Not that he gave a damn about a tan, but vitamin D from sunshine was in short supply this far north and crucial for bone health, muscle mass and strength. All of which could come in handy once he stepped outdoors to say howdy to the massive grizzly closing in on the SUV holding his unexpected guest.

  The “guest”? An issue he would deal with later.

  Just because he valued his privacy as highly as his vintage Pascal’s calculator, that didn’t mean he could let the angry bear take out the dainty woman behind the wheel of the four-wheel drive. Her pink hood bobbed left and right, fast, as if she searched for options. Or help.

  At least she was in a vehicle. That gave him a few precious moments to prep rather than bolt out there in the buff.

  Bolting away from the glass wall, he sidestepped his Saint Bernard. “’Scuse me, Tessie.”

  Tessie, as in short for the scientist Nikola Tesla.

  The two-year-old shaggy dog lifted her block head off her paws and tipped it to the side. She was worn-out from their time playing in the yard earlier, a long outing to stretch her legs since he’d known a blizzard was imminent. Was that why this driver had stopped here? Stranded on the way back to Anchorage? Spring was just one breath from winter up here.

  His Saint Bernard narrowed her eyes, studying him intently. Sniffing the air, the dog let out a low whine, standing. Perhaps catching the scent of the bear. Not good.

  “This isn’t the time for curiosity, girl.” Urgency pumped through him as he tugged on his jeans, pausing only to turn off his computer with a brisk click on his way by. Sensitive data secured.

  From the bear and a lost tourist? Not likely.

  Still, never could be too careful given the nature of his work. Patent-worthy research if all played out as he suspected. And when it came to his job, he was never wrong. The stakes were too high. Too personal.

  His father had worked the old-school oil pipelines, like most of the population in the small Texas town where Royce had grown up. It had been a tight community. A loss of one sent ripples throughout that touched them all.

  When his former fiancée’s father had died in an explosion, Royce’s world had been blown apart too. Then his fiancée miscarried their baby and left the country. Left him...

  Shaking off the past, Royce dressed with methodical speed, shrugging into a fleece-lined flannel shirt, then tugging on a parka, and stepped into boots on his way to the door to deal with the massive curveball thrown at his day. This would have been the perfect secluded afternoon for productive thinking. He’d come to the wilderness retreat for peace, a slice of time with no distractions. No question, creating a safer, ecologically friendly oil pipeline was personal.

  Corporations vied to get him on their payroll, but he preferred to work solo and, thanks to selling off a few patents, he had a multimillion-dollar cushion to innovate on his own terms. Such as working here. Alone.

  So much for that plan.

  Thinsulate gloves were all he could afford to wear and still use the tools at his disposal to rid them of the bear’s threat. A flare gun and, as a last resort, a shotgun.

  “Tessie,” he said firmly, “stay.”

  She huffed in apparent irritation at being kept inside, but she didn’t budge.

  “Good girl.” He tossed the words of praise over his shoulder.

  Bracing himself, he unlocked the door that opened into a short igloo-style tunnel. A blast of frigid air whipped inward hard and fast, damn near freezing his breath in his chest. A painful breath, as the cold air crackled in his lungs. Steeling himself, he pressed into the howl of the blizzard wind, the blaring horn roaring almost louder than the bear.

  Royce pushed forward into the full slam of storm winds. If he could steer the bear away before it reached the driver, or distract the bear long enough for the woman to bolt inside...

  The grizzly ambled faster toward the SUV idling beside Royce’s dual cab truck. Now that he was outside, he could see the SUV spewing sludge from the back wheels as the vehicle worked—in vain—to reverse out.

  With a flying leap and roar, the beast pounded on the hood of the woman’s vehicle, enormous paws taking swipes at the windshield. Even through the thick swirls of snow mixed with sleet, Royce could see the glint of long, lethal bear claws.

  The time for finesse had ended.

  Royce shouted, “Hey, you, teddy bear, check me out.”

  His voice got lost amid the car horn blending with the unforgiving blizzard. The grizzly’s ears twitched but still he—or she—continued to rock the SUV, chunks of slush clotting in the shaggy coat. The blizzard dumped its fury faster and faster from the sky, wind carrying the flakes sideways in stinging icy bullets. Royce raised the flare gun and popped a flaming missile into the air, careful to avoid the frosted branches.

  With a roar, the bear’s massive head swung around.

  “Yeah, Paddington, now we’re in business,” Royce shouted, gripping part of his unbuttoned parka and spreading it wide, making himself appear as big as possible.

  Bears usually preferred easy prey, so looking large could help scare him off. But he wasn’t counting on it. He kept the shotgun in hand even as he held his coat open. “Yeah, you. Back off, Baloo.” Who knew there were so many jolly bears in literature? Kids should be taught to steer clear of them, not cuddle the creatures. “There’s no food in my trash, and that little lady there isn’t going to be dinner.”

  Or an appetizer, or canapé even, given the woman appeared to be more of a wiry sort.

  The car horn pierced the air, long and loud, as the woman pressed the hell out of it. She had some serious mojo. No diving under the dashboard in fear for herself. She revved the engine, puffing thicker exhaust into the cold.

  As the driver’s side window eased down, a head peeked out. That pink parka shone, hood up, but a coal-dark ponytail trailed free along her shoulder. “I’m trying to back up, but either the tires are stuck or the bear weighs too—”

  “Get back in there before Winnie the Pooh takes off your head with one swipe of the paw,” Royce barked. Quick calculations told him he needed to get that bear away from the SUV within the next two to three minutes or the windshield would almost certainly shatter. The grizzly was big, but not too big to climb through the busted front glass.

  “Of course I’m going to stay in the car,” she shouted back. “I just wanted to know if you can think
of something I should be doing differently. I have no intention of budging until Winnie-the-Pooh bear trundles back off into the Hundred Acre Wood—”

  The bear’s paw swiped off the side mirror, inches from her face. Fat snowflakes quickly piled on top of the shattered mirror, covering it in a testament to the power and fury of the Alaskan storm. Also, a reminder that Royce was up against more than just a grizzly.

  Squealing, the woman tucked back into the SUV as the bear rolled off the vehicle and landed on the ground. On both back feet, wobbling but not down and not retreating.

  No more playing around.

  Royce raised his shotgun.

  Aimed.

  The SUV lurched backward, then forward, snow spewing. Apparently, the bear’s weight had been keeping it in place, after all. Royce’s shot went wild and the four-wheel drive skidded on the icy ground inches past him. The gleaming silver SUV was on a fast track to bashing into his igloo hideaway.

  Royce launched to the left, out of the vehicle’s path, while keeping eyes on the grizzly. The bear lumbered off into the tangle of slick trees. Clearly Teddy-Baloo-Paddington-Winnie thought better of tangling with that pink parka.

  Speaking of which.

  Royce checked right and—thank God—found the SUV at a stop in a puffy snowbank, the horn silent at last. The driver? Already climbing out from behind the wheel. Apparently unscathed.

  And not as wiry as he’d originally thought. She was petite, alright, but with just the right kind of curves showcased in ski pants and a parka cinched at the waist.

  A cute-as-hell—but still unwelcome—vision.

  Now that the bear was gone, suspicion burned more than the frostbite threatening his face. Royce had to wonder. What was this woman doing out here in the middle of nowhere?

  And what did she want with him?

  * * *

  Naomi Steele resented playing the wilting flower for any man.

  She’d been born in Alaska, was a quarter Inuit on her dead mother’s side. Growing up, she and her sisters had learned about survival in her harsh and magnificent home state right alongside her brothers. She could have handled the bear on her own with the flare gun in her survival kit.