Nine Months to Claim Her

by Natalie Anderson

  A frisson of danger sparked in the stormy atmosphere.

  But then Leo almost smiled. “I don’t want to argue with you.”

  “No?” Rosanna couldn’t take her gaze off him. “You just want everything your own way.” She stood up from the stool. “I’m not marrying you. Ever.”

  “Why not give us a chance?” He, too, stood and walked around the counter.

  “There is no us,” she muttered. “There’s just a...situation.”

  “But there could be.” He advanced closer, and the glint in his eyes froze her. “You’re the one not thinking creatively now.”

  She couldn’t think at all anymore. Not when he was this near, this intense, this determined.

  “Why can’t we make it what we want?” he asked softly.

  Want?

  Rosanna couldn’t breathe. There was lightning now—fully charged attraction that was impossible to deny yet almost too much to bear. All because he’d come to stand right before her. Of all the people in the world, why did her body want him? A man who was bossy and authoritative and serious? Why this unemotional, ruthless, unforgiving man? Yet she’d just sparked to life.

  Rebels, Brothers, Billionaires

  Reputation precedes them, temptation will redeem them.

  Playboy Ash and hard-edged Leo Castle are just two of their philandering father’s heirs. Which means they’ve inherited much more than a huge fortune and luxury property portfolio. Their father’s notoriety follows them wherever they go...

  Determined to step out of the shadow of scandal, the half brothers strive to defy expectation at every turn. Until rebellion comes up against desire so strong it’s halted in its tracks!

  Discover Ash’s story in

  Stranded for One Scandalous Week

  And read Leo’s story in

  Nine Months to Claim Her

  Both available now!

  Natalie Anderson

  Nine Months to Claim Her

  USA TODAY bestselling author Natalie Anderson writes emotional contemporary romance full of sparkling banter, sizzling heat and uplifting endings—perfect for readers who love to escape with empowered heroines and arrogant alphas who are too sexy for their own good. When she’s not writing, you’ll find Natalie wrangling her four children, three cats, two goldfish and one dog...and snuggled in a heap on the sofa with her husband at the end of the day. Follow her at natalie-anderson.com.

  Books by Natalie Anderson

  Harlequin Presents

  Awakening His Innocent Cinderella

  Pregnant by the Commanding Greek

  The Greek’s One-Night Heir

  Secrets Made in Paradise

  Conveniently Wed!

  The Innocent’s Emergency Wedding

  Once Upon a Temptation

  Shy Queen in the Royal Spotlight

  Rebels, Brothers, Billionaires

  Stranded for One Scandalous Week

  The Christmas Princess Swap

  The Queen’s Impossible Boss

  Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.

  For Jo,

  Thank you so much for our weekend escape to the seaside and time to stare at pretty cows! LOL. I so appreciate your friendship and support. Here’s to some more fabulous time away writing.

  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

  EPILOGUE

  EXCERPT FROM THE INNOCENT CARRYING HIS LEGACY BY JACKIE ASHENDEN

  CHAPTER ONE

  ‘ROSE GOLD? IT’S been for ever!’

  Rosanna Gold smiled through gritted teeth, inwardly groaning—yet again—that her parents had thought it clever and cute to name her Rose. It had even been part of their marketing plan for when she took over the family business from her father Red. But it wasn’t clever or cute. It was cringeworthy, even more so given she was never going to take over the company. When she was introduced, people invariably giggled then commented on the fact that her hair was far more carrot than rose gold. She’d heard the same jokes a million times and when she’d finally moved out she’d lengthened her name to Rosanna. But tonight, she was back home. Back to being ‘Rose’. Back to trying to please her parents. Back to being less than either the beauty or treasure her name suggested.

  And it turned out that the opening celebration of the latest luxury apartment complex in central Sydney, built by property conglomerate Castle Holdings, was basically a horror of a high-school reunion: ‘Ten Years On’—and it was still terrible.

  ‘Mae, how lovely to see you.’ Rosanna hoped her inevitable blush would recede quickly—she’d been flushing stop-sign-red all night.

  Born and bred Sydney society elite, Mae Wilson had been in the year below Rosanna at school, but she’d always been decades ahead in style. So, of course, she was one of the well-heeled new residents of Kingston Towers. Only the absolute cream of Sydney society could afford one of the ultra-stylish inner-city apartments with their sleek security systems and every convenience imaginable.

  ‘What brings you here tonight?’ Mae asked.

  The surprise in Mae’s tone, and the mere fact that she’d even asked, hammered it home. Rosanna didn’t belong in Kingston Towers. She probably would never have set foot in the place had her mother not begged.

  She’d been woken early this morning by an awful call informing her that her parents had been in a car accident and she was needed in Sydney urgently. Freaked out, she’d raced from her town a few hours north, panicking the whole way. Only when she’d arrived at the hospital it was to discover she wasn’t there for a bedside vigil. While her father would be in plaster for the next few weeks, he would recover fully, and fortunately her mother had only bruises... No, it turned out their ‘SOS’ summons had been about this party and how crucial it was that a Gold family member attended. And the only one able to go now was Rosanna.

  Her initial relief that they weren’t badly hurt had been washed over by the old frustration of past years. She shouldn’t have been surprised. Her parents’ business had always been the priority in their lives—coming ahead of everything and everyone else, even themselves and their own well-being and certainly Rosanna’s as well. She’d tried to convince her mother that one party didn’t matter. But, apparently, it did.

  ‘My parents did the fit-out of some of the lounge spaces.’ Rosanna maintained her smile.

  For the last two decades her parents’ company, Gold Style, had done the interior design for Castle Holdings properties. But when Hugh Castle had died a year ago things had changed. While they’d all expected Ash, Hugh’s legitimate—albeit wayward—heir to assume control, it had been Leo Castle, Hugh’s illegitimate son, who’d taken over as CEO of the conglomerate. It had been a shock, given Hugh had refused to recognise Leo right till the end. The shocks had kept coming since. A ‘control freak’ was how Rosanna’s mother had described Leo this morning. A ‘workaholic’ who already headed another business in insurance and now ruled Castle Holdings with an iron fist and an acute eye. Apparently he was fiercely driven and uncompromising and in her parents’ view that wasn’t a good thing. Because he’d put Ca
stle Holdings’ interiors contracts out to tender, inviting proposals from her parents’ competitors. Gold Style would no longer automatically secure them—and hadn’t, in fact.

  ‘Oh, Gold Style.’ Mae nodded dismissively. ‘Of course, I’d forgotten you were connected to them.’

  Not just connected, she was their daughter. Their only child. And honestly? Their greatest disappointment.

  ‘Wear that navy empire line dress,’ her mother had shrilly instructed in amongst her barrage of information this morning. ‘It’s more flattering.’

  Because Rosanna’s body needed flattering—as always her pale freckled skin and uneven posture needed to be concealed. Appearances mattered to maintain and build the success of the business and imperfections were not allowed—not speckled skin, or a spine so curved by scoliosis that not even surgery could properly straighten it, at least not to the point of pleasing her perfectionist parents. But while Rosanna had obeyed the instruction to attend the party, she hadn’t been able to wear that particular dress. She’d had only a few things at her parents’ apartment and had opted for a silk black blouse and skirt. Her mother had always preferred Rosanna didn’t wear skirts because the hemlines reflected the unevenness of her waist, but this one was long and hopefully that slight tilt on one side wasn’t noticeable. But even though her outfit fulfilled the covering-up element, it wasn’t really good enough for Kingston Towers society.

  She’d let her parents down again and that hurt. That her mother had even asked had made her want to succeed just this once for them. Of course she’d yes, even though parties this fancy, in places this elite, weren’t her forte. She’d always felt shy and awkward. But this morning her mother had been more upset than Rosanna had ever seen her. She knew their company was everything, but she’d wondered if the accident had shaken her mother more than she was admitting. She’d repeatedly insisted that Rosanna attend—someone from the Gold family needed to be ‘seen’ by the CEO himself.

  But two hours in and Rosanna had yet to meet Leo Castle. It was her own fault, given she didn’t even know what he looked like. She didn’t bother much with Sydney society nor with social media either. However, she had briefly seen Leo’s half-brother, Ash Castle—the ‘legitimate’ heir who’d rebelled and refused to have anything to do with his late father’s company. That Ash had even been here tonight was a surprise because he’d avoided anything related to Hugh Castle for years. He must have a better relationship with his half-brother than he’d ever had with his father. Even so, Rosanna hadn’t had the confidence to ask Ash to introduce her to Leo because unfortunately Ash Castle was the source of Rosanna’s most mortifying teen moment. While it had been public humiliation of the online kind—and the reason she preferred to live a social-media-free life—the worst had been her parents’ reaction. They’d placed the blame squarely on Rosanna’s uneven shoulders and the impact of their displeasure still weighed on her today. That was why she was here now—still trying to please them for once.

  But while Ash had been unusually quiet and courteous, it had been yet another awkward high-school reunion—especially when he’d briefly brought up that cringe thing in their past. She’d only got through it because she’d realised just what hell he’d have been under at the time. But maybe the fact that she’d spoken to him for the first time in a decade would suffice for her parents’ expectations for the evening? He was a Castle, after all.

  ‘I heard something about you being a university professor now,’ Mae said, drawing her attention back to the present. ‘You always were a brain box.’

  Rosanna inwardly groaned again at her parents’ inflated description of her job. When reality wasn’t good enough, they embellished—always over the top. In fact she was a laboratory technician at the school of Biological Sciences at East River University, a couple of hours north of Sydney. As for being a brain box? That was only because she’d spent her life working insanely hard to maintain the grades that were the one thing her parents seemed to be proud of her for. Not that it had ever garnered her any social currency—Mae was one of those people who’d only ever spoken to Rosanna when she’d wanted to borrow her study notes.

  ‘Not a professor.’ She smiled resolutely. ‘I take some lectures.’

  Even that was a stretch. She tutored first-year science students because, according to her boss, she was ‘good at instilling scrupulous understanding of the scientific method’. But the work had become repetitive and frustrating. Yet again she’d not lived up to expectations because she should, at the very least, be a full-time lecturer by now if only she’d lived up to her ‘potential’.

  And as she determinedly chatted with Mae, her energy wilted.

  ‘I’m sorry, I’ve just got to go and talk to...’ Rosanna glanced around the room, hoping to spot someone—anyone ‘...Harry.’

  Her excuse to end the current conversation worked again. It had been working well all evening.

  Breathing out, Rosanna walked away from the other guests, wondering whether it was too soon to sneak away or if she ought to ‘fly the family flag’ a little longer.

  It had been a failed mission from the beginning. She knew her glamorous, party-professional parents had been disappointed in her reserved nature as a child, in her increasingly flawed appearance. They’d been disappointed by her decision not to stay in Sydney and follow them into the family business after ‘all they’d done’, and they’d definitely been disappointed by her inability to secure a society son-in-law of their dreams to lift their profile all the more...

  But the fact was, Rosanna had never satisfied anyone’s dreams. Not even her own.

  She laughed beneath her breath at her self-piteous moment. She’d been so busy trying to meet the impossible dreams of her parents she’d not stopped to actually dream any of her own. And now? Now she had no clue what it was she wanted.

  But Kingston Towers? The whole complex was dreamy. The party was on the penultimate level of the East Tower with stunning views across the city and to the second, slightly taller tower. She’d toured the two apartments open for viewing already, but from here she could glimpse the West Tower penthouse. Was that a hint of a terraced garden? Her curiosity was piqued and temptation stirred. Rosanna couldn’t resist a garden. And it was a showing, after all. Given she was unlikely to ever get the opportunity again, she walked to the central elevators—taking a moment from the horrible party for herself. One elevator opened the second she summoned it and inside she pressed the very top button.

  Moments later she arrived at the penthouse. She stepped out, savouring the silence and the sensation of escape. The tranquillity was a welcome contrast to the heavy bass downstairs and the hum of people loudly talking to counter it. The other guests couldn’t yet have realised they could inspect this apartment as well. Rosanna was glad to explore it alone. No more awkward reunions for just a minute.

  The glass doors leading out to the terrace were thrown wide open in invitation, so what else was to be done? Outside she breathed deeply, appreciating the scent of summer and the warm breeze. As she’d suspected, the terrace garden was a gorgeous space brimming with verdant vitality. There were cleverly placed trellises covered with foliage and structural plants that provided privacy and shelter around a comfortable seating area. In an instant she felt better. With all the greenery she could almost forget she was in the middle of a large city. Though if she glanced beyond the leaf-woven trellis, the view of the gleaming harbour was incredible. But it was the garden that truly entranced her.

  As she explored the deceptively large space the sky began to turn. Small lights hidden amongst the foliage automatically beamed on. It softened the atmosphere and made it even more intimate. To her wonderment, tucked away on the other side of the trellis was a small pool. She knew there was a lane pool on the recreation level for the residents but this was smaller, a place to plunge rather than exhaust oneself with endless laps. The surrounding plants were flowering and had lus
cious deep green leaves and with the lights it made the place feel like a magical den. A sensation of peace and pleasure washed over her as one plant in particular caught her eye with its contrasting green foliage.

  She’d found not just a sanctuary, but a paradise.

  * * *

  Leo Castle sprawled in the large chair in the study, silently watching the uninvited woman wander around his private terrace. She wasn’t supposed to be here. Then again, nor was he. He was supposed to be downstairs talking with the new and prospective owners of the luxury apartments Castle Holdings had just completed. Socialising was his most loathed business task—mainly because it interrupted the actual business of doing business. His phone had been humming in his pocket when he was talking to guests downstairs, vibrating with notification after notification. In the end he couldn’t resist stealing up here to check in because his favourite aspect was the deal—sale and purchase, the constant accumulation of security. He liked to work fast, accurately, viciously, relentlessly. So missing messages when he had a new deal on a knife-edge was not his idea of fun. But since he’d come up here he’d more than caught up. The outstanding deal had just come through. In theory he should now go down and celebrate the lot. In theory he should be the happiest he’d ever been. Because in theory, he finally had everything he’d ever wanted.

  For almost thirty years—his entire life—he’d fought to get to this position. Fighting for recognition, for justice...for everything that had been denied him for so long. His name and honour, respect and reputation, fortune...all were finally fully within his control. And nothing mattered to him more than having complete control over his own damned destiny.

  Kingston Towers—his first major project as the new CEO of Castle Holdings—was an undeniable success. The man who’d built the company from the ground up, Hugh Castle, had died a year ago. Leo had taken over from the man who’d not only refused to acknowledge Leo’s existence, but done everything possible to deny him his rights. But Leo had no intention of letting that happen for ever. He’d talked to his half-brother, Ash, the ‘rightful’ heir. Ash hadn’t wanted anything to do with their father’s business—he’d have been happy to see it burn. But Leo had been determined to make the company what it should have been and so he and Ash had agreed he’d take the reins. In this last year he’d carved out the cronyism, the favours, the hidden deceitful deals—battling the resentment of the old guard wanting to hold on to their unearned privileges and the pressure to prove himself worthy when he’d been unrecognised for so long. But he’d accomplished what he’d wanted—all while maintaining the success of his own company that he’d built simply to prove he could. He’d worked every minute he’d been awake for years to get here. Hours of stress and toil and sacrifice. And he’d done it. He’d even claimed this jewel at the top of the tower for himself. Yet now he was here he didn’t feel any real satisfaction. He felt...nothing.