“That’s probably a good idea. I haven’t had anything since breakfast. I doubt you have, either.”
“I was too emotional to eat. But I’m famished now. How does chicken and dumplings sound?”
“That works for me. I can help, if you want. You can teach me to cook.”
“Sure. That’ll be fun.” She envisioned him years from now, with their children toddling around. “Then you can cook for me on Mother’s Day, you and our adorable, green-eyed kids.”
“Yeah, but how funny would it be if they ended up with blue or brown eyes?”
“That’s a possibility. We both have blue and brown eyes in our family histories.” She rocked in his arms. “Our life together is going to be amazing.”
“It already is.” He released his hold on her, and they went downstairs to the kitchen to start the meal.
Just as she prepared to gather the ingredients, his cell rang. She got an immediate sense of foreboding. “The last time we got interrupted by a phone call, it was bad news.”
“Hopefully this is something good.” He checked the screen. “It’s Will.”
She held her breath. Was there information about Rich or did they have an update on Megan’s brother Jason?
Allison stood back while Rand talked to Will. Since she could only hear one side of the conversation, she tried not to jump to any conclusions. She waited for Rand to tell her what was going on.
After the call ended, he came over to her and said, “The test results from the ashes came in. They don’t belong to Rich. He wasn’t the person who died in the plane crash.”
Her chest went tight. “Then who did?”
“The authorities don’t know. All they know is that the ashes are male human remains.”
“So Rich faked his own death? And put someone else’s ashes in his place?”
“That’s the assumption. But wherever that bastard is, he better never come anywhere near you again. If he does, I’ll kill him myself.”
“I appreciate you wanting to protect me, but I’ll be fine.” Allison assured her husband not to worry. “There’s no reason for Rich to ever try to see me again. He took my money and that’s all he ever really wanted from me.”
Rand blew out a breath. “I just hope they catch him.”
“Me, too.” Rich was a sociopath who needed to be stopped, a rotten-to-the-core man Allison would just as soon forget ever existed. “Did Will mention Jason? Is there any word from him?”
He shook his head. “Jason still hasn’t returned Will’s calls. Megan hasn’t heard from her brother, either. And neither has Jason’s daughter, at least not since he first sent her those sporadic emails. It’s disturbing, though, how closely Jason appears to be tied to this since he’s the one who mailed the urn to Megan to begin with, saying that the ashes belonged to Will.”
Allison had never met Jason. But she prayed that he hadn’t aligned himself with Rich. She could only imagine how heartbreaking that would be to Will and Megan and the rest of Jason’s family. Or worse yet, if he’d come into harm’s way. “So there wasn’t any positive news?”
“Actually, there was.” Rand graced her with a smile. “Will’s brother got married yesterday.”
“Jesse and Jillian had their wedding? I heard they were engaged.” She’d even thought about them on the night of the TCC fund-raiser.
“They tied the knot at the Ace in the Hole. It was an intimate family wedding. Jillian’s little daughter, Mackenzie, was the flower girl. Will said she looked cute as a button.”
“I’ll bet she did.” Mackenzie was the toddler Rich had fathered, the same child Jesse Navarro had claimed as his own when he’d fallen in love with the girl’s mother. “They’re going to make a wonderful family.”
“Just like us.”
Rand kissed her, and Allison closed her eyes, savoring the moment. Even with the bad things that had happened in Royal, good things were unfolding, too, she thought, as he deepened the kiss and made her sigh.
Very good things.
* * * * *
Don’t miss a single installment of the
Texas Cattleman’s Club: The Impostor.
Will the scandal of the century lead to love for these rich ranchers?
THE RANCHER’S BABY by
New York Times bestselling author Maisey Yates.
RICH RANCHER’S REDEMPTION
by USA TODAY bestselling author Maureen Child.
A CONVENIENT TEXAS WEDDING
by Sheri WhiteFeather.
EXPECTING A SCANDAL by Joanne Rock.
REUNITED...WITH BABY
by USA TODAY bestselling author Sara Orwig.
THE NANNY PROPOSAL by Joss Wood.
SECRET TWINS FOR THE TEXAN
by Karen Booth.
LONE STAR SECRETS by Cat Schield.
***
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The Double Deal
by Catherine Mann
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 cou
ldn’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.
Copyright © 2018 by Catherine Mann
Notorious playboy Nolan Madaris is determined to escape his great-grandmother’s famous matchmaking schemes, but Ivy Chapman, the woman his great-grandmother has picked out for him, is nothing like he expects—and she’s got her own proposal for how to get their meddling families off their backs and out of their love lives!
Read on for a sneak peek of
BEST LAID PLANS,
the latest in New York Times bestselling author Brenda Jackson’s
MADARIS FAMILY SAGA!
Best Laid Plans
by Brenda Jackson
Prologue
Christmas Day
Nolan Madaris III took a sip of his beer while standing on the balcony of his condo. Leaning against the rail, he had a breathtaking view of the exclusive fifteen-story Madaris Building that was surrounded by a cluster of upscale shops, restaurants and a beautiful jogging park with a huge man-made pond. The condos where he lived were right across from the water.
The entire complex, including the condos, had been architecturally designed, engineered and constructed by the Madaris Construction Company that was owned by his cousins Blade and Slade. For the holidays, the Madaris Building and the surrounding shops, restaurants and jogging park were beautifully decorated with colorful, bright lights. It was hard to believe a new year was just a week away.
When Nolan had arrived home from his cousin Lee’s wedding, he hadn’t bothered to remove his tuxedo. Instead he’d headed straight for the refrigerator, grabbed a beer and proceeded to the balcony for a bit of mental relaxation. But all his mind could do was recall the moment his ninetysomething-year-old great-grandmother, Felicia Laverne Madaris, had finally cornered him at the reception that evening. She was a notorious matchmaker, and he’d been avoiding her all night. Her success rate was too astounding to suit him—and she had calmly warned him that he was next.
He was just as determined not to be.
Nolan, his brother, Corbin, and his cousins Reese and Lee had all been born within a fifteen-month period. They were as close as brothers and had been thick as thieves while growing up. Mama Laverne swore her goal was to marry them all off before she took her last breath. They all told her that wouldn’t happen, but then the next thing they knew, Reese had married Kenna and today Lee married Carly.
What bothered Nolan more than anything about his great-grandmother setting her schemes on him was that she of all people knew what he’d gone through with Andrea Dunmire. Specifically, the hurt, pain and humiliation she had caused him. Yes, it had been years ago and he had gotten over it, but there were some things you didn’t forget. A woman ripping your heart out of your chest was one of them.
His cell phone rang. Recognizing the ringtone, he pulled it out of his pocket and answered, “Yes, Corbin?”
“Hey, man, I just wanted to check on you. We saw you tear out of here like the devil himself was after you. It’s Christmas and we thought you would stay the night at Whispering Pines and continue to party like the rest of us.”
Whispering Pines was their uncle Jake’s ranch. Nolan took another sip of his beer before saying, “I couldn’t stay knowing Mama Laverne is already plotting my downfall. You wouldn’t believe what she told me.”
“We weren’t standing far away and heard.”
Nolan shook his head in frustration. “So now all of you know that Mama Laverne’s friend’s granddaughter is the woman she’s picked out for me.”
“Yes, and we got a name. Reese and I overheard Mama Laverne tell Aunt Marilyn that your future wife’s name is Ivy Chapman.”
“Like hell the woman is my future wife.” And Nolan couldn’t care less about her name. He’d never met her and didn’t intend to. “All this time I thought Mama Laverne was plotting to marry the woman’s granddaughter off to Lee. She set me up real good.”
Corbin didn’t say anything and Nolan was glad because for the moment he needed the silence. It didn’t matter to him one iota that so far every one of his cousins whose wives had been selected by his great-grandmother were madly in love with their spouses and saw her actions as a blessing and not a curse. What mattered was that she should not have interfered in the process. And what bothered him more than anything was knowing that he was next on her list. He didn’t want her to find him a wife. When and if he was ready for marriage, he was certainly capable of finding one on his own.
“You’ve come up with a plan?” Corbin interrupted Nolan’s thoughts to ask.
Nolan thought of the diabolical plan his cousin Lee had put in place to counteract their great-grandmother’s shenanigans and guaranteed to outsmart Mama Laverne for sure. However, in the end, Lee’s plan had backfired.
“No, why waste my time planning anything? I simply refuse to play the games Mama Laverne is intent on playing. What I’m going to do is ignore her foolishness and enjoy my life as the newest eligible Madaris bachelor.”
He could say that since, at
thirty-four, he was ten months older than Corbin, who would be next on their great-grandmother’s hit list. “By the time I make my rounds, there won’t be a single woman living in Houston who won’t know I’m not marriage material,” Nolan added.
Corbin chuckled. “That sounds like a plan to me.”
“Not a plan, just stating my intentions. I refuse to let Mama Laverne shove a wife that I don’t want down my throat just because she thinks she can and that she should.”
After ending the call with his brother, Nolan swallowed the last of his beer. Like he’d told Corbin, he didn’t have a plan and wouldn’t waste time coming up with one. What he intended to do was to have fun; as much fun as any single man could possibly have.
A huge smile touched his lips as he left the balcony. Walking into his condo, he headed for his bedroom. Quickly removing the tux, he changed into a pair of slacks and a pullover sweater. The night was still young and there was no reason for him not to go out and celebrate the holiday.
As he moved toward his front door, he started humming “Jingle Bells.” Let the fun begin.
One
Fifteen months later…
Nolan clicked off his mobile phone, satisfied with the call he’d just ended with Lee about his cousin’s newest hotel, the Grand MD Paris. Construction of the huge mega-structure had begun three weeks ago. Already it was being touted by the media as the hotel of the future, and Nolan would have to agree.
Due to the hotel’s intricate design and elaborate formation, the estimated completion time was two years. You couldn’t rush grandeur, and by the time the doors opened, the Grand MD Paris would set itself apart as one of the most luxurious hotels in the world.
This would be the third hotel Lee and his business partner, DeAngelo Di Meglio, had built. First there had been the Grand MD Dubai, and after such astounding success with that hotel, the pair had opened the Grand MD Vegas. Since both hotels had been doing extremely well financially, a decision was made to build a third hotel in Paris. The Grand MD Paris would use state-of-the-art technology while maintaining the rich architectural designs Paris was known for.
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