Bedding his Innocent Mistress

by Clare Connelly

“What?” Thad didn’t immediately understand his friend.

  “Being on the island without him.”

  His breath was a long, slow contemplation. “Strange,” he admitted for the first time. “Aristotle is everywhere I look.” He shifted, so that his back was to the beach and his eyes could roam the mansion. “He is in the trees I used to climb; the ocean I used to swim in; the steps I used to run. I lived with him here for sixteen years. How can I be back and accept …” He shook his head decisively. “But he is gone.”

  Rocco nodded. He understood his friend’s pain. “You had your reasons for staying away.”

  Thaddeus squeezed his eyes shut. “Such good reasons,” he agreed with a chill tone to his voice. “Until he died. And then I was left wondering why I let stubborn pride waste so much of our time?”

  “Stubborn pride?” Rocco repeated. “There was no stubborn pride in your rift.”

  “There was no rift in my rift,” Thad corrected angrily. “Aristotle would have made his peace with me at any time I chose. But no; I was determined. He had cut my father out. My mother too. And he had raised me in ignorance of that.” He shook his head. “If it had not been for my father’s will, I would never have known …”

  “And you would have continued to love Aristotle as a father.”

  Thad sighed. “I do love him as a father. Anger does not negate love.” He dragged a hand through his hair and tugged at its black ends until it hurt. “He loved me and so he erred. He feared losing me and so he lied. He forgot his scruples because he found his heart.” Thad shrugged. “I would not make those mistakes, and yet I understand them.”

  Rocco stared at his laptop screen without seeing. “What a waste.”

  He noticed her first from the periphery of his vision. Saphire emerged, wearing casual clothes and spiked heels, her shining dark hair shimmering about her shoulders, and her lips a bright, cherry red. The color, then, was natural too, like her curves, her hair, her thick black lashes.

  He wanted to forget Aristotle, and here she was. His perfect vehicle for memory lapse; the one single woman who had managed to obliterate his ever-active consciousness and plunge him into a state of ‘present’ living.

  “I’ll have to call you back,” he muttered, disconnecting the call to his oldest friend without a second thought. He straightened and slipped his phone into his back pocket. “Something much more important has come up.”

  THE TYCOON’S SUMMER SEDUCTION is available now.

  BOOKS BY CLARE CONNELLY

  HARLEQUIN TITLES

  Bought for the Billionaire’s Revenge

  Innocent in the Billionaire’s Bed

  Off Limits

  Her Wedding Night Surrender

  Burn Me Once

  Bound by the Billionaire’s Vows

  SINGLE TITLES

  Her Guardian’s Christmas Seduction

  Stolen by the Desert King

  In the Hands of the Sheikh

  His Nine Month Seduction

  The Sheikh’s Contract Bride

  Seduced by the Vengeful Tycoon

  The Sheikh’s Stolen Bride

  The Sheikh’s Secret Baby

  The Sheikh’s Million Dollar Bride

  The Tycoon’s Virgin Mistress

  The Sheikh’s Virgin Hostage

  Bartered to the Sheikh

  The Sheikh’s Arranged Marriage

  Marrying for his Royal Heir

  The Greek’s Marriage Revenge

  The Velasco Love Child

  The Sultan’s Virgin Bride

  Bound to the Sheikh

  The Medici Mistress

  His Loving Deception

  The Sheikh’s Convenient Mistress

  The Princess’s Forbidden Lover

  Marrying her Enemy

  Rakanti’s Indecent Proposition

  Seducing the Spaniard

  The Italian’s Innocent Bride

  The Greek Tycoon’s Forbidden Affair

  The Terms of their Affair

  A Second Chance at Love

  The Sheikh’s Christmas Mistress

  At the Sheikh’s Command

  The Billionaire’s Christmas Revenge

  Seduced by the Italian Tycoon

  Raising the Soldier’s Son

  Warming the Sheikh’s Bed

  The Tycoon’s Christmas Captive

  The Brazilian’s Forgotten Lover

  Betrayed by the CEO

  The Billionaire’s Ruthless Revenge

  The Italian Billionaire’s Betrayal

  The Sultan’s Reluctant Princess

  Love in the Fast Lane

  Bought by the Sheikh

  The Tycoon’s Summer Seduction

  All She Wants for Christmas

  One Night with the Sheikh

  A Bed of Broken Promises

  Tempted by the Billionaire

  The Sheikh’s Christmas Wish

  To the Highest Bidder

  The Tycoon’s Secret Baby

  Bedding His Innocent Mistress

  COMPENDIUMS

  Casacelli Brides

  Mediterranean Tycoons

  Desert Rulers

  Billionaire Bad Boys

  Too Hot to Handle

  Desert Kings

  Happily Ever After

  The Darling Buds of May Café

  The Hendersons