Maid for a Magnate

by Jules Bennett

  “I can’t give up who I am, Will.” She closed her eyes and sighed. “No matter how much I love you, I can’t give up everything I’ve worked for and I wouldn’t expect you to give up your work for me. We have different goals in different directions.”

  The fear of losing her, the reality that if he didn’t lay it all on the line, then she would be out of his life for good hit him hard.

  “I’m coming with you.”

  Cat’s eyes flew open as Will tipped his head back to see her face better. “What?”

  “I meant what I said. I won’t give you up and you’re more to me than any business. But I can work from anywhere and I can fly to Alma when I need to.”

  “You can’t be serious.” Panic flooded her face. “This is rushed. You can’t expect me to just say okay and we’ll be on our way to happily-ever-after. It’s too fast.”

  Will laughed. “I’ve known you since you were a little girl. I dated you four years ago and last weekend you spent nearly three days in my bed. You said you love me and I love the hell out of you and you think this is too fast? If we move any slower we’ll be in a nursing home by the time you wear my ring on your finger.”

  “I can’t think.” Once again she pushed him aside and moved past him. “I can’t take all this in. I mean, your dad and my mom...all of the things that have kept us apart. And then you corner me in a laundry room of all places to tell me you want me forever.”

  “So we don’t do things the traditional way.” He came up behind her, gripped her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. “I’m done with being by the book and boring. I want adventure, I want to be on a deserted island with the only woman in the world who can make me angry, laugh and love the way you do. I want to take care of you, I want to wear out the words I love you and I want to have no regrets from here on out where we are concerned.”

  Cat eased back against him, her head on his shoulder. “I want to believe all of that is possible. I want to hold on to the hope that I can still fulfill my dreams and I can have you. But I won’t give up myself, no matter how much I love you, Will.”

  Wrapping his arms around her waist, he leaned his cheek on her head. “I wouldn’t ask you to give up anything. I just didn’t want you leaving Alma without me. We can live wherever you want. I have a jet, I have a yacht...well, I’ll have a new one soon. I can travel where I need to be for work and I can take you where you need to go in order to fulfill this goal of yours. I want to be with you every step of your journey.”

  “I want to do it on my own,” she stated, sliding her hands over his.

  “I wouldn’t dream of interfering,” he replied. “I’ll support you in any way you need. I’ll be the silent financial backer or I’ll be the man keeping your bed warm at night and staying out of the business entirely. The choice is yours.”

  Cat turned in his arms, laced her hands behind his neck and stared up at him. “Tell me this is real. Tell me you don’t hate me for keeping the secret and that you will always make me first in your life.”

  “It’s real.” He kissed her forehead. “I could never hate you.” He kissed her nose. “And you’ll never question again whether you’re first in my life.”

  He slid his mouth across hers, gliding his hands down her body to the hem of her shirt. Easing the hem up, he smoothed his palms up over her bare skin, pleased when she shivered beneath his touch.

  “Are you seriously trying to seduce me in a laundry room all while your sister-in-law is throwing a party to raise money for her foundation a few feet away?”

  Will laughed as his lips traveled down the column of her throat. “I’m not trying. I’m about to succeed.”

  Cat’s body arched back as her fingers threaded through his hair. “I hope no partygoers take a stroll through the backyard and glance in the window of the door,” she panted when his hands brushed the underside of her breasts.

  “We already made headlines.” He jerked the shirt up and over her head, flinging it to the side without a care. “Another one won’t matter at this point.”

  “What will your brother think if you don’t show at the party?”

  Will shrugged. “James is pretty smart. I’d say he’ll know exactly where I am.”

  Cat started working on the buttons of his shirt and soon sent the shirt and his jacket to the floor. “We still don’t have a solid plan for our future.”

  Hoisting her up, Will sat her on the counter and settled between her legs. “I know how the next several minutes are going to play out. Beyond that I don’t care so long as you’re with me.”

  Will kissed her once more and eased back. “But I already have the perfect wedding present for you.”

  Cat laughed as her arms draped over his shoulders. “And what’s that?”

  “A maid. You’ll not lift a finger for me ever. I want you to concentrate on your design career and the babies we’re going to have in the future.”

  When Cat’s smile widened and she tightened her hold on him, Will knew the four years he’d worked on getting back to her were worth it. Everything he’d sacrificed with his father and personal life was worth this moment, knowing he was building a future with the only woman he’d ever loved.

  * * * * *

  DYNASTIES: THE MONTOROS

  One royal family must choose between love and destiny! Don’t miss a single story!

  MINDING HER BOSS’S BUSINESS

  by Janice Maynard

  CARRYING A KING’S CHILD

  by Katherine Garbera

  SEDUCED BY THE SPARE HEIR

  by Andrea Laurence

  THE PRINCESS AND THE PLAYER

  by Kat Cantrell

  MAID FOR A MAGNATE

  by Jules Bennett

  A ROYAL TEMPTATION

  by Charlene Sands

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  Keep reading for an excerpt from PURSUED by Tracy Wolff.

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  SPECIAL EXCERPT FROM

  When the tycoon discovers that his enemy is pregnant with his child, nothing will stop him from pursuing his heir...and the woman he risks losing his heart to...

  Read on for a sneak peek at

  PURSUED

  the second story in New York Times bestselling author Tracy Wolff’s The Diamond Tycoons duet.

  He was the most beautiful man she’d ever seen.

  Desi Maddox knew that sounded excessive, melodramatic even, but the longer she stood there staring at him, the more convinced she became.

  His emerald gaze met hers over the sea of people stretching between them and her knees trembled. Her heart raced and her palms grew damp with the force of her reaction to a man she’d never seen before and more than likely would never see again.

  It was a deflating thought, and exactly what she needed to remind herself of what she was doing here among the best and brightest of San Diego’s high society. Scoping out hot men was definitely not what her boss was paying her for. Unfortunately.

  Wanting to free up her hands, she turned to place her glass on the empty
tray of yet another passing waiter. As she turned back, though, her eyes once again met dark green ones. And, this time, the man they belonged to was only a couple of feet away.

  She didn’t know whether to run or rejoice.

  In the end, she just stared—stupefied—up into his too-gorgeous face and tried to think of something to say that wouldn’t make her sound like a total moron. Her usually quick mind was a blank, filled with nothing but images of high cheekbones. Shaggy black hair that fell over his forehead. Wickedly gleaming eyes. The sensuous mouth turned up in a wide, charming smile. Broad shoulders. And height. He was so tall she was forced to look up, despite the fact that she stood close to six feet in her four-inch heels.

  “You look thirsty,” he said, and—of course—his voice matched the rest of him. All deep and dark and husky and wickedly amused. “I’m Nic, by the way.”

  “I’m Desi.” She held out her hand. He took it, but instead of shaking it as she’d expected, he held it as he gently stroked his thumb across the back.

  It was so soft, so intimate, so not what she’d been expecting, that for long seconds she didn’t know what to do. A tiny voice inside her was whispering for her to escape from the attraction holding them in thrall. But it was drowned out by the heat, the sizzle, that arced between them like lightning.

  “Would you like to dance, Desi?” he asked.

  She should say no. But even as the thought occurred to her, even knowing that she might very well get burned before the night was over, she nodded.

  Don’t miss PURSUED by New York Times bestselling author Tracy Wolff, available October 2015 wherever Harlequin® Desire books and ebooks are sold.

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  Copyright © 2015 by Tracy L. Deebs-Elkenaney

  ISBN-13: 9781460386736

  Maid for a Magnate

  Copyright © 2015 by Harlequin Books S.A.

  Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to Jules Bennett for her contribution to the Dynasties: The Montoros miniseries.

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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