Praise for Kelly Hunter
“Hunter’s emotionally rich tale
will make readers laugh and cry along with
the characters. A truly fantastic read.”
—RT Book Reviews on
Revealed: A Prince and a Pregnancy
“This is a dynamite story
of a once-forbidden relationship, featuring
two terrific characters who have to deal with the past
before they can finally be together.”
—RT Book Reviews on
Exposed: Misbehaving with the Magnate
“This story starts out on a light, fun and flirty note
and spins into an emotional and heartfelt tale about
coming to terms with the past and embracing the future.”
—RT Book Reviews on
Playboy Boss, Live-In Mistress
About Kelly Hunter
Accidentally educated in the sciences, KELLY HUNTER has always had a weakness for fairytales, fantasy worlds, and losing herself in a good book. Husband … yes. Children … two boys. Cooking and cleaning … sigh. Sports … no, not really—in spite of the best efforts of her family. Gardening … yes. Roses, of course. Kelly was born in Australia and has travelled extensively. Although she enjoys living and working in different parts of the world, she still calls Australia home.
Kelly’s novels Sleeping Partner and Revealed: A Prince and a Pregnancy were both finalists for the Romance Writers of America RITA® Award, in the Best Contemporary Series Romance category!
Visit Kelly online at www.kellyhunter.net
Also by Kelly Hunter
With This Fling …
Red-Hot Renegade
Untameable Rogue
Revealed: A Prince and a Pregnancy
Exposed: Misbehaving with the Magnate
Playboy Boss, Live-In Mistress
The Maverick’s Greek Island Mistress
Sleeping Partner
Did you know these are also available as eBooks? Visit www.millsandboon.co.uk
The Man She Loves To Hate
Kelly Hunter
‘The truth is rarely pure and never simple.’
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
PROLOGUE
‘HANNAH, wait up!’ Jolie Tanner slipped out of her house yard and slammed the wire gate shut behind her as she raced to catch up with her friend. Usually Hannah called out on the way past, or Jolie waited on the step for her—the plan wasn’t foolproof but they’d been walking to school together since kindergarten and, unless one of them was sick, they had the routine down pat. ‘Han!’
But Hannah didn’t slow down or turn around. Hannah kept right on walking.
Cole walked with Hannah today and that was unusual. Cole was Hannah’s big brother. Big as in seventeen years old and tall and strong and in his final year of high school. Big as in handsome, and popular, and good at absolutely everything.
Cole had shaggy black hair, olive skin, and green green eyes framed by dark curling lashes. Cole left every Hollywood teen heartthrob for dead. Including the vampires.
Hannah adored her brother. Jolie adored him too, although Jolie’s adoration of late had been tinged with an awareness she couldn’t describe. She’d begun to feel tongue-tied around him. She didn’t know where to look or what to do. Hannah had noticed. Hannah had started teasing Jolie about her stupid reactions to Cole.
Was that why Hannah wouldn’t turn around?
Because Jolie knew Cole was too old for her, too everything for her, and that he would never look at her like that. It was just a phase she was going through. That was what her mother had said when Jolie had mentioned—kind of—that she got clumsy around Cole Rees these days. Rachel Tanner had smiled her crinkly smile and told Jolie she’d grow out of it eventually.
Her total crush on Cole Rees was nothing to worry about. It was just a phase.
‘Hannah, wait up.’ Slinging her bag more securely over her shoulder, Jolie began to run to catch up.
‘Just keep walking,’ said Cole.
‘But what do I say?’ asked Hannah, her eyes stricken and her expression piteous. ‘Cole, she’s my best friend. What do I say?’
‘Nothing.’
‘Do you think she knows?’
‘How would I know?’ Cole Rees didn’t know anything any more. He’d thought his parents’ marriage was solid. Not great, but solid. He’d thought his father walked on water. Reality had come as a shock. His father had been having an affair—for over a year now he’d been having an affair. With Jolie Tanner’s mother. His father had admitted it last night in a blazing row. His father wanted a divorce. Cole and Hannah had been upstairs but they’d heard it all. The accusations, the acknowledgement, and then the tears.
So many tears.
Jolie called out again, and Cole kept right on walking. Little Jolie T might have been just a kid but she was already a beauty. Hair the colours of firelight and big grey eyes that seemed to see everything. Jolie’s mother was one of the most beautiful women Cole had ever seen. Jolie would be the same. Just give her time.
And then Jolie was beside them on the footpath, those big grey eyes bright and her red ponytail bouncing. ‘Hannah, did you do the homework for the test?’
Hannah said nothing. Hannah shot him another pleading glance and Cole wished himself somewhere, anywhere, else.
Jolie had been in and out of their home since she’d been tiny. She wasn’t family but she was a part of Cole’s life—a part that he’d taken for granted and been used to. Hannah’s friend. Quirky. Funny. Always scribbling in a little notebook she never would show anyone. Cole had asked Hannah what was in it once. Pictures, Hannah had said, so he’d then had to ask the obvious. What kind of pictures?
All kinds, had been Hannah’s reply. Animals, people, colour. She drew everything.
Cole had found the notion oddly fascinating.
‘Han,’ whispered Jolie again, bringing Cole back to the present with a scowl. ‘Did you do your homework?’
Hannah shook her head to signify no, and then just put her head down and kept right on walking. Not a lot of homework happening in the Rees household last night.
Cole glanced at Jolie and saw the puzzled hurt in her eyes. Grimly he put his own head down and kept walking. Quickly. Silently. Trying to pretend that little Jolie Tanner wasn’t hurrying along beside them, trying to keep up with them, and wondering what on earth was going on.
That was the way the three of them walked to school.
Cole hated every step of it.
Something