Billion-Dollar Baby Bargain
by Tessa Radley
“I’d like to see the will.” She did her best to keep the tension out of her voice, to keep it level and professional. To her annoyance, her pulse kicked up.
He drew a leather document holder from under his arm. A surreptitious glance revealed lines of tiredness etched deep into his face, though they failed to mute the impact of his hard, handsome features.
Unable to restrain herself, Victoria snatched up the will, scanning the headings as she flicked through the pages. Searching for proof a darling baby’s life had changed forever.
“Co-guardian.” His voice was gravelly, all male, full of edges with no smooth sweetness. “And we share custody, too.”
A gust of chilly wind cut through the fabric of her dress. She shivered. Crossing her arms, she let the will fall as she rubbed her hands absently up and down her body.
Joint custody and co-guardianship. How on earth was that going to work? Damn, what had her friend been thinking?
The Moretti Arrangement
by Katherine Garbera
“Why would you settle for this kind of relationship when you could have something real?”
“This feels real to me,” he said, walking into the bedroom.
He sat down on the edge of her bed and then snagged her wrist, drawing her close. “Doesn’t this feel real to you?”
She swallowed hard. She wasn’t explaining this the right way. She wanted him to say that there was more between them than an arrangement, but there was no way that was going to happen tonight.
“I guess so.”
He pulled her even closer, wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his head on her shoulder. The move was unexpected and she didn’t know what it meant. But she realised that analysing Dominic’s actions wasn’t going to bring her the answers she sought. Not tonight.
Available in July 2010
from Mills & Boon® Desire™
Royal Seducer by Michelle Celmer
&
Bossman Billionaire by Kathie DeNosky
Billion-Dollar Baby Bargain by Tessa Radley
&
The Moretti Arrangement by Katherine Garbera
The Tycoon’s Pregnant Mistress by Maya Banks
&
To Tame Her Tycoon Lover by Ann Major
Billion-Dollar Baby Bargain
By
Tessa Radley
The Moretti Arrangement
By
Katherine Garbera
Billion-Dollar
Baby Bargain
BY
Dear Reader,
I’ll never forget the day that my first child was born. The doctor placed this wailing little person on my chest and I greeted him. The screams stopped instantly. He grew still. The nurse and my husband began to laugh, and the doctor said, “He knows his mum’s voice.” As I carried on talking, my baby tried to lift his head to look at me. I knew then that the doctor was right. All those months that he’d been part of me, he’d learned the sound of my voice. And right there a bond was forged.
It was an amazingly profound moment for me.
So it probably won’t surprise you that I’ve always enjoyed romances that contain babies. There is a tenderness in these stories – and often the stakes are so much higher. It’s not only the hero and heroine’s relationship that’s at risk, but the future of that vulnerable baby, too.
I’m a huge fan of Desire’s BILLIONAIRES AND BABIES stories…I have read all the titles published so far…and I’m thrilled that Connor and Victoria’s story is part of this fabulous collection.
Happy reading!
Tessa Radley
Tessa Radley loves travelling, reading and watching the world around her. As a teen Tessa wanted to be an intrepid foreign correspondent. But after completing a bachelor of arts degree and marrying her sweetheart, she became fascinated by law and ended up studying further and practising as a lawyer in a city practice.
A six-month break travelling through Australia with her family reawoke the yen to write. And life as a writer suits her perfectly: travelling and reading count as research and as for analysing the world…well, she can think “what if?” all day long. When she’s not reading, travelling or thinking about writing, she’s spending time with her husband, her two sons, or her zany and wonderful friends. You can contact Tessa through her website, www.tessaradley.com.
For my boys
Prologue
Who would have thought that a baby—cute and gurgly when his mother held him—could be such a demanding little devil? Victoria Sutton sank down onto the couch in the living room of her Auckland town house and gazed at the sleeping baby in the traveling cot with weary disbelief.
Dylan looked utterly angelic as stubby eyelashes rested in dusky crescents against chubby baby cheeks and his mouth moved gently up and down.
Oh, for a shot of caffeine.
Strong, hot Starbucks coffee. Hard to believe the whole weekend had passed without finding time to pick one up. Mandy, her secretary, would laugh herself silly tomorrow when Victoria recounted the events of the past two days.
Had it only been two days?
Propping her elbows on her knees, Victoria rested her chin in her palms, and groaned. Two days, but also two pretty much sleepless nights during which Dylan had turned her normally organized life upside down. Heavens, it seemed like she hadn’t drawn a breath since her best friend Suzy had gabbled her last bits of advice on Friday evening as Michael had tugged his wife out the front door, eager to get away for a brief romantic break to celebrate their second wedding anniversary.
Never again would she imagine that babies slept all the time!
Lifting her head from her cupped palms, Victoria scanned the normally immaculate living room and took in the chaotic disarray of toys, diapers and other baby paraphernalia. Another groan escaped. She knew her bedroom looked worse. She needed to get the mess packed up before Dylan’s parents arrived to collect him.
Victoria glanced ruefully at the apple puree smears on the winter-white fabric of the couch. And that stain on the carpet hadn’t been there before Friday, either. What had possessed her to feed Dylan in the all-white living room this morning? Had she learned nothing over the past two days?
Tomorrow first thing she’d organize to get the marks cleaned.
Tomorrow. Oh, heavens. Victoria’s hands shot to her mouth in dismay.
The weekly Monday-morning partners’ meeting…
Good