Love wasn’t supposed to be a part of the deal…
Even a famed matchmaker like Nolan Madaris’s great-grandmother can’t get it right every time. Nolan, the notorious fun-loving ladies’ man, could never connect with someone as straitlaced as tech whiz Ivy Chapman. Yet the scheme Ivy proposes is tempting—they can pretend to be a couple, just long enough to satisfy their families.
But someone forgot to clue in their hearts
What happens, though, when Ivy’s plan to get her relatives off her back has an unexpected side effect: getting her into Nolan’s bed? Houston’s number one womanizer may have found the only one who can truly satisfy him, body and soul. But with a man from Ivy’s past determined to be part of her future, both she and Nolan will have to decide what’s fake, what’s real and what’s worth fighting for...
The Protectors
FORGED IN DESIRE
SEIZED BY SEDUCTION
LOCKED IN TEMPTATION
The Grangers
A BROTHER’S HONOR
A MAN’S PROMISE
A LOVER’S VOW
For additional books by
New York Times bestselling author Brenda Jackson,
visit her website, www.brendajackson.net.
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.
Best Laid Plans
Brenda Jackson
ISBN: 978-1-474-08235-8
BEST LAID PLANS
© 2018 Brenda Streater Jackson
Published in Great Britain 2018
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.
To the man who will always and forever
be the love of my life and the wind beneath
my wings, Gerald Jackson, Sr.
Special thanks to LaSonde Jones, Dana Ross, Aquanetta Powell and Samantha Miguez for naming the newborn Madaris twins—Landon and London.
Special thanks to Joyce Snipes for naming
Ivy Chapman’s perfume, Forever You.
To all my readers who waited patiently
for a new Madaris novel, this book is for you.
In memory of my fur baby Yorkie,
who passed away during the writing of this book. Mookie, you are deeply missed.
I have found the one whom my soul loves.
—Song of Solomon 3:4
Praise for
New York Times bestselling author
Brenda Jackson
“The only flaw of this first-rate, satisfyingly sexy tale is that it ends.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review,
on Forged in Desire
“[Jackson’s] signature is to create full-sensory romances that deliver on the heat, and she duly delivers…. [S]ure to make any reader swoon.”
—RT Book Reviews on Forged in Desire
“Leave it to Jackson to take sizzle and honor, wrap it in romance and come up with a first-rate tale.”
—RT Book Reviews on Temptation
“Brenda Jackson is the queen of newly discovered love… If there’s one thing Jackson knows how to do, it’s how to pluck those heartstrings and stir up some seriously saucy drama.”
—BookPage on Inseparable
“This deliciously sensual romance ramps up the emotional stakes and the action…. [S]exy and sizzling.”
—Library Journal on Intimate Seduction
“Jackson does not disappoint…first-class page-turner.”
—RT Book Reviews on A Silken Thread, 4½ stars,
Top Pick!
“Jackson is a master at writing.”
—Publishers Weekly on Sensual Confessions
Contents