Kat Cantrell - Triplets Under The Tree

That part wasn’t the whole truth, but it was certainly true enough.

It didn’t matter. No more kissing. That was the rule and she was sticking to it.

“Caitlyn. You focus on your challenges your way, and I’ll focus on my challenges my way.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she whispered, afraid she wasn’t going to like the answer.

Antonio looked at her. “It means I’m going to kiss you again. You’d best think of another argument if you don’t want me to.”

* * *

Triplets Under the Treeis part of Mills & Boon Desire’s number 1 bestselling series, Billionaires and Babies: Powerful men … wrapped around their babies’ little fingers.

Triplets Under

the Tree

Kat Cantrell

www.millsandboon.co.uk

KAT CANTRELLread her first Mills & Boon novel in third grade and has been scribbling in notebooks since she learned to spell. What else would she write but romance? She majored in literature, officially with the intent to teach, but somehow ended up buried in middle management in corporate America, until she became a stay-at-home mum and full-time writer.

Kat, her husband and their two boys live in north Texas. When she’s not writing about characters on the journey to happily-ever-after, she can be found at a soccer game, watching the TV show Friends or listening to ‘80s music.

Kat was the 2011 Mills & Boon So You Think You Can Write contest winner and a 2012 RWA Golden Heart Award finalist for best unpublished series contemporary manuscript.

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To Diane Spigonardo.

Thanks for the inspiration.

Contents

Cover

Introduction “We have challenges in front of us. I’d like to focus on them without … complications.” That part wasn’t the whole truth, but it was certainly true enough. It didn’t matter. No more kissing. That was the rule and she was sticking to it. “Caitlyn. You focus on your challenges your way, and I’ll focus on my challenges my way.” “What’s that supposed to mean?” she whispered, afraid she wasn’t going to like the answer. Antonio looked at her. “It means I’m going to kiss you again. You’d best think of another argument if you don’t want me to.” * * * Triplets Under the Tree is part of Mills & Boon Desire’s number 1 bestselling series, Billionaires and Babies: Powerful men … wrapped around their babies’ little fingers.

Title Page Triplets Under the Tree Kat Cantrell www.millsandboon.co.uk

About the Author KAT CANTRELL read her first Mills & Boon novel in third grade and has been scribbling in notebooks since she learned to spell. What else would she write but romance? She majored in literature, officially with the intent to teach, but somehow ended up buried in middle management in corporate America, until she became a stay-at-home mum and full-time writer. Kat, her husband and their two boys live in north Texas. When she’s not writing about characters on the journey to happily-ever-after, she can be found at a soccer game, watching the TV show Friends or listening to ‘80s music. Kat was the 2011 Mills & Boon So You Think You Can Write contest winner and a 2012 RWA Golden Heart Award finalist for best unpublished series contemporary manuscript.

Dedication To Diane Spigonardo. Thanks for the inspiration.

Prologue

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

Prologue

Near Punggur Besar, Batam Island, Indonesia

Automatically, Falco swung his arm in an arc to block the punch. He hadn’t seen it coming. But a sense he couldn’t explain told him to expect his opponent’s attack.

Counterpunch. His opponent’s head snapped backward. No mercy . Flesh smacked flesh again and again, rhythmically.

The moves came to him fluidly, without thought. He’d been learning from Wilipo for only a few months, but Falco’s muscles already sang with expertise, adopting the techniques easily.

His opponent, Ravi, attacked yet again. Falco ducked and spun to avoid the hit. His right leg ached with the effort, but he ignored it. It always ached where the bone had broken.

From his spot on the sidelines of the dirt-floored ring, Wilipo grunted. The sound meant more footwork, less jabbing.

Wilipo spoke no English and Falco had learned but a handful of words in Bahasa since becoming a student of the sole martial arts master in southern Batam Island. Their communication during training sessions consisted of nods and gestures. A blessing, considering Falco had little to say.

The stench of old fish rent the air, more pungent today with the heat. Gazes locked, Falco and Ravi circled each other. The younger man from a neighboring village had become Falco’s sparring partner a week ago after he’d run out of opponents in his own village. The locals whispered about him and he didn’t need to speak Bahasa to understand they feared him.

He wanted to tell them not to be afraid. But he knew he was more than a strange Westerner in an Asian village full of simple people. More than a man with dangerous fists.

Nearly four seasons ago, a fisherman had found Falco floating in the water, unconscious, with horrific injuries. At least that was what he’d pieced together from the doctor’s halting, limited English.

He should have died before he’d washed ashore in Indonesia and he certainly should have died at some point during the six-month coma his body had required to heal.

But he’d lived.

And when he finally awoke, it was to a nightmare of physical rehabilitation and confusion. His memories were fleeting. Insubstantial. Incomplete. He was the man with no past, no home, no idea who he was other than angry and lost.

The only clue to his identity lay inked across his left pectoral muscle—a fierce, bold falcon tattoo with a scarlet banner clutched in his talons, emblazoned with the word Falco . That was what his saviors called him since he didn’t remember his name, though it chafed to be addressed as such.

Why? It must be a part of his identity. But when he pushed his memory, it only resulted in his fists primed to punch something and a blinding headache. Every waking moment—and even some of those dedicated to sleep—he heard an urgent soul-deep cry to discover why he’d been snatched from the teeth of a cruel death. Surely he’d lived for a reason. Surely he’d remember something critical to set him on the path toward who he was. Every day thus far had ended in disappointment.

Only fighting allowed him moments of peace and clarity as he disciplined his mind to focus on something other than the struggle to remember.

Ravi and Wilipo spoke in rapid Bahasa, leaving the Westerner out of it, as always.

Wilipo grunted again.

That meant it was time to stop sparring. Nodding, Falco halted, breathing heavily. Ravi’s reflexes were not as instantaneous and his fist clipped Falco.