Mary Anne Wilson: The C.e.o. and The Secret Heiress

Brittany looked at the smile on Matt’s lips, and she felt lost

Everything dissolved for her in that instant. She wanted to run, yet she wanted to stay forever. Nothing made sense, and she wasn’t aware that she was crying until Matt dropped to his haunches in front of her and touched her cheek.

“Tears? What’s this all about?” he whispered.

“I don’t know,” she choked. “This…I…I don’t know anything anymore.” She stood up and hurried away from Matt.

“Where are you going?” Matt asked.

She turned and saw that he was inches from her. All she wanted was to reach out, to touch him, to feel that connection. To be a part of someone. But she couldn’t. She’d painted herself into a corner with her charade, and now she had fallen in love with this man.

“Please stay,” she heard him say. “Let me prove how much I want you, more than I ever wanted anyone or anything in my entire life.”

Dear Reader,

Every month Harlequin American Romance brings you four powerful men, and four admirable women who know what they want—and go all out to get it. Check out this month’s sparkling selection of love stories, which you won’t be able to resist.

First, our AMERICAN BABY promotion continues with Kara Lennox’s Baby by the Book. In this heartwarming story, a sexy bachelor comes to the rescue when a pretty single mother goes into labor. The more time he spends with mother and child, the more he finds himself wanting the role of dad….

Also available this month is Between Honor and Duty by Charlotte Maclay, the latest installment in her MEN OF STATION SIX series. Will a firefighter’s determination to care for his friend’s widow and adorable brood spark a vow to love, honor and cherish? Next, JUST FOR KIDS, Mary Anne Wilson’s miniseries continues with an office romance between The C.E.O. & the Secret Heiress. And in Born of the Bluegrass by Darlene Scalera, a woman is reunited with the man she never stopped loving—the father of her secret child.

Enjoy this month’s offerings, and be sure to return each and every month to Harlequin American Romance!

Wishing you happy reading,

Melissa Jeglinski

Associate Senior Editor

Harlequin American Romance

The C.E.O. & The Secret Heiress

Mary Anne Wilson

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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To Joanine Dedrick

The best niece ever, and my favorite clown!

Love you lots.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mary Anne Wilson is a Canadian transplanted to Southern California, where she lives with her husband, three children and an assortment of animals. She knew she wanted to write romances when she found herself “rewriting” the great stories in literature, such as A Tale of Two Cities, to give them “happy endings.” Over a ten-year career she’s published thirty romances, had her books on bestseller lists, been nominated for reviewer’s choice awards and received a Career Achievement Award in Romantic Suspense. She’s looking forward to her next thirty books.

Books by Mary Anne Wilson

HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE

495—HART’S OBSESSION

523—COULD IT BE YOU?

543—HER BODYGUARD

570—THE BRIDE WORE BLUE JEANS

589—HART’S DREAM

609—THE CHRISTMAS HUSBAND

637—NINE MONTHS LATER…

652—MISMATCHED MOMMY?

670—JUST ONE TOUCH

700—MR. WRONG!

714—VALENTINE FOR AN ANGEL

760—RICH, SINGLE & SEXY

778—COWBOY IN A TUX

826—THAT NIGHT WE MADE BABY

891—REGARDING THE TYCOON’S TODDLER…*

895—THE C.E.O. & THE SECRET HEIRESS*

INTEROFFICE MEMO

To: All LynTech Corporation Staff

From: Matthew Terrell, C.E.O.

Re: New Hire B. J. Smythe

Please join me in welcoming artist B. J. Smythe to the LynTech staff. Ms. Smythe has clearly demonstrated her abilities to help redesign the newly located Just For Kids day-care center. But, as a concerned C.E.O., I will gladly keep a very close eye on Ms. Smythe to ensure she is working up to potential. Since I am the one who initially hired Ms. Smythe, I feel personally responsible for her success here at LynTech and, as such, will also hold weekly (or daily!) meetings with the beautiful auburn-hired artist over lunch, dinner…or breakfast. I am willing to do whatever it takes to show Ms. Smythe the ropes and help her feel more at home. If you have any questions for Ms. Smythe, please feel free to go through me, as I plan to be by her side every step of the way….

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

France, December 9

“You are a work of art,” the groom-to-be said, and the words were definitely not a compliment for the bride-to-be. “You think the world revolves around you. Well, news flash, Brittany. It doesn’t!”

Brittany Lewis stared at Sean Briggs, the son of a top businessman in Paris, a man her father, Robert Lewis, had introduced her to six months ago. Sean—darkly handsome, gentle, fun, and the man she’d thought she loved until a few hours ago. Now, he looked like what he was, a stranger, a very angry stranger in a monochromatic gray suit and shirt, a stranger that she’d wish away in the blink of an eye if she had the power to do it.

Another wish would have been to go back in time and stop this fiasco before it began. But she couldn’t do that, anymore than she could cancel out any of her past mistakes. So she was doing the next best thing—canceling the engagement three weeks before the planned New Year’s Eve wedding in the old chapel on the grounds of the chateau just south of Paris.

“I can’t do this,” Brittany said, her tense voice echoing slightly in her father’s study on the ground floor of the chateau. It had been her favorite room until that moment. With its rich wood and leather, the scent of books all around, memories of sitting in here when she was little, reading while her father worked.

“What do you want me to do, go ahead and marry you, then destroy everyone’s life when it doesn’t work? Because it’s not going to work.”

Sean came closer to where she stood by the inlaid wood desk near the French doors. He was only two inches taller than her own five foot, ten inches, but she felt very small right then. He took a breath, making an obvious effort to talk rationally. “Can’t we rethink this and try to work it out some way?”

She knew the repercussions of her decision were going to explode all around her, and for a fleeting moment it was tempting to think of stopping it before it did. But she knew that things would only be worse if she let it go on. And it would hurt her father even more than this all would now. How could she have thought she loved Sean, that she loved him enough to marry him, to do the “forever” thing with him? “I don’t see how we can work this out,” she said, her voice sounding small and uncertain in her own ears.