Sophie Pembroke - Stranded with the Tycoon

The man who sees her beauty…

Ben Hampton is the last man in England that workaholic historian Luce would ever choose to be stranded with. Tall, dark and infuriatingly arrogant, he’s also a reminder of her not-so-glorious romantic history—something she’s spent the past few years burying herself in work to forget.

Hotel tycoon Ben knows there’s fire behind Luce’s buttoned-up exterior, and fanning its flames is an irresistible temptation. Luckily, getting snowbound in the countryside gives him the perfect opportunity to tempt out the real Lucinda Myles!

“A night off. With me. You put on your best party dress, let me take you out to dinner. You talk about yourself, not the things you’re supposed to be doing. You let me take responsibility for showing you a good time. You relax. We have a nightcap in my suite, then you get a good night’s sleep.”

“In my own room?” Luce stamped down on the corner of her mind that was happily imagining what might happen if they were both in his room. Ben’s smile grew a little wolfish. “Well now, that’s up to you.”

“Really,” Luce said, flatly.

“Of course.” Ben looked mildly offended. “I’m not saying I won’t give it my best shot. You’re a beautiful woman, and I enjoy the company of beautiful women. But at the end of the night, you get the choice of my bed or the spare room. Either way you have a bed for the night.”

Luce found her gaze caught on his. He thought she was beautiful? Ben Hampton actually wanted her. Sober, all grown up, not obviously crazy…and he wanted her. She could have dinner with him, flirt, kiss…more. All she had to do was say yes.

Dear Reader,

There’s something magical about snow. Especially when you’re sitting inside by a warm fire, mug in hand, watching it fall and cover the land. Or crunching through the first fall, leaving crisp footprints in your wake. Building snowmen, sledging, running inside to warm up again…or just enjoying the hush that a good snowfall brings to the world.

Of course if you’re trying to drive through mid-Wales, U.K., in a snowstorm, like Luce and Ben are in this book, it’s a whole lot less fun. Especially if it traps you in a cottage in the middle of nowhere with someone you haven’t seen in ten years and didn’t like very much even then.

But the magic of snow can’t be resisted, and the power of a romantic, secluded cottage shouldn’t be underestimated. Until the inevitable thaw, when the world returns to normal—but leaves Ben and Luce changed forever….

I grew up on the Welsh border—not very far from Chester, where this story starts—and I had so much fun setting this book in familiar locations. Ben’s cottage is, I’m afraid, fictional, but based on many cottages I’ve spent very happy holidays in over the years. And while the restaurant where they first eat dinner together doesn’t exist in the real world, the one that sits in the same spot on the Chester Rows in reality is a favorite for Mum and me to stop at for lunch when indulging in a little retail therapy!

I hope you enjoy Ben and Luce’s snowy adventure—maybe even as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Best wishes,

Sophie

Stranded with the Tycoon

Sophie Pembroke

www.millsandboon.co.uk

SOPHIE PEMBROKEhas been dreaming, reading and writing romance for years—ever since she first read The Far Pavilions under her desk in Chemistry class. She later stayed up all night devouring Mills & Boon® books as part of her English degree at Lancaster University, and promptly gave up any pretext of enjoying tragic novels. After all, what’s the point of a book without a happy ending?

She loves to set her novels in the places where she has lived—from the wilds of the Welsh mountains to the genteel humour of an English country village, or the heat and tension of a London summer. She also has a tendency to make her characters kiss in castles.

Currently Sophie makes her home in Hertfordshire, with her scientist husband (who still shakes his head at the reading-in-Chemistry thing) and their four-year-old Alice-in-Wonderland -obsessed daughter. She writes her love stories in the study she begrudgingly shares with her husband, while drinking too much tea and eating homemade cakes. Or, when things are looking very bad for her heroes and heroines, white wine and dark chocolate.

Sophie keeps a blog at www.SophiePembroke.com, which should be about romance and writing but is usually about cake and castles instead.

This is Sophie Pembroke’s fabulous first book for Mills & Boon!

Before you start reading, why not sign up?

Thank you for downloading this Mills & Boon book. If you want to hear about exclusive discounts, special offers and competitions, sign up to our email newsletter today!

SIGN ME UP!

Or simply visit

signup.millsandboon.co.uk

Mills & Boon emails are completely free to receive and you can unsubscribe at any time via the link in any email we send you.

For Holly.

I’m proud of you all the way to the moon, too.

Contents

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 ONE

LUCINDA MYLES WASN’T the sort of woman to panic, usually. But the prospect of being without a bed for the night five days before Christmas, in the midst of the coldest December the north-west of England had seen in decades, was decidedly unappealing. The city of Chester was booked solid by Christmas shoppers and by the other unfortunate academics attending the badly timed Bringing History to the Future conference. If the Royal Court Hotel didn’t find her booking...well, she was going to need a new plan. But first she’d try dogged persistence. It had always worked for her grandfather.

‘I understand that you’re fully booked,’ Luce said, in her most patient and forbearing voice. The one she usually saved for her brother Tom, when he was being particularly obtuse. ‘But one of those room bookings should be for me. Dr Lucinda Myles.’ She leant across the reception desk to try to see the girl’s computer screen. ‘M-Y-L-E-S.’

The blonde behind the desk angled the screen away from her. ‘I’m afraid there is no booking at this hotel under that name for tonight. Or any other night, for that matter.’

Luce gritted her teeth. This was what she got for letting the conference staff take charge of her hotel booking. She really should have known better. Take responsibility. Take control. Words to live by, her grandfather had always said. Shame she was the only one in the family to listen.

As if to echo the thought, her phone buzzed in her pocket. Luce sighed as she reached in to dig it out, knowing without looking that it would be Tom. ‘And there are absolutely no free rooms in the hotel tonight?’ she asked the blonde, figuring it was worth one more shot. ‘Even the suites are booked?’ She could make the university reimburse her. They wanted her here at the conference—the least they could do was give her a decent room for the night.

‘Everything. Every room is booked. It’s Christmas, in case you hadn’t noticed. And now, if I can’t be of any further assistance...’ The blonde looked over Luce’s shoulder.

Glancing back herself, Luce saw a growing queue of people waiting to check in. Well, they were just going to have to wait. She wasn’t going to be intimidated by this fancy hotel with its marble floors, elegant golden Christmas tree, chandeliers and impatient businessmen. She’d had one hell of a day, and she was taking responsibility for making it better. ‘Actually, perhaps you could check if any of the other local hotels have a free room. Since you’ve lost my reservation.’