Kate Hardy - Billionaire, Boss...Bridegroom?

Finding love in the world’s greatest city!

Billionaire bachelors Hugh Moncrieff and Roland Devereux may not be searching for love, but when the Faraday sisters walk into their lives, they’ll pay a price far greater than their wealth to live happily-ever-after … they’ll lose their hearts.

Billionaire, Boss, Bridegroom …? Meet gorgeous CEO Hugh Moncrieff and the charming and quirky Bella Faraday in this whirlwind office romance! Available March 2016

&

Look out for Roland and Grace’s story,

Coming soon!

Billionaire,

Boss…

Bridegroom?

Kate Hardy

www.millsandboon.co.uk

KATE HARDYalways loved books and could read before she went to school. She discovered Mills & Boon books when she was twelve and decided this was what she wanted to do. When she isn’t writing, Kate enjoys reading, cinema, ballroom dancing and the gym. You can contact her via her website, www.katehardy.com.

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For Charlotte Mursell and Sheila Hodgson—with love and thanks for letting me have so much fun with this story x

Contents

Cover

Introduction Billionaires of London Finding love in the world’s greatest city! Billionaire bachelors Hugh Moncrieff and Roland Devereux may not be searching for love, but when the Faraday sisters walk into their lives, they’ll pay a price far greater than their wealth to live happily-ever-after … they’ll lose their hearts. Billionaire, Boss, Bridegroom …? Meet gorgeous CEO Hugh Moncrieff and the charming and quirky Bella Faraday in this whirlwind office romance! Available March 2016 & Look out for Roland and Grace’s story, Coming soon!

Title Page Billionaire, Boss… Bridegroom? Kate Hardy www.millsandboon.co.uk

About the Author KATE HARDY always loved books and could read before she went to school. She discovered Mills & Boon books when she was twelve and decided this was what she wanted to do. When she isn’t writing, Kate enjoys reading, cinema, ballroom dancing and the gym. You can contact her via her website, www.katehardy.com .

Dedication For Charlotte Mursell and Sheila Hodgson—with love and thanks for letting me have so much fun with this story x

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

EPILOGUE

Extract

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

I’m coming to get you, Bella texted swiftly. Hold on.

For once, it looked as if she was going to be the rescuer instead of the rescuee. With her new job to boost her confidence, she thought she might just be able to handle it. For once she would be the sister who was calm, collected and totally together instead of the flaky, ditzy one who always made a mess of things and needed to be bailed out of a sticky situation.

She glanced around and saw a black cab waiting at the kerbside. Relieved, she rushed up to it and jumped in.

‘Can you take me to the Bramerton Hotel in Kensington, please?’ she asked the cabbie.

There was a dry cough from beside her, and she whipped her head round to discover that there was already a passenger sitting in the back seat.

She’d been so focused on getting to Grace that she hadn’t even noticed the other passenger when she’d climbed into the taxi.

‘I’m so sorry,’ she said. ‘I didn’t mean to be rude. Look, I realise that you were here first, and technically I ought to leave right now and let you get on with your journey, but I really do need to get to the Bramerton as quickly as possible. Would you mind finding another taxi and...and...?’ She waved a desperate hand at him. ‘Look, I’ll pay for your cab.’ It’d mean extending her overdraft yet again, but what were a few more pounds if it meant that she could return the favour for once and help Grace? Besides, she was about to start a new job. Next month, her cash-flow situation would be a bit better.

‘Actually, I’m heading towards Kensington myself,’ he said. ‘I’ll drop you off at the Bramerton.’

Relief flooded through Bella. She’d found the modern equivalent of a knight on a white charger: a man in a black cab. She wouldn’t have to let her sister down. ‘Thank you. Thank you so much.’ She gave in to the impulse, leaned forward and kissed him soundly on the cheek. ‘You have no idea how much I appreciate this.’

‘What’s so urgent?’ he asked as the taxi drove off.

‘It’s a family thing,’ she said. It wasn’t her place to tell anyone about her sister’s situation, let alone tell a complete stranger.

‘Uh-huh.’ He paused. ‘Did I see you just come out of Insurgo Records?’

She looked at him, surprised. The man looked like a businessman on his way home from a late meeting, and he was hardly the target market for an independent record label—even though Insurgo’s artists were a real mixture, from folk singer-songwriters to punk and indie bands, with a few oddities thrown in. ‘Yes,’ she said.

‘Are you one of their acts?’

In her black jeans and matching plain T-shirt, teamed with a shiny platinum-blonde bob, Bella knew that she probably looked as much like an indie musician as she did a graphic designer. ‘No,’ she said.

But the man had been kind enough to let her share his taxi, so she didn’t want to be rude to him. Besides, making small talk might distract her enough to stop her worrying about whatever had sent her normally cool and capable big sister into meltdown. She smiled at him. ‘Actually, I’m a graphic designer, and I’m starting work at Insurgo next week.’

‘Are you, now?’

Something about the way he drawled the words made alarm bells ring in the back of her head. But he was a total stranger. She was making something out of nothing. ‘Yes, and I’m really looking forward to it,’ she said with a bright smile. ‘I’ll be designing website graphics, album covers and band merch. Actually, I’m still trying to get my head round the fact that I’ve just been offered my dream job.’ In an ideal world she would’ve preferred to have Insurgo as a client rather than as her employer, but working for someone full-time again meant that she’d have a regular income for a while—and right now she needed a regular income rather more than she needed her freedom.

‘You don’t know who I am, do you?’ he asked.

‘Other than a stranger who’s been kind enough to let me share his taxi? No,’ she admitted.

‘Allow me to introduce myself,’ he said, leaning forward out of the shadows and holding out his hand.

Bella caught her breath. He was gorgeous. Dark hair that was brushed back from his face, cornflower-blue eyes, and the kind of jawline that would’ve made him a hit in any perfume ad. She really had to resist the urge to reach out and trail her fingertips down his clean-shaven cheek. And that mouth. Almost pouting, the sexiest mouth she’d seen in a while.

Almost in a daze, she shook his hand, noting how firm his handshake was. And she studiously ignored the fact that her palm was tingling; after the way Kirk had let her down, she was officially off men. Even if this one was very easy on the eye and was wearing a beautifully cut designer suit, what looked like a handmade white shirt, a silk tie and highly polished Italian shoes.