After their one night together,
there are explosive consequences.
When he disappeared after their last sizzling encounter, artist Fiona James vowed to forget rebellious billionaire Hartley Tarleton. Now Hartley has returned to Charleston to deal with the skeletons in his family’s closet—and maybe turn his searing chemistry with Fiona into more than a one-night thing. But now she’s pregnant with the heir Hartley swore he’d never have!
USA TODAY bestselling author JANICE MAYNARDloved books and writing even as a child. After multiple rejections, she finally sold her first manuscript! Since then, she has written fifty-plus books and novellas. Janice lives in Tennessee with her husband, Charles. They love hiking, travelling and family time.
You can connect with Janice at
www.janicemaynard.com
www.Twitter.com/janicemaynard
www.Facebook.com/janicemaynardreaderpage
www.Facebook.com/janicesmaynard
and www.Instagram.com/therealjanicemaynard
Also by Janice Maynard
Christmas in the Billionaire’s Bed
Second Chance with the Billionaire
How to Sleep with the Boss Blame
It On Christmas
A Contract Seduction
Triplets for the Texan
Hot Texas Nights
Million Dollar Baby
On Temporary Terms
His Heir, Her Secret
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk
Bombshell for the Black Sheep
Janice Maynard
www.millsandboon.co.uk
ISBN: 978-1-474-09270-8
BOMBSHELL FOR THE BLACK SHEEP
© 2019 Janice Maynard
Published in Great Britain 2019
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 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.
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www.millsandboon.co.uk
Version: 2020-03-02
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For Kathy and Patti:
Families are complicated at times— understatement ! Thanks so much for being the best sisters ever. Love you both!
Contents
Cover
Back Cover Text
About the Author
Booklist
Title Page
Copyright
Note to Readers
Dedication
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
About the Publisher
One
Hartley Tarleton had made a lot of mistakes in his life, but walking away from Fiona James—twice—had to be the dumbest. He’d had his reasons. Extenuating circumstances. Familial obligations. Still, he’d handled things badly. The woman in question was not likely to be in a conciliatory mood. Even worse, here he was—proverbial hat in hand—to ask for a favor.
Despite a host of misgivings, he parked across the street and a few cars down from her neatly kept bungalow-style home. The middle-class Charleston neighborhood had aged gently, preserving the best of the city’s Carolina charm in a price range single people and young families could afford. Fiona was a landscape painter. A very talented one with a quickly burgeoning reputation. Hopefully, her starving-artist years were behind her.
Drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, Hartley rehearsed his speech. The home and the woman drew him, creating a burning ache in his chest. He’d spent two nights in that house, though not in succession. For reasons he wouldn’t examine too closely, he recalled every detail.
On difficult days this past year, he had calmed himself by remembering the vintage dinette set in Fiona’s tiny breakfast nook. The table was yellow, speckled with gray. He had imagined Fiona, with her naturally curly red hair and wide-set gray-blue eyes, sitting in one of the chairs with the chrome legs, a sketch pad in front of her.
Slowly, he got out of the car and stretched. This momentary procrastination was unlike him. If anything, he erred on the impulsive side. When he was a teenager, people criticized those tendencies as a sign of immaturity. He preferred to think of himself as grabbing the bull by the horns. He liked controlling his own destiny.
A trickle of sweat ran down the center of his back. The day was ridiculously hot and humid. Maybe he had been gone too long. Charleston was his home. Why then, did he feel like an interloper?
His heart hammered in his chest as he crossed the street and walked up the path. He had worried that Fiona might be out and about, but her carefully restored VW Bug sat in the driveway. The car was cotton-candy pink with tiny blue seahorses scattered across the hood. It was a whimsical vehicle, and perfectly suited to the imagination of an artist.
On the porch, he loosened his tie and told himself he wasn’t going to lose it. Grief and a host of other emotions bombarded him. His throat was desert dry. Grimly, he reached out and rang the buzzer.
Fiona heard the doorbell and sighed with relief. She had ordered several hundred dollars’ worth of new paint—oils and acrylics. The overnight rush fee made her cringe, but it was her own fault for not realizing sooner that she didn’t have what she needed to begin a newly commissioned project.
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