Yvonne Lindsay - Vengeful Vows

When she says “I do,” her plan is set in motion...

An arranged marriage to Galen Horvath is step one in Peyton Earnshaw’s revenge against his family. For his part, the CEO only agreed to an arranged marriage to provide a stable home for his young ward. When desire ignites between them, Peyton starts to dream of a future with Galen. But what will happen when her secrets resurface?

Award-winning USA TODAY bestselling author YVONNE LINDSAYhas always preferred the stories in her head to the real world. Married to her blind-date sweetheart and with two adult children, she spends her days crafting the stories of her heart. In her spare time she can be found with her nose irmly in someone else’s book.

Also by Yvonne Lindsay

Honor-Bound GroomStand-In Bride’s SeductionFor the Sake of the Secret ChildArranged Marriage, Bedroom SecretsContract Wedding, Expectant BrideTangled VowsInconveniently Wed

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Vengeful Vows

Yvonne Lindsay

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09226-5

VENGEFUL VOWS

© 2019 Dolce Vita Trust

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.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

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www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

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To my blind-date hero,

thank you for all your years of

support and encouragement.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

About the Publisher

One

Alice Horvath—matriarch of the Horvath family, former CEO of Horvath Corporation and creator of Match Made in Marriage—surveyed the candlelit, flower-bedecked room and tried to ignore the trepidation that filled her. She didn’t know why she was so nervous about the union of her third-eldest grandson, Galen, to a woman who was so perfect for him it had actually brought tears to her eyes when she’d made the match. But for some reason, despite all her usual attention to detail, she felt as though she didn’t have quite her usual grip on what would happen next.

Their future happiness was her only goal, but for once she couldn’t see that far ahead for them as clearly as she did with the others. If they made it, it would require hard work and commitment from them both. Had she taken an unnecessary risk? Galen had said he didn’t want a grand passion, but everyone deserved that, didn’t they?

She thought of her late husband, Eduard, and tonight missed him more keenly than she had in a long time. But she wasn’t ready to rest in peace with him yet. She still had too much work to do, and the success of this marriage was a part of that, no matter what secrets it brought out of the woodwork.

* * *

Galen closed his eyes briefly then started as he felt a small hand take his and give it a squeeze.

“It’ll be okay,” Ellie whispered. “She’s going to love you.”

He squeezed back gently. “She’s going to love us ,” he affirmed.

He flicked an imaginary piece of lint from his suit sleeve and looked sideways at his best girl. Ellie grinned back up at him, and Galen felt his heart swell. Both his brother, Valentin, and his cousin Ilya had offered to stand here at the altar with him but this wasn’t about a traditional marriage. This was about providing security for nine-year-old Ellie, so it made sense that she stand up with him as he married a total stranger. Poor kid; she deserved so much better than him, but he was doing his best by her, and would continue to do so for the rest of his life.

When he’d assumed guardianship of Ellie after her parents’ shocking and sudden deaths in a car crash just over three months ago, his life as he’d known it had come to a screaming halt. No more wild parties. No more playboy lifestyle. All the commitment he’d dodged for most of his adult life had come to him in one complete package. He hadn’t been ready for it, but then neither had his best friends, Ellie’s mom and dad, expected to die, either.

He cast one more look around the room, ensuring everything was as it should be. He wouldn’t be the CEO of Horvath Hotels and Resorts without triple-checking everything all the time. He knew how to keep people happy—all kinds of people. Surely, that would help when it came to keeping his new wife happy, too?

“She’s here!” Ellie whispered hoarsely. “And she’s so pretty.”

Galen looked to the door at the end of the carpeted aisle in the function room and, honest to God, felt his breath catch in his lungs. Pretty? No, that didn’t even begin to describe the woman paused there at the end. Her face was a picture of serenity, her head poised on a long, graceful neck. Her hair was pulled back in a loose updo that made his fingers itch to extract each and every pin and let her hair fall down over the slender bare shoulders exposed by her strapless gown. Her skin glowed. A diamond drop necklace sat low on her décolletage, drawing his eyes to the rapid rise and fall of her chest—to the hint of the soft swell of her breasts, framed by the gown’s neckline. His gaze drifted lower, to the tiny waist cinched in a satin sash with a cluster of silk and diamanté flowers and then to the three tiers of flowing shimmering fabric that spread like a cloud around her.