Adrianne Byrd - King's Promise

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To Alice: Forever my inspiration

To my family and friends, thanks for all the support

and love that you’ve given me.

To my editor, Evette Porter, for helping me

through one crazy year. To my wonderful fans

and readers, thank you for allowing me to do

what I do. It’s always a pleasure to entertain you.

I wish you all the best of love.

Many of you have followed the Unforgettable series, which morphed into the Hinton Brothers series. Now I’m introducing you to the Hintons’ playboy bachelor cousins—the Kings.

Eamon, Xavier and Jeremy, along with their infamous cousin Quentin Hinton, are business partners in a gentlemen’s club franchise called The Dollhouse. One of their most popular and lucrative specialties is their bachelor party services. With clubs in Atlanta, Las Vegas and Los Angeles, the brothers are determined to make sure their clients’ last night of bachelorhood is one they’ll never forget. And the brothers are prepared for anything…except when love comes knocking on their door.

In King’s Promise, love is the last thing on Xavier King’s mind. In fact, he’s renewed his vow to remain a player for life. But no matter how much he parties, it’s getting harder to hide the feeling that there’s something missing in his life. Enter Cheryl Shepherd, the sexy new bartender at the Atlanta club. But Cheryl has a few secrets of her own.

Next month, look for the final book in the House of Kings series, King’s Pleasure, featuring Jeremy King. If you missed the first book in the series, look for King’s Passion, featuring the eldest brother, Eamon, which was published in June 2011.

Remember, in love, never bet against a King….

Adrianne

Prologue

The Loyal King

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

The Bigger They Are…the Harder They Fall

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

The Devil You Don’t Know

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Let’s Make a Deal

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

The Queen of Lies

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Then There Were Two

Chapter 32

Lying in a king-size dark oak paneled bed, Quentin Hinton huffed and growled among a set of tangled black silk sheets as orgasmic tremors shook him to the core. Eyes closed, he braced his chiseled body with his two muscular arms planted on opposite sides of tonight’s passionate beauty.

“Mmm. That was wonderful, honey,” the woman’s angelic voice praised as she linked her slender arms around his sweat-slicked neck.

“You were wonderful,” he said, returning the compliment before leaning over to the side and plopping down on the pile of fluffy pillows. Exhausted, Q glanced over at the digital clock next to the bed and puffed out his chest with a sense of pride, having calculated that he and this evening’s dessert had been going at it for two solid hours straight. With that kind of performance, he estimated that his partner would be asleep in exactly four…three…two…

“Zzzzzzz.”

Quentin smiled at the sound of soft snoring coming from the woman lying on his left. He turned his head. Her hair was so mussed up that he could barely make out her face and was only fairly certain that her name was…

“Christina.” Another woman’s voice drifted into his head.

Quentin’s neck whipped around to see Alyssa Hinton, or at least his imaginary version of her, sitting in the window seat of his bedroom, in the wedding dress she wore to marry his brother Sterling. “What are you doing here?” he hissed.

She shrugged. “You tell me. Since you’re the one seeing things.”

Quentin shook his head as he started to peel off the covers. “This is just going too far.”

Alyssa quickly covered her eyes with her hand when he jumped out of bed. “Oh, my God! Hurry up and put something on.”

Q frowned as he reached down and snatched his robe from the floor and pulled it on. “You’re in my bedroom, remember?” He stopped and then looked over at the bed and then back at his sister-in-law. “Just how long have you been here, anyway?”

Alyssa peeked through her fingers and saw that Quentin was decent, so she lowered her hand. “I’d rather not answer that question.”

Embarrassment heated Quentin’s face—and he was not a man who easily got embarrassed. “You can’t keep doing this!”

“Hmm?” The sheets ruffled behind him.

When he turned around, Christina lifted her head. “What did you say, baby?”

“Nothing,” he lied to reassure her. “Go back to sleep.”

Christina gave him a lazy smile. “What are you doing up? Come back to bed.” She stretched out her arm to pat the empty space beside her for emphasis. “It’s getting lonely over here.”

“I’ll be back in a minute. I’m just going to the bath room.”

“Mmm,” she moaned, and then plopped her head back down onto the bed. “Hurry up. I’m missing you, big daddy.”

“You got it.” He waited a few seconds.

“Zzzzzzz.”

Quentin turned his angry gaze back toward Alyssa.

She just frowned. “Big daddy?”

“Drop it.”

“Hmm?” Christina asked.

“Nothing,” he hissed, and then stormed toward the bathroom. “I’m not going crazy. I’m not going crazy,” he repeated under his breath.

“You might want to get a second opinion on that,” Alyssa said, following behind him. “Like maybe go back and see that nice Dr. Turner you were talking to last month.”

Quentin groaned. “I don’t need a shrink. Thank you very much.”

“And yet here I am,” she volleyed back.

When they reached the bathroom door, Quentin stopped abruptly and looked back at her. “Do you mind? Can a guy get a little privacy?”

“Sorry.” Alyssa folded her arms and leaned against the door frame. “A few minutes ago you were all too willing to show me big daddy.”

Quentin slammed the door in her face, but he could still hear her laughing on the other side. “Women! Even the imaginary ones were impossible to live with.” He shook his head as he relieved himself and even took a quick shower. By the time he had wiped away the steam from the mirror, he was reasonably sure that he’d pulled himself together.

That is, until Alyssa leaned over his right shoulder.

“Aaaaah!” He took his towel and covered the front of his chest like a damsel in distress.

Alyssa jumped and screamed, too.

Knock. Knock.

“Quentin? Are you all right in there?” Christina asked, twisting the doorknob.