Diana Palmer - Escapade

Passion blooms between business rivals in this alluring tale from New York Times bestselling author Diana Palmer

When her father dies, heiress Amanda Todd inherits a nearly bankrupt newspaper that she’s determined to bring back from the dead. But controlling interest lies with mysterious millionaire Joshua Lawson, a man even more stubborn than he is handsome. So she heads off to Josh’s Caribbean estate to show him how she can save the failing business. Sparks fly as Amanda and Josh butt heads; she’s never been so attracted to any man before, let alone one whose support she needs to resurrect her family legacy. And he knows full well how much is riding on this. Can this beauty convince him he’s met his match in business...and love?

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Escapade

Diana Palmer

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-08580-9

ESCAPADE

© 2018 Diana Palmer

Published in Great Britain 2018

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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Dear Reader,

I wrote Escapade in 1992. It seems like forever ago. Back then, I still had many of my contacts in the newspaper business, and access to many sources who were willing to help out an old reporter who needed detailed information for a fictional novel. Ah, glory days.

The plot revolves around a young woman, Amanda Todd, whose parents left her half interest in a small newspaper. It’s run by a former reporter who thinks the job press is useless and wants to get rid of it. She, on the other hand, thinks the job press has great potential and she goes to work, behind his back, to make it pay. Seething about controlling interest of her inheritance being left in the hands of Joshua Lawson, a millionaire playboy, she also has to convince him that she knows how to manage a business. It doesn’t help that she’s in love with him, and he works hard at keeping her at arm’s length because of a tragic secret that he can’t share with her.

The newspaper boss becomes involved with a married employee, a circumstance that will put the heroine in great danger of losing her life and finally convince the hero that, in the end, love is far more important than business.

It’s like going back in time for me. The visiting journalists who come to see the newspaper are the family of my Georgia boss, the incredible Amilee Graves. There was a photo of her on the wall, having breakfast with JFK in Washington, DC. She was one of the first female newspaper publishers, one of the first female mayors. She was elected mayor one time by acclamation when she wasn’t even running for office! She and my best friend Ann, who worked there with me, were my inspiration. Ann still is. Best traveling companion on earth. Our husbands wouldn’t travel, so we did. So many adventures. They would truly fill a book! Thanks, Ann, for being my friend for so many years. Fedora hat, whip, bad attitude—that’s us. Female Indiana Joneses, lol.

As always, I am your biggest fan.

Diana Palmer

To my sister, Dannis Spaeth Cole

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Dear Reader

Dedication

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 SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Extract

About the Publisher

CHAPTER ONE

THE COLORFUL, NOISY crowd on the docks at Prince George Wharf was a breath of fresh air to Amanda Todd after the sad, somber atmosphere of her home in San Antonio, Texas. She was enchanted with the way the musical accents of British speech mingled with native patois in the European-class boutiques. Usually she would have had time to shop and enough money to indulge her whims. Since her father’s funeral three days ago, however, her finances had become an unholy tangle. She worked at her family’s weekly newspaper and job press but her father’s will had stipulated that she wouldn’t inherit the company until she reached the age of twenty-five, in two years, unless she married first. Harrison Todd hadn’t held modern views concerning women in business. In fact, he’d screamed bloody murder when Amanda had pursued her dream of a degree in accounting at college, but Josh had prepared her for that.

It was Joshua Cabe Lawson, her late father’s business partner, who had always supported her while her father was alive, and even now he was watching over her. He had arranged for her to fly to Nassau’s Opal Cay in the Bahamas on one of the Lawson Company’s Learjets. So she could spend one week on his island recharging her emotional batteries.