Clare Connelly - Bound By The Billionaire's Vows

“I have a condition...”

Can she agree to her husband’s terms?

When heiress Skye learns her marriage to Matteo was built on lies, she demands a divorce. A pawn in his revenge, Skye’s heart shattered when she discovered her husband’s game. The clock is ticking; she needs his signature. But Matteo is not willing to let Skye go so easily—the price of her freedom is one last night together!

CLARE CONNELLYwas raised in small-town Australia among a family of avid readers. She spent much of her childhood up a tree, Mills & Boon book in hand. Clare is married to her own real-life hero and they live in a bungalow near the sea with their two children. She is frequently found staring into space—a surefire sign that she is in the world of her characters. She has a penchant for French food and ice-cold champagne, and Mills & Boon novels continue to be her favourite ever books. Writing for Modern Romance is a long-held dream. Clare can be contacted via clareconnelly.comor at her Facebook page.

Also by Clare Connelly

Bought for the Billionaire’s Revenge

Innocent in the Billionaire’s Bed

Her Wedding Night Surrender

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

Bound by the Billionaire’s Vows

Clare Connelly

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-07242-7

BOUND BY THE BILLIONAIRE’S VOWS

© 2018 Clare Connelly

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.

® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

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For Arlene, who is courage, strength

and resilience personified.

Not to mention a very dear friend.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Contents

PROLOGUE

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

EPILOGUE

Extract

About the Publisher

PROLOGUE

Six years earlier

‘CAN YOU SEE IT, Matteo?’

The newspapers loved to say that Matteo Vin Santo didn’t have a heart, but they were wrong.

Observing his grandfather lying weak and pale against the ordinary hospital bed-sheets was making that very organ clutch and grip painfully. The certainty that the man had only hours left to live was ripping it apart completely.

‘See what, Nonno?’

‘Nonno?’ Alfonso Vin Santo smiled, but his lips were chapped and the pain turned the instinctive gesture into a wince. ‘You haven’t called me that in a long time.’

Matteo didn’t respond. His eyes fell to his grandfather’s hands. Hands that had shaped a corporate empire; hands that had been at the helm during its demise. He looked away, focusing on the uninspiring view of the outskirts of Florence.

‘See the water? You always loved the way the sun bounced off it, no?’

Matteo’s eyes swept shut. Though they were in a linoleum-floored hospital room, he pictured exactly what his grandfather was seeing. The view from the terrace of Il Grande Fortuna, the hotel they’d once owned in Rome, overlooking the Tiber in one direction and the Vatican in the other.

Anger—a familiar response when he thought of the hotel—churned his gut. It was fierce in that moment, so fierce it almost took his breath away.

‘Yes. It’s beautiful.’

‘It is more than beautiful. It is perfect.’ Alfonso sighed and then a ghost flickered across his face. A moment of clarity that brought with it pain. ‘It was my fault.’

‘No, Nonno . ’ Matteo didn’t mention that bastard Johnson’s name. There was no need to hurt his grandfather further at the end of his life. But he was the man who was to blame. He was the cause of Alfonso’s sadness now—him and his stubborn refusal to sell the hotel back. A refusal he’d taken with him to the grave.

But Matteo could fix it.

He would fix it.

‘I will get it back for you,’ he said, and the words were spoken with such soft determination that it wasn’t clear if Alfonso had even heard. It didn’t matter, though.

The promise was one Matteo made to himself as much as the old man.

No matter what, no matter how, he would return the hotel to his family.

At any cost.

CHAPTER ONE

‘DO YOU HAVE an appointment?’

An appointment? With her own husband? Skye clutched her handbag tighter, thinking of the divorce papers contained within the soft kid-leather. A hint of perspiration ran between her breasts and she shifted uncomfortably. Though the luxurious foyer was well air-conditioned, Skye had been sweltering since touching down at Marco Polo airport earlier that day. Travel weariness, and the exhaustion that had dogged her since walking out on her marriage to Matteo, combined to give her a sense of overwhelming desperation at the task ahead.

‘Signor Vin Santo has a full afternoon. I’m sorry,’ the receptionist murmured, her expression offering no corresponding apology. If anything, it was all manicured smugness.

Skye’s voice was soft when she spoke, weakened by the difficulty of what lay ahead. Divorce was essential—and it had to be now. She’d go to almost any lengths to get Matteo to agree easily. She needed his signature on these papers so she could get the hell out of Italy. Before he discovered the truth. ‘If you tell Matteo I’m here, I’m sure he’ll cancel whatever he has on.’