Dara Girard - Secret Paradise

Paradise just got a lot hotter

Nikki Dupree feels like the luckiest designer in the world.

She’s just been commissioned to reinvent the magnificent island home of wealthy recluse Lucian Kontos. From the moment the private plane he sends for Nikki touches down, she’s enchanted by the breathtaking sunsets over the shimmering blue waters of the Mediterranean. But all bets are off when Nikki meets her insufferably arrogant alpha employer….

After his world was scarred by fire, Lucian thought his life was over. But Nikki could be his second chance. With her sensual beauty and passion for life, she’s slowly healing his heart. In her arms, the smoldering secrets of the past are consumed by the desire burning between them. Can Nikki see beyond the past of a wounded man who wants to spend the rest of his days loving her?

“You’ve bewitched me.

“You sit there quietly watching me with those eyes of yours unafraid, but also unsure. I can see a cascade of emotions crossing your face, but I can’t read them. You intrigue me even when I don’t want you to. I can’t afford to. But it feels good because you make me forget—” He gripped his hand into a fist. “You make me forget things I have no right to.” He brushed the flower against the hollow of her neck, his gaze trailing behind it like a slow, sensual caress. “Perhaps I’m wrong. You’re not a goddess, you’re a sorceress.”

“No,” Nikki said, breathless and tense lest she do or say anything to break the invisible bond between them. “I have no magic in me.”

“That I find hard to believe.” Lucian lifted Nikki to her feet and his mouth covered hers. The touch and taste of his lips were even better than she’d remembered. Her entire body came alive at his touch. The air felt more fragrant, the breeze cooler and his body solid and as hot as volcanic fire. She surrendered to the demanding mastery of his hands and the practiced persuasion of his mouth. Every fiber of her body went weak at his touch.

He pulled away, his eyes smoldering with fire, but his voice cool. “I didn’t expect this.”

“Neither did I.”

“I shouldn’t let this happen.”

“Then blame me,” Nikki said, bold and impulsive. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

DARA GIRARD

fell in love with storytelling at an early age. Her romance writing career happened by chance when she discovered the power of a happy ending. She is an award-winning author whose novels are known for their sense of humor, interesting plot twists and witty dialogue.

When she’s not writing she enjoys spring mornings and autumn afternoons, French pastries, dancing to the latest hits and long drives.

Dara loves to hear from her readers. You can reach her at contactdara@daragirard.com or P.O. Box 10345, Silver Spring, MD 20914.

Secret Paradise

Dara Girard

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Dear Reader,

Have you ever wanted to get away from it all? The obligations, the job that no longer excites you, the on-again, off-again boyfriend you should have broken up with months ago? That’s exactly how Nikki Dupree feels when she impulsively takes an assignment to redesign the house of the reclusive Lucian Kontos.

Initially, I thought Nikki would have fun with JD’s brother from All I Want Is You. But they were having too much fun and nothing was happening so I had to go with someone who could prove a challenge to her. Enter JD’s friend Lucian.

Immediately, an electricity ignites between them that seems to expand to everything and everyone around them. An attraction so powerful that even the gods and goddesses of myth seem to take a hand in it.…

So, my dear reader, here is another tale I hope you enjoy.

Dara Girard

Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Prologue

He would die tonight in this hell of his own creation. Flames licked at the walls outside his bedroom, shattering the windows down the hall, and turning everything they touched into blackened ash. Everything burned around him and he would soon burn with it. The fire had yet to reach the room where he’d imprisoned himself, but he knew the smoke would take him first. He imagined gossamer black arms seeping under the door, slowly gathering together to strangle him. Lucian Kontos let the smoke invade his lungs, just as he’d let Alana invade his life and his heart.

Even now he could see her face, remember the scent of her lotion, the seductive fragrance of her perfume, the touch of her hand, the beautiful slope of her neck when she threw her head back and laughed. She loved to laugh. It was what had attracted him to her at first. Now he wondered if she’d been laughing at him. It seemed likely now, as he looked back. He’d been a fool. Not only because he’d carelessly let her into every part of his life, but because he’d given her his heart as well. That had made him as weak and blind as a newborn puppy. God, how he’d loved her, and now he’d die because of it. But he welcomed this end. His shame demanded this punishment. It suited his sense of honor and justice. His foolish heart had led him to a fiery grave.

Lucian inhaled the smoke, waiting for the toxins to slowly suffocate him and turn his lungs as black as charcoal, and prepared for death.

“Uncle Lucian!”

The urgent voice of a young girl ripped through the loud roar of the flames. A distant cry that he hadn’t expected to hear.

“Uncle Lucian!”

No, not a cry. A scream. She was screaming for him. Callia. But she wasn’t supposed to be here. She was to be safely away. Miles away. He’d made sure his brother took her with him. Maybe he was hallucinating. Yes, that was it. He was having an auditory hallucination because she was the one thing he truly regretted having to leave behind. But he’d made sure she would be taken care of.

“Uncle Lucian!”

Lucian stiffened in the chair where he’d been awaiting his end and swore. He wasn’t hallucinating. She was here in this inferno he’d once called his home, screaming his name. Instantly the sweet call of death and its promises to end all his suffering no longer mattered. He had to save Callia. He had to reach her. He grabbed a pillowcase and covered his mouth, then went to the door, ignoring the pain in his leg, and opened it. He dropped to his knees so that he could crawl under the layer of black smoke that choked the air. He knew the smoke would overtake them both, so there wasn’t much time to reach her.

“Uncle Lucian!”

He wanted to call out and let her know that he was coming to get her, that he’d do anything to make sure she was safe, but he knew that he couldn’t. He had to reserve what little oxygen he had left.

Lucian reached the stairs and saw the bright glow of the red, orange and yellow flames below and heard her voice again, but he still couldn’t see where she was. He was about to turn away when he saw something wiggle on the floor. That was when he noticed her fingers. He rushed forward and saw Callia hanging from the edge of one of the steps where a staircase used to stand.

“Callia!”

She looked up, her eyes wide with terror. It mirrored his own—as if they’d found each other locked together in purgatory—but he quickly replaced his fear with a steely determination. She would not die. He wouldn’t think of the long drop that awaited her if she fell or the flames that shot up to seize her.

“I can’t hold on,” she said.