Brenda Jackson - Best Laid Plans

Love wasn’t supposed to be a part of the deal…

Even a famed matchmaker like Nolan Madaris’s great-grandmother can’t get it right every time. Nolan, the notorious fun-loving ladies’ man, could never connect with someone as straitlaced as tech whiz Ivy Chapman. Yet the scheme Ivy proposes is tempting—they can pretend to be a couple, just long enough to satisfy their families.

But someone forgot to clue in their hearts

What happens, though, when Ivy’s plan to get her relatives off her back has an unexpected side effect: getting her into Nolan’s bed? Houston’s number one womanizer may have found the only one who can truly satisfy him, body and soul. But with a man from Ivy’s past determined to be part of her future, both she and Nolan will have to decide what’s fake, what’s real and what’s worth fighting for...

Also by Brenda Jackson

The Protectors

FORGED IN DESIRE

SEIZED BY SEDUCTION

LOCKED IN TEMPTATION

The Grangers

A BROTHER’S HONOR

A MAN’S PROMISE

A LOVER’S VOW

For additional books by

New York Times bestselling author Brenda Jackson,

visit her website, www.brendajackson.net.

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

Best Laid Plans

Brenda Jackson

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-08235-8

BEST LAID PLANS

© 2018 Brenda Streater Jackson

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

To the man who will always and forever

be the love of my life and the wind beneath

my wings, Gerald Jackson, Sr.

Special thanks to LaSonde Jones, Dana Ross, Aquanetta Powell and Samantha Miguez for naming the newborn Madaris twins—Landon and London.

Special thanks to Joyce Snipes for naming

Ivy Chapman’s perfume, Forever You.

To all my readers who waited patiently

for a new Madaris novel, this book is for you.

In memory of my fur baby Yorkie,

who passed away during the writing of this book. Mookie, you are deeply missed.

I have found the one whom my soul loves.

—Song of Solomon 3:4

Praise for

New York Times bestselling author

Brenda Jackson

“The only flaw of this first-rate, satisfyingly sexy tale is that it ends.”

—Publishers Weekly, starred review,

on Forged in Desire

“[Jackson’s] signature is to create full-sensory romances that deliver on the heat, and she duly delivers…. [S]ure to make any reader swoon.”

—RT Book Reviews on Forged in Desire

“Leave it to Jackson to take sizzle and honor, wrap it in romance and come up with a first-rate tale.”

—RT Book Reviews on Temptation

“Brenda Jackson is the queen of newly discovered love… If there’s one thing Jackson knows how to do, it’s how to pluck those heartstrings and stir up some seriously saucy drama.”

—BookPage on Inseparable

“This deliciously sensual romance ramps up the emotional stakes and the action…. [S]exy and sizzling.”

—Library Journal on Intimate Seduction

“Jackson does not disappoint…first-class page-turner.”

—RT Book Reviews on A Silken Thread, 4½ stars,

Top Pick!

“Jackson is a master at writing.”

—Publishers Weekly on Sensual Confessions

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Praise

PART ONE

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

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

PART TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

EPILOGUE

Extract

PART ONE

“You often meet your fate on the road you take to avoid it.”

—Jean de La Fontaine

PROLOGUE

Christmas Day

NOLAN MADARIS III took a sip of his beer while standing on the balcony of his condo. Leaning against the rail, he had a breathtaking view of the exclusive fifteen-story Madaris Building that was surrounded by a cluster of upscale shops, restaurants and a beautiful jogging park with a huge man-made pond. The condo where he lived was right across from the water.

The entire complex, including the condos, had been architecturally designed, engineered and constructed by the Madaris Construction Company that was owned by his cousins Blade and Slade. For the holidays the Madaris Building, surrounding shops, restaurants and jogging park were beautifully decorated with colorful, bright lights. It was hard to believe a new year was just a week away.

When Nolan had arrived home from his cousin Lee’s wedding, he hadn’t bothered to remove his tuxedo. Instead he’d headed straight for the refrigerator, grabbed a beer and proceeded to the balcony for a bit of mental relaxation. But all his mind could do was recall the moment his ninety-something-year-old great-grandmother, Felicia Laverne Madaris, had finally cornered him at the reception that evening. She was a notorious matchmaker, and he’d been avoiding her all night. Her success rate was too astounding to suit him—and she had calmly warned him that he was next.