Michelle Celmer - The Tycoon's Charm - The Tycoon's Paternity Agenda / Honor-Bound Groom

For the first time in one volume, two fan-favorite romances from USA Today bestselling authors Michelle Celmer and Yvonne Lindsay!

The Tycoon’s Paternity Agenda

CEO and widower Adam Blair must find the right woman to carry his baby. Then Katy Huntly, his late wife’s sister, demands she be the surrogate. The agreement makes sense…on paper. He’s always felt a certain pull toward Katy, and those feelings are intensifying. But falling in love has no place in this tycoon’s agenda…or does it?

Honor-Bound Groom

From childhood Alexander del Castillo has been betrothed to someone not of his own choosing. Thankfully bride-to-be Loren Dubois is more than suited for her place at his side—and in his bed. But he never expected his beautiful bride to get under his skin…or into his heart.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

THE TYCOON'S PATERNITY AGENDA The Tycoon's Paternity Agenda

About the Author USA TODAY bestselling author Michelle Celmer has written more than twenty-five books for Harlequin and Silhouette. You can usually find her in her office with her laptop, loving the fact that she gets to work in her pajamas. Write her at PO BOX 300, Clawson, MI 48017, visit her website at michellecelmer.com or find her on Facebook at Michelle Celmer Author. Look for more books from Michelle Celmer in Harlequin Desire—the ultimate destination for powerful, passionate romance! There are six new Harlequin Desire titles available every month. Check one out today!

Dedication To my dad

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

HONOR-BOUND GROOM

About the Author USA TODAY bestselling author Michelle Celmer has written more than twenty-five books for Harlequin and Silhouette. You can usually find her in her office with her laptop, loving the fact that she gets to work in her pajamas. Write her at PO BOX 300, Clawson, MI 48017, visit her website at michellecelmer.com or find her on Facebook at Michelle Celmer Author. Look for more books from Michelle Celmer in Harlequin Desire—the ultimate destination for powerful, passionate romance! There are six new Harlequin Desire titles available every month. Check one out today!

Dedication

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

USA TODAY bestselling author Michelle Celmer has written more than twenty-five books for Harlequin and Silhouette. You can usually find her in her office with her laptop, loving the fact that she gets to work in her pajamas. Write her at PO BOX 300, Clawson, MI 48017, visit her website at michellecelmer.comor find her on Facebook at Michelle Celmer Author.

Look for more books from Michelle Celmer in Harlequin Desire—the ultimate destination for powerful, passionate romance! There are six new Harlequin Desire titles available every month. Check one out today!

To my dad

There was no doubt about it, the man was insufferable.

Yet here she was sitting in her pickup truck in the visitors’ lot of the Western Oil headquarters building in El Paso, the ruthless, Texas-afternoon sun scorching her face through the windshield.

Katherine Huntley hadn’t seen her brother-in-law, Adam Blair, CEO of Western Oil, since her sister’s funeral three years ago. His call asking to meet her had come as something of a surprise. It was no shock, however, that he’d had the gall to say he was too busy to meet on her own turf in Peckins, two hours north, and asked her to come to him. But he was the billionaire oil tycoon and she was a lowly cattle rancher, and she was guessing that he was used to people doing things his way.

But that’s not why she agreed to come. She was long past overdue for a trip to the warehouse store for supplies anyway, and it gave her the chance to visit the cemetery. Something she did far too infrequently these days. But seeing Rebecca’s grave this morning, being reminded once again that Katy had gone from baby sister to only child, brought back the familiar grief. It simply wasn’t fair that Becca, who’d had so much to live for, had been taken so young. That her parents had to know the excruciating pain of losing a child.

Katy glanced at the clock on the dash and realized she was about to be late, and since she prided herself on always being punctual, she shoved open her door and stepped out into the blistering heat. It was so hot the soles of her boots stuck to the blacktop. She swiftly crossed the lot to the front entrance, and the rush of icy air as she pushed through the double glass doors into the lobby actually made her shiver.

Considering the suspicious looks the security guards gave her as she walked through the metal detector, they must not have gotten many women dressed in jeans and work shirts visiting. And, of course, because she was wearing her steel-toe boots, the alarm began to wail.

“Empty your pockets, please,” one of them told her.

She was about to explain that her pockets were already empty, when a deep voice ordered, “Let her through.”

She looked up to find her brother-in-law waiting just past the security stand, and her heart took a quick dive downward.

Ex-brother-in-law.

Without question the security guards ushered her past, and Adam stepped forward to greet her.

“It’s good to see you again, Katy.”

“You, too.” She wondered if she should hug him, but figured this situation was awkward enough without the burden of unnecessary physical contact, and settled for a handshake instead. But as his hand folded around her own, she wondered if he noticed the calluses and rough skin, not to mention the short, unpainted fingernails. She was sure he was used to women like Rebecca, who spent hours in the salon getting pedicures and manicures, and all the other beauty treatments she neither had time nor the inclination for.

Not that it made a difference what he thought of her nails. But when he released her hand, she stuck them both in her jeans pockets.

In contrast, Adam looked every bit the billionaire CEO that he was. She had nearly forgotten how big he was. Not only did he look as though he spent a lot of time in the weight room, he was above average in height. At five feet nine inches, few men towered over her, but Adam was at least six-four.

He wore his dark hair in the same closely cropped style, although she could see strands of gray peppering his temples now. Of course, as was the case with men like him, it only made him look more distinguished. There were also worry lines at the corners of his eyes and across his forehead that hadn’t been there before. Probably from the stress of dealing with Rebecca’s illness.

Despite that, he looked good for a man of forty.

Katy was only seventeen when her sister married Adam ten years ago, and though she had never admitted it to a soul, she’d had a mild adolescent crush on her gorgeous new brother-in-law. But neither she nor her parents would have guessed that the charming, handsome man intended to steal Rebecca away from them.

“How was your trip down?” he asked.

She shrugged. “The same as it always is.”