Merline Lovelace - Rags To Riches - A Desire To Serve - The Paternity Promise / Stolen Kiss From a Prince / The Maid's Daughter

A Desire to Serve

The Paternity Promise

Merline Lovelace

Stolen Kiss from a Prince

Teresa Carpenter

The Maid’s Daughter

Janice Maynard

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page A Desire to Serve The Paternity Promise Merline Lovelace Stolen Kiss from a Prince Teresa Carpenter The Maid’s Daughter Janice Maynard www.millsandboon.co.uk

The Paternity Promise The Paternity Promise Merline Lovelace

Back Cover Text “You’re the father.” After leaving her late cousin’s baby on the Dalton doorstep, Grace Templeton poses as a nanny to discover which of the billionaire twins is the father. Grace promised to protect the child, but she didn’t plan to fall for the seductive brother she learns is the daddy. For single dad Blake, there’s only one priority—protecting his daughter from whatever secrets Grace won’t reveal. He’ll get the truth from her—any way he can. And until she talks, he’ll keep the temptress at his side all day…all night. Not as the nanny, but as his wife!

About the Author A career Air Force officer, MERLINE LOVELACE served at bases all over the world. When she hung up her uniform for the last time, she decided to try her hand at storytelling. Since then more than twelve million copies of her books had been published in over thirty countries. Check her website at www.merlinelovelace.com or friend Merline on Facebook for news and information about her latest releases.

Dedication To the Elite Eight, and the wonderful times we’ve shared. Thanks for giving me such terrific fodder for my books!

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Epilogue

Stolen Kiss from a Prince

Back Cover Text

About the Author

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

The Maid’s Daughter

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Dedication

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

Copyright

The Paternity Promise

Merline Lovelace

“You’re the father.”

After leaving her late cousin’s baby on the Dalton doorstep, Grace Templeton poses as a nanny to discover which of the billionaire twins is the father. Grace promised to protect the child, but she didn’t plan to fall for the seductive brother she learns is the daddy.

For single dad Blake, there’s only one priority—protecting his daughter from whatever secrets Grace won’t reveal. He’ll get the truth from her—any way he can. And until she talks, he’ll keep the temptress at his side all day…all night. Not as the nanny, but as his wife!

A career Air Force officer, MERLINE LOVELACEserved at bases all over the world. When she hung up her uniform for the last time, she decided to try her hand at storytelling. Since then more than twelve million copies of her books had been published in over thirty countries. Check her website at www.merlinelovelace.comor friend Merline on Facebook for news and information about her latest releases.

To the Elite Eight, and the wonderful times we’ve shared.

Thanks for giving me such terrific fodder for my books!

One

His fists balled inside the pockets of his tuxedo pants, Blake Dalton forced a smile as he stood amid the wedding guests jamming the black-and-white-tiled foyer of his mother’s Oklahoma City mansion. The lavish reception was finally winding down. The newlyweds had just paused in their descent of the foyer’s circular marble staircase so the bride could toss her bouquet. The couple were mere moments from departing for their honeymoon in Tuscany.

Blake was damned if he’d block their escape. His twin had waged a tumultuous battle to win the stubbornly independent pilot he’d finally finessed to the altar. Alex had earned these two weeks in Tuscany with his new bride, away from his heavy responsibilities as CEO of Dalton International.

Blake had no problem taking up the slack in his absence. An MBA, a law degree and almost a decade of handling the corporation’s complex legal affairs had honed the leadership and managerial skills he’d developed as DI’s CFO. He and Alex regularly took over sole control of the multibillion-dollar conglomerate during each other’s frequent business trips.

No, the job wasn’t the problem.

Nor was it their mother, who’d waged a fierce and unrelenting campaign to get her sons married and settled down for over a year now.

Blake’s glance cut to the matriarch of the Dalton clan. Her hair was still jet-black, with only a hint of silver at the temples. She wore a melon-colored Dior lace dress and an expression of smug satisfaction as she surveyed the newly married couple. Blake knew exactly what she was thinking. One son down, one to go.

But it was the baby peering over his mother’s shoulder that made his fist bunch even tighter and his heart squeeze inside his chest. In the weeks since person or persons unknown had left the six-month-old on his mother’s doorstep, Molly had become as essential to Blake as breathing.

DNA testing had proved with 99.99 percent certainty that the bright-eyed infant girl was a Dalton. Unfortunately, the tests hadn’t returned the same accuracy as to which of the Dalton brothers had fathered the baby. Although even identical twins carried distinctive DNA, there were enough similarities to fog the question of paternity. The report had indicated a seventy-seven percent probability that Alex was the father, but the issue couldn’t be completely resolved until the lab matched the father’s DNA with that of the mother.

As a result, the Dalton brothers had spent several uncomfortable weeks after Molly’s arrival tracking down the women they’d connected with early last year. Alex’s list had been considerably longer than Blake’s, but none of the potential candidates—including the woman who’d just become Ms. Alex Dalton—had proved to be the baby’s mother. Or so they’d thought.

A noisy round of farewells wrenched Blake’s gaze from the baby. He looked up to find his brother searching the crowd. It was like looking in a mirror. Both he and Alex had their father’s build. Like Big Jake Dalton, they carried six feet plus of solid muscle. They’d also inherited their father’s electric blue eyes and tawny hair that the hot Oklahoma sun streaked to a dozen different shades of gold.

Blake caught Alex’s eye and casually, so casually, shook his head. He had to forcibly blank both his face and his mind to block any more subtle signals. In the way of all twins, the Dalton brothers could pick up instantly on each other’s vibes. Time enough for Alex and Julie to hear the news when they got back from Tuscany. By then Blake would have dealt with it. And with the shock and fury it had generated.