Maureen Child - Reasons for Revenge - Scorned by the Boss

MAUREEN CHILDis a California native who loves to travel. Every chance they get, she and her husband are taking off on another research trip. The author of more than sixty books, Maureen loves a happy ending and still swears that she has the best job in the world. She lives in Southern California with her husband, two children and a golden retriever with delusions of grandeur.

You can contact Maureen via her website www.maureenchild.com.

Reasons for Revenge

Scorned by the Boss

Seduced by the Rich Man

Captured by the Billionaire

Maureen Child

www.millsandboon.co.uk

All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.

All Rights Reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises II B.V./S.à.r.l. The text of this publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the prior consent of the publisher in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

®and TMare 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.

First published in Great Britain 2012

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of Harlequin (UK) Limited.

Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR

REASONS FOR REVENGE © by Harlequin Enterprises II B.V./S.à.r.l 2012

Scorned by the Boss, Seduced by the Rich Man and Captured by the Billionaire were first published in Great Britain by Harlequin (UK) Limited in separate, single volumes.

Scorned by the Boss © Maureen Child 2007 Seduced by the Rich Man © Maureen Child 2007 Captured by the Billionaire © Maureen Child 2007

ebook ISBN: 978-1-408-97047-8

Version: 2018-07-18

Scorned by the Boss

Maureen Child

Dear Reader,

Scorned by the Boss is the first book in a trilogy about three women who are best friends .

We all know what that means. There are things we can tell a girlfriend that we would never admit to anyone else. And in these three books, you’ll see that Caitlyn, Janine and Debbie work together to help each other through the uncharted jungles of love.

In the first book, you’ll meet Caitlyn and her boss, Jefferson Lyon. Caitlyn’s been running Jefferson’s business and personal life for years, but she’s finally had enough. When she quits her job, though, things start to get interesting …

Also, I hope you really enjoy reading Seduced by the Rich Man and Captured by the Billionaire , and I hope you’ll let me know what you think of Cait, Janine and Debbie …

Happy reading,

Maureen

www.maureenchild.com

To friendship. That amazing, wonderful sense of belonging you can only find with someone who knows the real you and loves you anyway.

And to my friends, thanks for everything.

Caitlyn Monroe knocked once, then entered the lion’s den.

She was prepared, like any good lion trainer, for whatever might be waiting for her. A furious, chained beast looking for something to chew on? Probably. A pussycat? Not likely. In the three years she’d worked for Jefferson Lyon she’d learned that the man was much more likely to be snarly and aggressive than accommodating.

Jefferson was used to getting his own way. In fact, he accepted nothing less. Which was what made him both an amazingly successful businessman and a sometimes pain-in-the-neck boss.

But this she was used to. Dealing with Jefferson’s demands was normal. And after the jolt she’d had over the weekend, she was ready for the normal. The everyday. The routine. She appreciated the fact that she knew Jefferson Lyon. Knew what to expect and wouldn’t be blindsided by something shattering coming out of nowhere.

No, thanks, she thought. She’d had enough of that Saturday night.

Her boss looked up when she entered, and just for a minute, Caitlyn allowed herself to appreciate the view. Jefferson’s jaw was strong and square, his blue eyes piercing enough to see through any attempts at deception and his tawny hair cut and styled to lay fashionably at his collar. A modern-day pirate with less conscience, when it came to business, than Bluebeard.

Most of the people who worked for him walked a wide berth around the magnate. Just the sound of him coming down the halls was usually enough to send people scattering. He had the reputation of being a hard man. Not always fair about it, either. He didn’t suffer fools easily and expected—demanded—perfection.

So far, Caitlyn had been able to provide it. She ran his office and most of his life with proficiency. As Jefferson Lyon’s personal assistant, she was expected to hold her ground against his overpowering personality. Before she had come to work here, the man had gone through assistants every couple of months. But Caitlyn was the youngest of five children in her family and she was more than used to speaking up and making herself heard.

“What is it?” he snapped and lowered his gaze back to the sheaf of files strewn across his wide mahogany desk.

Situation normal, Caitlyn thought as she let her gaze slide around the huge office. The walls were painted a deep twilight-blue, and several paintings of Lyon ships at sea dotted the wide expanse. There were two plush leather sofas facing each other in front of a gas fireplace that was cold now and a conference table sat beside a wet bar on the other side of the room. Behind Jefferson’s desk, floor-to-ceiling windows provided a gorgeous view of the harbor.

“And good morning to you, too,” she said, not put off by the attitude. God knows she’d had plenty of time to adjust to it.

When she’d first started working for him, Caitlyn had foolishly thought that as his assistant, she would be sort of his partner. That they would have a working relationship that would be more than his issuing orders and her leaping to fulfill them.

Hadn’t taken long to disabuse her of that notion.

Jefferson didn’t have partners. He had employees. Thousands of them. And Caitlyn was simply one of the crowd. Still, it was a good job and she was good at it. Besides, she knew he’d be lost without her, even if he wasn’t consciously aware of that little fact.

Walking across the room, she laid a single sheet of paper down on top of the files and waited for him to pick it up and study it. “Your attorneys faxed over the numbers on the Morgan shipping line. They say it looks like a good deal.”

He glanced at her again and she saw a flash of interest. “I decide what looks like a good deal,” he reminded her.

“Right.” She bit her lip to keep from saying that if he hadn’t wanted his attorneys’ opinion, then why ask for it? It wouldn’t do any good, and frankly, he wouldn’t want to hear it. Jefferson Lyon made his own rules. He would listen to some opinions, true, but if he didn’t agree with them, then he blew them off and did whatever he thought best.