HELEN BROOKS - The Price Of A Wife

“Do you like children, Josie?” “Do you like children, Josie?” Luke had no idea what this conversation was doing to her, and she drew on every scrap of strength she had won over the last few years. “I suppose so. I don’t really come into contact with any,” she said. “The original career woman?” Josie felt he disapproved of her, and it hurt. “You don’t get to the top by playing happy families,” she said levelly. “No, I guess you don’t. But you sure as hell miss a lot if you don’t.” Luke stared at her, hard. He thought she was an ambitious career woman, hell-bent on getting to the very top? Well, it was an impression she had deliberately fostered.... About the Author FROM HERE TO PATERNITY—romances that feature fantastic men who eventually make fabulous fathers. Some seek paternity, some have it thrust upon them. All will make it—whether they like it or not! HELEN BROOKS lives in Northamptonshire, England, and is married with three children. As she is a committed Christian, busy housewife and mother, her spare time is at a premium but her hobbies include reading and walking her two energetic and very endearing young dogs. Her long-cherished aspiration to write became a reality when she put pen to paper on reaching the age of forty, and sent the result off to Harlequin. Also by Look out for Husband By Contract and Second Marriage by Helen Brooks, coming soon. Two romances linked by a deeply emotional theme... Husbands & Wives Sometimes the perfect marriage is worth waiting for! Don’t miss any of our special offers. Write to us at the following address for information on our newest releases. Harlequin Reader Service U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269 Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3 Title Page The Price Of A Wife Helen Brooks www.millsandboon.co.uk CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER SIX CHAPTER SEVEN CHAPTER EIGHT CHAPTER NINE CHAPTER TEN EPILOGUE Copyright

“Do you like children, Josie?”

Luke had no idea what this conversation was doing to her, and she drew on every scrap of strength she had won over the last few years. “I suppose so. I don’t really come into contact with any,” she said.

“The original career woman?”

Josie felt he disapproved of her, and it hurt. “You don’t get to the top by playing happy families,” she said levelly.

“No, I guess you don’t. But you sure as hell miss a lot if you don’t.” Luke stared at her, hard.

He thought she was an ambitious career woman, hell-bent on getting to the very top? Well, it was an impression she had deliberately fostered....

FROM HERE TO PATERNITY—romances that feature fantastic men who eventually make fabulous fathers. Some seek paternity, some have it thrust upon them. All will make it—whether they like it or not!

HELEN BROOKS lives in Northamptonshire, England, and is married with three children. As she is a committed Christian, busy housewife and mother, her spare time is at a premium but her hobbies include reading and walking her two energetic and very endearing young dogs. Her long-cherished aspiration to write became a reality when she put pen to paper on reaching the age of forty, and sent the result off to Harlequin.

Look out for Husband By Contract and

Second Marriage by Helen Brooks, coming soon.

Two romances linked by a deeply emotional theme...

Husbands & Wives

Sometimes the perfect marriage is worth waiting for!

Don’t miss any of our special offers. Write to us at the following address for information on our newest releases.

Harlequin Reader Service

U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269

Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3

The Price Of A Wife

Helen Brooks

www.millsandboon.co.uk

CHAPTER ONE

‘JOSIE? There’s a man over there who’s been staring at you for a good ten minutes. Do you know him?’

‘Where?’ As Josie turned, her wide, green-flecked eyes following Penny’s glance across the crowded, noisy room, her face wasn’t even faintly interested. She was used to men staring at her; it came with the territory. As one of the highest paid and most successful promotions executives in London, she knew she presented something of an anomaly to the average male—and one that wasn’t always welcome in the male-dominated environment in which she worked.

Fine-boned and tiny, at five feet one, and with a mass of gleaming Titian-coloured hair, creamy skin and large expressive eyes in a golden honey shade liberally flecked with green, she wasn’t exactly what they’d expected to see if her reputation had gone before her... and it invariably had.

Over the last ten years, since she had first entered the promotions rat race as a nervous but ambitious eighteen-year-old fresh from college, she had established herself as an astute and level-headed businesswoman with a flair for knowing exactly what appealed to the public. Her job was her life; she gave it one hundred per cent commitment and the rewards had been enormous.

‘Hang on a minute,’ Penny muttered impatiently to herself as the crowd surged and moved, the buzz of conversation fierce and loud. ‘Now. Look over there, next to the group from Chantals. He’s still looking this way and you can’t miss him.’

‘Which...?’ Josie’s voice trailed away as she met the full force of a pair of very intent, narrowed eyes set in a hard, tanned face that was all male and quite expressionless. The man was big, very big, darkly imposing and terribly out of place in this crowd of affected, pretentious sycophants who had arrived by invitation for the grand opening of Josie’s latest work project: a flamboyant, madly expensive art gallery in a city already full of art galleries. That much at least registered before she turned sharply away, her stomach lurching.

‘Well? Do you know him?’ Penny asked curiously, her mild brown eyes alight with interest. ‘I know I don’t. If I’d met a hunk like him before I wouldn’t have forgotten.’

‘No, no, I don’t know him.’ Josie’s voice was cool and noncommittal, and not at all as she was feeling inside. She couldn’t remember the last time a man’s glance had affected her like this. She felt ridiculously disturbed and flustered—threatened, almost? She shook the thought away abruptly, furious with herself for allowing it to enter her mind in the first place.

Nerves. This was all just nerves, she told herself firmly. The same ‘first night’ agitation she suffered with all her projects until she knew she had got it right. There was no need to let her imagination run riot, useful though that particular attribute was in her line of work.

She drew herself up to her full five feet one and smiled at her assistant, who was a good six inches taller than herself. ‘We need to circulate, Penny, admire a few pretty feathers and give the old sweet talk. I’ll see you by the main door when the champagne and strawberries are served at seven, OK? We’ll have done our duty by then and things will be winding down.’

‘Fine.’ Penny nodded obediently, her good-natured face setting in a practised smile as she plunged into the mêlée.

‘Josie?’ The owner of the art gallery, a successful and wealthy entrepreneur, who had his finger in more pies than Jack Homer, touched her softly on the arm as she turned. ‘Brilliant success, girl—well done.’ He nodded cynically at the richly dressed, somewhat theatrical assembly. ‘Not exactly my type, if I’m being honest, but you sure pulled in all those who needed to be seen here for the gallery to have credibility.’