Katrina Cudmore - Their Baby Surprise

A baby to bind them...

Construction lawyer Charlotte Aldridge always keeps love at arm’s length, so one night of passion with handsome billionaire CEO Lucien Duval is more than enough. Until it changes her life forever...

Lucien doesn’t make a habit of seducing his employees, but something about guarded Charlotte captures his attention and refuses to let go. And when she tells him she’s pregnant, he’s adamant that his child will have the one thing he never did—the love of two committed parents.

‘Are you saying that I wouldn’t be a good father?’

Her head snapped back at his growl. Crossing one long leg over the other, she held her hands in a tight bunch on her lap. ‘Oh, come on—you’re constantly travelling, your social life keeps at least three celebrity magazines in business. Are you seriously telling me that you have time to fit being a father into that schedule? That you even want to be a father?’

Irritation tightened his chest. She might be right in everything she said, but a sense of being cheated out of something he hadn’t even begun to understand had him asking quietly, ‘And you think you have the right to make that decision for me?’

She grabbed her black leather handbag off the floor of the car and sat it on her lap. She lobbed her notebook into it and hugged the hard lines of the small rectangular bag to her stomach. ‘When it comes to protecting my baby—yes.’

Their Baby Surprise

Katrina Cudmore

www.millsandboon.co.uk

A city-loving book addict, peony obsessive KATRINA CUDMORElives in Cork, Ireland, with her husband, four active children and a very daft dog. A psychology graduate, with a MSc in Human Resources, Katrina spent many years working in multinational companies and can’t believe she is lucky enough now to have a job that involves daydreaming about love and handsome men! You can visit Katrina at www.katrinacudmore.com.

To Mum and Dad and the love you shared.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text A baby to bind them... Construction lawyer Charlotte Aldridge always keeps love at arm’s length, so one night of passion with handsome billionaire CEO Lucien Duval is more than enough. Until it changes her life forever... Lucien doesn’t make a habit of seducing his employees, but something about guarded Charlotte captures his attention and refuses to let go. And when she tells him she’s pregnant, he’s adamant that his child will have the one thing he never did—the love of two committed parents.

Introduction ‘Are you saying that I wouldn’t be a good father?’ Her head snapped back at his growl. Crossing one long leg over the other, she held her hands in a tight bunch on her lap. ‘Oh, come on—you’re constantly travelling, your social life keeps at least three celebrity magazines in business. Are you seriously telling me that you have time to fit being a father into that schedule? That you even want to be a father?’ Irritation tightened his chest. She might be right in everything she said, but a sense of being cheated out of something he hadn’t even begun to understand had him asking quietly, ‘And you think you have the right to make that decision for me?’ She grabbed her black leather handbag off the floor of the car and sat it on her lap. She lobbed her notebook into it and hugged the hard lines of the small rectangular bag to her stomach. ‘When it comes to protecting my baby—yes.’

Title Page Their Baby Surprise Katrina Cudmore www.millsandboon.co.uk

About the Author A city-loving book addict, peony obsessive KATRINA CUDMORE lives in Cork, Ireland, with her husband, four active children and a very daft dog. A psychology graduate, with a MSc in Human Resources, Katrina spent many years working in multinational companies and can’t believe she is lucky enough now to have a job that involves daydreaming about love and handsome men! You can visit Katrina at www.katrinacudmore.com .

Dedication To Mum and Dad and the love you shared.

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

EPILOGUE

Extract

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

YOU CAN’T OUTRUN your past.

And right now Lucien Duval’s past was staring at him from the radio studio’s anteroom with as much warmth as a canister of liquid nitrogen.

That past being Charlotte Aldridge, the verbal assassin of Huet Construction’s legal department.

Ten minutes ago, like an avenging angel to his guilty conscience, she had stalked into the anteroom, presumably sent to monitor every word he uttered in his early morning radio interview.

Ash-blonde hair coiled into a tight bun. Dark suit with buttoned-up blouse. Professional. Serious. A walking, talking, breathing human Hands Off! sign.

The type of woman he typically gave a wide berth to.

But those sea-green eyes of hers, which always observed him as though he was a disappointment, somehow also managed to burn something hot and liquid through his veins. Every. Single. Time.

And two months ago, he had learned that that tense mouth of hers was capable of softening and sending his pulse into another year.

And that those sea-green eyes, so cool and detached normally, could melt into a gaze of vulnerability and caution that had tripped over his heart. Two months on and he was still trying to shake off whatever hold she had on him.

The old scar just above his right ear began to tighten and itch.

He already had his board of directors haranguing him for his outspoken criticism of how the UK housing and infrastructure crisis was being managed—he didn’t need the added disapproval of an employee he had recklessly slept with.

Charlotte had been an error in judgement, a slip in his usual strict self-control.

His honeymoon period as the new CEO and majority shareholder of Huet Construction was rapidly coming to an end. If he didn’t start producing the results the City expected, the share price and investor confidence of one of the world’s largest construction companies would soon be heading south.

And all of those who were sceptical of his buy-out of Huet, who said he was an opportunist, a maverick, would be proved right.

Never.

He shifted in his seat; he needed to get out of this radio studio.

Now.

He didn’t have time to be listening to yet more empty promises from a politician.

He had a gigabyte worth of emails waiting for him...and points to prove.

He leaned forward across the studio table and growled, ‘Enough.’

Mid-sentence, the Housing Minister, his fellow interviewee on the UK’s largest breakfast radio show, leapt in his seat, his studio headphones twisting around, momentarily leaving him unable to speak as he tugged them back into place.

A quick look towards Charlotte’s glacial gaze intensified his need to agitate, revolt, defy.

He switched his attention back across the table. ‘Minister, I think you have bored the listeners enough, don’t you? Let’s allow them to enjoy their breakfasts in peace. It’s the least you can do considering that the majority of them are actually having to live on a daily basis with the circumstances of this housing crisis: spiralling rents, the inability to provide a home for their families, couples unable to start families. And yet again, you’re waffling and making excuses while not taking a single worthwhile action. When are you going to actually tackle the issues around land banking, compulsory purchase orders and the transparent disposal of public sector land? Look at innovative ideas like pre-fab housing? I say never because you have neither the courage nor the ability to do so. I’d have more faith in a bunch of toddlers with a box of play building bricks to sort out this crisis.’