Sandra Marton - The Playboy’s Unexpected Bride

Playboy tycoon tamed!

When billionaire Lincoln Aldridge learns he’s been left custody of a tiny baby, he needs a nanny—fast! Luckily, fiery Brazilian beauty Ana Maria Marques soon loves baby Jenny like a mother. So when Linc has to prove that his playboy days are over, he makes her his wife!

Originally published in 2008 as Hot Summer Bride.

The Playboy’s Unexpected Bride

Sandra Marton

www.millsandboon.co.uk

CONTENTS

Cover

Back Cover Text Playboy tycoon tamed! When billionaire Lincoln Aldridge learns he’s been left custody of a tiny baby, he needs a nanny—fast! Luckily, fiery Brazilian beauty Ana Maria Marques soon loves baby Jenny like a mother. So when Linc has to prove that his playboy days are over, he makes her his wife! Originally published in 2008 as Hot Summer Bride.

Title Page The Playboy’s Unexpected Bride Sandra Marton www.millsandboon.co.uk

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

Rio de Janeiro, April

CARNAVAL had ended almost two months ago, but Rio didn’t seem to know it.

Lincoln Aldridge wasn’t surprised. He’d been to Rio before. The city could be an endless party, especially for a man with money, rugged good looks and connections.

Linc had all three but he wasn’t in a partying mood. He’d been on the go for almost two weeks, first flying to Argentina, then Colombia, then Brazil. His business meetings had gone well but he had a more important matter on his mind.

Too much time had gone by since he’d heard from his sister. Kathryn and her husband, married five months, were on what she’d called a belated honeymoon, seeing the world.

New York City was part of the world, Linc had said wryly, and he damned well expected that Kath and the husband he’d never met intended to make it part of their trip.

“Absolutely,” she’d answered, sounding almost like the kid he still thought of her as being. “We’re going to stop there last so we can spend some time with you. And, Linc? Get ready for a wonderful surprise!”

The best surprise would be seeing her again. Kath was twenty-two and he’d all but raised her. Now she lived in L.A., where she’d met Mark and eloped to Vegas. Linc, ten years her senior, would have felt better if he’d laid eyes on the guy before the wedding but at least he would meet him soon.

It was why he was eager to get home.

First, though, he had to finalize the deal he’d made with entrepreneur Hernando Marques. They’d shaken hands on it but Marques wanted to sign the contract at his home. An odd request, maybe, but when a man was about to spend twenty-five million bucks a year giving Aldridge Inc. full responsibility for the security of all his residential and commercial properties, an odd request was okay.

“This is my poker night, Lincoln,” Marques had said. “I spend it with a few old friends whose company I am sure you would enjoy. Please. Join us.”

So Linc had smiled and said he looked forward to it.

A little before eight, his taxi glided through the massive iron gates that guarded the Marques estate.

Force of habit made Linc check the perimeter. One of his teams had installed the latest security systems a couple of weeks ago. Electric eyes. Hidden cameras. Sensors. He couldn’t spot them all, which was as it should be, but what he saw looked perfect.

The taxi stopped at the foot of wide stone steps. His host flung the door open before Linc could ring the bell.

“Lincoln!” Marques grinned and extended his hand. “I was afraid you might have forgotten my invitation, meo amigo .”

“Traffic,” Linc said with a quick smile, even as he wondered at his host’s reaction. Brazilians were a friendly people but Marques seemed to be taking things to a new level.

Marques led him to a leather-walled game room where a dozen or so men stood chatting in small groups near an expansive buffet laid out on a mile-long table.

“Come and meet my friends, Lincoln.”

Linc shook hands, smiled, said hello and how are you to men he’d met before and others he knew by reputation. This was a gathering of some of the wealthiest men in South America. Eight years ago, when he’d started Aldridge Inc. with nothing but guts and his Special Forces experience, he’d have given anything to have been invited to an evening like this.

Now, it was Marques’s guests who expressed pleasure at meeting him.

He moved from group to group, eating a little, drinking hardly at all, wondering when he could get away. No one seemed in a hurry to play cards.

At last, Marques sought him out again. He was smiling but tiny drops of sweat stood out on his forehead. Something was wrong. Had the man decided against the deal despite the binding handshake?

“Hernando,” he said pleasantly. “I was just going to look for you. This is great but—”

“But you have had a long day and you wish for an early night.”

“I’m glad you understand.”

“I do. So perhaps—perhaps, now, we might adjourn to the library to—to—”

“To sign the contract,” Linc said, his eyes on the other man’s.

“Certainly. To sign the contract.” Marques hesitated. “And to talk.”

The library was big and leather-paneled like the game room. A pair of French doors graced the far end; a fire blazed on the hearth of a stone fireplace to ward off the faint chill of the night.

Marques offered brandy. A cigar. Coffee. Linc said no to all three.

“Something’s on your mind, Hernando.” Linc’s tone was polite but cool. “I’d appreciate it if you’d just get to it.”

His host nodded. Licked his lips. Fussed at the logs on the hearth with a poker before finally looking at Linc.

“This is difficult for me, Lincoln.”

“But?”

“But there is something I must ask.” A quick laugh. “I am not good at asking for favors. Not that this is a favor, exactly. I mean, it is something that will surely benefit you, as well as me.”

Here it comes, Linc thought, folding his arms over his chest. A request to change the terms of their agreement? To renegotiate the price? What else could it be?

“And what is it you must ask?”

Marques cleared his throat. “You are unmarried Lincoln. That is correct, yes?”

“Excuse me?”

“I said, you are single. Am I right?”

Linc frowned. What did his marital status have to do with anything? “Uh, yes. Yes, I’m single.”

“No children, then?”

“Marques. What is this about?”

“Because, you see, it is possible only a man with a child—with a daughter—would understand my feelings on this matter.”

“What matter?”

Marques looked at him, then away. “I have a daughter. She is young—but,” he added quickly, “mature for her age.”

“I’m afraid I don’t see what—”

“She is also bright and well-educated. Obedient and well-mannered. And—”

And, Linc thought in horror, as the truth began to sink in, Marques wanted to marry her off. To him?

“I am a modern man, Lincoln. Still, when it comes to my daughter, I have some old-fashioned ways.”

Hell. Absolutely to him. He’d heard about this kind of thing, of course, arranged marriages, especially in wealthy families in Europe and South America…