Elizabeth Duke: Takeover Engagement

Cover Page

Excerpt He had it all worked out! Was this how he was used to operating? Making spur-of-the-moment decisions affecting other people, confident that they’d fall in with his plans… “I—I don’t have anything suitable to wear,” she argued, and realized, in horror, that she was teetering on the edge of giving in. “I can’t believe that. You might like to pack an evening dress, though…There’s a dinner dance the night we arrive.” “If I do fly to the resort with you, I’ll expect you to keep a dance for me,” she heard herself demanding recklessly. “That’s a promise.” He leaned back, a satisfied smile on his lips. He was quite ruthless, she realized. Ruthless at getting what he wanted.

About the Author Elizabeth Duke was born in Adelaide, South Australia, but has lived in Melbourne all her married life. She trained as a librarian and has worked in many different types of libraries, but she was always secretly writing. Her first published book was a children’s novel, after which she successfully tried her hand at romance writing. She has since given up her work as a librarian to write romance full-time. When she isn’t writing or reading, she loves to travel with her husband, John, either within Australia or overseas, gathering inspiration and background material for future romances. She and John have a married son and daughter, who now have children of their own.

Title Page Takeover Engagement Elizabeth Duke www.millsandboon.co.uk

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

Copyright

Was this how he was used to operating? Making spur-of-the-moment decisions affecting other people, confident that they’d fall in with his plans…

“I—I don’t have anything suitable to wear,” she argued, and realized, in horror, that she was teetering on the edge of giving in.

“I can’t believe that. You might like to pack an evening dress, though…There’s a dinner dance the night we arrive.”

“If I do fly to the resort with you, I’ll expect you to keep a dance for me,” she heard herself demanding recklessly.

“That’s a promise.” He leaned back, a satisfied smile on his lips. He was quite ruthless, she realized. Ruthless at getting what he wanted.

was born in Adelaide, South Australia, but has lived in Melbourne all her married life. She trained as a librarian and has worked in many different types of libraries, but she was always secretly writing. Her first published book was a children’s novel, after which she successfully tried her hand at romance writing. She has since given up her work as a librarian to write romance full-time. When she isn’t writing or reading, she loves to travel with her husband, John, either within Australia or overseas, gathering inspiration and background material for future romances. She and John have a married son and daughter, who now have children of their own.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

LUCY glanced at her watch as she hurried across the tiled lobby to the lifts. Two minutes to twelve. She was cutting things a bit too fine.

It was an old building, one of the oldest in Melbourne. The two lifts looked as if they were from the same era, judging by the heavy doors and the ancient iron numbers on the panel above. An amber light showed that one lift was stationary on the top floor—the sixth. The other was slowly, ever so slowly descending.

Time was ticking away. She began to tap her foot. Would that darned lift never come? David would think she was doing this deliberately.. .making him wait until the last possible moment…teasing him by showing up just in the nick of time. David, I wouldn’t do that to you, she told him silently. I meant to be early.. .truly.

She felt a twinge of guilt. Then why hadn’t she left the clinic earlier and made allowances for any possible delays, like traffic jams?

Approaching footsteps diverted her. As she turned her head a beam of sunlight from the front entrance of the old building caught her face in its harsh autumn glow.

She would have sworn she heard a sharp intake of breath from the man who had paused a few paces away from her, a tall, dark-haired man in a charcoal-grey suit.

For the briefest second their eyes met, vibrant turquoise clashing with heart-stopping, depthless black. With the daylight behind him, the man’s face was shadowed, yet even so she could sense his interest in her, his almost startled reaction, his lips parting as if he were about to speak. Then he clamped his mouth shut and flicked his gaze away, as if realising he’d mistaken her for someone else.

She felt an involuntary tremor run through her as she turned back to the lifts. There was something about the man…some potent force about him that she found…disturbing. Even that single brief glance had been enough to tell her that here was a successful, supremely self-confident, possibly powerful man. A man who would despise weakness and failure—in himself as much as in others. He didn’t strike her as the kind of man who would easily make a mistake.

A ding from above signalled the arrival of the lift. At last! She looked at her watch and swore under her breath. Five past twelve! She was five minutes late already. Damn!

The heavy doors rattled open and she stepped inside, the fine hairs at her nape prickling as the dark-eyed stranger followed her in.

Without looking at him, she extended a finger and pressed the button marked ‘6’ before melting back against the wall to allow him access to the panel. He merely inclined his head and moved back a step, to stand with his back against the opposite wall. Facing her, she noted, rather than the door.

She willed herself not to react, or look directly at him. But as the doors clanged shut and the lift began its slow grinding ascent she found herself watching him out of the corner of her eye. Feeling his eyes on her again.

For the first time she felt a twinge of unease. Had he really been heading for the sixth floor, or had he only decided to do so after seeing that she was going there herself? With the rate this lift was moving it could take an age to get there. Was he aware of that?

Suddenly she felt glaringly vulnerable and alone. It was unlikely that the lift would stop on its way up to collect any other passengers. Anyone waiting on the upper floors of the building would be more likely to be waiting to come down.

She swallowed hard. It wouldn’t be the first time a lone woman had been attacked in a lift. And this man looked extremely strong, extremely powerful. If he lunged at her she wouldn’t have a chance.

On the other hand, he looked far too smooth and self-possessed, far too well-dressed and respectable to be a potential rapist. But there was no point in taking any chances.

She stiffened her jaw and turned her body slightly away from his, facing the lift door—hoping that her body language would send out off-putting signals.

Glancing at the panel in front of her, she noted that they were slowly approaching the third floor. Barely halfway!

If she hadn’t been feeling so edgy, with David’s ultimatum at the back of her mind and this disturbing stranger adding to her nervous tension, she might have seen the amusing side of this interminable lift ride and shared a wry smile with her fellow passenger.