A Tainted Beauty
Sharon Kendrik
All that glitters… Merciless businessman Ciro D’Angelo knows an opportunity when he sees it – and Lily Scott’s vulnerable sweetness and old-fashioned values are exactly what he needs in a wife. She’s the complete opposite to the red-taloned gold-diggers who relentlessly pursue him. Isn’t gold…But on their wedding night Ciro realises that Lily isn’t quite the pure bride he expected. Does her virtuous façade hide a fortune-hunter as shameless as the rest? It seems their marriage is over before it’s begun – yet once you’re a D’Angelo wife there’s no turning back…
Lily tried to move away, but the arm which held her was tight—and in truth she didn’t really want to move anywhere.
She should just say no. She should continue along on the perfectly reasonable theme of questioning his sobriety. She should tell him that her primness had been born out of a desperate need to protect herself from being hurt again. But wasn’t the truth of it that none of those things seemed to matter in view of what he’d just said? That his unexpected proposal felt like a light which had been shone down into the current darkness of her world?
‘But why me?’ she questioned shakily. ‘There must be a million women more suitable. Why ask me?’
‘Actually, there aren’t. There are very few women like you, Lily. I’ve certainly never met one before. And, more than that, I have asked you because I can give you what you need.’
Dear Reader (#uca481aa7-6e16-524f-b667-5ccfb9d14c51),
One hundred. Doesn’t matter how many times I say it, I still can’t believe that’s how many books I’ve written. It’s a fabulous feeling but more fabulous still is the news that Mills & Boon are issuing every single one of my backlist as digital titles. Wow. I can’t wait to share all my stories with you - which are as vivid to me now as when I wrote them.
There’s BOUGHT FOR HER HUSBAND, with its outrageously macho Greek hero and A SCANDAL, A SECRET AND A BABY featuring a very sexy Tuscan. THE SHEIKH’S HEIR proved so popular with readers that it spent two weeks on the USA Today charts and…well, I could go on, but I’ll leave you to discover them for yourselves.
I remember the first line of my very first book: “So you’ve come to Australia looking for a husband?” Actually, the heroine had gone to Australia to escape men, but guess what? She found a husband all the same! The man who inspired that book rang me up recently and when I told him I was beginning my 100th story and couldn’t decide what to write, he said, “Why don’t you go back to where it all started?”
So I did. And that’s how A ROYAL VOW OF CONVENIENCE was born. It opens in beautiful Queensland and moves to England and New York. It’s about a runaway princess and the enigmatic billionaire who is infuriated by her, yet who winds up rescuing her. But then, she goes and rescues him… Wouldn’t you know it?
I’ll end by saying how very grateful I am to have a career I love, and to thank each and every one of you who has supported me along the way. You really are very dear readers.
Love,
Sharon xxx
Mills & Boon are proud to present a thrilling digital collection of all Sharon Kendrick’s novels and novellas for us to celebrate the publication of her amazing and awesome 100th book! Sharon is known worldwide for her likeable, spirited heroines and her gorgeous, utterly masculine heroes.
SHARON KENDRICK once won a national writing competition, describing her ideal date: being flown to an exotic island by a gorgeous and powerful man. Little did she realise that she’d just wandered into her dream job! Today she writes for Mills & Boon, featuring her often stubborn but always to-die-for heroes and the women who bring them to their knees. She believes that the best books are those you never want to end. Just like life…
A Tainted Beauty
Sharon Kendrick
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
To the glamourous and talented Michela Sanges,
who has taught me so much about her home city of Naples.
And to the memory of the lovely Betty Boyer,
who helped make my English classes such fun
and who was always so bubbly.
CONTENTS
Cover (#ud5fa3643-1789-5570-bbcf-837557fca6a2)
Extract (#u3e941251-c6c0-5fb8-bc95-2ac8fee826b7)
Dear Reader (#ua4bceae7-30eb-5932-8b13-0d1a2ebe95c6)
About the Author (#uc450d38b-4baf-593d-be73-affd8a8b7e9a)
Title Page (#uf9eb24ac-61b6-521a-bcc4-b6f0255bb330)
Dedication (#uea9e4936-e543-553b-ada3-9ca9f4ae4585)
CHAPTER ONE (#u7e749a5d-5a1a-5591-9919-a5ca1f8a0a1b)
CHAPTER TWO (#u0f3f0771-22c7-5cc6-93bb-feb5a19f839f)
CHAPTER THREE (#u964df93b-2582-58e5-affb-8c4c1a0a40cf)
CHAPTER FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)
EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#uca481aa7-6e16-524f-b667-5ccfb9d14c51)
SOMEONE was watching her.
The little hairs prickled on the back of Lily’s neck and somehow she just knew. Lifting her head from her pastry-making, she narrowed her eyes against the brightness outside to see the powerful figure of a man standing at the far end of the garden.
He was as still as a statue. Only his thick black hair seemed to move—ruffled by the same faint breeze which was drifting in through the open kitchen door as she worked. Unconsciously framed by a tumbling bower of early summer roses, he looked like a dark and indelible blot on the golden landscape and Lily’s heart gave a funny little kick as he began walking towards the house.
For a moment she wondered why she didn’t feel more scared. Why she wasn’t screaming the place down and grabbing the nearest phone to tell the police that some dark stranger was lurking in the grounds. Maybe because the sight of him was a distraction from the troubled thoughts which kept nagging away at the corners of her mind. Or maybe there was just something about this particular stranger which overrode all normal considerations. He looked as if he had every right to be there. As if the soft summer day had been waiting just for him.
