Mistress Material
Sharon Kendrik
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 100th book! Many of these books are available as e books for the first time.“You will be my mistress”Suzannah Franklin cannot believe the command that erupted from brooding tycoon Pascall Callandro’s lips. Seventeen years ago he bitterly rejected her impassioned advances, but now he holds the financial strings of her brother’s ailing business and in return for its safeguarding…he wants her in his bed!But despite what Pascal believes, Savannah – now an internationally famous model – is innocent in the truest sense. With his possession of her almost deliciously absolute, Pascal realises that while wanting her as his mistress was business, needing her as his wife is personal!
She tried a different approach (#ub61edd01-83ab-5fb1-b4a1-fd2bbe78bd49)
After all, she’d had to fend men off before. “If you carry on like that, Pasquale,” she said reasonably, “then you’ll really leave me no choice other than to scream, and I’m sure that would do your reputation no good whatsoever.”
“My reputation is of no concern to me,” he drawled with dismissive arrogance. “But if that is what you intend to do, then I must give you fair warning that you will really leave me no choice other than to silence you most satisfactorily.”
Her confusion must have shown in her eyes. “By kissing you, of course,” he elaborated silkily. “And as I recall you liked me kissing you, didn’t you, Suki? You liked it ve-ry much!”
Dear Reader (#ub61edd01-83ab-5fb1-b4a1-fd2bbe78bd49),
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 100
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…
Mistress Material
Sharon Kendrick
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Contents
Cover (#ubeb2043a-d519-5c9d-8db2-a94fd6b2c917)
She tried a different approach (#uc01be931-a61c-5847-9666-db0728415197)
Dear Reader (#ua62f2291-d68e-53a4-b9f6-853a65674bc7)
About the Author (#u89e36e18-a396-5508-9a39-88918b6d71ac)
Title Page (#ud75a64c1-4cb7-5bb5-bc93-3c5ef9e19e9b)
CHAPTER ONE (#ua31113c1-9f75-5442-b828-181a6dda3c5b)
CHAPTER TWO (#ue45454da-ab02-50c8-9271-e6cabaf6c576)
CHAPTER THREE (#litres_trial_promo)
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)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#ub61edd01-83ab-5fb1-b4a1-fd2bbe78bd49)
IT COULDN’T be! Suki thought frantically. Not him! Anyone but him! And yet who else could it be? For who on earth could be mistaken for Pasquale Caliandro—the most diabolical man it had ever been her misfortune to meet?
Dear God, please no, she prayed silently, but she could do absolutely nothing to stop the slow pull of desire unfurling in the pit of her stomach as her traitorous eyes feasted themselves on the most delectable example of the male species she had ever seen in twenty-four years.
And she had seen the lot.
In the course of her career she had worked with male models, actors and rock stars—whose seductive faces and sexy bodies graced the bedroom walls of millions of women all over the world. But not one, not a single one, had come even close to the kind of impact that this man had on her. And not just her, either, she observed caustically, since every other woman present seemed hypnotised by that spectacular, long-legged frame.
Suki’s heart was thumping erratically. What the hell was he doing here, in the South of France? And what on earth should she do? She wondered if he’d seen her—but even if he had, would he remember the brazen young girl who had offered her body so eagerly to him when she was barely seventeen?
Completely forgetting that she’d loosened the thin gold straps of her bikini, Suki struggled to sit up, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from him, and then she saw that he was moving. He was walking.
Towards her!
She gave a helpless little whimper as her eyes were drawn to the powerful thrust of his thighs. Then upwards. Dear Lord! This man didn’t need to flaunt himself in tight jeans—indeed, she suspected that if he ventured outside in anything other than the cool, pale, beautifully cut linen trousers he wore he would be arrested immediately for indecent exposure.
Up still further her eyes roamed. Oh, what a chest! Abroad, powerful sweep of hair-darkened muscle beneath the cream silk of his shirt.
Her mouth dried as her eyes finally reached his face, lingering all too briefly on the beautifully shaped lips which somehow managed to be both sensual and cruel. And that nose—with its proud, aristocratic Roman curve. Who would have guessed that a nose could be such a turnon? she thought, unable to stop herself from ogling it, like an art-lover confronted with a masterpiece for the first time ever. Reluctantly, her gaze drifted upwards to meet his eyes, and her heart stilled as she acknowledged the cold fire and the contempt which sparked from the dark depths and which he made no effort whatsoever to hide.
His mouth was nothing more than a derisory slash as he reached her lounger and towered over her. ‘So,’ he drawled contemptuously, ‘I see that the years have done little to temper your appetites, cara.’
Her precariously thin veneer of sophistication was vanquished in a moment by the wounding words, delivered in the deepest, sexiest voice she had ever heard, an intriguing mixture of transatlantic with a seductive European undertone.
Logical thought was impossible, and she was instantly on the defensive. ‘And what’s that supposed to mean?’ she demanded furiously.
