Claiming His Nine-Month Consequence

She succumbed to his sinful seduction...

Now she’s carrying the Greek’s baby!

It’s the last thing he wanted, but Greek billionaire Ares Kourakis is going to be a father. He’ll do his duty and keep pregnant Ruby by his side—he’ll even marry her. But when all he can offer is intense passion and a vast fortune, will that be enough to get idealistic Ruby down the aisle?

USA TODAY bestselling author JENNIE LUCAS’s parents owned a bookstore, and she grew up surrounded by books, dreaming about faraway lands. A fourth-generation Westerner, she went east at sixteen to boarding school, on scholarship, wandered the world, got married, then finally worked her way through college before happily returning to her hometown. A 2010 RITA® Award finalist and 2005 Golden Heart® Award winner, she lives in Idaho with her husband and children.

Also by Jennie Lucas

The Consequences of That Night

The Sheikh’s Last Seduction Uncovering Her Nine-Month Secret Nine Months to Redeem Him A Ring for Vincenzo’s Heir Baby of His Revenge The Consequence of His Vengeance Carrying the Spaniard’s Child

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Claiming His Nine-Month Consequence

Jennie Lucas

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-07172-7

CLAIMING HIS NINE-MONTH CONSEQUENCE

© 2018 Jennie Lucas

Published in Great Britain 2018

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To Pete: my hero today and every day.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

Extract

CHAPTER ONE

ARES KOURAKIS!

As rhythmic music and lights pulsed across the dark, hot dance club, the whispers of his name grew louder, building to a roar. The famously handsome Greek billionaire had come to Star Valley at last.

Ruby Prescott rolled her eyes at all the excited chatter and awed stares being directed toward the shadowy VIP section. A handsome billionaire? Yeah, right. In her experience, billionaires were always ugly—if not on the outside, then definitely on the inside. No man became that rich without seriously warping his soul.

But she had more important things to worry about. Bartending was Ruby’s third job today, after a morning teaching skiing to four-year-olds and an afternoon working at a clothing boutique. She couldn’t stop yawning, and she still had a whole night of work ahead. Stretching to wake herself up, she moved across the bar, pouring drinks as quickly and carefully as she could.

“Ares Kourakis,” one of the waitresses, Lexie, breathed across the bar. “Can you believe he finally came?”

“It would be stupid if he didn’t, after buying a house here.” Ruby had been on that house’s cleaning crew, too, six months earlier, right before the man had bought it for the reported sum of thirty million dollars. Nice place, if you liked your ski lodges fancy and as big as a football stadium. Pouring another beer and setting it on the bar, Ruby said sourly, “And what kind of name is Ares, anyway?”

“He’s so handsome and rich, he can have any name he wants. I’d be Mrs. Ares Kourakis in a second!” Staring toward the dark corner of the bar, Lexie fluffed up her hair. “I’m so lucky he’s sitting in my section!”

“Very lucky,” Ruby replied sardonically, “since I heard he just broke up with his girlfriend.”