For the first time in one volume, two fan-favorite romances from USA Today bestselling authors Michelle Celmer and Yvonne Lindsay!
The Tycoon’s Paternity Agenda
CEO and widower Adam Blair must find the right woman to carry his baby. Then Katy Huntly, his late wife’s sister, demands she be the surrogate. The agreement makes sense…on paper. He’s always felt a certain pull toward Katy, and those feelings are intensifying. But falling in love has no place in this tycoon’s agenda…or does it?
Honor-Bound Groom
From childhood Alexander del Castillo has been betrothed to someone not of his own choosing. Thankfully bride-to-be Loren Dubois is more than suited for her place at his side—and in his bed. But he never expected his beautiful bride to get under his skin…or into his heart.
There was no doubt about it, the man was insufferable.
Yet here she was sitting in her pickup truck in the visitors’ lot of the Western Oil headquarters building in El Paso, the ruthless, Texas-afternoon sun scorching her face through the windshield.
Katherine Huntley hadn’t seen her brother-in-law, Adam Blair, CEO of Western Oil, since her sister’s funeral three years ago. His call asking to meet her had come as something of a surprise. It was no shock, however, that he’d had the gall to say he was too busy to meet on her own turf in Peckins, two hours north, and asked her to come to him. But he was the billionaire oil tycoon and she was a lowly cattle rancher, and she was guessing that he was used to people doing things his way.
But that’s not why she agreed to come. She was long past overdue for a trip to the warehouse store for supplies anyway, and it gave her the chance to visit the cemetery. Something she did far too infrequently these days. But seeing Rebecca’s grave this morning, being reminded once again that Katy had gone from baby sister to only child, brought back the familiar grief. It simply wasn’t fair that Becca, who’d had so much to live for, had been taken so young. That her parents had to know the excruciating pain of losing a child.
Katy glanced at the clock on the dash and realized she was about to be late, and since she prided herself on always being punctual, she shoved open her door and stepped out into the blistering heat. It was so hot the soles of her boots stuck to the blacktop. She swiftly crossed the lot to the front entrance, and the rush of icy air as she pushed through the double glass doors into the lobby actually made her shiver.
Considering the suspicious looks the security guards gave her as she walked through the metal detector, they must not have gotten many women dressed in jeans and work shirts visiting. And, of course, because she was wearing her steel-toe boots, the alarm began to wail.
“Empty your pockets, please,” one of them told her.
She was about to explain that her pockets were already empty, when a deep voice ordered, “Let her through.”
She looked up to find her brother-in-law waiting just past the security stand, and her heart took a quick dive downward.
Ex-brother-in-law.
Without question the security guards ushered her past, and Adam stepped forward to greet her.
“It’s good to see you again, Katy.”
“You, too.” She wondered if she should hug him, but figured this situation was awkward enough without the burden of unnecessary physical contact, and settled for a handshake instead. But as his hand folded around her own, she wondered if he noticed the calluses and rough skin, not to mention the short, unpainted fingernails. She was sure he was used to women like Rebecca, who spent hours in the salon getting pedicures and manicures, and all the other beauty treatments she neither had time nor the inclination for.
Not that it made a difference what he thought of her nails. But when he released her hand, she stuck them both in her jeans pockets.