Claiming His Own

It is only an affair…or so they believe in this Billionaires and Babies tale from USA TODAY bestselling author Olivia Gates

From their first explosive night, Caliope Sarantos and Maksim Volkov agreed to no commitment, only pure pleasure. Then her pregnancy changed everything.

Though the Russian tycoon made the baby his heir, he disappeared from Caliope’s life. Now, he’s back, offering everything he didn’t in the past. But the shining promise of a happy ending is eclipsed by the shadow of his tragic past…and his dark future. Will Caliope’s heart break again? Or will Maksim risk everything to claim this woman and child as his own?

“It’s a proposal, Caliope.”

She took a step back, then another, making him feel she was receding forever out of reach. “Whatever you want to call it, my answer is still no. And it’s a final no. You had no right to think you can seek redemption at my expense.”

“The redemption I’m seeking is for you. I’m offering you everything I can, what you just admitted you need.”

“I only said you left at a time when I most needed you, not that I need you still.”

Every word fell on him like a lash, their pain accumulating until he was numb. But after leaving her, how could he have hoped for anything different?

* * *

Claiming His Own is part of the No.1 bestselling miniseries from Mills & Boon^>® Desire^>™— Billionaires and Babies: Powerful men… wrapped around their babies’ little fingers

Dear Reader,

I have loved each and every book I’ve written, given each line everything that I had and have become truly attached to every couple whose passionate story I’ve told.

But every now and then there comes a book where everything comes together as if by magic, from the premise to the characters, the conflict to the black moment, to the hard-won resolution.

Claiming His Own was such a book. Every single word came to me with such certainty, such intensity, that once I’d put down the words, I didn’t have to stop to second-guess or even to polish what I’d written. It truly felt as if I was just a bystander watching Maksim’s and Caliope’s heart-wrenching love story unfold, listening to their innermost turmoil and experiencing their heartfelt desires and fears, and capturing every detail just as it came into existence.

I so hope you enjoy their story as much as I did, live with them every second of their fervent love and passion, and be as deeply touched as I was by their ordeals and triumphs.

I love to hear from readers, so please contact me at [email protected]. Connect with me on Facebook,

at www.facebook.com/oliviagatesauthor, and on Twitter, @OliviaGates.

To find out about my latest releases, to read excerpts and sign up for giveaways, please visit www.oliviagates.com.

Enjoy, and thanks for reading.

Olivia Gates

Claiming His Own

Olivia Gates

www.millsandboon.co.uk

OLIVIA GATES has always pursued creative passions such as singing and handicrafts. She still does, but only one of her passions grew gratifying enough, consuming enough, to become an ongoing career—writing.

She is most fulfilled when she is creating worlds and conflicts for her characters, then exploring and untan- gling them bit by bit, sharing her protagonists’ every heartwrenching heartache and hope, their every heart-pounding doubt and trial, until she leads them to an indisputably earned and gloriously satisfying happy ending.

When she’s not writing, she is a doctor, a wife to her own alpha male and a mother to one brilliant girl and one demanding Angora cat. Visit Olivia at www.oliviagates.com.

To my brother. Thanks for being you. Everyone who’s

ever known you will understand just what I mean.

Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Prologue

Eighteen months ago

Caliope Sarantos stared at the strip in her hand.

It was the third one so far. The two pink lines had appeared in each, glaring and undeniable.

She was pregnant.

Even though she’d been meticulous about birth control, she just...was.

A dozen conflicting emotions frothed over again, colliding inside her chest. Whatever she did about this, it would turn her world upside down, would probably shatter the perfection she’d forged with Maksim. If she didn’t know what to feel about this, what would he...

Suddenly her heart fired so hard, she almost keeled over.

He was here.

As always, she felt Maksim before she heard him. Her whole being surged with worry this time rather than welcome. Once she told him, nothing would remain the same.

He walked into the bedroom where he’d first taught her what passion was, where he continued to show her there was no limit to the intimacies and pleasures they could share.

His wolf’s eyes sizzled with passion as he strode toward her, throwing away his tie and attacking his shirt as if it burned him. He was starving for her, as usual. But what she’d tell him was bound to extinguish his urgency. An unplanned pregnancy was the last thing he expected.