It Started With A Diamond
Heiress Nabs Polo Star A Page Six Exclusive ReportStunning world-class equestrian Diana Drake's stayed out of the family business for decades. But now Diana has the inside track on a coveted diamond…not to mention a polo-playing partner in crime in Franco Andrade. And after mere weeks, the city's most eligible bachelor is engaged to the jewelry heiress! Still, this whirlwind romance may not be as glittering as the jewels in Drake's. After all, we hear that Franco's first love has always been the polo team that unceremoniously sacked him. And Diana's still recovering from the loss of the sport she's always cherished. Can the handsome Argentine help his new fiancée capture the diamond of the century…and in the process repair her shattered heart?
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Heiress Nabs Polo Star
A Page Six Exclusive Report
Stunning world-class equestrian Diana Drakeâs stayed out of the family business for decades. But now Diana has the inside track on a coveted diamond...not to mention a polo-playing partner in crime in Franco Andrade. And after mere weeks, the cityâs most eligible bachelor is engaged to the jewelry heiress! Still, this whirlwind romance may not be as glittering as the jewels in Drakeâs. After all, we hear that Francoâs first love has always been the polo team that unceremoniously sacked him. And Dianaâs still recovering from the loss of the sport sheâs always cherished. Can the handsome Argentine help his new fiancée capture the diamond of the century...and in the process repair her shattered heart?
This isnât real.
It wasnât real, but it felt real. It even looked real.
Diana was dressed in a strapless chiffon gown, midnight blue, with a dangerously low, plunging neckline. A glittering stone rested between her breasts. A sapphire. The sapphire necklace from the photo shoot.
âPlease stop staring.â She turned and met his gaze. At last.
Francoâs body hardened the instant his eyes fixed with hers. As exquisite as the sapphire around her neck was, it didnât hold a candle to the violet depths of those luminescent eyes. âYouâre lovely.â
She stared at him coldly. âSave it for the cameras, would you? Thereâs no one here. You can drop the act.â
âItâs not an act. You look beautiful.â He swallowed. Hard. âThatâs quite a dress.â
âJust stop it, would you? I know weâre supposed to be madly in love with each other in public. But in private, can we keep things professional? Please?â
Something about the way she said please grabbed Franco by the throat and refused to let go.
Had he really been so awful to her all those years ago?
Yes. He had.
* * *
Drake Diamonds:
Looking for love that shines as bright as the gems in their window!
TERI WILSON is a novelist for Mills & Boon. She is the author of Unleashing Mr. Darcy, now a Hallmark Channel Original Movie. Teri is also a contributing writer at HelloGiggles.com, a lifestyle and entertainment website founded by Zooey Deschanel that is now part of the People magazine, TIME magazine and Entertainment Weekly family. Teri loves books, travel, animals and dancing every day. Visit Teri at www.teriwilson.net or on Twitter, @teriwilsonauthr.
For Brant Schafer, because naming a polo pony after me will guarantee you a book dedication.
And for Roe Valentine, my dear writing friend and other half of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Veuve Clicquot.
Contents
âItâs hard to be a diamond in a rhinestone world.â
âDolly Parton
Diana Drake wasnât sure about much in her life at the moment, but one thing was crystal clearâshe wanted to strangle her brother.
Not her older brother, Dalton. She couldnât really muster up any indignation as far as her elder sibling went, despite the fact that she was convinced he was at least partially responsible for her current predicament.
But Dalton got a free pass. For now.
She owed him.
For one thing, sheâd been living rent free in his swanky Lenox Hill apartment for the past several months. For another, he was a prince now. A literal Prince Charming. As such, he wasnât even in New York anymore. He was somewhere on the French Riviera polishing his crown or sitting on a throne or doing whatever it was princes did all day long.
Daltonâs absence meant that Dianaâs younger brother, Artem, was the only Drake around to take the full brunt of her frustration. Which was a tad problematic since he was her boss now.
Technically.
Sort of.
But Diana would just have to overlook that minor point. Sheâd held her tongue for as long as humanly possible.
âI canât do it anymore,â she blurted as she marched into his massive office on the tenth floor of Drake Diamonds, the legendary jewelry store situated on the corner of 5th Avenue and 57th Street, right in the glittering center of Manhattan. The family business.
Diana might not have spent every waking hour of her life surrounded by diamonds and fancy blue boxes tied with white satin bows, as Dalton had. And she might not be the chief executive officer, like Artem. But the last time she checked, she was still a member of the family. She was a Drake, just like the rest of them.
So was it really necessary to suffer the humiliation of working as a salesperson in the most dreaded section of the store?
âEngagements? Really?â She crossed her arms and glared at Artem. It was still weird seeing him sitting behind what used to be their fatherâs desk. Gaston Drake had been dead for a nearly a year, yet his presence loomed large.
