âIn one breath, you assert that youâre not propositioning me, and in the next, you say that you find me attractive.â
âActually, my comment was more objective than subjective,â Michael told her. âBut while I do think youâre a very attractive woman, I didnât hire you in order to pursue a personal relationship with you.â
âOkay,â Hannah said, still sounding wary.
Not that he could blame her. Because even as he was saying one thing, he was thinking something else entirely.
âIn fact, I wouldnât have invited you to spend the summer here if I thought there was any danger of an attraction leading to anything else.â
âOkay,â she said again.
âI just want you to understand that I didnât intend for this to happen at all,â he said.
And then he kissed her.
Dear Reader,
It has been a sincere pleasure to return to the island paradise of Tesoro del Mar, to revisit some familiar characters and introduce some new ones. Hannah Castillo is one of the new characters youâll meet in Prince Daddy & the Nanny.
After the death of her mother when Hannah was only eight years old, her father sent her to Tesoro del Mar to live with her uncle Phillip, the royal physician. Eighteen years later, when Hannah takes a summer job looking after widowed Prince Michaelâs four-year-old daughter, she canât help but see parallels between the princessâs lonely childhood and her own. As she works to help bridge the gap between father and daughter, Hannah finds herself falling for both of them and wishing that the summer would never end.
But of course, Hannah knows that the idea of a prince loving a commoner is nothing more than a fairy tale, and fairy tales donât come true. Except, maybe, in Tesoro del Mar â¦
I hope you enjoy Hannahâs story.
Best,
Brenda Harlen
BRENDA HARLEN grew up in a small town, surrounded by books and imaginary friends. Although she always dreamed of being a writer, she chose to follow a more traditional career path first. After two years of practicing as an attorney (including an appearance in front of the Supreme Court of Canada), she gave up her ârealâ job to be a mom and to try her hand at writing books. Three years, five manuscripts and another baby later, she sold her first bookâan RWA Golden Heart winnerâto Mills & Boon.
Brenda lives in southern Ontario with her real-life husband/hero, two heroes-in-training and two neurotic dogs. She is still surrounded by books (too many books, according to her children) and imaginary friends, but she also enjoys communicating with real people. Readers can contact Brenda by e-mail at [email protected].
To Kate Weicheltâ
who has helped brainstorm solutions to many story problems over the years, including a few in this one.
Thanks for being a friend, an inspiration,
and especially for being you!
So this is how the other half lives.
Hannah Castilloâs eyes widened as she drove through the gates into the upscale neighborhood of Verde Colinas.
Actually, she knew it was more likely how half of one percent of the population lived, and she couldnât help wondering what it would be like to grow up in a place like this. Having spent the first eight years of her life moving from village to village with her missionary parents, she hadnât realized there was anything different until her uncle Phillip had brought her to his home in Tesoro del Mar.
And even then, she wouldnât have imagined that there was anything like this. She hadnât known that real people lived in such luxury. Not regular people, of course, but billionaires and business tycoons, musicians and movie stars, philanthropists and princes. Well, at least one prince.
Prince Michael Leandres was the thirty-eight-year-old president of a multimedia advertising company, cousin of the prince regent, widowed father of Tesoro del Marâs youngest princess, and the first man who had ever made her heart go pitter-patter.
As she slowed to wait for another set of gates to open so that she could enter the drive that led to the princeâs home, she couldnât help but smile at the memory. Sheâd been twelve at the time, and as flustered as she was flattered when Uncle Phillip asked her to accompany him to the by-invitation-only Gala Opening of the Port Augustine Art Gallery.
Sheâd been so preoccupied thinking about what she would wear (she would have to get a new dress, because a gala event surely required a gown) and whether she might be allowed to wear makeup (at least a little bit of eyeliner and a touch of lip gloss) that she hadnât given a thought to the other guests who might be in attendance at the event. And then sheâd walked through the doors on her uncleâs arm and spotted Prince Michael.
To a preteen girl who was just starting to take note of the male species, he was a full six feet of masculine perfection. He was also a dozen years older than she, and already there were rumors swirling about his plans to marry his longtime sweetheart, Samantha Chandelle. But Hannahâs enamored heart hadnât cared. Sheâd been content to admire him from afar, her blood racing through her veins just because he was in the same room with her.