âSurely there must be somebody else who could do it?â Carly said.
âBut I donât want anyone else doing itâI want you,â Luis said. âAfter all, I am the one paying your salary, arenât I?â
Carlyâs hands balled into two fists, because now he had her in a corner and they both knew it. He paid her a generous amount of money, most of which she squirrelled away towards her goal of getting to medical school.
The smile had now left his lips.
âI am growing bored with this discussion,â he snapped. âAre you prepared to help me out or not?â
She recognised the implicit threat behind his words. Help me out or else.
Or else what? Go out and find a new job?
Go out and find a new job? One which wouldnât leave her with so much free time to study for her medical school exams?
âIâd be prepared to do it if you were prepared to give me some sort of bonus,â she said suddenly.
âDanger money, you mean?â he mocked.
With a grimace he swung his long legs over the side of the massage bed, but not before Carly had seen a peek of hair-roughened thigh as the robe flapped open.
âYes, thatâs right. Danger money,â she croaked, quickly averting her gaze once more. âI couldnât have put it better myself.â
From glass slippers to silk sheets
From washing his sheets to slipping between them, from ironing his shirts to ripping them off ⦠When the job description said âfull benefits packageâ, this wasnât quite what she had in mind!
But when you work for a man whoâs used to getting everything he wants, how do you stop yourself becoming his latest acquisition?
Dear Reader,
One hundred. Doesnât matter how many times I say it, I still canât believe thatâs how many books Iâve written. Itâs a fabulous feeling but more fabulous still is the news that Mills & Boon are issuing every single one of my backlist as digital titles. Wow. I canât wait to share all my stories with you - which are as vivid to me now as when I wrote them.
Thereâs BOUGHT FOR HER HUSBAND, with its outrageously macho Greek hero and A SCANDAL, A SECRET AND A BABY featuring a very sexy Tuscan. THE SHEIKHâS HEIR proved so popular with readers that it spent two weeks on the USA Today charts andâ¦well, I could go on, but Iâll leave you to discover them for yourselves.
I remember the first line of my very first book: âSo youâve come to Australia looking for a husband?â Actually, the heroine had gone to Australia to escape men, but guess what? She found a husband all the same! The man who inspired that book rang me up recently and when I told him I was beginning my 100>th story and couldnât decide what to write, he said, âWhy donât you go back to where it all started?â
So I did. And thatâs how A ROYAL VOW OF CONVENIENCE was born. It opens in beautiful Queensland and moves to England and New York. Itâs about a runaway princess and the enigmatic billionaire who is infuriated by her, yet who winds up rescuing her. But then, she goes and rescues him⦠Wouldnât you know it?
Iâll end by saying how very grateful I am to have a career I love, and to thank each and every one of you who has supported me along the way. You really are very dear readers.
Love,
Sharon xxx
Mills & Boon are proud to present a thrilling digital collection of all Sharon Kendrickâs novels and novellas for us to celebrate the publication of her amazing and awesome 100th book! Sharon is known worldwide for her likeable, spirited heroines and her gorgeous, utterly masculine heroes.
SHARON KENDRICK once won a national writing competition, describing her ideal date: being flown to an exotic island by a gorgeous and powerful man. Little did she realise that sheâd just wandered into her dream job! Today she writes for Mills & Boon, featuring her often stubborn but always to-die-for heroes and the women who bring them to their knees. She believes that the best books are those you never want to end. Just like lifeâ¦
With special thanks to George Tilbury and Erika Ring, for teaching me how bodies heal.
Also, for invaluable insights into the world of motor racing, thank you to Keith Roberts and team-owner Roland Dane. Roland, in particular, helped breathe life into Luis Martinez!
And to Peter Crone for his invaluable help with wind-farms (although they appear in Muratâs bookâSEDUCED BY THE SULTAN!)
CHAPTER ONE
CARLYâS FINGERS STILLED as the angry voice echoed through the house like a low rumble of thunder.
âCarly!â
She stared at the cornstarch which had lodged itself under her fingernails.
Now what?
She supposed she could try ignoring him but what would be the point? When her fractious, brilliant, mercurial boss wanted something he wanted it ten minutes ago; preferably sooner. He was driven, committed and single-mindedâeven when operating at fifty per cent of his usual capacity. It was just that fifty per cent of Luis Martinezâs capacity would be full throttle for most men.