The Illegitimate Billionaire

His orders are simple—marry his half brother’s gold-digging widow and bring her children into the fold.

But his convenient wife is nothing like he expected...

If black-sheep billionaire Deacon marries Callie, his father has promised him legitimacy...and acceptance. But Callie is not the gold digger Deacon was promised. She makes him burn with need...and rethink his selfish motives. Is deceiving Callie and her sons a price he’s willing to pay for his father’s love?

New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author BARBARA DUNLOP has written more than forty novels for Mills & Boon, including the acclaimed Chicago Sons series for Mills & Boon Desire. Her sexy, lighthearted stories regularly hit bestseller lists. Barbara is a threetime finalist for the Romance Writers of America’s RITA® Award.

Also by Barbara Dunlop

Sex, Lies and the CEO

Seduced by the CEO A Bargain with the Boss His Stolen Bride From Temptation to Twins Twelve Nights of Temptation His Temptation, Her Secret The Illigitimate Billionaire

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

The Illegitimate Billionaire

Barbara Dunlop

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-07640-1

THE ILLEGITIMATE BILLIONAIRE

© 2018 Barbara Dunlop

Published in Great Britain 2018

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

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www.millsandboon.co.uk

For Shaina, Jacob, Karl and Heidi

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Extract

About the Publisher

One

In an absurdly masculine room, deep in the halls of Clarkson Castle, Deacon Holt carefully neutralized his expression. He wouldn’t give Tyrell Clarkson the satisfaction of seeing anger, envy or any other emotion.

“Drink?” Tyrell asked, making a half turn toward Deacon from the inlayed walnut bar. He held up a cut-crystal decanter that Deacon could only guess held decades-old single malt.

Tyrell was well-known in Hale Harbor, Virginia, for indulging in the finer things.

“No,” Deacon answered. He had no idea why he’d been summoned today, after being shunned his entire life, but he was positive this wasn’t a social occasion.

Tyrell shrugged and poured two glasses anyway. He cut partway across the library and bent at the waist to set the glasses on opposite sides of a dark wood coffee table.

“In case you change your mind,” he said and gestured to one of two brown leather armchairs flanking the table.

Deacon preferred to stand. He wanted to be on alert for whatever was coming.

“Sit,” Tyrell said and folded himself into the opposite chair.

Though he was in his late fifties, Tyrell was obviously in good shape. He had a full head of hair, and his wrinkles were few, giving his face character. By any objective measure, he was a good-looking man.

Tyrell was rich. He was clever. He was powerful.

He was also detestable.

“What do you want?” Deacon asked.

The rest of Hale Harbor might jump to Tyrell’s commands, but not Deacon.

“A conversation.”

“Why?”

Tyrell lifted his glass and turned it in the light that beamed down from the ceiling fixtures. He gazed at the amber liquid. “Glen Klavitt, 1965.”

“Am I supposed to be impressed?”

“You’re supposed to be curious. When was the last time you tasted fifty-year-old single malt?”

“I forget.” Deacon wasn’t rising to the bait, even though they both knew he wasn’t in a tax bracket that would allow him to casually spend whatever 1965 Glen Klavitt cost. Not that he’d be foolish enough to blow his money on it anyway.