Untamed Love

The one you can’t resist...

A winning bid at a silent auction gets Mella Davis more than just complimentary services from landscape architect Victor Raphael. It sparks an instantaneous attraction to the brooding bachelor that takes her completely by surprise. Stern and tightly wound on the surface, irresistibly masculine underneath, he’s a challenge to her single-and-loving-it status—and to the heart she’s learned to protect. And still, she can’t help giving in.

Ever since love burned him in the past, nothing has cracked Victor’s calm control. Then he glimpses carefree, vivacious Mella at a Miami charity event. Uninhibited days and sensual nights follow as she brings warmth and desire back to his world, until doubt wrenches them apart. Opposites attract, but can they also overcome their differences...and sow the seeds to thrilling and lasting love?

Victor whispered softly to her until they ended up together on their sides facing each other. She held on to him as she slowly floated back to earth.

“I’m sorry I walked out on you the other day,” she whispered.

“I know.”

His breath brushed against her mouth. She dug her fingers into his bared chest, giving herself over to the wet movement of her mouth against his. Then he pulled abruptly away from her.

“Someone is coming.”

She didn’t question how he knew, just scrambled to her feet and yanked down her dress. By the time she had herself together, he was already zipped up, shirt buttoned and black blazer back on. But his eyes were still tender in the silver glow of the moon. She wanted to kiss him again. Mella deliberately stepped away from him when she heard the approaching footsteps for herself.

“I should go.” She clasped her purse tightly against her thighs, turning her back to the path so she wouldn’t see who was coming. Resentment at the intruders lay heavy and bitter at the back of her throat.

Dear Reader,

Have you ever had such tragedy in your life that the only thing you can do is face the world with a determined smile? That’s what Mella does on a daily basis...faking happy until she feels it. But running into the difficult and handsome Victor Raphael shakes her very foundation, including her smile. And there’s more than the sizzling attraction between them. Mella senses that underneath Victor’s growling surface is someone with demons as savage as her own. Despite the pain of the past, will these two beasts collide and manage to make beautiful music together?

Come with me, and follow their journey.

Lindsay Evans

Untamed Love

Lindsay Evans

www.millsandboon.co.uk

LINDSAY EVANS was born in Jamaica and currently lives and writes in Atlanta, Georgia, where she’s constantly on the hunt for inspiration, club in hand. She loves good food and romance and would happily travel to the ends of the earth for both. Find out more at lindsayevanswrites.com.

To my readers, old and new.

Thank you for sharing your time with me.

Acknowledgments

This writing journey of mine wouldn’t be possible without Sheree L. Greer, Angela Gabriel, Cherie Evans Lyon and Dorothy Lindsay. As my beta reader, Sheree has read more romance novels than she’d ever even thought possible, and Angela has suffered with me through many plotting sessions over dinner and ice cream. Cherie Evans Lyon and Dorothy Lindsay have simply always been there.

Kimberly Kaye Terry, as ever, thank you.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Epilogue

Copyright

Chapter 1

“If you weren’t my friend, I’d be burying your body out back right now.” Victor Raphael carefully put a hand on the cloth-covered table in front of him, the other hand balanced on his thigh as he listened to the auctioneer call out to the eager bidders.

“Three thousand, five hundred dollars!” the tuxedoed man shouted, his teeth a blinding white in his tanned face. “Do I hear four thousand?”

His best friend, Kingsley Diallo, didn’t look worried. “Auctioning yourself off for charity will make you feel good,” he said with a vague smile, looking around the large ballroom of one of their acquaintance’s latest mansion renovation projects gone wrong. Naked cherubs everywhere. “And it’ll make you look like less of an ass.”

Kingsley, perpetually Miami casual in a lavender V-neck shirt and celebrity-endorsed jeans, eventually settled back in his chair across from Victor, apparently satisfied that he had checked out the entire room and seen what there was to see. Victor, however, was quietly furious. Kingsley had put the services of his company up for bid without him knowing. Victor was a landscape architect, not some bored socialite’s puppet. He opened his mouth to say as much, but the auctioneer announced Raphael Design Group, effectively shutting him up. Victor snapped his eyes back to the small raised stage in the center of the room.

They were doing things the old-fashioned way, raising paddles to signal their interest in the bids. Despite the open ballroom, brightly lit by the afternoon sun, the French doors were open to let in the crisp February breeze. Or at least as crisp as February ever got in Miami. Every event like this Victor had ever seen on TV took place in shadowed rooms or unironically old European auction houses with the look of old blood money staining the silk-papered walls. But this was Miami. Why wouldn’t things be different? He’d half expected a stripper parading around in a white thong and moaning the name of each item up for bid. But maybe that spoke to his lack of class.