Day Leclaire – Claimed: The Pregnant Heiress (страница 1)
‘Perhaps this is a good time to explain that I won’t walk away from my child.’
‘First things first. I need to confirm the pregnancy. Then we’ll discuss the best way to handle the situation after that.’ She rose, the dame at her most grand. ‘Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to go home.’
He did mind. He minded more than he could express.
Chase relaxed back against his chair and studied Emma, while making a swift analysis. She didn’t work, mainly because she didn’t have to. She’d been raised with a silver spoon in her mouth. And she was the last person he’d ever have chosen as mother to his child.
The irony didn’t escape him. But unlike his father, Chase wouldn’t allow Emma to give birth to a bastard, to force his son or daughter to deal with the sort of snobbery he’d dealt with his entire life.
Whether she realised it or not, he was going to take control of both her and her pregnancy.
Starting now.
About the Author
Day’s romances touch the heart and make you care about her characters as much as she does. In Day’s own words, ‘I adore writing romances, and can’t think of a better way to spend each day.’ For more information, visit Day on her website, www.dayleclaire.com.
Day Leclaire writes for Mills & Boon® Desire™.
To Charles Griemsman, editor extraordinaire, who
worked so long and hard on this project and added
immensely to the concept. Thank you for everything
you’ve done to put together such a fun and exciting
series! It’s been a true pleasure working with you.
Dear Reader,
I have to say it’s been an absolute pleasure being the launch author for Modern™ Romance’s latest continuity series, THE TAKEOVER. This particular series is overflowing with hot, sexy, amazing characters and exciting plots, and is written by some of my favourite authors. It’s been wonderful working with them on this project.
One of my favourite parts of this story was the interaction between the various characters. I adored how the hero and heroine clashed over all that kept them apart, while moving from passion to a deep, unwavering love. I loved the way they came to terms with the heroine’s pregnancy …
What could be better than reading about wonderful characters who find solutions to their problems and all the while discover something we all want in our own lives … the love of a lifetime!
Sit back, curl up with something hot and delicious (whether a beverage or a person—it’s your choice!) and spend a few lovely hours falling in love. I thoroughly enjoyed writing this book and hope you’ll enjoy reading it.
Warmly,
Claimed:
The Pregnant
Heiress
Day Leclaire
One
She was here.
Chase stood in the shadows of the portico just outside the banquet room of the Vista del Mar Beach and Tennis Club. The room glittered and sparkled with both people and jewelry, the people in full cocktail-party mode, the jewelry, too, he supposed. Dead center in the middle of all that glitter and sparkle stood Emma, the woman he’d spent a single incredible night romancing, seducing … and then losing.
While dance music played in the background, voices rose and fell, determined laughter taking the edge off the rocky undercurrents that flowed around the room. Ostensibly the cocktail party celebrated the impending sale of Worth Industries to Chase’s stepbrother and closest friend, Rafe Cameron. But old grudges and past secrets stirred restlessly beneath the surface. As his brother’s money manager and one of those involved in negotiating the purchase of Worth, tonight marked the start of a rough and treacherous passage.
Chase studied Emma while he sipped a thirty-year-old Laphroaig that his brother had stashed for those not interested in the free-flowing champagne. The single-malt Scotch whiskey went down as smooth as silk. Almost as smooth as Emma’s skin. She had a good portion of that skin on display, the pearl-gray silk dress she wore clinging to curves he’d do just about anything to uncover once again.
Her dress appeared vaguely Grecian in style, one shoulder bared while the silk draped from the other shoulder across her breasts. It hitched in a clever knot on her hip before flowing to just beneath the knee. Continuing with the Grecian theme, she wore toothpick-heeled sandals with straps that wrapped around narrow ankles and trim calves. With her ice-blond hair swept into an elegant chignon, she looked like a goddess. Like a player.
His eyes narrowed. Which begged the question … what the hell was she doing here? Since the guests were all connected in one way or another to either Cameron Enterprises or Worth Industries, she was, too. Either that, or she was the “plus one” gilded on to a guest’s invitation.
Maybe he’d wander over and find out. And maybe while he was finding out, he’d ask her why the hell she disappeared the way she had, leaving him ripping apart all of New York City in a fruitless search for the mysterious Emma With No Last Name. Before he could, Ronald Worth, soon-to-be ex-owner of Worth Industries, joined Emma and placed a proprietary hand on her bare shoulder.
Chase straightened, his mouth settling into a grim line. No way. Surely she wasn’t the arm candy of Rafe’s nemesis. Oh, hell, no. She couldn’t possibly be sharing a bed with that sixtysomething-year-old bastard. But based on the way good ol’ Ron lowered his head and whispered a loving comment in her ear and the affectionate manner in which she leaned into him and kissed his cheek, that was precisely what she was. Son of a—
“Don’t even think about it.”
Chase glanced over his shoulder at the sound of Rafe’s voice, his pale blond hair giving away his location in the darkness. “What?”
“The Princess. I see you staring at her, and I’m telling you. Don’t even think about it. That one will eat you up and spit you out just for the sheer pleasure of it.”
Chase fell silent, a tactic he’d learned during those rough, early years when he’d gone to live with his father. He turned to face his stepbrother, careful to conceal the anger surging through him. “You know her?” he asked mildly enough.
“Emma Worth, aka Spawn of Satan.”
Chase lifted an eyebrow, relief replacing his anger. So she wasn’t Ronald Worth’s mistress, but his daughter. “I gather Worth is cast in the role of Satan?”
Rafe’s grin lacked even a shred of humor. “What can I say? It comes naturally to him.”
“And the daughter? What do you know about her?” Since Chase didn’t want his brother to think he had a personal interest, he added, “Is she a factor in the sale?”
“She better not be a factor or she’ll find herself moved out of the way by whatever means necessary,” Rafe responded with characteristic ruthlessness. “But I don’t think she’ll be a player in any of this. She’s shallow. Overindulged. Pure useless fluff.”
“A party girl?”
Rafe hesitated. “A little lower profile than that. You don’t see her plastered across the scandal sheets. More of a private party girl.”
Chase turned and studied Emma once again while he considered this latest information. A private party girl. That fit with his experience, even though he hadn’t picked up on the cues when they’d been together. Nor had she come off as shallow. But considering they’d only spent one night together, what the hell did he know?
More than anything he wanted to confront her, demand an explanation for her disappearing act. But perhaps he already had his answer, courtesy of Rafe. She was a party girl. One-night stands were as common to her as shopping for groceries was to the average woman. Even so, he hated being made a fool of, another throwback to his formative school years.
At the ripe age of ten, when he’d first arrived in New York to live with his father, Chase had been dubbed Barron’s Bastard. That might have had something to do with the fact that his driven, world-renowned businessman father and his laid-back, California-mellow mother had never formalized their affair with traditional “I dos.” He’d soon had the “California” knocked out of him by his peers at the private school where he’d been dumped and learned to keep his emotions and personal opinions under tight control. It was a lesson he never forgot and one that had helped propel him to the top of his field as a money manager.
His gaze narrowed on Emma in careful assessment. As Rafe suggested, she exuded wealth, privilege and glamour. From the elegant twist of her pale blond hair to the discreet glitter of diamonds at her earlobes and wrist, she sent out signals that mixed a sultry come-hither sexiness with an Ice-Princess touch-me-not facade. It all boiled down to one compelling objective. Chase wanted her with an unrelenting hunger. And one way or another, he’d have her again.