Margaret Allison – Principles And Pleasures (страница 1)

He Was In The Midst Of A Complicated Business Deal, And He Had Slept With The Opposing Bidder.

What made matters worse was that she had no idea who he was. He had deceived her.

He needed to tell Meredith who he was.

How had he lost control? Was it hearing that he had been her only lover?

The truth was, he had been attracted to Meredith from the moment he saw her at her party. He had hoped that time would have lessened his reaction to her. But it hadn’t.

It seemed to have made it worse.

She had opened up to him, trusting him to see her vulnerable. And he had encouraged it. In spite of himself, he wanted her to trust him. To care about him.

He was a fool. Because once Meredith found out who he was, she would want nothing more than to get away from him.

Dear Reader,

As expected, Silhouette Desire has loads of passionate, powerful and provocative love stories for you this month. Our DYNASTIES: THE DANFORTHS continuity is winding to a close with the penultimate title, Terms of Surrender, by Shirley Rogers. A long-lost Danforth heir may just have been found—and heavens, is this prominent family in for a big surprise! And talk about steamy secrets, Peggy Moreland is back with Sins of a Tanner, a stellar finale to her series THE TANNERS OF TEXAS.

If it’s scandalous behavior you’re looking for, look no farther than For Services Rendered by Anne Marie Winston. This MANTALK book—the series that offers stories strictly from the hero’s point of view—has a fabulous hero who does the heroine a very special favor. Hmmmm. And Alexandra Sellers is back in Desire with a fresh installment of her SONS OF THE DESERT series. Sheikh’s Castaway will give you plenty of sweet (and naughty) dreams.

Even more shocking situations pop up in Linda Conrad’s sensual Between Strangers. Imagine if you were stuck on the side of the road during a blizzard and a sexy cowboy offered you shelter from the storm…. (Hello, are you still with me?) Rounding out the month is Margaret Allison’s Principles and Pleasures, a daring romp between a workaholic heroine and a man she doesn’t know is actually her archenemy.

So settle in for some sensual, scandalous love stories…and enjoy every moment!

Melissa Jeglinski

Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire

Principles and Pleasures

Margaret Allison

MARGARET ALLISON

was raised in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan, and received a B.A. in political science from the University of Michigan. A former marketing executive, she has also worked as a model and actress. She is the author of several novels and is happy to return to the world of romance after taking some time off to care for her young children. Margaret currently divides her time between her computer, the washing machine and the grocery store. She loves to hear from readers. Please write to her c/o Silhouette Books, 233 Broadway, Suite 1001, New York, NY 10279, or visit her Web site at margaretallison.com.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

One

Until Meredith saw Josh Adams, she had been thinking that this year’s holiday party might just be her mother’s most successful ever. Elaborate ice sculptures decorated her family’s impressive foyer. Hundreds of votive candles were placed strategically, winding up staircases and layered across tables. Furniture had been moved to make room for the live spruce trees decorated with tiny gold lights and crystal icicles. And, as usual, all of Aspen high society had turned out to dance, sip champagne and eat caviar.

Meredith watched as he moved through the crowd, smiling and shaking hands. She had not seen Josh in more than ten years, but he had not aged a day. Curly brown hair, smoky-gray eyes and a sexy just-rolled-out-of-bed grin. It was as if he had never left for Europe, as if crashing the party of an ex-lover with whom he had not spoken in years was the most natural thing in the world.

Although, she reminded herself, ex-lover was a generous term for what they were to each other. It had been one night, nothing more.

But, oh, what a night.

Focus, she reminded herself. She could not afford to be distracted by childhood crushes.

Still, she couldn’t help but wonder what had brought him back after all this time. Josh had been a friend of her younger sister, Carly, and Carly had not mentioned him in years. The last Meredith had heard was that he had moved to Europe to continue his career as a ski instructor to the wealthy.

Ignore him, she told herself.

She weaved her way through the horde of people, doing her best to play the role of hostess. It was a difficult chore for someone who was so distracted, even more difficult for one who preferred spending her evenings behind her desk, reviewing the latest financials. As CEO of Cartwright Enterprises, once one of the largest conglomerates in the country, Meredith had a difficult job. The company had been hemorrhaging money, driven into financial ruin by her stepfather. An addicted gambler, he had embezzled millions of the company’s dollars before taking his own life. The stock had fallen drastically, taking their family fortune along with it.

As Meredith greeted a woman she barely knew with the standard cheek kiss, she found herself glancing over her shoulder, looking for Josh. Why was he here? As far as she knew, he had not been invited. She would have remembered if Josh’s name had been on the invitation list.

But then again, if Carly had decided to invite him at the last minute, she would not have bothered to mention it to Meredith. After all, why would she? Carly knew nothing about Meredith’s night with Josh. Meredith had never found the right moment to admit the truth: she had seduced the greatest womanizer Aspen had ever seen.

Carly, she knew, would have been shocked. As would all of Aspen. The Goody Two-shoes nerd falling for the playboy. No one had any idea of how Meredith had grown up longing for Josh, of how many parties Meredith had spent hiding at the top of the banister, watching Josh flirt with all of the girls.

She drained her glass of champagne. What was the matter with her? After all, she had not seen or spoken with him since the day they’d made love, all those years ago. Josh had left for Europe shortly after, where she assumed he still lived.

It was the party, Meredith realized. Her nervous brain had kicked into third gear, tossing up everything and anyone who had ever made her feel uncomfortable. She glanced at her watch. It was nearly eleven o’clock. She had to endure several more hours.

Never one to indulge in gaiety or frivolity for the sake of it, Meredith could not remember the last time she had been to an event that wasn’t business-related. Her whole life could be defined by one word: work. She had spent her college years with her nose to the grindstone and it had paid off. She had graduated magna cum laude from Harvard and had gone to work in her family’s Denver, Colorado-based company. She’d worked her way up and had been the obvious choice for CEO when her stepfather died. The shareholders had voted her in as president of Cartwright Enterprises at the age of twenty-nine. Since then she had worked long and hard to try to save their failing company from financial ruin.

Ironically, however, it was not Meredith who was saving their company but Carly.

Carly, although she had a title and office at Cartwright Enterprises, had never shown up for a day of work. But she had shown remarkable sense in love.

Meredith had long had her eye on a product called Durasnow, an artificial snow that stayed fresh in temperatures above freezing. Meredith had had little hope of acquiring the rights. After all, Durasnow was a product that could revolutionize the skiing industry. But Carly’s engagement had given her a leg up on the competition. Suddenly, Meredith had a family connection, and when she offered an all-stock deal, the Durans had seemed excited. Everything was finally moving on track.

“Meredith,” said her mother. “Have you seen Carly?” Viera Cartwright raised an eyebrow, indicating her displeasure.

“No. Why? What did she do?” Meredith asked. Although Carly was almost thirty, her mother still treated her as a child. There was something about Carly that made people want to take care of her. An almost delicate and vulnerable air that made one think she was incapable of taking care of herself.

“Her friend Josh is here.”

Meredith’s heart quickened.

“You remember him,” her mother said, misinterpreting Meredith’s silence. “Your old skiing instructor.”

“Yes,” Meredith replied as casually as she could. “I know. I saw him.”

“Well? Who invited him?” Viera asked unhappily.

“Does it matter?”

Her mother bit her lip. “Carly was just mentioning him the other day.”

“So? They were friends for a long time.”

Viera’s voice dropped to a stage whisper. “She was asking me if I ever had any regrets when I got married.”

“Regrets?” Meredith whispered back. “What did she mean by that?”

“She said the only regret she had was that she had never slept with Josh Adams.”