The Shock Engagement

The Shock Engagement
Ally Blake

Emma's colleagues had been shocked and delighted she was marrying the oh-so-successful-and-gorgeous dot com millionaire Harry Buchanan. Only, the engagement was purely for convenience…It would help Harry get out of the excruciating "hunkiest male" competition–and in return he would help save her job. But Emma had dreamed of marrying Harry for years–and so acting engaged was practically torture. Kissing him. Dancing with him. Especially as the truth was, she was falling head over heels in love with him…

Keely, Emma and Tahlia work together at a small, trendy design company in Melbourne. They’ve become the best of friends, meeting for breakfast, chatting over a midmorning coffee and a donut—or going for a cocktail after work. They’ve loved being single in the city…but now three gorgeous new men are about to enter their work lives, transform their love lives—and give them loads more to gossip about!

From sexy bosses to surprise babies—these ladies have everyone talking!

Impossibly Pregnant by Nicola Marsh

A positive pregnancy test is a surprise for Keely!

The Shock Engagement by Ally Blake

Emma has always dreamed of marrying Harry. Now they’re engaged—but it’s all a sham. Will he ever be hers for real…?

Taking on the Boss by Darcy Maguire

Tahlia’s furious that the promotion she’s been working so hard for has been given to someone else! He’s now her new boss, and he’s gorgeous!

Having once been a professional cheerleader, Ally Blake says her motto is “Smile and the world smiles with you.” One way to make Ally smile is by sending her on holidays, especially to locations which inspire her writing. New York and Italy are by far her favorite destinations. Other things that make her smile are the gracious city of Melbourne, the gritty Collingwood football team and her gorgeous husband, Mark.

Reading romance novels was a smileworthy pursuit from long back, so with such valuable preparation already behind her, she wrote and sold her first book. Her career as a writer also gives her a perfectly reasonable excuse to indulge in her stationery addiction. That alone is enough to keep her grinning every day!

Ally would love you to visit her at her Web site, www.allyblake.com

Books by Ally Blake

HARLEQUIN ROMANCE®

3782—THE WEDDING WISH

3802—MARRIAGE MATERIAL

3830—MARRIAGE MAKE-OVER

The Shock Engagement

Ally Blake

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

To all the fabulous women I have ever worked alongside—especially the Sussie Chadrock superstars for their endless enthusiasm.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE (#u6cc27028-27b2-57cf-bb9f-eb77802677d9)

CHAPTER TWO (#ub1a467fa-061f-54e2-8525-de2d0efb1980)

CHAPTER THREE (#u9e62501d-caf3-54c8-98a2-1a47274597f3)

CHAPTER FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER ONE

GIRLS’ NIGHT IN WITH WHEN HARRY MET SALLY

‘Ha! Try telling my Harry that men and women can’t be friends!’ Emma said, throwing popcorn at the TV.

THEIR eyes met across the crowded room.

Emma’s gaze drank in dark brown sun-kissed hair, an outback tan, a strong straight nose, a three-day stubble and clear hazel eyes dancing with mischief. When the man across the room smiled at her, her knees, ankles and elbows all turned to jelly.

Thunk! That was the sound of Emma’s elbow slipping off her office desk. When her chin nearly followed in its wake she was jolted from her daydream. Her fuzzy gaze cleared to find a field of stars swimming across her computer monitor. With a great sniff she sat up straight and shuffled her mouse to bring her work back upon the screen.

Prior to disappearing into her terribly nice daydream, Emma had been working on the animation portion of Flirt magazine’s Australia’s Hunkiest Bloke competition project. After creating a whiz-bang website for Flirt magazine, WWW Designs had been called upon to produce a dynamic presentation for the big awards night that Saturday. The problem was the page Emma was working on was half photograph and half bio of one of the nominees and, you guessed it—he had hazel eyes, an outback tan and a smile that turned her to jelly!

The bachelor in question was Harry Buchanan, the creator of Harold’s House—a hugely successful Internet browser created expressly for kids—and he was also her very best friend in the whole world. Adding to the distraction factor, she had been secretly in love with the guy her whole adult life and that afternoon he was due to arrive in Melbourne for his yearly visit. It was enough to have a girl indulging in daydreams all day.

Emma’s focus shifted and she caught her reflection in the monitor. With her newly chopped blonde bob with its blunt fringe and shimmering highlights, she seemed so pale compared with Harry’s healthy complexion, and where unrestrained sexual energy sizzled in Harry’s eyes she was so obviously a wide-eyed innocent.

She looked closer. Ick! That day she was more red-eyed than wide-eyed. Unable to sleep from excitement the night before, she had searched her astounding collection of DVDs for an antidote. Staying up until one in the morning watching Love Story had probably not been the best choice as no amount of white eyeliner had been able to hide the evidence.

Determined to snap back into the real world and forget about Harry until he actually arrived, she closed the offending page and opened up her Blondie file. Blondie was the skinny little cartoon girl with a cute blonde ponytail and big blue eyes she had created to host the competition on the Flirt website and who would make an appearance on the awards night. Blondie simpered and giggled and pointed and fainted like a master in the bottom corner of the screen every time a new hunky bachelor was revealed.

Happy that Blondie was as endearing as she would ever be, Emma ran off a print copy of the animated girl’s various stunts and expressions, stuffed it into a pink folder and hot-footed towards the stationery room to make copies for the demonstration they would give Flirt’s people the next day. Of course a quick stop in the kitchenette for a fortifying coffee and cookie could not be avoided.

Pouring herself an oversized double Espresso, she hummed the theme to Love Story under her breath as she waited. Damn it! Now she would be humming it all day!

Suddenly her boss, a prickly, sharp-minded woman known affectionately as Rabid Raquel, stormed into the room.

‘You can’t pull that crap with me!’ Raquel screeched at some hapless guy down the mobile phone clamped to her ear. She opened the fridge and stared into it as though looking for the answers to her problems within. Emma tucked herself back into the corner of the room, quietly sipping on her coffee, doing her dandiest not to get caught in the indiscriminate spray of her boss’s wrath.