The Hired Husband

The Hired Husband
Kate Walker

Sienna Rushford desperately needs to claim her inheritance from the father she never even met - but his will states she must be happily married!The only man Sienna can turn to is Keir Alexander. She knows he needs a short-term business loan, so she proposes a deal: in return for her financial help, they will marry, temporarily. But Keir, not content with being a "hired husband," has a proposition of his own - that for the next year their marriage is real….

“Keir, please don’t say no! I need this—we both do!”

Just what was going on inside that handsome head of his? For perhaps thirty of the longest seconds of her life Sienna watched and waited. At long last he drew in a deep uneven breath.

“Two conditions…” he said slowly.

“Anything! Anything at all, if you’ll just say yes!”

“Condition one…” Keir marked it off on one long finger of his left hand. “We have a proper wedding. All the trimmings. A church ceremony, flowers, candles, the lot.”

“Whatever you say. And—and condition two?”

“After the proper wedding we have a real marriage. I won’t stand for anything else. For one thing, there’s no way we’ll convince anyone that this is the love match you’re supposed to have by the conditions of your father’s will if we don’t look really together. It’s all or nothing.”

All or nothing.

When Sienna desperately offers Keir Alexander a temporary marriage of convenience, he has a surprise proposition of his own—their marriage must be a real one! Talented Harlequin Presents

author Kate Walker takes you on a breathtaking ride of passion and sensuality, as Keir proves to Sienna he will not be content with just being her “hired husband”!

Legally wed,

Great together in bed,

But he’s never said…

“I love you.”

They’re…

Wedlocked!

The series where marriages are made in haste…and love comes later….

Marriage on Command

by

Lindsay Armstrong

The Hired Husband

Kate Walker

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

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER ONE

‘YOU want what?’

His expression said it all, Sienna reflected unhappily. He didn’t have to speak a single word. Shock, disbelief and sheer antipathy to her suggestion were stamped clearly onto Keir Alexander’s hard features, leaving her in no doubt as to how he felt.

‘You want what?’ he repeated now, the edge in his voice sharpening on every word as his deep brown eyes glared into her anxious blue-green ones.

‘I—I want you to marry me.’

It sounded so much worse the second time around. Starker, more incredible, more impossible. She couldn’t believe she’d ever had the nerve to ask him once, let alone manage to reiterate her request in the face of his reaction.

If she could have taken it back she would have done so at once, but she had no alternative. She’d tried every other approach, considered every possible answer, but none of them would work. It was Keir or no one. He was her last chance; and if he didn’t agree to help her then she was lost. Finished.

‘No way, lady!’ It was hard, inflexible, adamant. ‘No way at all.’

‘But—’

‘I said no!’

‘But, Keir…’