The Scandalous Heiress

The Scandalous Heiress
Kathryn Taylor

NO ORDINARY WOMAN…He'd believed her to be a fraud, another "convenient" heiress in a long line of cons. But spirited diner watiress Mikki Finnley was different. Not simply because she was more at home in demin than diamonds, but because just a look, a touch, from her could melt his frozen heart… .But Clayton Reese had a job to do. Either prove Mikki was the long-lost Hawthorne heir, or expose her lies. Only trouble was, he'd fallen so deeply for this radiant, utterly real woman, he was no longer sure what the truth was. So he'd do the only sensible thing: follow his heart… wherever it might lead.

“What Is That?” He Asked As Six Tiny Legs Wiggled Against His Palm. (#u36895117-ac40-58f7-a3ba-0624373c648f)Letter to Reader (#u9cbcb3b5-4248-5308-84ea-7c4a8702f82d)Title Page (#u2310d895-ffc3-5acf-a257-6021a0e39bc0)KATHRYN TAYLOR (#u79172bf7-24b7-510a-bc84-e6fbeadd56c3)Dedication (#u2ef0cdee-8a02-5e64-b852-e2b4ebcdb3f3)Chapter One (#u96e756ad-b204-5129-a4c2-00accbd8e06e)Chapter Two (#uc36bbcff-ed33-5af8-96c3-377c84ec952b)Chapter Three (#uaed4805a-9d25-5de7-ad14-bcf3c52abfa6)Chapter Four (#u64234d22-8214-57ec-ab05-f3dae6d1c5c5)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 Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

“What Is That?” He Asked As Six Tiny Legs Wiggled Against His Palm.

“A hermit crab. I thought you might want a soul mate.”

With a shake of his wrist, he tossed the shell into the sand. “I prefer my crab to be of the Alaskan King variety, served on a plate with drawn butter.”

“I guess you don’t want the little guy?”

He glanced at the small crustacean hiding deep in his borrowed house. “He doesn’t appear to want me, either.”

“There’s no accounting for taste.”

“His or mine?”

“Both.”

Clayton sighed. Dandelion flowers and hermit crab pets. Buried beneath her tough exterior was the real Mikki—a wide-eyed optimist who found beauty in the things most people ignored. At this moment she seemed far more dangerous than a gold-digging schemer out to steal the Hawthorne fortune. If he wasn’t careful, she just might steal his heart.

Dear Reader,

Welcome to a new year with Silhouette Desire! We begin the year in celebration—it’s the 10th Anniversary of MAN OF THE MONTH! And kicking off the festivities is the incomparable Diana Palmer, with January’s irresistible hero, Simon Hart, in Beloved.

Also launching this month is Desire’s series FORTUNE’S CHILDREN: THE BRIDES. So many of you wrote to us that you loved Silhouette’s series FORTUNE’S CHILDREN—now here’s a whole new branch of the family’ Awardwinning author Jennifer Greene inaugurates this series with The Honor Bound Groom.

Popular Anne Marie Winston begins BUTLER COUNTY BRIDES, a new miniseries about three small-town friends who find true love, with The Baby Consultant. Sara Orwig offers us a marriage of convenience in The Cowboy’s Seductive Proposal. Next, experience love on a ranch in Hart’s Baby by Christy Lockhart. And oppsites attract in The Scandalous Heiress by Kathryn Taylor.

So, indulge yourself in 1999 with Silhouette Desire—powerful, provocative and passionate love stories that speak to today’s multifaceted woman. Each month we offer you six compelling romances to meet your many moods, with heroines you’ll care about and heroes to die for. Silhouette Desire is everything you desire in a romance novel.

Enjoy!

Joan Marlow Golan

Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire

Please address questions and book requests to:

Silhouette Reader Service

U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., PO Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269

Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3

The Scandalous Heiress

Kathryn Taylor

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

KATHRYN TAYLOR

has a passion for romance novels that began in her late teens and left her with an itch to discover the world. After living in places as culturally diverse as Athens, Greece, and Cairo, Egypt (where she met and married her own romantic hero), she returned to the States, and she and her husband settled in the quiet village of Warwick, New York. Kathryn says, “Although my writing allows my mind to soar in the clouds, I have an energetic eleven-year-old who keeps my feet planted on the ground.”

To Debbie Robertson and Melissa Senate

for believing in my story

One

Mikki peered through the crack in the swinging doors. Anxiety caused her already weary body to tense. She wiped her hands against the white apron knotted at her waist and swallowed a nervous sigh. “Are you sure he asked for me?”

Annie tucked a lock of gray hair into her beehive and smiled a toothy grin. “Michelle Finnley from McAfee, Kansas. That’s you, child. This is the second time he’s been here looking for you.”

Mikki’s stomach flip-flopped. Michelle Finnley from McAfee, Kansas. She glanced again at the man in the last booth. She didn’t know much about fashion, but his pin-striped suit hadn’t come off the rack at Dandy Don’s Suit-O-Rama. He reeked of money the way the diner reeked of hot grease.

What did he want? And how had he traced her from McAfee, population eight hundred including the cows, to New York City? Any ties she’d had to the small town had been buried seven years ago along with the woman she had known as her mother. And Mikki wanted them to remain buried.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost, honey.” Annie touched Mikki’s shoulder. “Do you want me to get rid of him?”

Mikki shook her head She might as well find out what he wanted before she panicked. For all she knew, the man worked for the IRS and they planned to return some of the money they had extorted from her each April fifteenth. She smoothed her pink uniform over her hips and stepped through the door.

The lunch crowd had thinned to a few couples lingering over coffee. A siren screamed as a police cruiser sped past, raising her pulse and her anxiety level. She stopped in front of the booth and clicked her tongue to get the man’s attention.

“I understand you’ve been asking questions about me.” She glanced down at him, trying her best to give the impression of indifference.

“Michelle Finnley?” His resonant voice held the trace of an accent she couldn’t identify. Magnificent, slate gray eyes appraised her. He frowned. Apparently she had come up lacking.

“And you are...?”

“Clayton. Clayton Reese.” He rose and offered his hand.

She accepted his greeting, noting the solid-gold watch on his wrist. One thing she had learned from her stepfather was how to spot a genuine from a fake. Anything else he had taught her, she was better off forgetting.

“Would you care to sit down?” he asked.

Mikki nodded and slipped into the booth. After a day on her feet, she welcomed the rest. “What can I do for you?”

His pause stretched to an awkward silence. As he searched his briefcase, she had a chance to study him. His angular jaw and chiseled nose gave him a striking appeal, like a marble statue and most likely just as cold. That he felt ill at ease in his surroundings was obvious by the way he clenched the papers in his hands.

“Are you the same Michelle Finnley who was adopted by Sara Finnley?”

Shock waves ran through her. Until her mother’s death, she hadn’t known she was adopted. Who was this man, and how did he know so much about her? “Why do you want to know?”

“Could you just answer the question?”