The Secretary And The Millionaire

The Secretary And The Millionaire
Leanne Banks

Fortune's Children: The Brides: Meet the Fortune brides - six special women who perpetuate a family legacy greater than mere riches! THE CINDERELLA ASSIGNMENTWhen Jack Fortune's motherless daughter moved in with him, this ever-so-competent CEO needed Amanda Corbain, his faithful assistant, to become Lilly's temporary live-in nanny.Suddenly this natural-born nurturer was living out her ultimate fantasy, but no amount of dreaming had prepared Amanda for the feelings he aroused. And now Amanda had one final wish before this Cinderella assignment ended… .

Kate Fortune’s Journal Entry (#ud59b49bf-e3b3-5497-882e-4715f873b5ac)Letter to Reader (#u3185eb71-e73c-5f13-8ebc-18ff85771988)Title Page (#u6762f029-ab7b-5a3d-ad7c-d7f6f91e04de)Dedication (#u226b2871-be00-5e51-a735-2c046efdbd3b)Acknowledgments (#u737d3c4d-c54d-55eb-82f3-f1c11bae11d4)About the Author (#u2a4586fa-7767-503f-88e7-8c8dd1c73ba3)FORTUNE’S Children (#u84c620ab-028d-53d4-821a-1eb341543d35)Prologue (#u2daa8112-6969-591a-b947-b03bbdbff0ca)Chapter One (#u36fd5fa9-465c-5555-a04b-978c40a54737)Chapter Two (#u94c99907-2bf5-5ecc-a24d-fc250c3456e9)Chapter Three (#uc8e8c326-993f-5367-92cc-9dfa848ef1bc)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)Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)THE GROOM’S REVENGE (#litres_trial_promo)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

Kate Fortune’s Journal Entry

Of all the Fortunes, I think my nephew Jack might just be the most marriage-shy of them all Oh, he dates plenty—with all the ladies he’s had on his arm, he’s a veritable moving target. But not one of those women is right for him.

Another job for Kate Fortune, matchmaker? Not this time! He’s already got the perfect woman living right under his own roof. Ever-faithful Amanda Corbain has been his personal assistant for years; if Jack wasn’t running so hard and so fast, he would see that she is his meant-to-be bride. But now that she is in his house, tending to his sweet little daughter, it’s only a matter of time before nature takes its course. With maybe just a little bit of prodding from you know who....

Dear Reader,

April brings showers, and this month Silhouette Desire wants to shower you with six new, passionate love stones!

Cait London’s popular Blaylock family returns in our April MAN OF THE MONTH title, Blaylok’s Bride. Honorable Roman Blaylock grapples with a secret that puts him in a conflict between confiding in the woman he loves and fulfilling a last wish.

The provocative series FORTUNE’S CHILDREN: THE BRIDES continues with Leanne Banks’s The Secretary and the Millionaire, when a wealthy CEO turns to his assistant for help in caring for his little girl.

Beverly Barton’s next tale in her 3 BABIES FOR 3 BROTHERS miniseries, His Woman, His Child, shows a rugged heartbreaker transformed by the heroine’s pregnancy. Powerful sheikhs abound in Sheikh’s Ransom, the Desire debut title of Alexandra Sellers’s dramatic new series, SONS OF THE DESERT. A marine gets a second chance at love in Colonel Daddy, continuing Maureen Child’s popular series BACHELOR BATTALION. And in Christy Lockhart’s Let’s Have a Baby!, our BACHELORS AND BABIES selection, the hero must dissuade the heroine from going to a sperm bank and convince her to let him father her child—the old-fashioned way!

Allow Silhouette Desire to give you the ultimate indulgence—all six of these fabulous April romance books!

Enjoy!

Joan Marlow Golan

Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire

Please address questions and book requests to:

Silhouette Reader Service

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

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

The Secretary and the Millionaire

Leanne Banks

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

This book is dedicated to all the hardworking secretaries who had a secret crush on their bosses.

Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to

Leanne Banks for her contribution to the

Fortune’s Children miniseries.

LEANNE BANKS is a national number-one bestselling author of romance. She lives in her native Virginia with her husband and son and daughter. Recognized for both her sensual and humorous writing with two Career Achievement Awards from Romantic Times Magazine, Leanne likes creating a story with a few grins, a generous kick of sensuality and characters who hang around after the book is finished. Leanne believes romance readers are the best readers in the world because they understand that love is the greatest miracle of all. You can write to her at P.O. Box 1442, Midlothian, VA 23113. An SASE for a reply would be greatly appreciated.

FORTUNE’S Children

Meet the Fortunes—three generations of a family with a legacy of wealth, influence and power. As they gather for a host of weddings, shocking family secrets are revealed...and passionate new romances are ignited.

JACK FORTUNE: When it comes to mergers and acquisitions, this millionaire CEO doesn’t miss anything. But will his new role as a single dad suddenly make him see who has been right under his nose?

AMANDA CORBAIN: For years this loyal secretary has had a hopeless crush on her charismatic boss. She’s determined to fall out of love—until a special little girl enters Jack’s life. And suddenly her Cinderella dreams temporarily become a living reality.

GRAY McGUIRE: This businessman only wants revenge on the Fortune family. And he’s about to meet the perfect partner in revenge—Stuart Fortune’s illegitimate daughter!

Prologue

“W hen are you going to stop pining for Jack Fortune and get on with your life?” Carol Denton asked when Amanda rejected another blind date setup.

“I’ve tried dating other men. They all seem to be missing something.”

Amanda Corbain knew Carol had a valid point, but she just couldn’t get past her feelings for her boss, Jack. She glanced out the restaurant window at the busy Minneapolis downtown street and shrugged her shoulders. “Think about it,” she said to her best friend. “Who can compare to Jack Fortune?”

“Okay,” Carol conceded. “So he’s blond, gorgeous, smart, wealthy and single. He’s also your boss. He’s a workaholic and commitmentphobic since his marriage busted up. Still changing women every three months?”

Amanda nodded glumly. “He’s slowed down a little since his daughter came to live with him, but he still finds time to make the rounds.” Unlike her, all of Jack’s social partners were beautiful.

Carol gave a heavy sigh. “I hate to say this, but I think the man has ruined you.”

Amanda felt a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach. She didn’t want that to be true. “He just can’t seem to see me. As far as Jack is concerned, I may as well be the invisible woman.” She took a sip of coffee and felt a surge of restlessness at the familiar lunchtime conversation topic. Whenever Carol asked about her progress with Jack, Amanda’s answer was the same.

Carol made a face. “Have you ever thought about stripping off your clothes and sitting on his desk?”

“Yes,” Amanda said without batting an eye. She’d envisioned such a scenario countless times. “But I’m not sure what I would do next. I think I might need remedial education in the feminine wiles department. Besides, I like my job, and my salary is helping put my sisters through college.”

Carol finished her wine and shook her head. “It must be a burden to be such a responsible person. Were you ever impulsive? Even when you were a kid?”

Amanda thought of her father’s death when she was very young. When Amanda had been just twenty years old, her mother’s death had taken her family by surprise and she’d needed to hold everything together. “I didn’t have much of a chance to be impulsive. The most impulsive thing I’ve done was accept the promotion with Fortune Corporation and move to Minneapolis from North Carolina.” She smiled. “A nineties Mary Tyler Moore.”

“You’re going to have to do something,” Carol told her. “You can’t spend the rest of your life staying home by yourself on Saturday nights and pining for Jack Fortune.”

“I know,” Amanda said, putting the waiter’s tip on the table as she prepared to return to work. “I’ve got to find a way to stop being invisible.”

As soon as she got back to the office, Amanda poured a mug of hot black coffee and slid it onto Jack Fortune’s desk ten seconds before he reached for it and automatically nodded his thanks. Listening to his smooth, baritone voice as he spoke with a potential client on the phone, she placed the faxes for his reference directly in front of him. He silently mouthed “Thank you” to her, another acknowledgment of her services.

Amanda wondered if he would choke on his coffee if she told him she would prefer a kiss, a nice long one. Turning her head, she rolled her eyes at herself. Better keep herself in check or her boss would learn she had a mile-high crush on him.

Jack always saw what she did and expressed appreciation in a dozen different ways. Yet he never ever seemed to see her. In a world filled with beautiful women, Amanda knew her appearance wouldn’t stop traffic in Minneapolis or anywhere else. Her brown hair, brown eyes and average body made her the perfect unobtrusive assistant, or...invisible woman, she thought wryly.

“The demand for Fortune clothing has taken off,” Jack Fortune said into the phone, glancing at the top fax. “Our profits are up thirty-eight percent, Bob. We have a new athletic wear line going head-to-head with the top designers. The retail market has had its shares of ups and down in the last few years. We’d like to give the customer a reason to come to your stores.”