Bachelor Boss

Bachelor Boss
Pamela Ingrahm

MERGER IN THE MAKING…?Powerful CEO Philip Ambercroft prized efficiency, order–and no temptation in the office. So when he needed a temporary assistant, he decided to hire a no-nonsense, matronly type. But then he met the most qualified candidate….All-too-appealing Madalyn Wier had impeccable references and years of experience–and she soon had her handsome executive boss falling for her womanly charms. But Philip was determined to deny the attraction between them, especially since Madalyn was a single mother who had a daughter to consider. And the confirmed bachelor wasn't prepared to propose a marriage merger…was he?

Madalyn wondered what she’d gotten herself into. (#uc6c64b7f-340b-50a0-a085-1e73f5e1d451)Letter to Reader (#uc238de13-8d21-5f49-be76-5199c5f69fea)Title Page (#u5a0d8a3c-0553-56b2-8acc-d712644f30b2)Dedication (#ud17307ad-7811-5ff5-9d8a-97ff6e9f4ecc)About the Author (#uaaa5165e-3073-596c-b2d1-1d6d97cf06b0)Chapter One (#uc3668269-996c-5887-903f-df0763800393)Chapter Two (#uce4f840d-9597-5469-ab60-5b137181868b)Chapter Three (#ua150580e-c552-572b-8037-3492c5ecfe5b)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)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

Madalyn wondered what she’d gotten herself into.

She didn’t want to admit how nervous Philip’s proximity made her. She tried to tell herself it was because he was her new boss, not because he was so devastatingly handsome.

She reminded herself of what she’d accomplished by not letting emotion guide her decisions.

Actually, she’d let her emotions guide her once, but she’d learned....

Which was why she wasn’t going to read anything into this business trip. Except when she remembered the blaze of passion she’d seen in his eyes when she thought he was going to kiss her last night...and her own traitorous response.

Well, it wasn’t a problem, because she wouldn’t be with him in any situation remotely intimate again. She’d make sure of it. Even if there was an irresponsible, rebellious piece of her wishing for just one little kiss to satisfy her curiosity....

Dear Reader,

Silhouette Romance blends classic themes and the challenges of romance in today’s world into a reassuring, fulfilling novel. And this month’s offerings undeniably deliver on that promise!

In Baby, You’re Mine, part of BUNDLES OF JOY, RITA Awardwinning author Lindsay Longford tells of a pregnant, penniless widow who finds sanctuary with a sought-after bachelor who’d never thought himself the marrying kind...until now. Duty and passion collide in Sally Carleen’s The Prince’s Heir, when the prince dispatched to claim his nephew falls for the heir’s beautiful adoptive mother. When a single mom desperate to keep her daughter weds an ornery rancher intent on saving his spread, she discovers that McKenna’s Bartered Bride is what she wants to be...forever. Don’t miss this next delightful installment of Sandra Steffen’s BACHELOR GULCH series.

Donna Clayton delivers an emotional story about the bond of sisterhood... and how a career-driven woman learns a valuable lesson about love from the man who’s Her Dream Come True. Carla Cassidy’s MUSTANG, MONTANA, Intimate Moments series crosses into Romance with a classic boss/secretary story that starts with the proposition Wife for a Week, but ends... well, you’ll have to read it to find out! And in Pamela Ingrahm’s debut Romance novel, a millionaire CEO realizes that his temporary assistant—and her adorable toddler—have him yearning to leave his Bachelor Boss days behind.

Enjoy this month’s titles—and keep coming back to Romance, a series guaranteed to touch every woman’s heart.

Mary-Theresa Hussey

Senior Editor

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

Bachelor Boss

Pamela Ingrahm

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

To my agent, Linda Kruger.

What a joy it has been working with you!

Here’s to many more years

and many more books.

PAMELA INGRAHM lives in Austin, Texas, with the man of her dreams and their two children. She’s added to the mix one dog that thinks the human race was put here to love her, and Pamela swears she’s not doing anything to foster that notion. She also tells all who will listen how wonderful it is to live your dream.

Chapter One

As far as birthdays went, Madalyn Wier had had better.

If there was one thing that would salvage being thirty, a single mother and facing unemployment, it would be landing an executive assistant position at Ambercroft, Inc.

Madalyn craned her head back to look at the massive building standing as a testament to old money and exemplary architecture. The tip of the hundred-story-plus structure pressed into the Dallas sky, as if to say heaven itself made room for the Ambercrofts.

Crossing her arms against the brisk spring wind, she waited for traffic to clear. Obviously, the hospitality Texans were known for disappeared after four o’clock during the work week. At least in downtown Dallas....

Once across the street, she paused outside the heavy, leaded glass doors and adjusted her suit jacket. With a deep breath, she went inside and moved confidently to the reception desk... or as close to confident as she could manage. At least she hoped she looked confident.

The first thing that struck her as she waited for the receptionist to acknowledge her was that the woman looked agitated. While Madalyn knew well how harrying the job could be, somehow showing it didn’t seem...Ambercroft-ish.

She gave the woman time to answer a crush of phone calls and glanced around the lobby. Marble floors polished to a diamond sheen ended in walls of dark wood. A section of marble stretching to the vaulted ceiling framed the portraits of five generations of Ambercrofts, each representative impeccably dressed in a dark suit. The styles themselves were a statement to the duration of the family legacy, and it was a bit unnerving to be stared at by the daunting figures. Madalyn assumed that was the point—to make sure all visitors knew they were entering a bastion of power.

With each successive generation, the men became more handsome, but somehow increasingly stern. Until the portrait of the youngest, Philip Ambercroft. Philip Ambercroft IV, to be exact. While being by far the most handsome, he alone wore a Mona Lisa smile that easily caught her attention. Maybe it was because she’d seen so many photographs of him in everything from news weeklies to the tabloids, or maybe it was just her imagination, but he seemed to want the viewer to wonder just what was going on behind that intelligent face.

At a break in the incessant but muted ringing. Madalyn stepped forward. “Excuse me—”

“Ms. Fox is away for a minute. I’m from Accounting and just—” The woman jabbed at the telephone and gave Madalyn a less than warm look, as if the new call was her fault. “Reception. No, please hold.” Jab. “What do you need?”

“I’m here to apply for a position with—”

Jab. “Reception. Please hold.”

“—Mr. Ambercroft?”

“Mr. Ambercroft is on the twenty-first floor.”

“I’m afraid you’ve misunderstood—”

The ersatz receptionist held the receiver away from her ear and pinned Madalyn with a glare. “I said twenty-first floor.”

Recoiling from the angry, haughty look, and in no mood to argue, Madalyn headed for the bank of elevators nestled in granite. Maybe someone on the twenty-first floor could direct her to the personnel office with a bit more tact and grace.

It was at times like these that Madalyn wished she could take the risk and open her own nursery. At least roses and ficuses didn’t glare at you and get snippy. But that old dream was out of reach. She needed a steady paycheck and benefits now that she had more than just herself to think of.

The elevator ride up was smooth and quick, but then again, she was in the Ambercroft building, and machinery didn’t dare perform less than perfectly. When the doors slid open, she stepped out onto a sea of mint-green carpet that felt as though it had a mile of padding underneath. She allowed herself an entire minute of slack-jawed awe. A vacant secretary’s desk sat in front of her, bigger than any executive’s desk she’d ever seen, and state-of-the-art everything was neatly arranged on the exquisitely grained wood. The guest couch and chairs whispered upholstered elegance and the door off to the left fairly bellowed that this was the entrance to the inner sanctum.

Madalyn stifled a giggle when she envisioned a sleekly polished Miss Moneypenny type sitting behind that desk. But no Miss Moneypenny sat there now, and Madalyn was fairly certain this wasn’t the personnel department.

She was about to turn around and head back to the first floor to try again, when the door to the inner sanctum opened. Somehow, the way this day had gone, it didn’t surprise her in the least that Philip Ambercroft came out with a harried expression on his face, engrossed in something on the page he was holding.