Husband By Arrangement

Husband By Arrangement
SARA WOOD

Maddy had agreed to meet her husband-by-arrangement but she had no intention of marrying him! Her plan was to pretend to be the very opposite of a suitable wife!Millionaire tycoon Dex Fitzgerald was relieved to meet Maddy no one would make him marry this! But they couldn't hide the attraction that sizzled between them…. A night of searing passion was inevitable, and when it happened, would Dex discover the real Maddy the one he'd want to make his bride…?

“Let’s be frank. Our grandparents have hopes of marriage between us, yes?”

“So I was led to believe,” she hedged.

“Okay. To be honest, initially I didn’t like the idea of being pushed into marriage with you,” he told her.

“Thanks.”

His eyes danced. And more. There was…admiration? Certainly desire. In buckets. She felt her body quiver.

“My pleasure,” he said with a chuckle, nibbling her knuckles.

“So?” Stupid though it was, the feel of his mouth was robbing her of speech. Or perhaps it was the lowered flutter of his impossibly thick black lashes. “So,” she said, appalled at how croaky she sounded. “What changed your mind?”

“You did.”

He was croaky, too. Maddy began to panic. Dex wasn’t supposed to be attracted to her!

“I did?” she squeaked in alarm.

“Very much so,” he murmured. “You are…” His slow gaze burned all the way from the top of her head to her feet, stopping at strategic points in between. “A knockout,” he said on a husky out-breath.

Legally wed,

But he’s never said…

“I love you.”

They’re…

The series where marriages are made in

haste…and love comes later…

Look out for more Wedlocked! stories in

Harlequin Presents

throughout 2003.

Coming in July

Bride by Blackmail #2334

by

Carole Mortimer

Husband by Arrangement

Sara Wood

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 ONE

MADDY had waited long enough. She had to see. Catching her friend’s hand in a desperate plea, she steeled herself for the result.

‘Let me look!’ she begged.

Debbie laughed. ‘Patience. Just a little more lipgloss…. There! Ready?’

Maddy nodded, her mouth horribly dry. So much rested on this! The chair was swung around to face the mirror and she found herself staring at a totally different person.

‘Oh, my gosh!’ she breathed in awe.

Instead of being outrageous, as she’d planned, the burgundy hair flattered her pale colouring and made her solemn grey eyes gleam with a smoky, almost wicked allure. Her lips parted in astonishment and her poppy-coloured mouth pouted back at her as if it were kissed forty times a night.

As if! She smiled wryly. Since her last, barely-got-started relationship had gone pear-shaped, her grandfather was the only one who kissed her. On the cheek. And only to say goodnight. Dear Grandpa, he didn’t believe in displays of affection, even though he did care for her.

That was why he was set on her marrying the grandson of his ex-business partner in Portugal. And why she was all done up like a dog’s dinner—in a desperate effort to look totally unsuitable as the future bride for Dexter Fitzgerald. And why, in a few hours, she was flying out to a country she’d left almost twenty years ago.