His Seductive Revenge

His Seductive Revenge
Susan Crosby

LONE WOLVES GABRIEL a.k.a THE LOVER

He was out for revenge. Gabriel Marquez had a mission, and society princess Cristina Chandler was his pawn. Her engagement to a proper fiance would soon be announced, but Gabriel had every intention of seducing Cristina before she even received the proposal. The wolfish charmer would take her to his bed, ruining two families with the scandal .

But the hunter had never imagined that Cristina's laughter and sweetness would erase his tough loner shell. She made him want things he had no right to covet. For once his innocent beauty learned of his plot, he'd have no right to even ask for a future.

THE LONE WOLVES: Meet the sexiest, most stubborn males a woman could ever hope to tame!

“Are You Looking To Have An Affair?” He Asked. (#u256a8dcb-3b27-5a8f-ae53-9232e3a22f33)Letter to Reader (#u7b0675b6-87de-5602-ba2e-1c8ca2b23edc)Title Page (#u6c1d10ef-9bca-5a3f-bf65-85f19472c64a)About the Author (#u8876161e-8135-5597-82cd-388cc4ffc90c)Dedication (#u2b69643b-7688-5b23-9954-c57712c22745)Prologue (#u682093a7-4cbd-559f-afda-f35e463b9a80)Chapter One (#u560e0b24-f36a-53e4-930b-f635adfefcb8)Chapter Two (#u553338ae-e620-59dd-b405-ea3badb3c8e5)Chapter Three (#ueb2ee9fd-87c0-5e6b-8d60-63fb85e6d25a)Chapter Four (#ua0a9b627-e397-5ddd-a502-7f0f89f40d5e)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)Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

“Are You Looking To Have An Affair?” He Asked.

Cristina shifted. “No.”

Her hesitation gave him a different answer, but Gabriel wouldn’t call her on it. Not yet. “All right.”

He found it endearing, the way surprise and disappointment washed across her face before she stepped back. What an innocent she was. If her father played his cards right—the emotional ones—she’d marry the man he’d chosen for her. For her father’s sake, of course, not hers. She believed in love—or the fantasy of love. But she also believed in family.

He, on the other hand, had never allowed family to dictate his life, except once. He had promised his mother he wouldn’t exact revenge against his father, even though the opportunity and means had been within Gabe’s reach many times. What was the purpose of having money and the power that came with it if he couldn’t use it as he wished?

Wasn’t that the reason he was seducing Cristina? He couldn’t allow himself to think of any other.

Dear Reader,

August predictably brings long steamy days...and hot sensuous nights. And this month Silhouette Desire spotlights the kind of pure passion that can erupt only in that sizzling summer climate.

Get ready to fall head over heels for August’s MAN OF THE MONTH, a sexy rancher who opens his home (and his heart?) to a lost beauty desperately hoping to recover her memory in A Montana Man by Jackie Merritt Bestselling author Cait London continues her hugely popular miniseries THE TALLCHIEFS with Rafe Palladin: Man of Secrets. Rafe is an irresistible takeover tycoon with a plan to acquire a Tallchief lady. Barbara McMahon brings readers the second story in her IDENTICAL TWINS! duo—in The Older Man an exuberant young woman is swept up by her love and desire for a tremendously gorgeous, much older man.

Plus, talented Susan Crosby unfolds a story of seduction, revenge and scandal in the continuation of THE LONE WOLVES with His Seductive Revenge. And TEXAS BRIDES are back with The Restless Virgin by Peggy Moreland, the story of an innocent Western lady tired of waiting around for marriage—so she lassos herself one unsuspecting cowboy! And you’ve never seen a hero like The Consummate Cowboy, by Sara Orwig. He’s all man, all-around ornery and all-out tempted...by his ex-wife’s sister!

I know you’ll enjoy reading all six of this sultry month’s brandnew Silhouette Desire novels by some of the most beloved and sexy authors of romance.

Regards,

Melissa Senate

Senior Editor

Silhouette Books

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

His Seductive Revenge

Susan Crosby

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

SUSAN CROSBY

is fascinated by the special and complex communication of courtship, and so she burrows into her office to dream up warm, strong heroes and good-hearted, self-reliant heroines to satisfy her own love of happy endings.

She and her husband have two grown sons and live in the Central Valley of California. She spent a mere seven and a half years getting through college and finally earned a B.A. in English a few years ago. She has worked as a synchronized swimming instructor, a personnel interviewer at a toy factory, and a trucking company manager. Involved for many years behind the scenes in a local community theater, she has made only one stage appearance—as the rear end of a camel! Variety, she says, makes for more interesting novels.

Readers are welcome to write to her at P.O. Box 1836, Lodi, CA 95241.

For Elizabeth Bova, my guiding light.

Thanks for showing me the way.

I miss you, Mom.

Prologue

“He’s selling his daughter?” Gabriel Marquez leaned forward. His gaze drilled the man seated across his mahogany desk. “Cristina Chandler’s father made a deal to exchange her hand in marriage for cash?”

“Enough cash to keep him out of bankruptcy court, and then some,” the man called Doc replied. “And to avoid public humiliation, of course. A Chandler without money? It would be too embarrassing.”

“The Chandlers have lived on reputation, not real money, for a long time. Is she aware she’s being bartered?”

“I doubt it. She just moved out of the family mansion and into her own apartment.” Doc tossed a stack of papers on the desk. “Plus, the prenuptial agreement has been drawn up but not signed, as you can see. That second set of documents is a separate contract between the men, spelling out their own deal. It’s obvious they’re scrambling. Everything’s falling apart. They can’t prove what caused the accident, so all they can do at this point is damage control. You know the drill—act as if nothing’s wrong and people believe it. The longer your friend Sebastian is out of the picture, the more he seems responsible, not them.”

Gabe dragged the documents closer. He knew exactly where the responsibility—and the blame—fell. “Grimes’s son must be in on the deal. He’ll have to propose to the woman.”

“Who knows how much he’s been told? He’s not involved in the daily operations of the business, but he and Ms. Chandler have been seen together a lot lately. They’ve also known each other since childhood. Unfortunately, we may not know if the plan’s a success until an engagement announcement hits the newspapers.”

“Which I must prevent.” Gabe was buying time. Time for Sebastian to prove his innocence and reclaim his honor, as he’d demanded. Physically he couldn’t defend himself yet.

Gabe thumbed through the papers. The prenup seemed basic for anyone protecting millions, the deal between the fathers brutally specific. But former Senator Chandler was accustomed to using power, and Richard Grimes to abusing it. “How did you get these?”

“You don’t want to know.”

“No one can trace you to me?”

“Has anyone before?”

Gabe studied the man who moved in and out of the city shadows with quiet efficiency, a specialist at what he did, hence the nickname Doc. Little shocked Gabe anymore, but a man selling his own daughter—He shut down the thought.

He thanked Doc, dismissing him, then he linked his fingers behind his head, leaned back and closed his eyes, savoring the anticipation that coursed through him. Sebastian would have his day—and the guilt that walked, talked and slept with Gabe in ever-deepening darkness since the accident would fade. He had involved Sebastian in his need for revenge, a need handcuffed by a promise. Taking down Richard Grimes and Arthur Chandler would help to ease the guilt. It would definitely help. Sebastian would pound the final nails in their coffins, but Gabe would dig the graves.

Unable to sit still, he picked up a photograph that Doc had brought, then walked the generous confines of the office that took up half the second story of his home. Dispassionately he studied the black-and-white photo of the woman about to be sold into marriage. Cristina Chandler. Her hair was a medium tone, and long enough to be banded in a ponytail while she played tennis at the country club. Her eyes were light—blue, probably. Her body was...unremarkable. The typical welltoned, angular body of a well-bred debutante—former debutante. She was twenty-seven years old, according to the fact sheet stapled to the photo. Graduated with respectable grades from a local state college, majored in computer graphics. Mother died two years ago. No siblings. No job. Recently leased an apartment in the city.