From Boss to Bridegroom

From Boss to Bridegroom
Victoria Pade

This will be more than a nine-to-five affair!Cool, arrogant and sinfully attractive attorney Rand Colton was used to victory–whether in the courtroom or the bedroom. Heir to the Colton fortune, this self-assured bachelor had no need of anything…except the undivided attention of his stunning new assistant, Lucy Lowry. While Rand's instinct told him that Lucy wanted him just as much as he wanted her, he sensed that something–or someone–was holding her back. And as they worked to uncover the possibility of a Colton impostor, their electrifying attraction could no longer be denied. Yet Rand knew that it was going to take a lot more than his wealth and status to claim this guarded beauty as his…bride?

JOE COLTON’S JOURNAL

An enormous weight has just been lifted from my tired old shoulders. I just received an anonymous message assuring me that my missing foster daughter, Emily, is alive and well and will return home soon. I’ve shared the news with my eldest son, Rand, and also confided my concerns about my crumbling marriage. Rand seems to know more about his mother’s bizarre behavior than he’s letting on, but he’ll tell me what’s on his mind when he’s good and ready. Rand always did me proud, but I do worry about his ruthless determination to succeed. He needs a good woman to show him what’s important in life—and he may have found her in his feisty new legal assistant, Lucy Lowry. Why, this pretty spitfire lights up the office with her spunk and energy, and she is no pushover, let me tell you! She has zero tolerance for Rand’s overbearing ways, which of course doesn’t sit well with my hot-tempered son. Mark my words, all that simmering sexual tension between them is bound to set off some major fireworks….

About the Author

VICTORIA PADE

is a native of Colorado, where she continues to live and work. Her passion—besides writing—is chocolate, which she indulges in frequently and in every form. She loves romance novels and romantic movies—the more lighthearted the better—but she likes a good, juicy mystery now and then, too. She particularly enjoyed being included in the Colton series for the opportunity to write a book with a more cosmopolitan feel to it and for the chance it gave her to research Washington, D.C.

From Boss to Bridegroom

Victoria Pade

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

Meet the Coltons—a California dynasty with a legacy of privilege and power.

Rand Colton: The beast. A powerful mover and shaker, this attorney is used to getting his own way—until his new assistant quickly turns his well-ordered life upside down!

Lucy Lowry: The beauty. Capable of giving as good as she gets, Rand’s new assistant tempts him like no other woman he’s ever met. And it’s not long before her boss has only one item on his “to do” list—to move their relationship from the boardroom to the bedroom….

Dr. Martha Wilkes: The baffled therapist. Her patient calls herself Patsy Portman, and yet none of her memories match that woman’s life. Is this a case of multiple personality disorder…or something more nefarious?

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

One

“W ell, of course, you know I need the money. There were all the moving expenses and the cost of the mailings and ads for the business. And there’s no way of knowing how long it will be before I get any kind of work, but—”

“But nothing. The job is only until Rand finds someone else, and it’ll give you the opportunity to become familiar with downtown, plus get your foot in the door with one attorney and make contacts with several others. That’s what you want, isn’t it? Then they’ll send their research work your way and you’ll have your start here.”

Here was Washington, D.C.—Georgetown to be specific—and Lucy Lowry had to admit that her aunt, Sadie Meeks, was right.

Lucy had just moved cross-country from California with her four-year-old son Max and the move itself had been expensive. Now that she was settled into one of the four row houses her aunt had invested in, she needed to concentrate on earning an income, hopefully doing legal research so she could work out of her home and still be with Max as much as possible. But until all her efforts to drum up that kind of business succeeded, she intended to do secretarial work and/or bookkeeping to make ends meet. Which was exactly what her aunt was proposing—the secretarial work, anyway.

“Being downtown is the problem,” she said to her aunt. “Not only would I not be working out of the house, I wouldn’t even be nearby.”

Sadie waved away her concern. “But it would only be for a little while. I told you I spoke with the director of the day care and they’ll let you leave Max there as a favor to me for reading to the kids once a week and because the director is my old sorority sister. It’s a very exclusive day care and there’s a mile-long waiting list that we’re circumventing. Max will get the chance to meet some friends of his own. And he can stay with me some of the time, too. We’ll work on my Gameboy skills.”

Sadie paused and switched gears. “Do it as a favor to me, if nothing else, darling. I’m enjoying my retirement and as fond as I am of Rand Colton, I just don’t feel like going back to work. But he’s in such a bind….”

Lucy knew she couldn’t argue with that tack. Her aunt—her favorite aunt—had only recently bought the row of four town houses and offered one to her and Max rent-free. Sadie had insisted that the rent on two of the places paid the payment on all four and if Lucy and Max moved to Georgetown to help manage the properties, particularly when Sadie traveled, it would more than make up for the lack of rent on the town house they’d occupy. Because of that arrangement Lucy could afford to freelance rather than work a nine-to-five office job and so she’d jumped at the offer. But now she couldn’t very well refuse to do Sadie a favor in return.

“Just interview with Rand,” Sadie urged. “Who knows, you may not even get the job. And even if you do, it’s really only a matter of cleaning up the messes a string of incompetent secretaries have left behind since I retired. Rand will be looking for someone else in the meantime. It might only be a few days before a wonderful whiz of a secretary walks through the door and you’d be finished just that quick. But he says he’s going crazy with the people the temp agency sends him.”

“I still don’t understand why he’s had such bad luck with secretaries.”

“I won’t lie to you, he isn’t an easy man to work for. He and I got on just fine but only because I took most of his bluster with a grain of salt. Deep down he has a good heart, but it’s not always evident behind his brusque manner. And he’s quite demanding. But then he’s a man, after all, and even the best of them need some taking care of.”

“It sounds more like the description of a big baby. A big spoiled baby,” Lucy commented with a laugh.

“He’s a long way from being a baby,” her aunt answered with a hint of innuendo in her voice. “He’s all man. All very formidable man. He carries a killing caseload and works insane hours, then can party until dawn and still make an impressive appearance in court by nine. He just doesn’t seem to understand that not everyone can keep the same pace or accomplish all he can. Plus, he’s blunt and outspoken. I’ve heard him called arrogant. And he doesn’t suffer fools gladly. But I wouldn’t be throwing you into the lion’s den unless I knew you were up to it. Besides,” Sadie added as if she were sharing a confidence, “he’s one of the most handsome men you’ll ever meet. So when he’s at his worst just sit back, take in the scenery and tune him out.”

Not an easy man to work for? Brusque manner? Demanding? Formidable? Blunt, outspoken, arrogant? And that was coming from a woman who considered herself Rand Colton’s biggest fan.

Rand Colton had to be a bear of a boss.

“Please, darling. I’ve given all my work clothes to charity and I’ve grown accustomed to lounging around in my bathrobe until midmorning. I just don’t want to go back to work. But Rand really needs help right now.”

Lucy narrowed her eyes at her aunt. “You don’t have an ulterior motive, do you? That business about how handsome he is—that was just to soften the blow of his personality flaws, right?”

Sadie was as tall a woman as Lucy was, both of them stood a full five-foot-six-inches, but where Lucy was slender, Sadie was more plump, with round apple cheeks that puffed out even more with the smile she granted her niece.

“No ulterior motives,” Sadie vowed. “I know you’ve sworn off men.”

“I haven’t ’sworn off’ men,” Lucy said, taking issue. “That makes me sound bitter and extremist, and I’m neither of those things. I have merely opted to—”

“Dedicate yourself for the moment to Max. I know. You’ve told me once or twice or fifty times. Not that I blame you for a lack of interest in men after what Max’s father did. But believe me, Rand has more than enough female companionship and I’m the last person who would set up my own niece with such a playboy. This is strictly selfishness on my part. I’m trying to get him the assistance he needs without being the one to provide it myself.”

Lucy stalled for another moment just for effect and then said, “All right. I guess you can arrange an interview.”

“Done! Three o’clock this afternoon. I’ll drive you in myself and take Max for ice cream while you meet Rand.”

Lucy laughed again. “You’ve already arranged for the interview. Very sure of yourself, aren’t you?”