Little Secret, Red Hot Scandal. Cat Schield
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Could this surprise pregnancy be the ultimate betrayal...or her Cinderella moment?
Meek and mild Mia Navarro has spent her entire life in her twin’s shadow. But a brief and secret affair with superstar singer/producer Nate Tucker is about to change all that. Their one night together on tour has left her pregnant and torn between her obligation to her pop-princess sister and claiming the life she longs for. But as Mia gears up to put her own needs first for once, she faces an even starker moment of reckoning: Will her pregnancy news strike the wrong chord...or be music to Nate’s ears?
Little Secret, Red Hot Scandal is part of the Las Vegas Nights series.
“I don’t like the way we left things between us,” Nate declared, taking a step in her direction.
Mia took a matching step backward. “You asked for something I couldn’t give you.”
“I asked for you to come back to Las Vegas with me.”
“We’d barely known each other two months.” It was the same excuse she’d given him three weeks ago and it rang as hollow now as it had then. “And I couldn’t leave Ivy.”
“She could’ve found another assistant.” He’d said the same thing the morning after the tour ended. The night after she’d stayed with him until the sun crested the horizon.
Their last stop had been Sydney. Following his final encore, Nate had made sure Ivy was busy and then stolen Mia away to a romantic hotel suite overlooking the harbor. They’d sipped champagne, toasted each other, laughed and made love for the first time. But as sunlight filled the room, Mia was on the phone with Ivy making excuses for where she’d been.
“I’m not just her assistant. I’m her sister,” Mia said, now as then. “She needs me.”
I need you.
He wouldn’t repeat the words. It wouldn’t do any good. She’d still choose obligation to her sister over being happy with him.
And he couldn’t figure out why.
* * *
Little Secret, Red Hot Scandal is part of the Las Vegas Nights series: An exclusive club, for men who have it all and want more.
Little Secret, Red Hot Scandal
Cat Schield
CAT SCHIELD has been reading and writing romance since high school. Although she graduated from college with a BA in business, her idea of a perfect career was writing books for Mills & Boon. And now, after winning the Romance Writers of America 2010 Golden Heart® Award for Best Contemporary Series Romance, that dream has come true. Cat lives in Minnesota with her daughter, Emily, and their Burmese cat. When she’s not writing sexy, romantic stories for Mills & Boon Desire, she can be found sailing with friends on the St. Croix River, or in more exotic locales, like the Caribbean and Europe. She loves to hear from readers. Find her at www.catschield.com and follow her on Twitter, @catschield.
For my daughter, who keeps me current on all things pop culture.
Contents
After telling the sound engineer to take a break, Nate Tucker lay down on the couch in the control room of West Coast Records’ LA headquarters. Closing his eyes, he listened to the playback of the song he’d just recorded. Over the years he’d trained his ears to pick up every nuance of a performance. His mind then went to work adjusting the frequencies, boosting or cutting EQ, feathering in a touch of reverb to improve the natural sound.
Nothing, however, could fix what Nate was hearing in his own voice. Proof that he’d pushed too hard on the final leg of his twelve-month tour.
He’d hoped that three weeks of rest might have allowed his vocal cords to fix themselves, but his reduced range and the hoarseness that plagued him weren’t going away. The vocal cord surgery he’d scheduled for tomorrow was unavoidable. Nate’s curses echoed through the room. One more damned thing he didn’t have time for.
Since returning to his home in Las Vegas after touring all over the world with his band, Free Fall, he’d been inundated with work. Thank goodness he’d been able to do some songwriting while on the road, because he was all out of space and energy to compose for Free Fall’s next album. Maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing. With his voice out of commission he wasn’t going to be singing anytime soon.
His phone began to ring. Nate checked the screen before levering himself off the couch. In the last three days he’d made a half dozen calls to Trent Caldwell, his business partner and friend. In addition to being partners in Club T’s, the premier Las Vegas nightclub that Nate, Trent and Kyle Tailor owned, Nate and Trent were partners in Nate’s label, Ugly Trout Records in Las Vegas, as well as West Coast Records, the company Trent had recently bought from his family.
Dropping into the control booth’s