High-Society Secret Pregnancy / Front Page Engagement: High-Society Secret Pregnancy. Laura Wright
High-Society Secret Pregnancy by Maureen Child
721 SECRETS
Keeping you up to date on all that goes on at Manhattan’s most elite address!
Heiress To Produce An Heir…
It looks as if 721 Park Avenue’s society princess, Julia Prentice, is finally taking the wedding plunge. But the real surprise is the groom—Max Rolland! Could the Prentice family actually be allowing their blueblooded daughter to marry a man who came from nothing? Of course Max has become one of Wall Street’s wealthiest whizzes. Sources say that the differences in their upbringings all fell away once the two hit the sheets. Perhaps precaution even went out the window, as rumours are circulating that our socialite is expecting. But didn’t we once hear that Max couldn’t father a child? Was that a lie, or is the baby-to-be’s paternity about to be put to the test? And now with the buzz surrounding former 721 resident Marie Endicott’s death, you never really know what’s reality…and what’s a huge cover-up!
Front Page Engagement by Laura Wright
721 SECRETS
Keeping you up to date on all that goes on at Manhattan’s most elite address!
A Marriage Proposition?
They say hate is one step away from love. It must be true in the case of 721 Park Avenue’s twelfthfloor residents Trent Tanford and Carrie Gray. Around the building, Carrie has been known to gripe about her next-door neighbour’s late-night bimbos who mistakenly knock on her door while looking for the millionaire playboy. Now rumour has it Trent may be ready to propose. We can’t wait to see mousy Carrie tame the wild beast! Coincidentally, the senior Mr Tanford is just about to retire from AMS, his media holdings. Could it be Trent thinks marriage will win him the CEO slot? And what does Ms Gray get in the alleged deal? Just the sexiest, hottest lover this building has ever known. If this “merger” goes through, Maintenance will be called up to the twelfth floor to turn down the heat. But at 721, you’re never sure what’s rumour, what’s scandal and what’s the white-hot truth!
Available in October 2009 from Mills & Boon® Desire™
High-Society Secret Pregnancy by Maureen Child & Front Page Engagement by Laura Wright
Spaniard’s Seduction by Tessa Radley & Cole’s Red-Hot Pursuit by Brenda Jackson
Claiming His Runaway Bride by Yvonne Lindsay & High-Stakes Passion by Juliet Burns
HIGH-SOCIETY SECRET PREGNANCY
BY
MAUREEN CHILD
FRONT PAGE ENGAGEMENT
BY
LAURA WRIGHT
Maureen Child is a California native who loves to travel. Every chance they get, she and her husband are taking off on another research trip. The author of more than sixty books, Maureen loves a happy ending and still swears that she has the best job in the world. She lives in Southern California with her husband, two children and a golden retriever with delusions of grandeur.
Dear Reader,
Whenever I’m invited to take part in a continuity series for Desire™, I’m eager to jump in. This time was no different.
The chance to work with authors such as Laura Wright, Jennifer Lewis, Barbara Dunlop, Emilie Rose and Anna DePalo was not only exciting, but fun. The e-mails fly fast and furiously between the continuity authors as we work out details for our stories. We talk about everything, from the kind of clothing one character wears to the way another one speaks.
Six women, each of us with different writing styles, working together to build a world we hope will tempt you, the reader, into entering the lives of the people who live at 721 Park Avenue.
In my story, you’ll meet Max Rolland, a self-made billionaire who can’t seem to get Julia Prentice out of his mind. One night of passion has sent these two on a path neither of them expected—but one that neither will turn away from.
So join us on Park Avenue, in the heart of New York, one of the world’s most exciting cities. Surround yourself with the passion and lies and deceptions and, finally, surrender to the love.
Happy reading!
Maureen
For Alicia Estrada, as she starts off on the biggest adventure there is. You’ve been a joy all of your life, Alicia, now I wish you that same joy in the brand-new world you’re entering.
One
“Damn it, Julia, answer the phone,” the deep voice growled into the answering machine, and Julia Prentice winced when the caller hung up a moment later.
She’d been dodging Max Rolland’s phone calls for two months now, and he still hadn’t given up and gone away. Not that he was stalker material or anything, Julia reassured herself. No, he was just an angry male looking for an explanation of why she’d been refusing his calls since their one amazingly sexy night together.
The reason was simple, of course. She hadn’t been able to think of a way to tell him she was pregnant.
“Whoa.” Julia’s roommate and best friend, Amanda Crawford, event planner extraordinaire, walked out of her bedroom. “He sounds royally pissed off.”
“I know.” Julia sighed. And she could even admit that Max had a right to be angry. She would have been, too, if she’d been in his shoes.
Amanda crossed to her, gave her a brief hug, then said, “You’ve got to tell him about the baby.”
Sounded good in theory, Julia thought as she dropped into the closest chair. She looked up at her friend and saw the gleam of sympathy in Amanda’s gray eyes. “How’m I supposed to do that?”
“Just say the words.” Amanda sat down, making their gazes level, which she pretty much had to do all the time. Julia was short, at five feet two inches, and Amanda was eight inches taller. Built like a model, Amanda had short, choppy blond hair, beautiful gray eyes and a loyal heart.
“Easier said than done,” Julia said, smoothing one hand over the sharp crease in her pale green linen slacks.
“You can’t wait forever, honey,” Amanda told her. “Sooner or later, you’re going to show.”
“Believe me,” Julia said, “I know. But that night I spent with him was an aberration. I mean, things got all hot and heavy so quickly I didn’t have time to think and then the deed was done and Max was telling me he wasn’t interested in anything more than a mutually satisfying sexual relationship.”
“Idiot,” Amanda offered.
“Thanks for that.” Julia smiled. “Anyway it seemed that that was the end of it, you know? Max wanted uncomplicated sex and I wanted more.”
“Of course you did.”
She dropped her head against the chair back and stared up at the ceiling. “Now everything’s different and I don’t know what to do.”
“Yeah, you do. You just don’t want to do it.”
“I suppose.” Blowing out a breath, Julia said, “He deserves to know about the baby.”
“Yep.”