Hidden Heirs, page 1
Hidden Heirs
January 2023
A Double Secret
February 2023
One Night...to Wife
March 2023
A Nine Month Scandal
April 2023
Behind Palace Doors
May 2023
Consequences of a Playboy
June 2023
His One Night Heir
About the Authors
TARA PAMMI can’t remember a moment when she wasn’t lost in a book, especially a romance which, as a teenager, was much more exciting than a mathematics textbook. Years later, Tara’s wild imagination and love for the written word revealed what she really wanted to do: write! She lives in Colorado with the most co-operative man on the planet and two daughters. Tara loves to hear from readers and can be reached at tara.pammi@gmail.com or her website tarapammi.com
Award-winning author JENNIFER HAYWARD emerged on the publishing scene as the winner of the So You Think You Can Write global writing competition and recipient of a Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award. Jennifer’s careers in journalism and PR, including years of working alongside powerful, charismatic CEOs and travelling the world, have provided perfect fodder for the fast-paced, sexy stories she likes to write.
Books by Tara Pammi
The Sheikh’s Pregnant Prisoner
The Man to Be Reckoned With
A Deal with Demakis
Brides for Billionaires
Married for the Sheikh’s Duty
The Legendary Conti Brothers
The Surpise Conti Child
The Unwanted Conti Bride
Greek Tycoons Tamed
Claimed for His Duty
Bought for Her Innocence
Society Weddings
The Sicilian’s Surprise Wife
A Dynasty of Sand and Scandal
The Last Prince of Dahaar
The True King of Dahaar
Married for the Sheikh’s Duty
Bought with the Italian’s Ring
Blackmailed by the Greek’s Vows
The Legendary Conti Brothers miniseries
The Surprise Conti Child
The Unwanted Conti Bride
The Drakon Royals miniseries
Crowned for the Drakon Legacy
The Drakon Baby Bargain
His Drakon Runaway Bride
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.
Hidden Heirs: Consequences of a Playboy
Crowned for the Drakon Legacy
Tara Pammi
Carrying the King’s Pride
Jennifer Hayward
Sheikh’s Baby of Revenge
Tara Pammi
www.millsandboon.co.uk
ISBN: 978-0-008-93233-6
HIDDEN HEIRS: CONSEQUENCES OF A PLAYBOY
Crowned for the Drakon Legacy © 2017 Tara Pammi
Carrying the King’s Pride © 2016 Jennifer Drogell
Sheikh’s Baby of Revenge © 2018 Harlequin Enterprises ULC.
Published in Great Britain 2023
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises ULC.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
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www.millsandboon.co.uk
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Table of Contents
Cover
About the Authors
Booklist
Title Page
Copyright
Note to Readers
Crowned for the Drakon Legacy
Back Cover Text
Dedication
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
EPILOGUE
Carrying the King’s Pride
Dedication
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 THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
EPILOGUE
Sheikh’s Baby of Revenge
Back Cover Text
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
About the Publisher
Crowned for the Drakon Legacy
Tara Pammi
Claiming his one-night heir
He may have craved her for a decade, but one exquisite night with Mia Rodriguez is all Nikandros Drakos, the Daredevil Prince of Drakon, will allow himself. It’s time to face his home country and the duty he’s denied for so long.
But when their sizzling liaison leads to an unexpected pregnancy, Nik won’t rest until his child is part of the Drakon legacy. Their affair was supposed to burn up along with their chemistry but now, to claim his heir, Nik must make unruly Mia both his bride—and his princess!
For Pippa – thank you for everything!
CHAPTER ONE
A BANKER NAMED Melissa from LA...
A concierge named Chloe in a swanky country club in Manhattan...
A cocktail waitress...
Mia Rodriguez scrolled down her cell phone screen, bile rising in her throat.
The list of her dead husband’s affairs was endless.
The throaty purr of the fiery red exclusive sports car was like a faint echo as it put distance between her and the hungry horde of reporters.
In the blink of an eye, the press conference to announce her retirement from soccer had turned into a circus with Brian’s infidelities taking center stage. A year since his death and he was still haunting her.
Fingers shaking, she pressed the little flickering triangle on a video.
Brian was voracious when it came to sex...
Every time we met, he wore me out...
His wife, Mia, probably only had time for soccer, and it’s obvious Brian turned to me for what he didn’t get from her...
“Turn it off.”
She squeezed her eyes closed. Tears would have been a relief; tears would have meant that she could vent the tumult building up inside. Tears would mean that she felt something, anything for the man she’d married.
The anchor’s voice etched into her mind as the clip played again and again.
Mia Rodriguez was not woman enough for her husband—
“Turn that blasted thing off.”
The shuddering halt of the powerful engine pitched Mia toward the dashboard. She gasped at the tight pull of the seat belt against her chest. Her heart catapulted into her throat. Large, unfamiliar hands grabbed her cell phone and tossed it onto the backseat.
Mia followed the motion like a doll, the flickering screen sliding against the buttery leather.
“Mia...look at me.”
She raised her confused gaze from the fingers on her chin at the commanding tone.
Intense blue eyes collided with hers, driving the breath out of her lungs. A strong, aquiline nose; a wide, languid, laughing mouth; a face that made women over the world swoon and sigh. Such a man and so close...
Not just any man. A prince. Lethal masculinity and pulse-pounding charm.
Nikandros Drakos.
Daredevil Prince of Drakon, second in line to the throne, extreme adventure sport enthusiast and sexy as sin...
Intending to push him away, she wrapped her fingers around his wrist. Hair-roughened skin scraped the pads of her fingers, rough and tantalizing, so wholly alien to her own... A jolt of lightning jump-started every neuron, wakened every cell from a deep, slumbering haze.
Her gaze moved to the long fingers gripping the steering wheel. From there, she followed the veins on the back of his hands to his wrists.
A Patek Philippe watch sat on his right wrist, its big dial winking at her in the low light. A sportsman’s watch. She’d been given one too, when their team had won the world championship four years ago. When Nikandros had still owned the team.
Her gaze crawled up until it reached the breadth of his shoulders, the angle of his jaw, the slightly long, dark hair curling at his collar...
“Stop listening to those horrid little interviews.”
She blinked and looked away.
He seemed huge, overwhelmingly male and far too close in the dark confines of the car. He’d been Brian’s close friend. A man she’d come to loathe, for her reckless husband had worshipped him as if he were truly his liege.
A man who had always made his opinion, that Mia wasn’t good enough for Brian, crystal clear. A man who was addicted to the thrill that came from taunting death in the face. A man with no control over his thrill-seeking impulses.
Everything Mia abhorred in a man.
The fiery resentment spurred her out of her choking self-pity.
But nothing could dim her awareness of the man waiting, far too close for comfort, and watching her from those intense blue eyes.
The silence took on a tangible quality, a jeering voice betraying her body’s near-violent reaction to him. God, she’d die if he guessed it. Even this humiliation in front of the entire world, this mockery she was being made of by the media, would still be less painful than seeing the cool, contemptuous dismissal of those ice-blue eyes.
The thought snapped her spine into place.
This awareness was a reaction to shock, a basic human need for touch in the face of adversity.
It had been months, no, three years, since a man had even touched her.
Accepting that piece of truth pumped courage into her veins.
She stared through the windshield, only now taking in their surroundings.
They had left downtown Miami behind and had reached a swanky, luxury neighborhood. The high-rise apartment complex visible from the car made this whole situation even more surreal.
She barely met his gaze, and then turned, faking interest in the surroundings. “Sorry, I should’ve given you directions. It’s going back for you but I’d appreciate it if you’d drop me at my apartment.” Good, she sounded steady, polite.
“I believe your mother and sister live in Houston, yes?”
Startled that he knew that much, she nodded. It seemed a live current pulsed to life every time their eyes met. Mia had never thought antipathy could become so tangible between two people.
“I can have the pilot fuel the jet and drop you off.”
If Brian and she had been minor celebrities with soccer fans, this man was royalty himself. He owned private jets, soccer teams and Extreme Adventure Clubs, and this was when the tabloids didn’t count the wealth he’d inherited as the scion of the powerful royal house of Drakon.
The Prince who had thrown away his legacy...
“That’s not necessary,” she managed to say. Every time he spoke, that deep voice jolted places inside of her Mia had forgotten even existed. “You’ve done far too much already.”
“You speak as if I were one of those jackals back at the press meet, as if I were the enemy too.” A hint of impatience and something else peeked through in his voice. As if something more than years-old animosity existed between them.
He was a prince—privileged in every way possible, handsome, reckless, charming, without an ounce of substance.
She—everything she had in life she’d worked damned hard for. She didn’t know when the last time she’d done anything that had amounted to fun had been. The career she’d worked toward for her whole life was over at twenty-six.
They had nothing in common.
This whole line of conversation was far too personal for her comfort. “I don’t know you enough for you to engender such strong emotion.”
“Mia Rodriguez Morgan does not show emotion, does she? I forget your reputation.”
“You know nothing of me except for the persona created by the media, Your Highness. Your friendship with Brian tells you nothing about me.”
“You’re right. I do not know you.” There was that note of annoyance in his tone again. “Tell me, should I call the pilot then?”
“Thanks for the offer. But I’ll just call a cab.” She reached between their seats and stretched her hand to grab her cell. “If you can wait till the cab gets here, I’d appreciate it. I don’t want to wait on this stretch alone.”
“I would appreciate if you would do me the courtesy of looking at me when I speak to you, Mia. We’ve known each other for a decade.”
“And we’ve disliked each other for the whole damned decade, so please, let’s not pretend otherwise.”
A stillness filled the car at Mia’s outburst.
He was right. She’d met him before she’d even met Brian. She’d been seventeen, playing for the junior team when she’d met the young European Prince of Drakon.
Like everybody else, she’d been infatuated with the charming Prince. Tales had been told of his fight with his royal family, of his escapades with women from all over the world, the reckless car races and high-adrenaline sports he engaged in. She’d always been shy when it came to men, wary and reserved of slick charmers like him.
Didn’t mean she hadn’t mooned over him from a distance. The raw, pulse-pounding energy, the sheer masculinity of him had always made Nikandros irresistible.
Surrounded by A-list actresses and svelte models, he’d barely noticed her. There had been a freedom in being beneath his notice that had left her to indulge in girlish fantasies about him. Once Brian had asked her out—solid, reliable Brian—she’d given the unreachable Prince no more thought.
The reliable, hardworking man she’d fallen in love with had almost instantly disappeared the moment his soccer career had taken off. With each new contract, big endorsements and friendships with jet-setters like Nikandros, the Brian she had married had gone away, never to return.
And yet, Nikandros had always been present, like a specter in the background, always with a new woman on his arm, a new investment venture in hand.
His friendship with Brian had been the stuff of legends but she’d never made it into his exclusive circle. And the more death-defying stunts he’d taken on, the more Brian had wanted to be Nikandros, without success.
Whether genetics or blood or whatever the hell it was that made him, Mia had known no other man could be even remotely like Nikandros Drakos. A fact, when she’d pointed it out, Brian had resented like hell.
Through the years, through it all, it seemed Nikandros’s and her mutual resentment had only thrived.
Slowly, she turned toward him. “I have had a long day, in my defense.”
He considered her warily. Given that she had been thrown under the bus by the media, he looked like the one who’d received the biggest, most humiliating news of his life.
Was Brian’s betrayal truly that much of a shock to him?
“You should not be alone over the next few days. Brian would want—”
“Brian apparently wanted a lot of things I couldn’t provide, Your Highness.”
His usually languid mouth tightened. “Do not refer to me as such.”
“But that is the correct way to address the scion of the ruling family of Drakon, yes? Now I understand the fits your aide was having when I got into your car. The last thing you need is for me to drag you into this media circus.”
