Wed on His Terms: Million-Dollar Marriage Merger. Charlene Sands

      

      CHARLENE SANDS resides in Southern California with her husband, school sweetheart and best friend, Don. Proudly they boast that their children, Jason and Nikki, have earned their college degrees. The “empty nesters” now enjoy spending time together on Pacific beaches, playing tennis and going to movies, when they are not busy at work, of course!

      A proud member of Romance Writers of America, Charlene has written more than twenty-five romance novels and is the recipient of the 2006 National Readers’ Choice Award, the 2007 Cataromance Reviewer’s Choice Award and the Booksellers Best Award in 2008 and 2009.

      Wed on His Terms

      Million-Dollar Marriage Merger

      Seduction on The CEO’s Terms

      The Billionaire’s Baby Arrangement

      Charlene Sands

      

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      Table of Contents

       Cover

       About the Author

       Title Page

       Million-Dollar Marriage Merger

       Dedication

      One

      Two

      Three

      Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

       Ten

       Eleven

       Seduction on The CEO’s Terms

       Dedication

       One

       Two

       Three

       Four

       Five

       Six

       Seven

       Eight

       Nine

       Ten

       Eleven

       Twelve

       The Billionaire’s Baby Arrangement

       Dedication

       One

       Two

       Three

       Four

       Five

       Six

       Seven

       Eight

       Nine

       Ten

       Copyright

      

      

       Million-Dollar Marriage Merger

      Charlene Sands

      To my husband, Don,

       the man I’ve been sharing chardonnay with for all our years. A really good man, like a fine wine, only gets better with age.

       One

      From the time Tony Carlino was six years old, he’d been infatuated with cars, speed and danger. Back then, the hills of Napa that create award-winning merlot and pinot had been his playing field. Racing his dinged up scooter down the embankment, he’d hit the dirt falling headfirst into a patch of fescue grass a hundred times over. But Tony never gave up when he wanted something. He hadn’t been satisfied until he’d mastered that hill with his scooter, his bicycle and finally his motorcycle. He’d graduated to stock car racing and had become a champion.

      Newly retired from racing, his present fascination had nothing to do with cars and speed and everything to do with a different kind of danger.

      Rena Fairfield Montgomery.

      He glimpsed the blue-eyed widow from across the gravesite where dozens were gathered. Valley winds blew strands of raven hair from her face, revealing her heartbroken expression and ruffling her solemn black dress.

      She hated him.

      With good reason.

      Soon he’d walk into a land mine of emotion and nothing posed more danger to Tony than that. Especially when it came to Rena and all she represented.

      Tony glanced beyond the gravesite to those hills and Carlino land, an abundance of crimson hues reflecting off foil covering the vines, keeping grape-eating birds from destroying the crop. The land he once resented, the vines that had fed his family for generations was his responsibility now. His father had passed on just months ago, leaving the Carlino brothers in charge of the huge empire.

      Once again, Tony glanced at Rena and a face devoid of emotion, her tears spent. She walked up to the bronze coffin, staring blankly, as if to say she couldn’t believe this. She couldn’t believe that her beloved husband, David, was gone.

      Tony winced. He held back tears of his own. David had been his best friend since those scooter days. He’d been there for Tony through thick and thin. They’d kept their friendship ongoing, despite a bitter family rivalry.

      Despite the fact that Rena had loved Tony first.

      Rena held back a sob and bravely reached out to the blanket of fresh flowers draped along the coffin. She pulled her hand back just as her fingertip touched a rose petal. At that moment, she glanced at Tony, her sad eyes so round and blue that a piece of him unraveled.

      He knew her secret.

      But Tony didn’t give that away. He stared at her, and for that one small moment, sympathy and the pain of losing David temporarily bonded them.

      She blinked then turned around, stepping away from the gravesite, her legs weak as all eyes watched the beautiful grieving widow say her final farewell to her husband.

      Nick and Joe, Tony’s younger brothers, stood by his side. Joe draped an arm around him. “We’re all going to miss him.”

      â€œHe was as good as they come,” Nick added.

      Tony nodded