An Heir to Make a Marriage Read online

  A legacy maid in Manhattan

  In desperation to save her father, housekeeper Rose O’Malley thinks she can trap a man. But the second she faces Zac Valenti and the force of his palpable sensuality, she knows she can’t go through with it!

  Before she can call off her deception, Manhattan’s most eligible bachelor sweeps Rose off her feet—and into his bed! Stealing away like a guilty Cinderella, Rose vows never to see Zac again…until she discovers she’s pregnant and Zac demands his passionate betrayer and his baby remain under his control!

  As Zac’s car purred silently and powerfully through the streets of Manhattan, for the first time in her life, Rose felt a very rogue urge to rebel and do something she wanted. Which was to eke out another few illicit moments in his company.

  She’d never felt so intoxicated. Heady. The way he’d looked at her with such thrillingly explicit intent. No one had ever looked at her like that. Her heart still beat a frantic tattoo.

  Was it so bad to want a little more of this man’s attention? Yes, because you know very well that if he knew who you were and why you were here, he’d have you out of the car so fast your head would be spinning for a year...

  That almost caused Rose to turn in her seat and ask for Zac to stop the car, but they were pulling up outside the club now.

  Zac looked at her when the car came to a stop. She was transfixed by his mouth and imagined what it might be like on hers. On her skin.

  “I’m glad you came with me.”

  And just like that, all of Rose’s good intentions got blasted to pieces by wicked desire.

  One Night With Consequences

  When one night...leads to pregnancy!

  When succumbing to a night of unbridled desire it’s impossible to think past the morning after!

  But, with the sheets barely settled, that little blue line appears on the pregnancy test and it doesn’t take long to realize that one night of white-hot passion has turned into a lifetime of consequences!

  Only one question remains:

  How do you tell a man you’ve just met that you’re about to share more than just his bed?

  Find out in:

  Her Nine Month Confession by Kim Lawrence

  An Heir Fit for a King by Abby Green

  Larenzo’s Christmas Baby by Kate Hewitt

  An Illicit Night with the Greek by Susanna Carr

  A Vow to Secure His Legacy by Annie West

  Bound to the Tuscan Billionaire by Susan Stephens

  The Shock Cassano Baby by Andie Brock

  The Greek’s Nine-Month Redemption by Maisey Yates

  Look for more One Night With Consequences titles coming soon!

  ABBY GREEN

  An Heir to Make a Marriage

  Irish author Abby Green threw in a very glamorous career in film and TV—which really consisted of a lot of standing in the rain outside actors’ trailers—to pursue her love of romance. After she’d bombarded Harlequin with manuscripts they kindly accepted one, and an author was born. She lives in Dublin, Ireland, and loves any excuse for distraction. Visit www.abby-green.com or email [email protected].

  Books by Abby Green

  Harlequin Presents

  Awakened by Her Desert Captor

  Forgiven but Not Forgotten?

  Exquisite Revenge

  One Night with the Enemy

  The Legend of De Marco

  The Call of the Desert

  The Sultan’s Choice

  Secrets of the Oasis

  In Christofides’ Keeping

  One Night With Consequences

  An Heir Fit for a King

  The Chatsfield

  Delucca’s Marriage Contract

  Billionaire Brothers

  The Bride Fonseca Needs

  Fonseca’s Fury

  Blood Brothers

  When Falcone’s World Stops Turning

  When Christakos Meets His Match

  When Da Silva Breaks the Rules

  Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.

  Get rewarded every time you buy a Harlequin ebook!

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  I’d like to dedicate this book to the memory of Jimmy Devlin who was known affectionately throughout the Irish film business as “Jimmy The Bus.” That was his job, driving a minibus to and from different locations, carrying everyone from cast to crew. He made everyone feel like a VIP, even if it was your first job. He was a true gentleman who oozed an old-world charm and respect for everyone around him, especially women. Men like Jimmy Devlin make it easy to write about larger-than-life heroes, because he epitomized what a hero was. Ar dheis dé go raibh a h-anam.

  Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  EPILOGUE

  EXCERPT FROM WEDDED, BEDDED, BETRAYED BY MICHELLE SMART

  CHAPTER ONE

  ROSE O’MALLEY’S HEART was racing. Her skin felt clammy, her palms were sweaty and she was light-headed. She was basically exhibiting all the signs of heading into a full-blown panic attack, or some kind of emotional and physical meltdown, right here on a closed toilet seat in one of Manhattan’s most exclusive hotel bathrooms.

  Her surroundings, opulent as they were, were only making things worse. Highlighting the fact that she shouldn’t be here. Highlighting the fact that this was not her world. She was one generation removed from Ireland, by way of Queens, and to say she felt like a fish out of water was an understatement.

  Her reflection in the mirror on the back of the cubicle door showed a stranger. A sleek, soignée stranger. Her normally wavy shoulder-length strawberry blonde hair was all straight and glossy and coiled up into a sophisticated chignon at the back of her head.

  Rose acknowledged faintly that she had a neck. She’d never noticed it before now.

  Only the bottom half of her face was visible because the rest of it was obscured by a delicately ornate black and gold mask. Her eyes glinted out, looking very frightened and green and almost feverish. Her mouth was painted a garish red. Her cheeks were flushed.

  She put the back of her hand to one burning cheek.

  Relief flooded her for a moment. That was it: she was coming down with the flu. She ignored the little voice pointing out that they were in the middle of an abnormally warm New York spring and rationalised that she couldn’t possibly go out there now—she’d infect all the most important people in Manhattan with her germs.

  But just as she was about to stand up, with her sheer black dress shimmering in the mirror, the main door of the powder room opened and some women came in, chattering excitedly. Rose sat back down again, a feeling of futility sinking into her bones.

  Of course she didn’t have the flu.

  But she still wasn’t ready to come into actual human contact with anyone. Thankfully she was in the end stall, furthest away from the door. She’d wait till they left.

  One of the women who’d entered—Rose figured there were two—spoke in a loud indiscreet whisper. ‘Oh, my God. Did you see him? I mean, I know he’s totally hot—but seriously? I think my ovaries just exploded.’

  The other woman�
��s tone was dry and sardonic. ‘Well, that’s just a waste of good eggs. It’s common knowledge he doesn’t want anything to do with the inheritance his family have bequeathed to any child he might have—he even changed his name to distance himself!’

  The friend was incredulous. ‘Who on earth would turn their back on billions of dollars and a family name that dates back to the Mayflower?’

  Rose’s insides cramped painfully. She knew exactly who: the most infamous man at the party. Zac Valenti. He was here. She’d been hoping he might not be. But he was. And now the palpitations were back.

  The women were still gossiping amidst the sounds of rummaging in a bag.

  ‘Everyone thought he was having, like, a breakdown or something after he left Addison Carmichael waiting at the altar, but the man literally rose from the ashes.’

  The voices got lower, and Rose found herself straining forward towards the door to hear.

  ‘They say that he’s now the richest eligible male in the United States.’

  ‘But did you get the vibe he sends off? Seriously cold—and moody. Like, you can look, but you can’t touch.’

  The other voice turned dreamy. ‘I know... Those silent brooding types are so damned attractive.’

  There was a squirt of something that sounded like perfume and a derisive snort. ‘I think it has a little more to do with the fact that he’s a walking gold mine for any woman who can succeed in getting him to be her baby daddy. He might not want his family’s fortune, but I for one would not say no—and whoever has his baby will have access to the famous Lyndon-Holt fortune.’

  As those words reverberated, Rose chose that precise moment to overbalance and fall against the door of the cubicle with a clatter. She stiffened in horror as an awful silence descended over the powder room, and then she heard frantic hushed whispering and the rapid clickety-clack of heels as the women left again.

  She sat back on the toilet seat and rubbed her shoulder where it had connected with the door. Hysteria rose. As those women had just pointed out, Zac Valenti was probably the man least likely to father a child, thanks to his well-documented estrangement from his family—the cause of which no one knew. But that hadn’t stopped the endless speculation as to why. He hadn’t even gone to his own father’s funeral when he’d died almost a year previously.

  After the rift and the death of his father, a new version of the Lyndon-Holt will had been leaked to the press. It had revealed that if Zac had a child, boy or girl, that child would inherit the entire Lyndon-Holt fortune in lieu of Zac—as long as it carried the Lyndon-Holt name, of course. Many suspected that the details of the will had been leaked on purpose.

  So now, if Zac Valenti fathered a child, there would be immense pressure on him not to deny it its rightful inheritance, and the child’s mother would have a say in it—including the naming of the child... Something Zac Valenti was undoubtedly aware of and which was probably behind the conveniently leaked will.

  Which brought Rose O’Malley neatly back to the reason she was there in the first place. She was here to cold-bloodedly seduce Zac Valenti—one of the most coveted bachelors in the world—with her aim being, however impossible it might seem, to try and become pregnant with his child.

  Rose’s mind boggled anew at what she’d agreed to. It was only now, a day later, that the panic and fear that had led her to making that decision had faded a little, restoring her to cold, stark reality. And the realisation that she’d made a pact with the devil.

  Rose’s conversation with her employer, Mrs Lyndon-Holt, was still vivid in her mind—as vivid as the beautifully preserved woman’s ice-cold blue eyes.

  Zac Valenti’s mother had held up the signed contract and said, ‘You are now bound by the terms of this agreement, Rose. If you become pregnant with my son’s child, and ensure that it will take the Lyndon-Holt name on its birth, it will inherit everything. And once I receive confirmation of your pregnancy, your father will go to a clinic and receive the best medical care for his condition.’

  Mrs Lyndon-Holt had continued, ‘But if you break the terms of the non-disclosure agreement and reveal these details to anyone, you will be prosecuted with the full force of my legal team. In the event that you do have a baby but you don’t comply with these terms, I will crush you. Needless to say a legal contretemps between me—’ she’d looked Rose up and down pointedly here ‘—and a maid isn’t a fight you’ll want to engage in.’

  The magnitude of what was at stake had hit Rose. She’d blurted out, ‘What on earth makes you think a man like your son would look twice at someone like me?’

  The older woman had stood back and narrowed those calculating eyes. ‘A man as cynical and jaded as Zachary...? He’ll look. He can’t fail to notice a fresh-faced beauty like you. You just have to ensure that it goes beyond noticing.’

  Rose came back to the present and looked at herself in the mirror. She didn’t feel fresh-faced or beautiful. She felt ridiculous, tainted. Garish. With her hot cheeks and the slash of red lipstick. In a fit of self-disgust she grabbed some tissue and wiped the lipstick off her lips.

  She couldn’t do this. She should never have agreed to such an outlandish plan.

  She stood up, galvanised into leaving this place and informing Mrs Lyndon-Holt that she could find someone else to be her sick baby bait. But the reason she’d agreed to it in the first place came back like a slap in the face, and she sat back down again heavily.

  Her father. His face full of pain. Pale. Losing hope. Far too young at fifty-two to be facing certain death if he didn’t receive the operation he needed.

  The kind of operation that was far beyond the reach of an ex-chauffeur and a humble maid, with only the most basic of health insurance.

  It was a fact that Mrs Lyndon-Holt had seized upon to use to her advantage, capitalising on Rose’s fear and panic. Her father had worked as the Lyndon-Holts’ driver until Mr Lyndon-Holt had passed away, after which Mrs Lyndon-Holt had taken on new staff, without so much as a thank-you for years of service. Rose had kept her job, however, and it had been a relief at the time.

  Shortly afterwards her father had started to feel unwell, and this had culminated in the diagnosis of a rare heart condition, fatal if not treated.

  Rose battled with her conscience. The thought of her father succumbing to an inevitable decline was too much to bear. She’d lost her mother already—far too young. Her father was all she had left. They had no other family in America. And he could be saved easily. If he had the operation. The operation that Mrs Lyndon-Holt had agreed to pay for if Rose did this...

  She looked at her glittering eyes and hectically flushed cheeks. She told herself that she would make an attempt to find Zac Valenti, but if she couldn’t find him—or if she did and he didn’t look at her twice, which she fully expected—then she would go. At least she would know that she’d tried her best.

  And then she would worry about what to do with her father. But at least she would have given it a shot.

  * * *

  Zac Valenti looked around the massive glittering ballroom from his antisocial location leaning against a pillar at the back of the room. The opulent space shone with a thousand priceless jewels that screamed the social status of their skinny owners like lurid neon signs over their heads.

  One woman passed him, literally weighted down with baubles. Her hand looked barely strong enough to carry the enormous ruby cocktail ring on her index finger. Then she caught sight of him and he could see her eyes widen comically behind her elaborately feathered mask as she almost tripped over her feet.

  Evidently his own understated black mask wasn’t an effective shield for his identity. Zac’s mouth tightened. As if he needed proof that he was still the enfant terrible of Manhattan, after delivering the biggest scandal to rock the island in decades when he, Zachary Lyndon-Holt—golden boy and heir apparent to become the uncrow
ned King of New York—had broken up with his family and given up his inheritance.

  Not to mention leaving his fiancée standing at the altar of one of Manhattan’s oldest Gothic churches in her bespoke Oscar da la Renta wedding dress.

  Addison Carmichael, a blue-blooded WASP from the top of her gleaming blonde head and her blue eyes to her toes, was nothing if not a product of her breeding and background—and she was as tenacious as a Jack Russell terrier. Within a year she’d married into a well-known political family dynasty and was currently the wife of a New York senator.

  When Zac bumped into her now she smiled at him with only the slightest tinge of malice—his ensuing rupture with his family had diluted her public humiliation somewhat.

  He hadn’t been worried about causing her emotional trauma—it wasn’t as if they’d had a love match. His relationship with her had been as much of a charade as the rest of his life at that time. And he could only be thankful that he’d discovered the ugly truth in his family before he’d sleepwalked into a veritable prison of his parents’ making.

  He cursed silently and corrected himself: his grandparents making.

  He’d grown up knowing them as his parents until the day he’d found out otherwise, when his world as he’d known it had exploded out of all recognition.

  But he’d stayed standing.

  And after the shock had passed he’d discovered that all he cared about was the heinous betrayal of the two people who had brought him into this world. A resolve had filled him to honour his real father and mother—not the people who had brought him up as if he was an ill-favoured guest in his own home.

  That day he’d had an incredible sense of his own personal destiny rising from the ashes, outside of the weighty yoke of the great Lyndon-Holt name which he’d never felt entirely comfortable with. And so he’d thrown it off, together with everything else bound with that name. And he’d never looked back.

  He was determined to make the Valenti name as revered as the one he’d been born with. He owed it to his immigrant Italian father, who’d had the temerity to fall for a Lyndon-Holt princess and in the eyes of her family had sullied her aristocratic beauty...