The Christmas She Married the Playboy
by Louise Fuller
on-sale Nov.30
Harlequin Presents
Blurb:
Scandal leads to wedding bells in this uplifting, emotional marriage-of-convenience romance by Louise Fuller!
The one thing not on her Christmas list? A convenient winter wedding!
Louis Albemarle has tried to bury the pain and guilt of his fatherโs death with his playboy antics. So when a photo of his stolen moment with figure skater Santina Somerville proves one scandal too many for his companyโs shareholders, Louis must contemplate the unimaginable: marriage!
Marrying Louis is the only way to save Santaโs pristine image. But after a past betrayal, itโs not the gossip she really fears. Itโs the burning attraction between her and Louis that might just make resisting her convenient husband impossibleโฆ
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-christmas-she-married-the-playboy-louise-fuller/1139151746?ean=9781335569172
Harlequin.com: https://www.harlequin.com/shop/books/9781335569172_the-christmas-she-married-the-playboy.html
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Excerpt:
Santa stared at him, groping for some way for his words to make sense.
Marry him!
But of course he was being stupid againโmocking her, trying to punish her for what he saw as a problem of her making.
โGood idea,โ she snapped. โWhy donโt we fly to Vegas? We could get married with Elvis as the celebrant and afterwards we could invite all our new paparazzi friends to the reception.โ
His face hardened. โIf you likeโalthough I thought the whole point of getting married was to get them off our backs.โ
She felt her face dissolve, her mouth forming an O of shock. He was being serious. โAre you out of your mind?โ
Marry Louis? The idea was absurd, and wrong on so many levels, and yet she couldnโt stop a hectic pulse from leapfrogging across her skin, or deflect a sudden vivid memory of the moment when his mouth had fused with hers.
โNo!โ Shaking her head to clear the image from her head, she took a step backwards. โI wouldnโt marry you if my life depended on it.โ
โWhat about your reputation?โ
His voice was coldโbut, looking into his eyes, she saw the heat of wounded male pride.
Louisโs pride was the last of her worries right now.
โWe canโt get married,โ she said firmly.
โWhy not?โ he shot back. โIt would solve our immediate problems. Unless, of course, youโre already married.โ
His eyes locked with hers and she stiffened. โIโm not married.โ
โAnd you donโt have a boyfriend right now, do you?โ
Her cheeks were flaming with a shame she hated feeling. โI would hardly have kissed you if I did.โ
Something shifted in his faceโsomething she hadnโt got a name for.
โItโs not always an obstacle,โ he said silkily.
โOnly for someone like you.โ
โIf you say so.โ
He tilted his head back, the coldness in his eyes making her shake inside.
โOkay then, as there appears to be no legal impediment as to why I, Louis, may not be joined in matrimony to you, Santa Somerville, letโs get married.โ
She stared at him, trying and failing to read his expression. No legal impediment maybe, but what about a moral one?
โYou canโt just use marriage as some kind of sticking plaster to fix this mess.โ
He shrugged. โThatโs exactly what I want to use it for.โ
Her head was starting to spin. Why was he being so contrary?
โWell, I donโt. It would be dishonest, wrongโโ
โIt would also be expedient and mutually beneficial. And itโs not as if itโs going to be till-death-us-do-part. Weโll be lucky if we last a month without killing each other.โ
And what about kissing each other?
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Author Info:
Louise Fuller was a tomboy who hated pink and always wanted to be the prince. Not the princess! Now she enjoys creating heroines who arenโt pretty pushovers but strong, believable women. Before writing for Mills and Boon, she studied literature and philosophy at university and then worked as a reporter on her local newspaper. She lives in Tunbridge Wells with her impossibly handsome husband, Patrick and their six children.
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