gave a bitter smile. ‘Go home, Ellie. Get out of here before I change my mind.’
Something dark came over his face—something which shut her out completely. He said something abrupt, which sounded like ‘Goodbye,’ before turning his back on her and walking back over the starlit grass.
Copyright © 2015 by Sharon Kendrick
Susan Stephens
‘Sit down, Danny. I’ve got a business proposition for you.’
A business proposition? What did that mean? What could she possibly offer Tiago Santos that he didn’t have already?
Tiago came right to it. ‘I’ve got a problem—you have too. You need a job,’ he said, before she had chance to comment. ‘And you need a job that pays a lot more than your work here, if you’re to have any chance of starting up your own place.’
‘Of course I do. But I’m realistic.’ Her laugh was short and sounded false.
‘And the type of stables you envisage running would cost a fortune in start-up money?’ Tiago guessed.
‘I would have to start small,’ she admitted.
‘What if I said you didn’t have to do that? What if I said you could do anything you wanted to?’
She was briefly elated, but then common sense kicked in. ‘And what would I have to do for this—beyond training horses and hopefully making a profit eventually?’
Establishing a reputation would take years. There would be no quick or easy profits in the type of venture Tiago was suggesting.
Tiago paused for the longest time, and then he said, ‘As the wife of Tiago Santos…’
‘Your wife?’ Her lips felt like wood as she said the words. ‘What on earth are you talking about?’
‘I need a wife, Danny. I need a wife fast.’
Welcome to the hot, sultry and successful world of Brazilian polo! Get ready to spend many
HOT BRAZILIAN NIGHTS
with Brazil’s sexiest polo champions!
Forget privilege and prestige, this is Gaucho Polo—hard, hot and unforgiving… like the men who play the game!
Off the field the Thunderbolts are notorious heartbreakers, but what happens when they meet the one person who can tame that unbridled passion?
You may have already met gorgeous team captain Gabe in Christmas Nights with the Polo Player
Now get ready to meet the rest of the team in:
In the Brazilian’s Debt
March 2015
At the Brazilian’s Command
April 2015
And look out for Lucas and Karina’s stories, coming soon!
Available from www.millsandboon.co.uk
Or visit the author’s website:
www.susanstephens.com/thunderbolt
SUSAN STEPHENS was a professional singer before meeting her husband on the Mediterranean island of Malta. In true Mills & Boon® Modern Romance™ style they met on Monday, became engaged on Friday and married three months later. Susan enjoys entertaining, travel and going to the theatre. To relax she reads, cooks and plays the piano, and when she’s had enough of relaxing she throws herself off mountains on skis, or gallops through the countryside singing loudly.
For the fabulous Ms M,
travelling companion extraordinaire
THE TERMS OF his grandfather’s last will and testament had shocked everyone but Tiago Santos, to whom they had come as no surprise. To inherit he must marry. It was that simple. If he did not marry within a specific timeframe the ranch he loved in Brazil, and had built up into a world-class concern, would be handed over to a board of trustees who didn’t know one end of a horse from the other.
His grandfather had suffered from delusions of grandeur, Tiago recalled as he prepared to land the jet he had piloted from Brazil to the wedding of his best friend, Chico, in Scotland. Tiago must give up his freedom to marry in order to preserve the Santos name, which his grandfather had believed was more important than the individuals who bore that name.
‘The name Santos must not die out,’ his grandfather had stated on his deathbed. ‘It is time for you to find a wife, Tiago. If you don’t provide an heir, our family will disappear without a trace.’
‘And if I marry and we’re not lucky enough to have a child?’
‘You will adopt,’ the old man had said, as if a child could be so easily co-opted into his plan. ‘If you refuse me this you will lose everything you have worked so hard to rebuild.’
‘And the families who have lived on Fazenda Santos for generations? Would you disinherit them too?’
‘Your bleeding heart is wasted on me, Tiago. Do you think I care what happens when I’m dead? My legacy must live on. Don’t look at me like that,’ his grandfather had protested. ‘Do you think I won this land with the milk of human kindness? What’s so hard about what I’m asking you to do? You’re with a different woman every week—pick one of them. You breed horses, don’t you? Now I’m asking you to breed on a woman and get a child to bear our name. You know what will happen if you don’t. You don’t even have to keep her. Just keep the child.’
There was no way to argue with someone on his deathbed, and for that reason alone he had held his tongue. But one thing was sure: whatever it took, he would save the ranch.
THE FIST CAME out of nowhere and smacked her in the face. Flat on her back in the hay, reeling from shock and fighting off oblivion, she blanked for a moment and then fought like a demon. Cruel hands grabbed her wrists and pinned them above her head. Before she drew her next breath a powerful thigh was rammed between her legs. Terror clawed at her throat. Pain stabbed her body. The man was kneeling on top of her. She was alone in the stables, apart from the
