An untouched Cinderella...
Until his irresistible seduction!
For Ruby Clarkson, a lavish masquerade ball is the perfect opportunity to forget her shy innocence and become someone else for the night. She’s stunned when billionaire Sam Ventura sweeps her from the dance floor into an anonymous seduction that’s red-hot magic! But when Ruby realizes her incognito hero is her new boss, and they’re stranded together for a weekend, Sam’s forbidden touch could be powerful enough to unravel Ruby forever...
Sparks will fly in this sinful tale of seduction...
Sam was so beautiful. So masculine. The glow of the mask giving him an otherworldly appearance that only added to his appeal.
Ruby’s breathing altered, becoming choppy as they stared at each other. She tried to shake her head to clear her senses, but his fingers prevented her from breaking eye contact with him. Irrationally, she felt light-headed, drunk on the clean, intoxicating scent of musk and man. Then his other hand sought the nape of her neck and she didn’t know if he leaned down farther or she stretched upward, but suddenly his lips were on hers, warm and firm and utterly compelling.
Wide-eyed, she met his stunned gaze and then she couldn’t help herself; she lowered her eyelids and opened her mouth. She heard a deep groan rumble out of his chest as he felt her submit to the inevitable and he slanted his lips more fully across hers to deepen the kiss. It burned through her like liquid fire, drugging her, consuming her, triggering an avalanche of need deep inside she was powerless to resist.
Michelle Conder
The Billionaire’s Virgin Temptation
To Hilary and Marnie, writing partners in crime.
Thanks for the late nights out talking shop, eating divine food and drinking great wine.
Chin Chin is calling again!
Love always, M.C.
PROLOGUE
SAM FELT UNACCOUNTABLY agitated as he boarded his jet bound for Sydney. It was later than he would have liked and he was impatient to get underway.
‘Will you be requiring dinner service during the flight, Mr Ventura?’
Sam folded his powerful frame into one of the leather tub chairs and tossed his mobile phone onto the table beside him before addressing his co-pilot. ‘No, thanks, Daniel. Just a Scotch.’
‘Certainly, sir.’
The flight from LA to Sydney would take about fourteen hours, give or take, during which Sam planned to catch up on work and sleep before he had to hit the ground running the following day. Not an uncommon occurrence for him.
Delivering his Scotch, the co-pilot headed back to the cockpit to prepare for take-off, leaving Sam to nurse his crystal tumbler and uncharacteristic edginess. As a general rule he wasn’t the kind of person to second-guess himself once a decision had been made, but the question had crossed his mind more than once as to whether relocating to Sydney was the best thing to do right now.
He had a good life in LA. He surfed regularly, had a thriving legal practice that spanned two continents, lived on a great property on Malibu Beach and had any number of beautiful women he could call upon when he was in the mood for company—all drawn to the combination of power, money and good looks he’d been told he had in abundance.
Not that any of that mattered to his family, who were over the moon that he was returning home. After two years living in the City of Angels they were of the belief that he should settle back in his hometown and were more than happy with his decision to merge his highly successful legal practice with a large Australian enterprise.
The idea had been presented to him by his old university pal, Drew Kent, during a late-night dinner. Drew’s father was retiring and Drew didn’t want to take on the running of their law firm by himself. He was all about work-life balance ever since he’d married, and Sam, who had been in the market for a new challenge, had readily agreed to the idea.
He stared out at the night-dark sky as the plane banked hard to the right. Marriage had a way of changing a man’s perspective on life. He’d seen it happen with colleagues at work and even his own brother, who had fallen in love and then, twelve months ago, got married. Valentino had gone from confirmed bachelor to happily married man with a baby faster than Sam’s Maserati could hit a hundred clicks. Since then Tino had been unfailingly devoted to his lovely wife and son.