Returning For His Ruthless Revenge

LOUISE FULLER was a tomboy who hated pink and always wanted to be the prince—not the princess! Now she enjoys creating heroines who aren’t pretty pushovers but are strong, believable women. Before writing for Harlequin, she studied literature and philosophy at university, then worked as a reporter on her local newspaper. She lives in Royal Tunbridge Wells with her impossibly handsome husband, Patrick, and their six children. Books by Louise Fuller The Man She Should Have Married Italian’s Scandalous Marriage Plan Beauty in the Billionaire’s Bed The Italian’s Runaway Cinderella Maid for the Greek’s Ring Their Dubai Marriage Makeover Christmas with a Billionaire The Christmas She Married the Playboy Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk. Returning for His Ruthless Revenge Louise Fuller www.millsandboon.co.uk ISBN: 978-0-008-92864-3 RETURNING FOR HIS RUTHLESS REVENGE Copyright © 2023 by Louise Fuller Published in Great Britain 2023by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental. By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher. ® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries. www.millsandboon.co.uk Note to Readers This ebook contains the following accessibility features which, if supported by your device, can be accessed via your ereader/accessibility settings: Change of font size and line height Change of background and font colours Change of font Change justification Text to speech As the door closed, the room fell silent. Just like that, they were alone. His heart was suddenly hammering inside his chest. So, this was it. He had imagined this moment so many times inside his head. Had thought of all the clever, caustic things to say, only now his mind was blank. Not that it mattered, he thought, anger pulsing over his skin. Sooner or later, she was going to realize that he wasn’t going to disappear this time. Not until he’d got what he came for. Her eyes locked with his. He felt his heart tighten around the shard of ice that had been lodged there ever since Dove had cast him into the wilderness. She was staring at him in silence, and he waited just as he had waited in that hotel bar. Only this time, she was the one who didn’t know what was happening. Didn’t know that she was about to be chewed up and spat out. But she would, soon enough. “What are you doing here, Gabriel?” Her voice was husky but it was hearing her say his name again that made his breathing jerk. Thanks to Vic and Awo. If you hadn’t stuck with me on the last book, I would never have gotten to write this one. Contents Cover About the Author Booklist Title Page Copyright Note to Readers Introduction Dedication CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER SIX CHAPTER SEVEN CHAPTER EIGHT CHAPTER NINE CHAPTER TEN Extract About the Publisher CHAPTER ONE ‘GOOD MORNING, MS CAVENDISH. Did you have a good holiday?’ Without breaking her stride, Dove Cavendish turned towards the young paralegal who had interrupted her thoughts and her progress across the foyer of Cavendish and Cox and forced her lips into the shape of a small, careless smile. ‘I did, yes. Thank you, Mollie.’ ‘You picked a good week to take off. There was another tube strike on Wednesday and loads of us didn’t get into work until halfway through the morning.’ Mollie hesitated. ‘Oh, and we’ve got a new client. Did you hear? I mean, about Mr—?’ Before she could say his name, Dove cut her off with a swift, emphatic nod. ‘I did, yes,’ she repeated. It was all her numb mind could come up with. A shiver ran down her spine and her cheeks felt hot, but she knew her expression would not betray her. Growing up as the Band-Aid baby of her parents’ failing marriage, she had learned early on to keep her thoughts to herself and concentrate on defusing conflict. It was one of the reasons she was so good at her job as a corporate lawyer. Even today, when her carefully rebuilt world had been knocked off its orbit, nobody would ever guess what she was really thinking. What she had been thinking since her boss, Alistair Cox, had called her at home last night. She had just returned from a long overdue and much-needed week away, and had been in the middle of emptying her bag. It hadn’t been a long conversation, and truthfully she’d barely heard most of what Alistair had been saying, but after he’d hung up she hadn’t had the strength to finish unpacking. This morning her suitcase was still on the floor