The Baby Behind Their Marriage Merger

JOSS WOOD loves books and traveling—especially to the wild places of southern Africa and, well, anywhere. She’s a wife, a mom to two teenagers and a slave to two cats. After a career in local economic development, she now writes full-time. Joss is a member of Romance Writers of America and Romance Writers of South Africa. Books by Joss Wood The Rules of Their Red-Hot Reunion Cape Town Tycoons The Nights She Spent with the CEO Scandals of the Le Roux Wedding The Billionaire’s One-Night Baby The Powerful Boss She Craves The Twin Secret She Must Reveal The Secret Heir Returns Crossing Two Little Lines Just a Little Jilted Their Temporary Arrangement Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk. The Baby Behind Their Marriage Merger Joss Wood www.millsandboon.co.uk ISBN: 978-0-008-92880-3 THE BABY BEHIND THEIR MARRIAGE MERGER © 2023 by Joss Wood 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 Enterprises ULC. 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 Addi looked at Jude over the rim of her teacup and slowly, conscious of her shaking hand, lowered the cup to the desk, trying not to spill tea on his brand-new expensive-looking carpet. No, he couldn’t possibly have said that, could he? “I’m sorry, I thought you said that we should get married.” With his ankle on his opposite knee, leaning back in his chair, he looked relaxed, but Addi could tell he wasn’t, not really. His green eyes were wary, and a muscle jumped in his rigid jaw. His shoulders were tight with tension, and he played with the laces of his dress shoes. Addi tried to think of a response, and eventually settled on, “Why would you think that us marrying would be a good idea? It’s the twenty-first century, Jude—people don’t get married because of babies anymore.” Cape Town Tycoons How do you resist an irresistible billionaire? Lex and Addi had only ever had each other to rely on...until their absentee mother dropped two young sisters they never knew about on their doorstep. Now, everything Lex and Addi do is for them. They don’t have time for love or passion—or to think about either! Then Cole Thorpe and Jude Fisher come into their lives... The two tycoons are devastatingly handsome and infuriatingly tempting. So much so that working with them forces Lex and Addi to realize they aren’t impervious to the attraction that Cole and Jude make them feel! Read Cole and Lex’s story inThe Nights She Spent with the CEO And discover Jude and Addi’s storyThe Baby Behind Their Marriage Merger Both available now! Contents Cover About the Author Booklist Title Page Copyright Note to Readers Introduction Cape Town Tycoons CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER SIX CHAPTER SEVEN CHAPTER EIGHT CHAPTER NINE CHAPTER TEN CHAPTER ELEVEN Extract About the Publisher CHAPTER ONE STANDING ON THE balcony that ran the length of the Vane’s ballroom, Addi Fields smoothed her hand over the slinky material of her satin slip-dress, conscious of the cool breeze blowing across her bare back. The dress, a deep navy-blue, drifted over her lanky body and, with its halter neck, looked demure from the front. It was anything but modest from the back, dropping exceptionally low to skim the top of her butt. Underwear had required a lot of thought. Addi took a glass of champagne from a waiter and thought about the award she’d been handed earlier in the evening. One of the properties within the portfolio she managed for the hotel division of Thorpe Industries had won the award for small lodge of the year and she was comprehensively delighted. As there were rumours that Thorpe Industries was up for sale, she wasn’t sure how long she’d get to enjoy the kudos that came along with the recognition. Addi looked through the French doors into the busy ballroom. The room was packed with the hospitality sector’s bigwigs: men and women who owned the most spectacular hotels, lodges and leisure operations on the continent. She was only there because Thorpe Industries was in a state of flux—Cole Thorpe had recently been gifted the company by his brother—and the hospitality division wasn’t on his list of priorities. She’d asked for permission to