Reclaimed By His Billion-Dollar Ring

JULIA JAMES lives in England and adores the peaceful verdant countryside and the wild shores of Cornwall. She also loves the Mediterranean—so rich in myth and history, with its sunbaked landscapes and olive groves, ancient ruins and azure seas. “The perfect setting for romance!” she says. “Rivaled only by the lush tropical heat of the Caribbean—palms swaying by a silver-sand beach lapped by turquoise waters... What more could lovers want?” Books by Julia James Billionaire’s Mediterranean Proposal Irresistible Bargain with the Greek The Greek’s Duty-Bound Royal Bride The Greek’s Penniless Cinderella Cinderella in the Boss’s Palazzo Cinderella’s Baby Confession Destitute Until the Italian’s Diamond The Cost of Cinderella’s Confession Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk. Reclaimed by His Billion-Dollar Ring Julia James www.millsandboon.co.uk ISBN: 978-0-008-92867-4 RECLAIMED BY HIS BILLION-DOLLAR RING Copyright © 2023 by Julia James 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. 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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 Calanthe stared at him. “But now I’m back—” His words, so coolly uttered, stung like wasp stings on her bare arms. She felt emotion rise in her, like boiling magma. But somehow, just somehow, she kept a lid on it. She was no longer that emotional nineteen-year-old in the throes of agonizing first love. She was a mature woman. Calm, composed—under control. My own control— “Back for what, Nik?” she asked. Her voice was dry. As dry as sand. Unaware that she’d called him by the name she’d used eight years ago. He smiled. A smile that reached back through the years. A smile she had not seen directed at her for all those eight long years that divided them. That divided her stupid, foolish teenage self from the mature, capable, self-controlled woman she now was. “For you, of course, Calanthe,” he said. Happy memories of our first family Greek holiday Contents Cover About the Author Booklist Title Page Copyright Note to Readers Introduction Dedication PROLOGUE CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER SIX CHAPTER SEVEN CHAPTER EIGHT CHAPTER NINE CHAPTER TEN CHAPTER ELEVEN CHAPTER TWELVE EPILOGUE Extract About the Publisher PROLOGUE CALANTHE STOOD BESIDE her father, greeting their guests for the evening as they arrived in the banqueting suite of this top Athens hotel. All of Athens high society was here, and she was glad of it. Her father’s sixtieth birthday was something to celebrate after all. Her glance went sideways to him, a small frown forming. For all his bonhomie there was a look of strain about him, and his shoulders sagged as if he were making a visible effort. He did not look well. Anxiety plucked at her. Her father had always been an ebullient character, strong-minded and forceful—characteristics that had made him a very wealthy man, whose property empire was worth a fortune. Though her own specialism was classical art, and she split her time between museums in London and Athens, Calanthe knew that as her father’s only child she would one day inherit all his wealth. But she did not want that day to come too soon. She wanted her father to live longer than her mother had. Grief shadowed her face... It was barely two years since her English mother had succumbed to the cancer she had fought so valiantly. She shook the sadness from her. She was here as her father’s hostess and she wanted to do him proud. She had already received approving smiles, and his praise of her had been heartfelt. ‘My darling child, how beautiful you look!’ If she did, it was for him, she knew. For her position as the daughter of Georgios Petranakos. She was gowned in a couture number, its pale blue silk a match for the grey-blue eyes inherited from her mother. Her dark hair and Mediterranean complexion came from her Greek genes. The artful bias cut of the gown showed her slender figure to perfection. With her perfect oval face, delicate nose and tender mouth, her hair in an elegant upswept style and her father’s gift of a simple yet extremely expensive diamond necklace around her swan-like neck, Calanthe knew that her beauty was assured. It drew eyes and attention—and always had. But her smile was never more than