Lady Love

Lady Love
Diana Palmer

Merlyn Forrest Steele couldn't refuse the offer–work for a living for one month, and her father would stop his clumsy matchmaking attempts. Maybe she'd somehow find a man who had eyes for her, not her bank account, and meanwhile, she could prove she was no dilettante heiress.So it was ironic that the first man to penetrate her defenses in her new life would be the one who was looking for just that…Not that she'd have the sardonic, arrogant Cameron Thorpe, even if he asked her. Let him go ahead and marry some insipid little heiress–he'd get exactly what he deserved…But why did this thought give Merlyn no comfort at all?

Merlyn Forrest Steele couldn’t refuse the offer—work for a living for one month, and her father would stop his clumsy matchmaking attempts. Maybe she’d somehow find a man who had eyes for her, not her bank account, and meanwhile, she could prove she was no dilettante heiress.

So it was ironic that the first man to penetrate her defenses in her new life would be the one who was looking for just that…Not that she’d have the sardonic, arrogant Cameron Thorpe, even if he asked her. Let him go ahead and marry some insipid little heiress—he’d get exactly what he deserved…But why did this thought give Merlyn no comfort at all?

Also available from MIRA Books and DIANA PALMER

THE RAWHIDE MAN

CATTLEMAN’S CHOICE

FRIENDS AND LOVERS

DIAMOND GIRL

PASSION FLOWER

CHAMPAGNE GIRL

ROOMFUL OF ROSES

AFTER THE MUSIC

ONCE IN PARIS

RAGE OF PASSION

PAPER ROSE

FIT FOR A KING

MOST WANTED

Lady Love

Diana Palmer

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

For Shirley and Cordia

Table of Contents

Chapter One (#u2214d829-1006-570a-bb22-1e4139a17281)

Chapter Two (#u8366c8c3-f7a1-5472-b5e7-02077fd82398)

Chapter Three (#uf20500cb-a617-52f8-9902-87591580d87e)

Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter One

Merlyn Forrest Steele’s eyes were the same shade of green as her father’s, but Jared Steele’s had a twinkle that, at the moment, she was too angry to match. She glared at him from the plush white depths of the horseshoe-shaped sofa, its covering emphasizing the jet blackness of her long hair.

“It’s all your fault,” she told him shortly.

His eyebrows arched. “What is?”

“Adam.”

He gave a world-weary sigh and stuck his hands deep in the pockets of his charcoal gray suit pants. His silver mustache twitched as he frowned. “I see what you mean,” he confessed. “I meant well.”

“I didn’t mean your matchmaking attempts,” she explained. Her hand smoothed a wrinkle in her green silk slacks. “I meant the fact that you’re so rich.”

“I often think of donating my fortune to charity and throwing myself on the mercy of strangers,” he murmured, tongue-in-cheek.

She glared at him again. “I never know if it’s me or your money that men want,” she said. “Adam seemed to be head over heels in love with me, and I was…warming to him. Then I found out that he only got engaged to me because he had dreams of becoming your business partner! Now where in the world did he get an idea like that? Especially since he works for a rival computer company!”

Her father turned away and looked out the window. “Look at that sun,” he said with enthusiasm. “Imagine, it’s spring already!”

“Evading the issue, huh?” she challenged.

He hunched his shoulders and glanced at her. “Well, darling, you aren’t ugly,” he reminded her.

“I’m not poor, either—that’s the trouble.”

“He seemed like a good prospect,” her father murmured defensively.

So he had, Merlyn thought. Her father had introduced her to Adam James at a party. Jared Steele felt that, at twenty-six, his only child was ripe for the joys of wedded bliss. So for the past year he’d been flinging unsuspecting males at Merlyn’s feet in what she considered a pathetically obvious way. If her mother had still been alive, perhaps her father would have been too occupied to bother Merlyn. But, as it was, he was determined to marry her off, and no eligible bachelor of reasonable means escaped his eagle eye.