To Marry For Duty

To Marry For Duty
Rebecca Winters

After a wonderful vacation in the Med with her sisters, Piper has come back to reality with a thud.Her sisters are now happily married - so Piper feels a little like the one left on the shelf. Worse, she can't even concentrate on work. All she can think about is a man she'd fallen for in Spain - gorgeous aristocrat Nic de Pastrano…But now it seems that Nic needs her help. In fact, his family's future depends on it. It might be the marriage proposal she was hoping for…but does he love her…?

Become a tycoon, he’d said.

By the time she reached home, Piper Duchess had made up her mind. She would throw herself into work. She would become a millionaire before she was thirty.

That would prove to Nic de Pastrana that she didn’t need him.

But that was before Nic turned up on her doorstep—needing her help….

THE HUSBAND FUND trilogy

by Rebecca Winters

Only in Harlequin Romance

!

Book 1—To Catch a Groom (#3819)

Book 2—To Win His Heart (#3827)

Book 3—To Marry for Duty (#3835)

Dear Reader,

I came from a family of five sisters and one brother. The four oldest girls were my parents’ first family. There was a space before my baby sister and baby brother came along.

My mother called the first four her little women, and gave each of us a Madame Alexander doll from the Little Women series based on the famous book by Louisa May Alcott. We may not have been quadruplets, but we were close in age and definitely felt a connection to each other that often meant we tuned into each others’ thoughts as we sang, played, studied and traveled together.

In our early twenties I recall a time when I took the train from Paris, France, where I’d been studying, to meet one of my sisters at the port in Genoa, Italy, where her ship came in from New York. She was returning to school in Perugia, Italy. Some of my choicest memories are our glorious adventures as two blond American sisters on vacation along the French and Italian rivieras, dodging Mediterranean playboys.

When I conceived The Husband Fund trilogy for Harlequin Romance

, I have no doubt the idea of triplet sisters coming to Europe on a lark to intentionally meet some gorgeous Riviera playboys sprang to life from my own family experiences at home and abroad.

Meet Greer, Olivia and Piper, three characters drawn from my imagination who probably have traits from all four of my wonderful, intelligent, talented sisters in their makeup.

Enjoy!

Rebecca Winters

www.rebeccawinters-author.com

To Marry for Duty

Rebecca Winters

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ONE

August

Kingston, New York

“THANKS for seeing me on such short notice, Dr. Arnavitz. I’ve never been to a psychiatrist before, so I’m nervous.”

He cocked his gray head. “Nervousness on the part of my patients seems to go with the territory. At least on a first visit. Why don’t you tell me what’s bothering you and we’ll start there.”

Piper Duchess sat on the edge of the chair with her hands rigidly clasped on top of her knees. “Everything’s bothering me—” she blurted before hot tears rolled down her flushed cheeks.

Without saying anything the doctor pushed a box of tissues toward her. She took one and wiped the moisture from her face. When she’d regained a little composure, she said, “For the first time in my life, I’m really alone, and I’m not handling it very well. To be honest, I’m not handling it at all—” She broke down again.

“Do you mean emotionally, physically?”

“Both.” She blotted her aqua eyes with another tissue.

“From your chart I see that you’re twenty-seven years old and single. Are you going through a breakup with a boyfriend or fiancé?”

No.

Nic didn’t qualify for either category and anyway he wasn’t interested in her. In fact Nicolas de Pastrana of the House of Parma-Bourbon in Spain had always been off limits to her though she hadn’t known that when she’d first met him and his cousins. “No,” her voice trembled, “but I would imagine this is exactly how it must feel. No wonder it’s such a traumatic experience.”

“Tell me about your family.”

“My parents have both passed away. My sisters Greer and Olivia are now married and live in Europe. Olivia just got married in Marbella. I flew home from Spain to New York three days ago.”