Fractured (Not Quite a Billionaire #2)
Text copyright 2016 Rosalind James
All Rights Reserved
Cover design by Robin Ludwig Design Inc.,
http://www.gobookcoverdesign.com
Formatting by Dallas Hodge,
Everything But The Book
What do you do with a person who’s out of control and won’t listen to reason? Especially if that person might be you?
When I’d taken Hope Sinclair and her sister to New Zealand to meet my grandfather, I’d known I’d be making the return journey as her husband. I hadn’t reckoned, though, on the demons of my past coming back to threaten my future. And, as always, I hadn’t reckoned on Hope.
I had hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of employees to tell me I had better judgment and more self-discipline than most people, and neither my self-control nor anything else I possessed had been won the easy way. That was why I was a New Yorker with a fashion empire instead of a dirt-poor Maori boy with too much tattoo, too many muscles, two alcoholic parents, and not much else. So why did Hope continually dig in her heels and refuse to go along with my perfectly rational plans? And why did I keep compromising?
Because I couldn’t resist her, couldn’t say no to her, and couldn’t stand to see her unhappy, that was why. And there’s more than one way to bring a strong man to his knees.
Note:
This is a full-length novel with a cliffhanger that will be resolved in Part 3. It contains one Maori multimillionaire with control issues, one fierce blonde with a mind of her own, and some very dirty loving.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
For Kathy and Mary,
who asked me to tell Hope and Hemi’s story
T
HE
E
SCAPE
T
O
N
EW
Z
EALAND
S
ERIES
Reka and Hemi’s story:
JUST FOR YOU
Hannah and Drew’s story:
JUST THIS ONCE
Kate and Koti’s story:
JUST GOOD FRIENDS
Jenna and Finn’s story:
JUST FOR NOW
Emma and Nic’s story:
JUST FOR FUN
Ally and Nate’s/Kristen and Liam’s stories:
JUST MY LUCK
Josie and Hugh’s story:
JUST NOT MINE
Hannah & Drew’s story again/Reunion:
JUST ONCE MORE
Faith & Will’s story:
JUST IN TIME
Nina & Iain's story:
JUST STOP ME
T
HE
N
OT
Q
UITE
A B
ILLIONAIRE
S
ERIES
(H
OPE AND
H
EMI'S STORY)
FRACTURED
FREED (August 2016)
T
HE
P
ARADISE
, I
DAHO
S
ERIES
(M
ONTLAKE
R
OMANCE
)
Zoe & Cal’s story:
CARRY ME HOME
Kayla & Luke’s story:
HOLD ME CLOSE
Rochelle & Travis's story:
TURN ME LOOSE
Hallie & Jim's story:
TAKE ME BACK
T
HE
K
INCAIDS
S
ERIES
Mira and Gabe’s story:
WELCOME TO PARADISE
Desiree and Alec’s story:
NOTHING PERSONAL
Alyssa and Joe’s story:
ASKING FOR TROUBLE
Hope
So you know how, in the fairy tale, the poor but beautiful girl marries the handsome prince, and they live happily ever after?
Let me tell you how that
really
goes.
How much can a person really change, even with the best will in the world? How far can a heart really open after it’s been closed for so long? How many steps backward does a person have to take to move forward, and how much trust does it take to be the partner in that dance?
And I’m not just talking about Hemi.
I didn’t ask those questions that night, of course. It was June, the beginning of the New Zealand winter, and I was nine thousand miles and almost a year away from the hot August day in New York City when a controlling, arrogant, absolutely infuriating Maori fashion tycoon and force of nature named Hemi Te Mana first walked into my boss’s photography studio, caught me at a disadvantage, and set out to keep me that way.
By the time Hemi had walked out that day, he’d been well on his way to changing my life for good, and my teenage sister Karen’s along with it. And by the end of that tumultuous year, we’d gone from having nothing to being promised everything, and from having nobody to maybe having…somebody.