Kasey Michaels - Brides of Privilege

Legend has it that the famous Colton family sapphiresshine brilliantly on only thewomen who are meant to be Colton brides....
Meet three powerful and sexy Colton men whoface the challenge offinding the rightwomen the brides of their hearts! Join New York Times bestsellingauthor Kasey Michaels, along with nationalbestselling author Ruth Langan and reader favorite Carolyn Zane as theycreate unforgettable romances and lure you into the fascinating world of the Coltons.

THE COLTONS:

HarrisonColton:The vengeful tycoon. Whenthe sister of his ex-fiance shows up begging for his help, he discoversthat the steel wall surrounding his heart isn't as impenetrable as he'dthought.

William Colton:The playboy earl. Ratherthan succumb to a loveless union, he'd willfully chosen poverty overprestige. But now he must convince the beautiful, destitute widowliving next door of the sincerity of his love....

Jason Colton:Thedetermined doctor. Whenthis hardworking M.D. rushes to aid a pregnant woman, her secrecysuggests she's cut from the same cloth as his former bride-to-be. Nowshe must persuade him that their meeting was more than mere chancebutdestiny!

KASEY MICHAELS is a New York Times andUSA Today bestsellingauthor of more than sixty books that range from contemporary tohistorical romance. Recipient of the Romance Writers of America RITAAward and Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times Magazine, inaddition to writing for Silhouette, Kasey is currently writingsingle-title contemporary fiction and Regency historical romances. Whenasked about her work for the Colton series, she said that she hasrarely felt so involved in a project, one with such scope and diversityof plot and characters.

RUTH LANGAN, award-winning, bestsellingauthor of more than sixty books, both contemporary and historical, hasbeen described by Romantic Times Magazine as"a true master at involving your emotions, be they laughter or tears."Ruth has given dozens of print, radio and TV interviews, including GoodMorning America and CNN News, as well as such diversepublications as the Wall Street journal,Cosmopolitan and the Detroit Free Press. Itshould be obvious to all her readers that Ruth Langan loves her workand lives to please her readers. "Colton's Bride" is a story that trulytouched her heart. She hopes it touches all of yours, as well.

CAROLYN ZANE loves to writestories aboutpregnancy, as she is one of those hateful women who feels her best whenshe's expecting. While other women might have languished with morningsickness, Carolyn devoured barbecue beef sandwiches and chocolate cakewith ice cream. Or anything that was not nailed down...with ice cream.Her husband, Matt, being the supportive sort, joined her in her icecream habit. Had Carolyn known how wonderful the whole pregnancy thingreally was, she most likely would not have waited sixteen years intoher marriage to try it and would have well over a dozen children bynow. As it is, she is kept more than busy with her two beautiful littledaughters, Madeline and Olivia, and her adopted son, golden retrieverBob Barker.

byKasey Michaels

Chapter1

Lorraine Nealy stuck small yellow arrows onthe neatly typed pages. "Here, here and here," she said ratherunnecessarily as she then placed each page on the desktop. The paperarrows that said without words "Sign here, bozo" were also redundant,but Harrison Colton didn't say anything; he just signed on eachindicated line. Break Lorraine's stride and she unfailingly startedover from the beginning. Harrison was just about done signing thepapers and the idea of going back to Go wasn't part of his plan.

"Lorraine," he said at last, as hispersonal assistantshe'd made it very clear she was not asecretarygathered up the contracts, "whatever would I do without you?"

"You'dwither and die, Mr. Colton. Thewhole place would fall down around your ears. It wouldn't be pretty,trust me," Lorraine responded without missing a beat.

In her middle fifties, Lorraine had beenatColton Media Holdings for thirty years and had convinced herself thatshe was the linchpin that held CMH together. She'd been Frank Colton'spersonal assistant until Harrison's father had let go of the reinsenough to let his younger son take over, and now she ran CMH throughHarrison, as she'd tell anyone who asked. Even if they didn't ask.

Harrison smiled, stood up, reached for thenavy-blue sport coat he'd hung on the back of his chair. "In that case,I'm probably safe in leaving early today, with CMH in such reliablehands. Unless you've got more papers for me to sign?"

"Nope, all done. Your collar's crooked,"Lorraine added, and Harrison quickly reached up and straightened it,slipping the Windsor knot on his maroon-and-navy striped tie back intoplace as well. At thirty-one, he had yet to adopt CMH's own policy ofcasual Fridays, although he had heartily subscribed to the optionalwork-at-home Fridays. He had only come into the office to sign thecontracts, and was more than ready to get an early start on his weekend.

Smoothing down his collar, he then ran ahandover his jet-black hair before Lorraine could tell him
that he lookedlike he'd been "rode hard and put away wet," and picked up hisbriefcase. "I am excused,
aren't I, Lorraine?" he asked, alreadyheading for the door.

"Actually..." Lorraine began, and Harrison stopped halfway across the wide expanse ofbeige Berber carpeting, turned to look at her, his green eyes narrowed."No, never mind. I'll get rid of her. Just go
out the side door."

"Her?" Harrison, intrigued in spite ofhimself,shot a quick look toward the closed door that led to Lorraine's officeand the reception area. "Her who?"

Lorraine clasped the contracts to herratherflat chest and rolled her watery blue eyes. "Her who has
been sittingin my office for the past hour, obviously unable to take a hint and goaway. That her."

"No appointment? No, of course not. Idon'tmake appointments for Friday afternoons. But she didn't leave? Wow.Lorraine, you must be losing your edge. When you say no, strong mencringe. I know I do."

"I told her maybe," Lorraine said soquietly that Harrison had to step closer in order to hear her.

"You said maybe," Harrison repeated,sincerelyimpressed. "You never say maybe, Lorraine. Yes, no,
not in your wildestdreams. But never maybe. What does this woman want? Is she collectingfor homeless poodles and hit your one soft spot?"

"There are rarely homeless poodles, Mr.Colton," she replied tightly. "Poodles are eminently lovable, andalmost always find homes."

"Yeah," Harrison said, grinning. "Withyou. What are you up to, at last count? Ten?"

"Six, withall of them expecting me home inthenext hour to feed them, so if you're done dragging your feet, pleaseleave by the side door so that I can go back out there and truthfullytell this Hamilton woman that you've gone for the day."

"Whoa," Harrison said, holding out an arm,blocking Lorraine's exit. "Did you say Hamilton? Annette Hamilton?No, that couldn't be. She's Annette O'Meara now."

Lorraine pulled a small piece of notepaperoutof her pocket and checked it before saying, "Not Annette. This is a Ms.Savannah Hamilton. I'll tell her you've gone. Would you like me to setup an appointment sometime next month?''

No, he didn't want Lorraine to make anappointment for Ms. Savannah Hamilton for next month. What he'd like isfor Lorraine to arrange for Ms. Savannah Hamilton to be on the nextspace launch headed for Mars. And definitely with the trip being a realfamily vacation, so that Sam and Annette went with her.

Harrison rubbed at his jaw as he walkedback to the desk and laid down his briefcase. "What does she want?"

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