Point Of No Return
Carole Mortimer
Carole Mortimer is one of Mills & Boon’s best loved Modern Romance authors. With nearly 200 books published and a career spanning 35 years, Mills & Boon are thrilled to present her complete works available to download for the very first time! Rediscover old favourites - and find new ones! - in this fabulous collection…Falling for the enemy…Even before she knew him personally, Megan Finch disliked Jerome Towers, the wealthy landowner plotting to buy out her family's farm. And when she eventually meets him, he is as arrogant as she expected! And yet Megan can’t help but be deeply captivated by Jerome’s charm and magnetism…Now she’ll do anything to avoid Jerome discovering that she has been accused of a scandalous relationship with his half-brother! An accusation that has destroyed her career… Will Jerome turn out to be her saviour or her downfall?
Point of No Return
Carole Mortimer
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Table of Contents
Cover (#uc5362010-81f0-5526-ad47-971cbb7a6468)
Title Page (#u26842c88-ea21-5a19-9ac3-be8ddbc7230a)
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#u0c3e261d-3912-5256-b4a8-adef5ca46acd)
‘IT’s no good, Megan, I have to go.’
Megan tucked the bedclothes more firmly about her mother. ‘You aren’t going anywhere, not with a cold like that.’
‘But I have to,’ her mother insisted nasally. ‘We need the money, you know that.’
Oh yes, she knew they needed the money. She had heard of nothing but how badly they needed money since her return yesterday. But she would not sell her share of the farm, not for any amount Jerome Towers cared to offer. This farm could be made to work for them if they tried hard enough, and now that she had been dismissed from the hospital she could help her brother Brian with some of the work. Finch Farm wouldn’t even be noticed in the amount of land the Towers estate already had, but to them it meant a livelihood. At least it would, when they could make it work.
‘They won’t miss you up at the house for one morning,’ she told her mother firmly. ‘Besides, we wouldn’t want the new owner to catch your cold from you, now would we? With all that wheeling and dealing he does each day he needs all his strength.’
‘He doesn’t wheel and deal, dear,’ Emily Finch collapsed back on the pillows, her face pale. ‘He’s a business man.’
‘And he makes a huge profit doing it, which means someone else suffers for his gain. Look how much his lawyer offered us for this place—peanuts!’ Megan dismissed disgustedly. ‘And all the time you’re working in his house as a kitchenmaid!’
‘It isn’t as bad as it sounds, Megan. The housekeeper, Mrs Reece, is a very nice woman, and as for Freda, the cook.…!’ She gave a husky laugh, unwittingly increasing the irritation in her throat and sending her into a spasm of coughing. ‘Oh dear,’ she sighed, ‘I really don’t feel very well.’
‘Of course you don’t, Megan said impatiently. ‘Now you just lie there and I’ll get you a nice cup of tea.’
‘But what about my work at The Towers?’ her mother frowned worriedly.
‘What about it? Let someone else peel the man’s potatoes for lunch,’ said Megan almost angrily.
‘There isn’t anyone else—and he doesn’t eat potatoes.’ Her mother gave a wan smile.
‘Trying not to get a middle-aged paunch, I suppose,’ Megan muttered on her way out of the bedroom.
‘What did you say, dear?’ her mother called after her.
She appeared back at the bedroom doorway. ‘Nothing of importance. Now just try and get some rest.’
Her mother frowned. ‘But what about Brian’s breakfast? And feeding the hens? And then there’s Bertha to see to.’
‘Bertha?’ Megan cut in with a laugh. ‘I’d forgotten we still have old Bertha.’
‘Of course we have,’ her mother said indignantly. ‘She’s in the nature of a family pet.’