When The Devil Drives

Sara Craven

Mills & Boon proudly presents THE SARA CRAVEN COLLECTION. Sara’s powerful and passionate romances have captivated and thrilled readers all over the world for five decades and made her an international bestseller.WHEN THE DEVIL DRIVESDare she dream of the devil?It was time for Joanna to stop running and face Callum Blackstone.If she had only herself to consider, she’d tell him to do his worst. But refusing to submit to Cals' impossible demands meant financial disaster for her father and brother.Fate has dealt Cal all the best cards, yet still the price he wanted Joanna to pay seemed far too high. Was revenge really his motive?

When the Devil Drives

Sara Craven

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

Former journalist SARA CRAVEN published her first novel ‘Garden of Dreams’ for Mills & Boon in 1975. Apart from her writing (naturally!) her passions include reading, bridge, Italian cities, Greek islands, the French language and countryside, and her rescue Jack Russell/cross Button. She has appeared on several TV quiz shows and in 1997 became UK TV Mastermind champion. She lives near her family in Warwickshire – Shakespeare country.

Table of Contents

Cover (#ud3e6bcb0-2e13-5029-86d8-e014f431d1d3)

Title Page (#u72461ba1-69ea-563b-8b5c-7c5ffc2019bf)

About the Author (#ua7db463b-1894-51e2-906b-ebf1d366a48f)

CHAPTER ONE (#ulink_09cae6ac-5cfc-5529-b321-ed2c82eb720f)

CHAPTER TWO (#ulink_ad72e30f-1008-5c66-bec3-5224c609b756)

CHAPTER THREE (#litres_trial_promo)

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)

Endpage (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER ONE (#ulink_ce0ae7a6-e7ab-5798-86af-cba576c57469)

‘SIMON, YOU DON’T—you can’t mean this! It’s a joke, isn’t it—one of your appalling, tasteless bloody jokes?’

Simon Chalfont’s face reddened, and his glance shifted away from the anguished appeal in his sister’s eyes.

‘I’m totally serious, old girl.’ He sighed. ‘God, Jo, if I could change things, I would. But you weren’t here, and the bank wouldn’t lift a finger to help me. I was desperate.’

‘So you’ve mortgaged us—this house—the workshop—the little we have left—to Cal Blackstone.’ Joanna Bentham’s hands gripped the back of the chair as if it were the only reality in a suddenly tottering world. ‘I can’t believe it. I can’t credit that you’d do such a thing.’

‘And what was I supposed to do?’ Simon demanded defensively. ‘Lay the men off? Close the workshop? Try and sell this house?’

‘If you were so strapped for cash, surely there are other sources you could have borrowed from in the short term?’

‘A loan shark, perhaps,’ Simon suggested derisively. ‘For God’s sake, Jo, do you know the kind of interest those people charge?’

‘I know the kind of interest Cal Blackstone could charge.’ Joanna drew a shaky breath. ‘Simon, don’t you realise what you’ve done? You’ve sold us lock, stock and barrel to our greatest enemy!’

‘Oh, I knew that was coming.’ Simon flung himself on to the sofa, giving his sister a trenchant look. ‘Don’t you think it’s time we grew up and forgot all about this ridiculous family feud? Isn’t carrying the thing into a third generation going over the top?’

‘Ask Cal Blackstone,’ Joanna bit back at him. ‘He hasn’t forgotten a thing. Fifteen years ago, his father took the mill away from us. Now his son’s coming for the rest. And, thanks to you, he hasn’t even had to fight for it.’

There was a sullen silence.

Joanna released her grip on the chairback, rubbing almost absently the indentations the heavily carved wood had left in her flesh.

Cal Blackstone, she thought, and her skin crawled. The grandson of the man who was once glad to work for my grandfather as an overlooker at the mill. The trouble-maker, the rabble-rouser who tried to close our doors with strikes over and over again. The self-made millionaire who drove Chalfonts to the edge of bankruptcy, and died swe