CALEB
MY father always said I would know when the
right woman came along. He was such a wise man. When it happened, I didn’t even
question it because the process was so effortless. I just fell into her . . .
because my heart knew her right away.
Knew she was the one
for me.
I’d known her for
years actually. She came to Blackstone Island to live with her grandmother
after her parents were killed in a car crash. A devastated fifteen-year-old
trying to adapt to a new life in a new place, trying to find where she fit in
to a world so different from where she’d come—a forty-square-mile resort island
off the Massachusetts coast where her grandmother ran the household at
Blackwater, the family ancestral home.
Should have known of her,
that is.
Our paths didn’t cross
that I am aware of, but it’s possible. I rarely visited the island in those
days because I was a twenty-three-year-old junior executive fresh out of
Harvard Business School, learning everything I could about the family business.
I traveled the world, enjoying the excitement of international boardroom deals
by day and socializing at off-hours business affairs by night. I worked hard at
both. Affairs, liaisons, one-night stands had all come and gone without a
backward glance. Nameless faces and unremarkable encounters filled my nights
whenever I wanted them to. The hopping nightlife of the big cities with even
bigger players vying for a piece of the pie became my normal. I embraced every
aspect that came with the lifestyle. Wealth, sexual favors, a certain celebrity
born out of my name, all collected with barely any effort. For the next eight
years, I had the world in the palm of my hand as I went about amassing a
personal fortune in addition to increasing the family coffers.
Or so I thought.
I didn’t yet know what
was missing from my life. Until her. And then, when I realized exactly who she was, and how fate had gotten the
last laugh on me, it was already far too late. She’d bewitched me utterly. And
furthermore, I knew she had no idea who I was or what ties connected us.
Maybe that’s what made
her so intoxicating?
I didn’t know and I
didn’t care because it made absolutely no difference to me. I wanted her with a
primal desire I could barely understand, yet I embraced that desire
wholeheartedly because I was incapable of doing anything else with it. How
could I not? She had enchanted me.
However, once my brain
managed to catch up, it wasn’t quite so effortless to accept this new and
unfamiliar reality of feeling something for a woman beyond the unquestioning
curiosity of when and if we might fuck.
I struggled against
the idea of her at first for a few reasons. She was too young. My mother would
never approve of us together. Others in my world would probably chew her up and
spit her out, destroying her sweetness. But I soon found out my heart didn’t
give a flying fuck about any of those reasons. The heart wants what it wants,
and I’d discovered that for my heart,
“want” was all wrapped up in the package that was Brooke Ellen Casterley.
The death of my father
from the evils of cancer was an eye-opener for my siblings and me. Money can
buy a lot of things, but it can’t stop the grim reaper from calling on you if
it’s your time to go. Death was called the great equalizer. And it truly was.
Wealth is a trivial thing when it’s only extra fuckin’ zeros on a balance sheet
that makes any difference between lives lived. Doesn’t matter if you are rich
or poor when you die, because none of it counts at the end. You leave this life
the same way you come into it. You go out alone and take nothing. “There has to
be more to life than making money, son,” he told me at the end. He took hold of
my hand and squeezed as hard as his frail strength could manage so as to make
me understand the importance. He had regrets and wanted to share with me what
he’d learned to prevent me from making the same mistakes. I understood him
clearly.
The most essential
value my father tried to teach me along with my brothers and sisters was the
idea of family. Family took precedence over money. “Take care of the family
first and the wealth will grow, Caleb,” he said.
A strong family moving
forward was the only thing that truly meant anything at the end of the day.
The Blackstones had
been here on the island since the days when the Mayflower made its treacherous journey to the untamed American
shores. As the eldest son it was my duty to make sure the Blackstones would
still be here a hundred years from now.
My plan to fulfill my
duty included her. It wouldn’t work any other way for me. I knew it the first
time I ever felt the heat of her eyes as they burned me from across the room.
I knew it down in my
bones.
I was going to marry
that lovely, beautiful girl from England, and she would be mine.
Are you ready for Caleb Blackstone?
Filthy Rich by Raine Miller releases
on November 15th! #BlackstoneDynasty
Pre-order TODAY!
Blurb
Billionaire Caleb Blackstone lives in the
glamorous world of wealth and success, with every material luxury. But the
moment he sees Brooke Casterley, none of that matters. Caleb is filled with a
raw, undeniable need that he can’t ignore…for a girl who is so completely
different from everything and everyone he’s ever known.
Only Brooke isn’t looking for love. She
knows all too well just how much damage the wrong guy can do. Still, what sane,
broke British girl can resist the charms of an incredibly sexy, chivalrous
billionaire? What starts as flirtation quickly turns into all-consuming
passion. Nothing could have prepared her for the searing heat of Caleb’s
touch—or just how much she craves him.
Their whirlwind romance is the stuff of
high-society fantasy—but for every moment of pleasure, there is a cost. Past
mistakes and tragedy shadow them both…and falling for him might be the kind of
trouble she can’t afford.
About the
Author:
Raine
Miller has been reading romance novels since she picked up that first Barbara
Cartland book at the tender age of thirteen. And it's a safe bet she'll never
stop, because now she writes them too! Granted Raine's stories are edgy enough
to turn Ms. Cartland in her grave, but to her way of thinking, a hot, sexy hero
never goes out of fashion. A former teacher, she's now writing sexy romance
stories full time. She has a handsome prince of a husband, two brilliant sons,
and two bouncy Italian Greyhounds to pull her back into the real world if the
writing takes her too far away. Her sons know she likes to write stories, but
gratefully have never asked to read any, thank God! Raine loves to hear from
readers and to chat about the characters in her books. You can contact her at
raine_miller@ymail.com or visit www.RaineMiller.com to sign up for updates and her
newsletter with links to upcoming books. Join us on Facebook at the Raine
Miller Romance Readers group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/raine_miller
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