Captivated by Her Parisian Billionaire Read online

  Paris already has Cinderella’s heart...

  Can the billionaire steal it?

  Interior designer Zoe wouldn’t put her heart on the line for anything like she would for Paris! Practically penniless, her only chance of staying is convincing buttoned-up billionaire Jules to hire her. But how can she work with a man who finds her joie de vivre so infuriating? Until one uncharacteristically impulsive kiss later Zoe realizes Jules isn’t as immune to her charm as he’d have her believe...

  Darn Jules for planting that delicious kiss on her!

  Because even though he’d retracted it with his words, Zoe’s lips were still reacting. How, in a blink, his kiss sent sensation up and down her like hot blood that coursed through veins parched from drought.

  His kiss kindled mental portraits of lovers in Paris. Walking arm in arm, appreciating every bridge over the shimmering river. Strolling down a boulevard, gesturing and animated in their conversation, so much to tell each other. Those same lovers admiring a painting, sharing a pastry, kissing in a dusty bookshop, unable to contain their need for one another. Until they got home to explore the depths of their desire till the raw sunlight of dawn opened the skies.

  Why did Jules have to kiss her? Now Zoe couldn’t stop thinking about possibilities she’d forbidden herself to dwell on. She knew herself enough to be sure that she was a person who loved wholly and fully, so casual encounters were never going to do for her. It was all or nothing, and she’d chosen the latter. It wasn’t helpful to have her resolve be put to the test.

  Dear Reader,

  Don’t get me started on Paris! You all know I love glamorous, picturesque cities. The City of Light might just be the most romantic of all, wouldn’t you agree? The light really is different there, the way the sun kisses the rooftops and the blooms of flowers. It’s no wonder that painters have been flocking there to capture that magic for centuries.

  Jules grew up in Paris, although his business success took him to the four corners of the globe. But now he’s returned to the city to care for his aging parents and to stop running from his past. Vivacious Zoe, who carries her own pain, came to Paris to start making her dreams come true. She’s far too free-spirited for Jules. He’s much too rigid for her. These two could never, ever, be a couple! Except that love has another fate in mind...

  Welcome to Jules and Zoe’s Paris. A Paris of art and architecture. Of pastries and champagne. Of cruises on the Seine and nights at the opera. And above all else, a place where two kindred souls learn that amour conquers all.

  Enjoy their voyage. Thanks for reading.

  Andrea x

  Captivated by Her Parisian Billionaire

  Andrea Bolter

  Andrea Bolter has always been fascinated by matters of the heart. In fact, she’s the one her girlfriends turn to for advice with their love lives. A city mouse, she lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter. She loves travel, rock ’n’ roll, sitting at cafés and watching romantic comedies she’s already seen a hundred times. Say hi at andreabolter.com.

  Books by Andrea Bolter

  Harlequin Romance

  Her New York Billionaire

  Her Las Vegas Wedding

  The Italian’s Runaway Princess

  The Prince’s Cinderella

  His Convenient New York Bride

  Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com.

  For Megan

  Praise for

  Andrea Bolter

  “This is Ms. Bolter’s debut novel though it doesn’t show.... The characters are well rounded and have a touch of reality that allows them to flow off of the page and into our imagination.”

  —Harlequin Junkie on Her New York Billionaire

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Excerpt from The CEO, the Puppy and Me by Jennifer Faye

  CHAPTER ONE

  THE EIFFEL TOWER. It had been a long time since Jules had woken up to the sight of one of the world’s most famous landmarks. When his eyes clicked open after the heavy slumber he hoped would cancel out his jet lag, he’d used the remote control on the nightstand to raise the blackout blinds and let in the light of the Paris morning. There the tower stood in view through his window, in all its wrought iron lattice glory.

  Jules’s apartment was an example of the many Durand Properties, his billion-euro real-estate empire, he owned in the city with their mixture of historic architecture and every modern convenience. High ceilings, crown moldings and original chevron wood floors reminded him that this apartment in the Seventh Arrondissement, as Paris’s districts were referred to, was over a hundred years old.

  His eyes fell shut again. While there was no question that his hometown was one of the most magnificent cities in the world, he was uneasy returning to Paris. Traveling across the globe, buying more and more properties everywhere he went had become his way of life. The last sleep he’d had on land was on the fifty-seventh floor of an ultra-luxury hotel in Singapore. Always on the move, Jules liked living in hotels, anonymous and temporary.

  After rubbing his eyelids with the heels of his hands, he reopened them. There was the window again with its spectacular view. The tower, watching over the city as it always did. Yep, he really was back in Paris.

  Mindlessly scratching his bare chest, he knew he should get out of bed. Tomorrow, he’d resume his habit of starting the day with an outdoor run. Today, he’d acclimate. A busy morning lay ahead with reestablishing himself at the Durand Properties headquarters and completing the job he’d returned to France to do. It was time to take the reins from his irresponsible mother and father, who had been on their own globe-trot for far too long. Although parenting his parents was hardly how he’d envisioned this chapter of his life, blood was blood and he’d do anything he had to.

  As if reading his mind, the buzz of Jules’s phone beckoned and one glance at the screen’s caller identification let him know it was his mother. He swiped to answer.

  “Where in the world is my tall handsome son?” Agathe Durand’s singsong led him to believe she was calling from a different time zone, as she was never chipper in the mornings. Her voice was high with that continental-traveler tone she used to fool people, to disguise the fact that she was perpetually discontent with her life.

  “My apartment, Mother. You’re not in Paris?”

  “Tel Aviv.”

  “Tel Aviv. Dandy.” Spending Jules’s money, of course. “Dare I ask, is Father okay?”

  “Yes, your exasperating pater is fine, although keeping me from properly enjoying Tel Aviv. The man wants to sit in cafés eating falafel all day instead of being out and taking in the sights.”

  There she goes again, Jules thought. Blaming his father for her own unhappiness. As she did the entirety of Jules’s childhood. At their age, Jules hoped their domestic dramas were behind them, especially now that Hugo was confined to a wheelchair after a fall had broken his back. Yet, with his parents, there was no telling. The unpredictability of which drove ordered-and-organized Jules crazy.

  “Never mind touring Tel Aviv. You’re supposed to be in Paris. That’s why I’m here.” Arranging to meet them in the same place was often a challenge and Jules had sat waiting in many a foreign train station or airport, eventually receiving the call that they’d missed their departure.