Manhattan Ruthless

You want to know the secret to everlasting happiness? Never fall in love. That was the wisdom my father imparted to us James boys after our mom died, and it’s a piece of advice that’s served me well. Until dear old Dad asks me for a favor over Sunday brunch. No big deal, right? I love making my old man happy. Except this “favor” is a lot more complicated than picking up his dry cleaning. Dad wants me to marry and provide a few heirs for the James empire, and he’s even done me the courtesy of handpicking my bride-to-be. Lucky me.

How can you promise someone forever? The simple truth is that you can’t. At least that’s what I always thought. Until I met Amelia Ryder. It was a chance encounter. We were meant to go our separate ways and never see each other again. So you can imagine my surprise when the woman I haven’t been able to stop thinking about turns up at my office two days after I sent her home—as my new secretary. And things are about to get a lot more complicated than either of us expected.

They say love is all you need. They’re wrong. Sometimes, no matter how much you want to stop it from happening, you have to watch the person you love most in the world slip through your fingers. Even when it feels entirely wrong, you can still find yourself sitting in a lawyer’s office with your spouse, negotiating the terms of your divorce. It doesn’t matter that she’s the only woman I’ve ever loved. Or that we both meant it when we promised each other forever. It matters even less that she can still make my knees weak with nothing more than a smile.