Spotlight & Giveaway: A Ring to Claim His Legacy by Rachael Thomas

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Rachael Thomas to HJ!

Hi Rachael and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, A Ring to Claim His Legacy!

 
Hi everyone. I’m thrilled to be back on Harlequin Junkie to talk about my latest Presents, A Ring to Claim His Legacy.
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Totally out of her depth, Imogen finds herself not only on a luxurious island resort, but the center of attention of a man she is undeniably attracted to. For her and her friend, their time on the island is going to lived to the full. A week of fantasy and from the moment Imogen’s eyes meet Marco’s, she knew he will become part of that fantasy.
Marco cannot resist Imogen.She is the perfect antidote to the drama of his family life and the demands of his business. When she makes it clear that whatever is between them will end once they’ve left the island, he sets out to make their time as romantic and passionate as possible.
What neither of them expect, is that consequences of their final night on the island, will link them together forever more!
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

I love the moment when Imogen realizes just who Marco is – with a little help from her friend!

‘It’s no mistake, Immy. Marco, your Marco, is the CEO of Silviano Leisure Group. The father of your baby is New York billionaire businessman Marco Silviano.’

And I’d loved the moment when Marco overheard Imogen’s conversation with her friend.

‘What do I say?’ Anger filled Imogen now as the scenario rushed through her mind. ‘Pleased to meet you, Mr Silviano, and by the way, you are the father of my baby?’
‘That’s some introduction.’ Marco couldn’t understand how he’d kept his voice so calm when within the last few seconds he’d discovered not one, but two major revelations.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• The island is fictional, but based on the Maldieves – a place I’d love to go to.
• The idea for the book came about whilst I was watching a TV program about a luxury travel agent which sent its employees to sample the destinations so that they could recommend them to clients. It made me think, what if? Then Marco and Imogen slipped into my imagination!

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

The attraction is instant and undeniable. Marco is looking for escape from the demands of his family and business. Imogen is at the luxury resort, sampling it for clients of the bespoke travel company she works for, but is determined to enjoy living the fantasy of being the kind of woman who can afford to spend time at such a luxurious destination.What she doesn’t expect is a holiday romance and one passionate night with Marco.

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would you use for the audition of the main characters and why?

For an audition, I’d use Marco and Imogen’s final evening together on the island, before they both returned to the reality of their lives.

He took her hand, lifting her fingers to his lips, kissing the tips of them. Her nails were a deep red and her skin delicately scented. He’d never known this anticipation, this sense of belonging before. ‘Only the best for tonight,’ he whispered softly as he looked into her eyes.
Her deep drawn-in breath gave away far more than he was sure she wanted to. ‘More of your special arrangements?’ she jested with him, that playful, teasing light in her eyes. ‘You seem to have a lot of influence on the island.’
He wasn’t about to tell her that he owned the entire island, not when she’d spent the week being with him simply because it was what they’d both wanted. He knew very little about her, but he did know that she wasn’t at all like the kind of spoilt societal ladies he usually encountered as billionaire Marco Silviano. She seemed so in awe, so in wonder of everything his island offered, as if she was unused to such luxury. But Julie’s words about ‘Daddy suggesting they take a luxury break’ warned him she must be accustomed to such a world. Neither of them had talked much about their real lives and maybe that was for the best. She would linger in his memory, the perfect antidote to the constant friction between him and his family.
‘I guess I do.’ He smiled at her. ‘And to prove it I have arranged for somewhere special for us on our last night. It’s just a short ride in the utility vehicle.’
‘Now I am intrigued.’ She laughed and the way she reached out, placing her hand on his arm, sent a frenzy of fiery need hurtling through him, so fast he was in serious doubt if he could get through the meal he had planned without giving in to his desire for her.
‘Then let us go,’ he said as he held out his hand to help her in, trying not to think too much about where his thoughts had just led him. All he wanted was to enjoy the escape of tonight and be nothing more than Marco enjoying Imogen’s company. Who they really were, what their lives really entailed, didn’t matter one bit.

Readers should read this book….

If you love exotic locations and passionate stories of one night with consequences.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

Seducing His Convenient Innocent is my next Presents release in March 2019

I’m currently working on a duet. Sicilian twin heroes who have to marry in order to inherit their late father’s estate, both have actively avoided marriage. Bu now with a personal reason for wanting to inherit, they each need a bride!
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: One signed Presents copy of A Ring To Claim His Legacy. Open internationally.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: If you were to invent your ultimate escape destination, what two things would it have to have?

 
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Excerpt from A Ring to Claim His Legacy:

‘I want us to be married—before the baby is born. But I’m not being manipulated by family pressure and tradition. I want us to be married because this is my baby and I want it to be born a Silviano.’
Imogen’s eyes widened and she opened her mouth as if to speak, but nothing came out. Then she sat back down, disbelief all over her face, and when she did look up at him there was sadness in her eyes and he hated that he was hurting her, upsetting her.
He couldn’t go to her and hold her as he wanted to. If he did he’d be showing weak emotions and that was something he never did—except for a blissful week on a paradise island.
‘You and the baby will want for nothing, Imogen.’
‘You brought me here on the pretext of introducing me as your fiancée to make your seriously ill father happy that you had a child on the way. You accepted I wanted to return to England, that marriage wasn’t part of the deal. Now you change all the rules, all the conditions and say we must be married?’
‘I will be part of my child’s upbringing, Imogen. Surely you can see that marriage will be the best way? That it will be best for all of us?’ Marco bristled and defended himself.
‘There is one thing I want, Marco, one thing my baby will want, and you haven’t mentioned it once. Not once.’ She looked tearful and he suddenly felt completely out of his depth.
‘I have told you I will give you everything you both need.’
She shook her head slowly. ‘Not everything, Marco. Your luxury lifestyle can’t buy everything.’He scowled at her. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I can’t marry you just because we are having a baby.’ Her voice implored him to understand, but he didn’t. ‘I can’t even truly be your fiancée, although I will do what I agreed to in England and meet your father and mother, but after that I want to return home.’
‘That makes no sense, Imogen. I am the baby’s father.’
‘And you will always be that. You can spend time with him or her whenever you want, but…’ Her voice trailed off.
‘But what?’
Imogen looked at Marco as he stood there, his tall, athletic body dominating the New York skyline behind him. Just a few moments ago she’d thought she’d seen the real Marco, the man he didn’t want the world to see. She’d been wrong. The real Marco was this commanding man who dominated and dictated. The man who thought he could dangle the carrot of his lifestyle before her and make her do exactly what he wanted.
‘What about love, Marco?’ Her words had become a quiet whisper by the time she said his name, her voice frightened away by the severe expression the word ‘love’ had brought to his face.
‘Love?’ The word rushed from him like a bullet from a gun.
‘Yes, Marco, love.’
‘My reason for us to marry is because of our baby, not love.’ He ground the words out as if they were poison, dashing any glimmer of hope she had that after their romantic week on the island they could find love.
‘When I marry I want it to be for love.’ Imogen tried to push aside the thought that she would never find a man to love her, the cruel taunts over her weight when she was a teenager surfacing rapidly, wiping away all the time she’d spent accepting herself for who she was. While all the other girls had had an endless stream of boyfriends she’d been at home studying, trying to pretend she didn’t care. Even Gavin, who’d claimed he loved her, had left her and sought the company of glamorous, thin, model-like women.
‘But you are pregnant with my baby.’
‘This is the twenty-first century, Marco. That doesn’t mean I have to marry you.’
She watched his brow furrow as he thought of what she’d said and bizarrely she wanted to laugh. The mighty CEO of Silviano Leisure Group had been reduced to confused silence—by her.
‘I want to be a part of my child’s life and marriage will give me the security that I can be, even if you insist we are on different sides of the world.’
‘I’m sorry, Marco, but I’ve made my decision. Once I have done what I agreed to do, I am returning to England, not marrying you.’
‘What else do you expect from me, Imogen?’ His voice had sharpened, and she knew he was frustrated, but this was for the best. Soon enough he would forget her and move on to the next svelte woman. She’d be a fool to think this man was any different from Gavin.
‘That’s just it, Marco.’ She stood up and walked towards him, desperate to make him see he didn’t have to do any of this out of a sense of duty. The only way they could be together was if he loved her and, despite the romantic week they’d had on the island, she now knew without any doubt that love was not part of this man’s life. ‘I don’t want or expect anything from you.’
‘When I walked into the office you and Julie were talking—she was saying you had to tell me. You must have wanted something from me?’
‘You don’t know me at all if you think that.’ Sadness filled her voice. ‘I wanted you to know for the baby’s sake. It’s important to me that my child knows who his or her father is because family is everything. It’s why I agreed to come here in the first place.’
‘Then I must convince you that staying here in New York as my wife will be the best way to do that.’ He turned from her. She had no idea if he was brooding over the view or calculating his next move. Either way, she had to make her decision clear to him.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Tycoon Marco Silviano can’t forget the mysterious woman he spent an incredible week with on a luxurious island. Coming face to face with Imogen in England is shocking – especially when he learns she’s expecting his baby! Convinced their child will secure his family’s dynasty, Marco is intent on persuading Imogen to wear his ring. But once they’r engaged their burning desire and Imogen’s warm-hearted allure test Marco’s control to the limit….
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Meet the Author:

I’ve always loved reading romance and writing is something I’ve done since I was a child. I live and work on a farm in Wales, a far cry from the glamour of my stories, but that makes slipping into the world of my characters all the more appealing. When I’m not writing or working on the farm, I love nothing more than to visit grand historic house or ancient castles.
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