Spotlight & Giveaway: Escape With Her Greek Tycoon by Michelle Douglas

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Michelle Douglas to HJ!

Hi Michelle and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Escape With Her Greek Tycoon!

 
Many thanks for having me here!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

The Mabel and Constantinos families have been feuding for more than fifty years—and at the heart of the feud is contested diamond necklace. MJ and Nikos move in the same circles and know each other by sight, but have only had the briefest of contacts with each other. Until MJ offers Nikos the necklace in return for helping her find her missing sister. It’s a bribe Nikos can’t refuse.

Nikos is exactly what MJ expects—bitter, resentful and suspicious…and so similar to her father it makes her want to cry. She’s determined to find a way to bring this feud to an end once and for all. For Nikos, though, MJ is the antithesis of the woman he has built up in his mind. She’s kind, generous and whip smart. As MJ and Nikos get to know each other, they find themselves more and more drawn to each other. And when their chemistry threatens to ignite, dare they take a risk on one other?
 
 

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

There are a lot of moments I love in this book, but one of them is just after Nikos tells MJ that if she’s playing him false, he’ll destroy everything she loves. She tells him:

“I’m afraid it would keep you awfully busy, Nikos, destroying everything I love, because I love a lot of things.”

It’s a moment that captures MJ’s fearlessness, and highlights the differences in her an Nikos’s attitudes.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• I had two different working titles for the book. Depending on what day it was I either called it Falling For the Forbidden Tycoon or Her Irresistible Enemy.
• I had two theme songs for the book. The first was Roberta Flack’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.” The tone and poignancy of the song captured the mood I was after and hinted at the fated-lovers element of the story. The second song was Sarah Bareilles “I Want To See You Be Brave,” which is really MJ’s theme song.
• I originally conceived this book as a Harlequin Presents back in 2011. I never had any intention of writing a Presents, I was just playing with the idea and wondering if I ever decided to write a Presents, what kind of story would I choose. It was just a silly exercises I did for fun. But I never forgot MJ and Nikos, and it eventually occurred to me that I could write it for the Romance line.
• MJ loves breakfast. She’d eat it three times a day if she could. I found myself craving a lot of full English breakfasts while writing this book.

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

MJ and Nikos have always been very aware of each other physically, but once they’re working together Nikos is drawn to MJ’s buoyancy and the way she sees the world…and her humour. As for MJ, she’s drawn to Nikos’s integrity and protectiveness.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

Oh, the scenes on the yacht definitely made me blush! But you’ll have to read the book if you want to find out why, LOL. With the Romance line now opening up the bedroom door, it’s been fun to explore the physical relationship that can evolve between a heroine and hero.

MJ and Nikos’s first meeting made me laugh. MJ turns up unannounced at Nikos’s mansion in London, and basically barges her way into his office. They maintain a veneer of politeness, but the barbs running beneath were a lot of fun to write. But there’s a moment where MJ asks NIkos if her really hates her family that much, which made me want to cry.

Do you really hate us that much?
The short answer was yes!
It was an ugly confession to make, even silently to himself, but the Mabels had brought nothing but misery and wretchedness to the Constantinos family. When Joan Mabel had tricked his grandfather into believing she loved him, her perfidy had sent the older man into a spiral of self-hatred that had resulted in him exiling himself from the world and becoming a hermit.
And when MJ’s father, Graham Mabel, had seduced Nikos’s mother… Nikos’s hands clenched. It had destroyed his parents’ marriage. He’d witnessed the fallout from that with his own eyes—the anger, the anguish, the despair. The ugliness. It had been a blight on his childhood.
While he might not be able to hate MJ personally—he didn’t know her well enough, thank God—he could still hate the idea of her. He could hate the harm her family had inflicted on his. He could hate all the Mabels had taken from him and his. He could hate that she’d profited at his family’s expense.
So, yes, he supposed he did hate her that much.
‘Your silence speaks volumes, Nikos.’
Good.
But when he glanced into her eyes, it wasn’t hatred that filled his veins. Her eyes looked so deep, honest and true.

It’s a moment that captures what’s at stake here and the ugliness of inherited hate.

Readers should read this book….

Readers should definitely read this book if they love an enemies-to-lovers story that’s an emotional roller coaster of a ride, heroines who totally flummox their heroes, and happy ever afters that have ALL the feel. Oh, and it won’t hurt if they love high stakes and sizzling chemistry too.

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

I’m finishing up the edits on my Christmas 2022 romance, Reclusive Millionaire’s Mistletoe Miracle. It’s full of Christmas charm with a hero and heroine who are deliciously grumpy but perfect for each other. It’s a bit of a Beauty and the Beast and Secret Garden mash up, which has been oodles of fun to write.

And in May Wedding Date In Malaysia releases. The bridesmaid and best man team up to save the day (and the wedding) in exotic Malaysia. I can’t wait to share this one with readers.

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: International giveaway! Michelle has a signed copy of Escape With Her Greek Tycoon to give away to one lucky reader.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Which is your favourite trope — enemies to lovers or friends to lovers? Or maybe you have an entirely different favourite trope.

 
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Excerpt from Escape With Her Greek Tycoon:

His lips twisted. Whose suspicions were petty now? He was a man of honour. When he entered into a contract, gave his word…
He stilled. A Mabel would no sooner believe a Constantinos than a Constantinos would a Mabel. She no more trusted him than he did her. He glanced at her. Over the years he’d demonised her family—he knew that. But maybe she was a woman of her word.
It didn’t change the fact that he’d love to cut her dead. Every instinct he had warned him against spending any time alone with her. But the image of the Ananke necklace dangled before him, a provocative prize. If he could win it back, nearly any price would be worth that. Even being forced to spend time in the company of a Mabel.
His gut clenched. But she needed to learn that he was boss. The sooner she understood that, the better. In two strides he was in front of her, his hands slamming down to grip the arms of her chair, locking her in as he drew his face close to hers. ‘Why would you give me the Ananke necklace?’
‘I’m not giving it to you. I’m buying your co-operation. I want to find my sister.’ Her eyes flashed and she lifted her chin. It angled her lips towards him in a way that had his heart thudding too hard against his ribs, but he sensed she was entirely unconscious of that fact.
‘The necklace is a curse, Nikos. It’s brought far more pain than joy. I don’t want it. I never wanted it.’
He didn’t believe that for a moment. ‘Then why haven’t you got rid of it?’
She hesitated. ‘My intention was to donate it to a museum.’
Did she expect him to believe that? ‘And now you mean to give it to me?’
‘As long as you keep your side of the bargain.’
‘Your father will never forgive you.’
That determined chin lifted a notch. ‘Yes, he will. I’ll make sure of it.’
‘How?’
She eased her spine from the back of her chair and leaned in close, so close their breaths mingled. He called himself every kind of fool for having played this game in the first place, for drawing near in an attempt to intimidate her. She didn’t look alarmed or cowed, merely intrigued. And now he was in a hell of his own making because, if he wanted to maintain face, he had to remain exactly where he was. That was what he got from trying to be tyrannical. And it served him damn well right.
‘Love.’ She said the word clearly.
He wanted to scoff, but his throat had drawn tight and an ache started up at the centre of him.
‘I love him and he loves me. He’ll be in a temper—there’s no doubt about that. He might not understand why I’ve done it, but he’ll forgive me in the end. Because he knows in his heart how much I love him.’
She moistened her lips and he couldn’t help but follow the action. She had pretty lips—not too full and not too thin; they looked soft and firm in exactly the right proportions. When he glanced into her eyes again, they’d widened, and he could read the surprise in their depths. Had she recognised the desire burning at the back of his own eyes?
His hands clenched so hard on the arms of her chair, his fingers started to ache. He wanted her to be as apprehensive as he was. ‘Do you really want to spend that much time alone with me?’
‘Needs must,’ she whispered.
Her sudden breathlessness told him she wasn’t as unaffected as she’d like to appear. The spectre of her in his arms eight years ago rose in his mind. His heart pumped too hard and fast. The ache that had flooded him then burst back to life now. ‘What would you do if I kissed you?’
Very gently she placed a hand in the middle of his chest and pushed him back, rising to her feet, ensuring there was at least three feet between them before she drew her hand back to her side. ‘Why, I’d slap you, of course. It’s what all the best heroines do in those old classic movies.’
She spoke lightly as she moved to the window and he couldn’t contain a rueful smile. The woman had class—he had to give her that.
She turned back to face him. ‘My sister is worth a hundred Ananke necklaces. So, Nikos, do we have a deal?’
‘Yes.’
‘Excellent.’ She pulled in a breath. ‘I’d like to get started on the search as soon as possible. While you haven’t bothered to enquire after my sister’s health, she could be dangerously ill. Time is of the essence.’
Shame hit him then. Shame and guilt. Siena might be a Mabel, but she was also a human being. Where the hell was his common decency?
Where the Mabels were concerned, he had a feeling he had none. For the first time, he wondered what the hell he was in danger of turning into.
He dragged in a breath. ‘Then let’s not waste time. Let’s get started immediately.’

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Book Info:

A taste of the forbidden… Under the Mediterranean sun!

As long as hotelier MJ can remember, dangerously attractive tycoon Nikos has been strictly off-limits because the scars of their families’ feud run deep. Now MJ needs to track down her wayward sister, and he’s the only person who can help! They’re alone together, and tensions run high as they both fight the inevitable chemistry. But when MJ sees the real man behind the guarded mask, she realizes he’s worth risking it all for!
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Meet the Author:

Michelle has been writing for Harlequin Mills & Boon since 2007 and believes she has the best job in the world. She lives in a leafy suburb of Newcastle on Australia’s east coast with her own romantic hero, a house full of dust and books, and an eclectic collection of 60s and 70s vinyl. She loves to hear from readers and can be contacted via her website: www.michelle-douglas.com
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