His Bargain, Book #4

• Runaway Bride
• Reunion love affair
• Blackmail and well, more blackmail
• Alpha hero romance

What happens when powerful, sexy Bad, Bad Boys! find the woman they want? They’ll do whatever it takes to keep them. Whatever it takes.

Handle the vile extortionist threatening to ruin my ex? You can bet on it … for a price.

Help my hot ex uncover the truth about her past? Of course, with a few stipulations.

Let her go? That’ll be a problem.

The last thing Diandra Montgomery wants is to face Jonas Tolken again after bailing on him and 300 of their nearest and dearest at her own engagement party. But when an old family employee shows up threatening to release compromising information about her family, there’s only one person she knows who can move mountains. And she’ll face him carrying the same burning love that sent her running away.

After a career spent serving the royal households of Verdonia as head of security, Jonas Tolken has earned his reputation. Clear-eyed, sharp-witted, and always ready, he’s only ever fallen in love once, and that was for his fiancée, Diandra Montgomery. After she skipped town the night they were due to announce their formal engagement, Jonas vowed he wouldn’t fall again. So when she shows up on his doorstep begging for help, he agrees. For a price.

His one condition for helping her? A night in his bed!

His Bargain is the fourth book in the contemporary romance series Bad, Bad Boys! written by USA Today bestselling author, Day Leclaire. Fair warning! This story includes blackmail, deception, seduction—both successful and not, and a ton of romance. If you’re looking for a story featuring bold, passionate men and the women captivated by them, purchase your copy today!

Her chin inched up and fire flashed in her eyes. “Do you want an apology for what I did five years ago? Fine. I apologize.”

“So regal,” he marveled. “So gracious.”

Hot color scored her cheekbones. “Cut me some slack, Jonas. I was an eighteen-year-old child. Our marriage would have been little more than a business contract, just like my parents’.”

Jonas could see the pain the admission caused, tiny lines scoring her brow and the sides of her lush mouth. Damn Henny for that. And all for money. It was unforgivable and despite his anger over the events of five years ago, he’d deal with the ex-governess.

“You can’t really believe our marriage would have been a business contract?” he objected.

“Why not?” she countered. “Our engagement was arranged by our families when I was still a baby in diapers. I spent my entire life accepting the inevitable. But one day, I woke up and realized I didn’t want a marriage based on politics. I wanted to be married for love, not as a means of connecting two principalities who’ve been at odds throughout most of Verdonian history. After that night, I just didn’t think our marriage had a chance of being real. So, I took the easy way,” she admitted. “I ran.”

“On the night of our engagement ball,” he reminded her. The memory left a bitter taste in his mouth. “There I was all set to announce the big news, only my bride-to-be had vanished. Have you any idea what that felt like?”

“I’m sorry.”

He caught a hint of compassion, and for some reason it roused an anger he hadn’t thought himself capable of feeling anymore. “What happened to honor, Diandra? To duty and responsibility? What happened to the promises we made to each other?”

“Was I supposed to sacrifice myself on the altar of Montgomery and von Folke political demand?” She planted her hands on hips that were far more shapely than he remembered. “I guess I foolishly hoped for an affair of the heart. What I got instead was an affair of state.”

“An affair of state?” he repeated softly. “Is that what our last night alone together was?”

He remembered it far differently. Remembered the sheer amount of willpower it took to reject his fiancée’s proposition. A proposition he wanted more than his next breath. Remembered how his palms ached from clutching the steering wheel of his car to prevent himself from reaching out to touch her. Take her. He'd been so afraid he would lose control. Maybe events would have ended far differently if he had.

Her mouth quivered for an instant before she firmed it. “If I remember correctly, you called that a mistake.”

“Should I have taken advantage of your offer? Taken advantage of you? What sort of man would that have made me?”

“A passionate one.”

Her comeback shot him straight over the edge, and he came after her. He caged her in his arms, stilling her instinctive resistance. “Do you honestly doubt my ability to be passionate, Diandra?”

Her breath quickened, and she stared at him with eyes as vivid a green as spring leaves. “Let me go, Jonas.”

“I did that once. I let you leave. I didn’t come after you. I gave you the room you needed to grow up without feeling caged in by a contract our parents made.” His gaze swept over her, taking in every inch of the toned, rounded shape of her. “And you have grown up, haven’t you?”

“Stop it, Jonas.”

“Coming back was your choice. Coming here was your choice. Don’t blame me for taking advantage of your mistake.” He knew he pushed her. Knew he pricked a part of her she preferred to keep hidden away.

“I returned to ask for your help. To find out about my mother’s ring,” she insisted. “To stop Henny.”

“And I’ll help you.” He waited a beat. “For a price.”

Alarm skittered across her face. “What do you mean? What price?”

“It won’t be anything more than you’re willing to give me. At least… nothing more than you were willing to give me the last night we were together.”

“You can’t mean—”

“Yes, Princess. I do mean.” He thrust his hands deep into the weighty mass of her hair, anchoring her in place. “The payment I want in exchange for finding the truth behind the ring you’re wearing is one night in my bed.”

And once he had her there, he’d show her just what sort of passionate man she’d left behind.