Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Rourke (Steele Protectors 4)
    Rourke (Steele Protectors 4)
    Rourke (Steele Protectors 4)
    Ebook144 pages2 hours

    Rourke (Steele Protectors 4)

    By Carole Mortimer

    4.5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    ROURKE (Steele Protectors 4) is the 4th book in USA Today and Amazon #1 Bestselling Author, Carole Mortimer’s, Contemporary Romantic Suspense series, Steele Protectors.

    Author’s Note: Beware of the very sexy & very alpha Steele brothers. These books are HOT!

    Single, charming, sophisticated and wealthy, Rourke Steele has zero interest in falling in love or having a relationship.

    He’d decided that long before the young and beautiful Sophie Hammond walked into his life three years ago.

    He has the perfect life, working for the security company owned by all six of the Steele brothers, and dating and bedding as many beautiful women as he wants. Why ruin that by settling for one woman?

    What does it matter if every time he sees Sophie Hammond he wants to drag her off to his bed and do wicked things to that delectable body? It just means he’s a normal red-blooded man, right?

    Wrong.

    Because when Sophie is attacked at a wedding they are both attending Rourke doesn’t hesitate to step in and defend her.

    To hell with his usual charm and sophistication, Sophie is his, damn it.

    His!

    Falling instantly and irrevocably in love with one of her six bosses probably wasn’t the wisest thing Sophie had ever done. It wasn’t the worst thing she had ever done either. No, that prize went to trying to sort out her father’s mess without alerting any of the Steele brothers, but most especially Rourke, to what was going on.

    Something that is no longer an option when she’s attacked while attending the wedding of Logan Steele, Rourke’s twin brother, and Rourke is the one who comes to her rescue.

    Grateful as she is for that intervention Sophie has no intention of allowing Rourke to just step in and try to take over her life.

    Never mind that his kisses make her head spin and her knees weak. She’s a big girl and can take care of her own mess, thank you very much.

    Fireworks will ignite the sky and inanimate objects fly before these two stubborn people admit to their feelings for each other.
    Next book in the series is HAYDN (Steele Protectors 5)

    More books by Carole Mortimer:

    Steele Protectors contemporary romance Series:
    LOGAN (Steele Protectors 1)
    ATTICUS (Steele Protectors 2)
    BRYCE (Steele Protectors 3)
    ROURKE (Steele Protectors 4)
    HAYDN (Steele Protectors 5)
    More books to come in this series.

    Regency Club Venus – NEW series, Coming Soon
    Bastian’s Surrender (Regency Club Venus 1)
    Gabriel’s Torment (Regency Club Venus 2)

    Regency Lovers Series:
    INDECENT (Regency Lovers 1)
    OBSESSION (Regency Lovers 2)
    CRAVING (Regency Lovers 3)
    FORBIDDEN (Regency Lovers 4)
    SURRENDER (Regency Lovers 5)
    SCANDAL (Regency Lovers 6)
    This series is now complete

    Dragon Hearts:
    NATHANIEL (Dragon Hearts 1)
    DERYK (Dragon Hearts 2)
    BRYN (Dragon Hearts 3)
    DYLAN (Dragon Hearts 4)
    GRIGOR (Dragon Hearts 5)
    GARRETT (Dagon Hearts 6)
    AERAN & RHYS (Dragon Hearts 7)
    Series now complete

    Regency Sinners Series:
    Bks 1-8: Series now complete

    Regency Unlaced Series:
    Books 1-9: Series is now complete

    Contemporary Romance Knight Security Series – spin-off to Alpha Series:
    Books 0.5–6: Series is now complete

    Contemporary Romance Alpha Series:
    Books 1-8: Series is now complete.

    Carole Mortimer has written 250 books, in contemporary romantic suspense, Regency romance & paranormal romance. She became an indie author in 2014. In May 2017 she received a Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times. She is the Recipient of the 2015 Romance Writers of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Is an Entertainment Weekly Top 10 Romance Author—ever. Also a 2014 Romantic Times Pioneer of Romance. She was also recognized by Queen Elizabeth II in 2012, for her “outstanding service to literature”.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCarole Mortimer
    Release dateSep 20, 2019
    ISBN9781910597774
    Rourke (Steele Protectors 4)
    Author

    Carole Mortimer

    Carole Mortimer was born in England, the youngest of three children. She began writing in 1978, and has now written over one hundred and seventy books for Harlequin Mills and Boon®. Carole has six sons, Matthew, Joshua, Timothy, Michael, David and Peter. She says, ‘I’m happily married to Peter senior; we’re best friends as well as lovers, which is probably the best recipe for a successful relationship. We live in a lovely part of England.’

    Read more from Carole Mortimer

    Related to Rourke (Steele Protectors 4)

    Related ebooks

    Gothic For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Reading CORNER

      Dec 4, 2022

      For six years, a town has been hiding big secrets This novel starts out like a murder mystery, but very quickly becomes so much more than that. A heartfelt tale set in the suburbs of an Australian country town in the early ’90s, it’s about friendshi

      3 min read

    • Article

      Letter From The Founder

      Feb 8, 2024

      Letter From The Founder
      3 min read

    • Article

      The William Trevor Reader: “The Teddy-Bears’ Picnic”

      Jan 10, 2023

      I must admit to feeling dispirited by the title of this story before reading it, but “The Teddy-Bears’ Picnic” is actually a pretty fun one—I ought to have known that with a title like that, Trevor would deliver something appropriately vicious. The s

      3 min read

    • Article

      Gripping Reads

      Jan 8, 2021

      This gripping saga revolves around the lives of three sisters who are the daughters of a rich Zimbabwean businessman-turned-pastor, Abraham Mafu, and his wife, Phumla. It begins on the wedding day of the youngest daughter, Zandile. Some relatives dis

      3 min read

    • Article

      Elf Quest

      Nov 30, 2022

      Elf Quest
      11 min read

    • Article

      Shelf Life

      Jan 4, 2024

      To say that the inspiration for my third whodunit, Murder on Lake Garda, came unexpectedly wouldn’t quite be doing it justice. When I first happened on the seed of an idea, I was actually well into working on a completely different novel, involving a

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Dream Of Oscar Isaac

      Apr 14, 2022

      The Dream Of Oscar Isaac
      17 min read

    • Article

      The Downfall Of The Duchess Of Argyll

      Mar 23, 2022

      The Downfall Of The Duchess Of Argyll
      6 min read

    • Article

      Digital Probing

      May 16, 2021

      Digital Probing
      2 min read

    • Article

      The King Of Curiosity

      Sep 29, 2023

      The King Of Curiosity
      10 min read

    • Article

      The King Of Curiosity

      Sep 30, 2023

      The King Of Curiosity
      10 min read

    • Article

      His Neighbor’s Wife

      May 10, 2023

      The autumn air was crisp as the Subaru idled in the residential street. Despite the early hour, the Enforcers lined the sidewalks, passive as they fulfilled their obligation. They were there to witness the act and were not to engage with the players

      8 min read

    • Article

      The Shooting Wife

      Jan 13, 2021

      AN invitation to shoot nearby was asterisked by my host with the observation that we would be more of a quartet than an orchestra in the line due to the Covid-19 two-household rule. Within 24 hours, new Scottish lockdown regulations reduced us to a d

      2 min read

    • Article

      What To Read

      Jan 24, 2020

      James Mercer, a quantity surveyor by profession, holds a grudge against the banks, big firms and institutions that financially ruined his family’s business. And so he decides to take back what was taken from them. To achieve this, he becomes a thief

      3 min read

    • Article

      Slanted & enchanted

      May 30, 2021

      MIRRORLAND, by Carole Johnstone (HarperCollins, $32.99), is the imaginary place identical twins Cat and El have created in the basement of the strange house near Edinburgh they share with their neurotic mother and frightening grandfather. They have m

      3 min read

    • Article

      THE PLOT thickens...

      Oct 11, 2020

      THE PLOT thickens...
      3 min read

    • Article

      Love Is All Around

      Jan 16, 2020

      IT’S a leap year, gulp. As if the Valentine’s gush isn’t enough, now the girlfriends and single ladies among us must publicly announce our undying love by proposal. I’ve spent at least two leap years and nearly a decade of Valentine’s Days concentrat

      4 min read

    • Article

      Lies And Betrayal

      Jul 17, 2022

      Lies And Betrayal
      2 min read

    • Article

      Hilarious Outrage

      Oct 4, 2020

      “At a certain age, I began to think less about sex and more about tableware.” So Airini Beautrais opens her sharp and confronting, though often funny, short-story collection with a strait-laced science educator rebuffing her husband’s clumsy if well-

      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Rourke (Steele Protectors 4)

    4.5/5

    8 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Rourke (Steele Protectors 4) - Carole Mortimer

      Chapter One

      Where the hell do you think you’re going?

      Rourke gnashed his teeth even as he came to an abrupt halt, knowing better than to try to walk away from his brother Atticus.

      Bathroom, he answered without turning.

      Then you just walked past one.

      A scowl marred Rourke’s handsome features as he turned in what was one of the spacious marble hallways of the London hotel where his twin brother Logan’s wedding reception was now being held.

      Atticus, the eldest of the Steele brothers, wanted to know where Rourke was going?

      Anywhere the hell away from the hours of gushing love and happiness that was Logan and August’s wedding! From helping his twin into his wedding clothes earlier today to the best man speech Rourke had just delivered to the assembled guests.

      Not that Rourke had anything against love. It was better than hate and some said it kept the earth turning. Rourke was more inclined to think that was due to it orbiting the sun, but he doubted the romantics in the world would agree with him.

      Just as he scorned the idea of loving someone with your heart. No one could feel emotion with their heart. It was simply the organ of the body that pumped the flow of blood around the body. People loved because of the endorphins released into the brain when they saw someone they were attracted to and/or possibly fucking. It had absolutely nothing to do with the heart.

      Rourke winced as he acknowledged this cynicism wasn’t quite the attitude he should have brought to his twin’s wedding. But years of suffering through an unrequited attraction for a particular woman would do that to a man.

      Are you going to give me a truthful answer or what? Atticus continued to stride down the hallway, as formally dressed as Rourke in the dark gray morning suit, paler gray waistcoat, a white shirt, and black bow tie. Even Atticus’s long hair had been confined at his nape today.

      The jackets of the suits they all wore had tails, for fuck’s sake. The six of them—Logan the bridegroom, Rourke the best man, the other four brothers as groomsmen—all looked like a load of fucking penguins strutting about the place.

      What the hell has put you in such a bad mood? Atticus demanded when he reached Rourke’s side.

      He snorted. I’m not sure how much time you have before Jenna sends out a search party!

      Atticus smiled at the mention of his fiancée. Maybe five minutes, if we’re lucky. He shrugged. There’s something to be said for having a woman to love and who loves you as much in return. So much so that we instantly miss each other when we’re apart.

      This sickly and nauseating sentimentalism was exactly what Rourke had hoped to step away from, if only for a few minutes. Yeah, I’ve noticed.

      Hey, don’t knock it until you try it, his brother warned. It was Jenna who noticed you slipping away from the reception after your best man speech and thought it would be a good idea if I followed you.

      What the fuck for? Rourke wasn’t even going to qualify the suggestion of him falling in love with an answer.

      Atticus’s dark gaze narrowed. Well, that uncharacteristic aggression, for one thing.

      And for another?

      She was wondering if your unusual mood is because you’re more affected by Logan’s marriage than you’ve let on.

      Rourke’s mood wasn’t only due to the hours of sugary sweetness he had been forced to endure today. No, some of it was due to the close proximity of some of the guests. A female guest. Sophie Hammond, in particular. The beautiful woman, ten years younger than Rourke’s thirty-three, who worked as a receptionist at Steele Protectors, the company owned by the six brothers.

      She looked absolutely stunning today in a clinging gown the exact same color as her sky-blue eyes. Her hair spilled in heavy and loose bouncy curls down her spine. Long blonde hair Rourke had too often fantasized about coiling around his fist to hold Sophie in place while he bent her over the nearest flat surface and fucked her from behind. Just one of many fantasies Rourke had had about Sophie since she came to work for the brothers’ company three years ago.

      Fantasies that would no doubt shock her out of her little vanilla mind if she ever knew about them.

      Most especially because it was Rourke thinking them.

      Oh, he knew what impression he projected: suave, sophisticated, and most of all, charming. Rourke knew because it was a veneer he deliberately nurtured so that no one saw the darkness in the man behind the mask. The dark needs that would make an innocent like Sophie scream, and probably not in a good way.

      Thank God she hadn’t brought anyone with her to the wedding, or Rourke’s charming veneer might have slipped completely when he decided to pulverize the other man into the ground.

      As it was, it seemed several members of his family were aware he wasn’t behaving with his normal easygoing manner. Sorry, but I’m really not following you, he prompted Atticus. Affected how?

      He’s your twin, and twins have a special bond—

      Rourke snorted. He’s my very slightly younger brother—which I take great pleasure in reminding him—and he’s been a pain in my arse, along with everyone else’s, for most of his life. August deserves a medal for taking him on, he added affectionately.

      He really was happy for Logan and August. His twin tended to live life by his own set of rules, and his default mode was to be rude and abrasive, which pretty much pissed off everyone he came into contact with. Even August had wanted to kill him when they first met.

      Come to think of it, August deserved more than a medal for marrying Rourke’s twin…

      Atticus grinned. True. He sobered. But—

      There is no but, Rourke reassured. Look, in the last few months, I’ve watched you, Logan, and Bryce all fall in love with, admittedly, amazing women.

      The older man snorted. Now I can definitely hear a but!

      He sighed heavily. The six of us have been single for so long, I guess a part of me thought it would always be that way.

      The Steele brothers, perennial bachelors, against the world? Atticus drawled.

      He shrugged. Something like that.

      A couple of months ago, I would have agreed with you, Atticus mused. Now I can’t imagine not having Jenna’s toiletries in our shared bathroom, her clothes in the closet next to mine, and items of her sexy underwear littering my previously tidy apartment.

      Rourke gave a wince at the latter. TMI, bro.

      Atticus gave a low chuckle. Seriously, I’m pretty sure our parents, especially our mother—who has already started dropping broad hints about wanting grandchildren—would have had something to say if none of us had ever married.

      Yeah, in light of three of his brothers having recently found their soul mates, Rourke could now acknowledge it had been a stupid assumption to have made. But he had made it. Then Logan had fallen in love. Followed by Atticus a few weeks later. Then, just days ago, Bryce had announced he was also getting married to the love of his life. Haydn and Lucan seemed no more interested in being shackled than Rourke was, but there was no guarantee it was going to remain that way, for either of them.

      As Sophie didn’t return Rourke’s attraction to her, he had long ago resolved himself to not having the woman he wanted.

      Rourke deliberately shrugged off the tension from his shoulders and forced a smile to his lips. I’m just going outside for some fresh air and then I’ll rejoin you all in a few, okay?

      If you’re absolutely sure this has nothing to do with your twin now having a closer emotional bond to someone other than yourself?

      He held back a smile. You know, Atticus, you really suck at this emotional shit.

      His brother laughed again. I’ve tried telling Jenna that, but she will insist I keep trying.

      As long as she loves you and you love her, nothing else matters. The rest of us are big enough to look after ourselves.

      Atticus nodded. But if you do ever need to talk…

      Rourke chuckled. No offense, but if that ever happens, I think Jenna would be the safer bet.

      Fair enough, his brother accepted. Don’t stay away from the party too long, hmm?

      I won’t, Rourke confirmed distractedly as he continued down the hallway.

      He had just spotted a familiar blue dress and that even more recognizable long blonde hair as Sophie walked past the end of the hallway in the direction of the hotel’s private garden at the back of the building.

      Exactly where Rourke was going.

      And also, it seemed, the dark-haired and muscular man walking down the hallway too closely behind Sophie for it to be a coincidence…

      What the hell—! was all Sophie managed to say before the hand placed over her mouth cut off further speech and she was hauled back against a muscular and much taller body, the man’s other arm like a steel band about her chest to hold her captive.

      Being grabbed had knocked Sophie off-balance. One of her high-heeled shoes came off, and she dropped her clutch bag as she fought against being held against her will. She struggled even more as she was pulled back into the heavy foliage that made up most of the unexpected tropical garden at the back of this prestigious hotel.

      Sophie didn’t know—yet—whether to be relieved or worried that the garden was deserted except for her and the man holding her captive.

      The Boss wants to know if you have any good news for us?

      Relieved, Sophie decided. Not because she felt safe now she knew the identity of her abductor, but because she didn’t want any witnesses to this conversation. She doubted this man was about to kill her and hide the body. Not until his Boss had what he wanted from her.

      But that wouldn’t stop this man from roughing her up a little, if he wanted to.

      Maybe more than a little…

      Which, considering she was in this hotel as a guest at Logan Steele’s wedding, one of the six brothers who employed her, might be more than a little difficult to explain.

      Now that she knew the man didn’t actually intend to kill or rape her,

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1