Title: The Baby and the Blueblood
Series: Eastport Bay Billionaires #3
Author: Tru Taylor

BLURB

She’s risen from the ashes of heartbreak…

As a single mom, I’m not looking for Prince Charming. The last time I fell for a handsome, sophisticated, wealthy guy, he left me at the worst possible time without a look backward or even a word of explanation.

He did leave me with a lovely parting gift though… which arrived nine months later.

With no way to reach him, I picked up the pieces of that shattered glass slipper and moved on. Now I’m running my own business—the Fairy Godmother Cleaning Agency. My hands—and all my hours—are more than full managing my employees (including my two hapless stepsisters) and keeping my four-year-old son happy, healthy, fed, and clothed. It’s not easy doing it all on my own, but I have zero interest in a new relationship.

And who has the time? My high society clients expect their Eastport Bay, Rhode Island mansions to be sparkling—on schedule—come hell, high water, or hurricane.

So when a flu epidemic sweeps through my agency the day before the royal family of Aubernesse is to arrive in Eastport Bay, I put on a uniform and pick up the slack, working furiously to make sure their gorgeous vacation home is immaculate and ready for the elaborate ball they’re planning to throw.

He’s looking for the perfect fit…

I’m back in Eastport Bay for the first time in five years—and not exactly happy to be here. There’s a reason I’ve stayed away so long.

The place lost its magic for me long ago—the night the only girl I’ve ever loved proved beyond a shadow of a doubt she didn’t feel the same.

But this trip is non-negotiable, a matter of duty. I’m planning to fly in, attend the ridiculous ball my mother is so insistent upon, then get back to my life in Europe as quickly as possible.

That is until I arrive at the family estate early and catch the cleaning crew still at work.

And get a look at the woman beneath that coating of dust, ash, and spiderwebs…

The Baby and the Blue Blood is a small-town rom com take on Cinderella, filled with heart, heat, and secret baby/second chance/royal billionaire romance fun!


GOODREADS LINK: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58854242-the-baby-and-the-blueblood

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EXCERPTS

#1

My long-time friend shoved her phone toward me. On the screen was a photo of Alexander Wessex, smiling in a suit and tie, his thick, dark hair windblown perfection, walking beside an equally handsome guy the caption identified as his brother Cameron.
“What am I missing here?” Kristal said. “He’s gorgeous, single, worth a zillion dollars, and oh, yeah, a literal prince. What is the problem?”
As I was trying to be “out of the office” as much as possible today, I’d asked Kristal to meet me for lunch at Nookie’s Diner, one of our favorite places. I was buying, of course, to thank my friend for watching AJ Friday night.
The instant I’d told her who Alex, my long-lost love, really was, Kristal had pulled out her phone and done a search for him.
“That is the problem,” I said, using my fingers to count off the reasons I couldn’t have dinner, coffee, or even a Tic Tac with Alexander Wessex.
“He lives in a foreign country, he lied about his identity—well he didn’t lie, but he hid the truth from me. He’s not who I thought he was. And he’s way out of my league. He’s in your league. He’s an aristocrat.”
I left the biggest reason off the list. I was too terrified to even think it, much less say it aloud.

#2

I laughed lightly and sank deeper into the steamy bath, enjoying the feel of the warm heat on my skin and muscles, relaxing fully now that Alex had left the room.
When the water had begun to turn tepid and my fingers had pruned, I wrapped the heavy, soaked towel around my body again, tucking the top edge tightly under one arm and pulling the lower edge down to cover my thighs. I’d actually have to hold that in place because the water kept floating it up.
With my good foot I kicked the lever to release the drain mechanism then called for Alex.
He opened the door so quickly I suspected he may have been waiting outside it after all.
“Have a nice bath?” he asked as he approached the tub.
I didn’t answer right away. I couldn’t. Alex was shirtless.
His feet were bare, and he wore only a pair of black running shorts.
As he’d mentioned earlier, we’d seen each other in bathing suits nearly every day of that long-ago summer. But it had been long ago. I’d been in the company of very few shirtless men since then, and none of them had looked like this.
Even Alex hadn’t looked like this back then.
He’d always had an attractive physique, tall and broad-shouldered with great muscle tone. But he’d been thinner then, lanky as young men often are.
Now, at age thirty, he was a male in his prime. His arms and chest were filled out with firm muscle, as were his legs. His stomach was… oh good God I was staring. I needed to look away from all that tanned skin and segmented muscle, or I wasn’t going to be able to handle it when he—
Too late. Alex lifted me and held my dripping wet body against him, and now my warm skin was pressed against his, and that amazing scent I’d detected earlier was right there, and, and…
Mind on the game. Off the hot man. On. The. Game.
Say something. Make conversation.
“Were you… exercising?”
He barked a short laugh. “No. Why do you ask? Do I smell like a locker room or something?”
“You… took off your clothes.”
He grinned widely. “This is my mermaid-retrieval uniform.”
When I gave him a dazed look, he explained in a tone of voice one would use with a small child. “I don’t have that many changes of clothes here, and we can’t exactly hang things outside to dry. I knew I was bound to get soaked while fishing you out of the tub.”
I craned my neck to see water running down Alex’s long legs and pooling on the bathroom floor around his feet. “Oh. Right. Sorry about that.”
“No worries. I just wanted to be prepared.” He set me on the bathroom rug and gestured toward the shorts. “These will dry off pretty quickly in front of the fire. When you’re dressed, I’ll take you there too, so your hair can dry and you don’t catch a chill.”
He held up a finger. “Which reminds me…”
Alex left the bathroom and came back a moment later with a large man’s bathrobe. “I couldn’t find anything left in Janey’s room, but I did find this hanging in the master closet. It seemed like a better option than the pajamas you had on or your clothes from yesterday. The house is a bit chilly.”
I took it from him gratefully. “Yes. Thank you. It’s perfect.”
Anything to get you and your sexy, shirtless self out of my line of sight as soon as possible.

#3

Alex tensed. “What are you saying? You’ve changed your mind about allowing me to see him?”
“No. I won’t stop you from seeing AJ, but the fact is you live in Aubernesse, and we live here. You have to go home sooner or later. I don’t want AJ to… to come to rely on you… to love you… when you can’t really be there for him.”
“You’re asking me not to tell him I’m his father.”
I had to compose myself before continuing.
“I’m asking you to protect him—his little heart. Think carefully before you make promises to him you can’t keep, before you say and do things that will make him love you and then turn around and leave him.”
Alex’s eyelids narrowed in an assessing gaze. “I see what’s going on here. Is it AJ’s heart you’re trying to protect? Or is it you who’s afraid to rely on someone and risk your heart?”
I ignored his astute question. “You can have visitation with AJ. I’ll make sure the days and times are reasonable and generous. Just… have your assistant or whoever contact me, and we’ll set up some kind of arrangement.”
“No,” Alex said. His face was a contorted mask of pain and frustration. He gripped my shoulders, the pressure firm but not bruising. “I don’t want an arrangement. I want a family—with you, with our son.”
The words ripped my heart out. How I’d longed for us to be a family. When AJ was a newborn, I’d dreamed of Alex sweeping back into my life and telling me he missed me, that he wanted us both. But that was then—before I knew the whole truth about him.
Before I realized how impossible that dream really was.

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#4 The Baby-whisperer and the Brute – Releasing October 19

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BLP REVIEW – Tracy

I really enjoyed The Baby and the Blueblood. A modern take on Cinderella it was a good read.

Set over a fairly short span of time, I got why Cinda reacted the way she did to the arrival and presence of Alex when she met him again after the years apart. Both had hurt feelings and acted out of character but it made for fun reading. When they did get together they were just as compatible as they were when they were younger, maybe more so given they were a little older and wiser.

Some family angst, a little lack of full truths and misunderstandings looked to throw a number of spanner’s in the works for this pair and you had to wonder if they’d manage a future together……

I’m looking forward to the next instalment, especially after being introduced to the main characters at the end of TBatB….. Book four is gonna be interesting, that’s for sure!!!!

AUTHOR BIO

Award-winning romance author Tru Taylor writes romantic comedies to make you swoon, smile, and snort with laughter.

She runs on Coke Zero and dark chocolate, lives for lunches with her girlfriends, and drives to the town beach several times a week to watch the sun set over the water.

She loves LOVE and will attempt to turn any show or movie she’s watching into a romance whether it is one or not. Star Wars? A romance. Lord of the Rings? Clearly a romance. The Expendables? Okay, well not even Tru can redeem that one.

When she’s not writing, Tru enjoys watching movies and reading books with happy endings, spending time with her husband and two kids, and sneaking Hershey’s Kisses from the top shelf of the freezer throughout the day. (Top shelf because… two kids. Enough said.)

Tru is the author of the Eastport Bay small town rom com series and loves living in a small New England town where she’s surrounded every day by the beautiful coastal setting you see brought to life in her books.


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