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Ruthless Billionaire, Forbidden Baby

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When Tamalyn Haynes agrees to be a bridesmaid, she doesn't realize she will be dancing with the best man—notorious tycoon Fletcher Stanton!

Fletcher is relentless in pursuing his desires—and intent on bedding wide-eyed Tammy. But he has one it's to be a temporary romance only. Marriage is not an option. However, their passionate nights together lead to Tammy dropping a bombshell. Unintentionally, Fletcher Stanton's mistress is pregnant with his forbidden baby….

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 1, 2009

82 people are currently reading
396 people want to read

About the author

Emma Darcy

640 books325 followers
Emma Darcy is the pseudonym created by the married writing team of Wendy (1940-2020) and Frank Brennan (1936-1995). Their life journey has taken as many twists and turns as the characters in their stories, whose international popularity has resulted in over sixty-million book sales. With more than a hundred titles, Emma Darcy appeared regularly on the Waldenbooks bestseller lists in the U.S.A. and in the Nielson BookScan Top 100 chart in the U.K.

Wendy was born 28 November 1940 in Australia. Her sister was the novelist Maureen Mary (Miranda Lee). Her father was a country school teacher and brilliant sportsman. Her mother was a talented dressmaker. She obtained an Honours degree in Latin and initially worked as a high school English/French teacher. She married Frank Brennan, an Australian businessman born in 1936. She changed careers to computer programming before marriage and motherhood settled her into a community life. She was reputedly the first woman computer programmer in the southern hemisphere.

As voracious readers, the step to writing their own books seemed a natural progression and the challenge of creating exciting stories was soon highly addictive. They were published since 1983. In 1993, for the Emma Darcy pseudonym's 10th anniversary, they created the "Emma Darcy Award Contest" to encourage authors to finish their manuscripts. After the death of Frank Brennan in 1995, Wendy wrotes books on her own. She lived in a beachside property on the central coast of New South Wales, and liked to travel extensively to research settings and increase her experience of places and people.

Wendy Brennan passed away on December 21, 2020. She is survived by her children, grandchildren, and sister, writer Miranda Lee.

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5 stars
166 (28%)
4 stars
132 (22%)
3 stars
207 (35%)
2 stars
57 (9%)
1 star
26 (4%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
Profile Image for StMargarets.
3,204 reviews630 followers
April 5, 2021
Kind of slow.

ED fashions the plot around the six weddings of the nurse-midwife heroine’s university friends. The first wedding is the hero’s sister’s where the H/h meet. Hero is a tycoon and computer genius with poor social skills.

They begin a sexual relationship, with the heroine hoping for more. Hero runs hot and cold – but eventually does the right thing when heroine falls pregnant. All is not well after their registrar wedding because he spends his emotional energy on their son and not the heroine.

Hero’s sister sends pictures of the heroine dancing with a groomsman at another wedding the hero refused to attend. That bit of jealousy woke up the hero for an HEA.

Lots of wedding descriptions if that is your thing.
Profile Image for *CJ*.
5,096 reviews622 followers
April 28, 2020
"Ruthless Billionaire, Forbidden Baby" is the story of Tammy and Fletcher.

A "27 dresses" meets "Four Weddings and a Funeral" romance! The book has a midwife heroine and a intellectually genius hero, who meet across a series of weddings. Attraction strikes, culminating in passionate sessions of lovemaking- until the heroine gets pregnant. The hero demands to marry her, they agree only to enter into a contractual marriage which is laden with issues, even after the baby. Loads of drama and miscommunications later, ends in a HEA.

The hero was like a sexy Sheldon Cooper, the heroine a strong yet whiny heroine from a soap opera. It went from having potential to be this angsty, yummy romance to a VERY sappy rom com, with all the cliches and confessions. Totally bored me.

Safe
2/5
Profile Image for Shatarupa  Dhar.
620 reviews84 followers
July 9, 2018
Sometimes, what is it with HP’s titles? Fletcher Stanton is anything but ruthless, he is rather a mad genius, a math wiz, a child prodigy, who is just so cynical because of his superior brain from a young age, that he does not know what acceptance is. And the baby is certainly not forbidden.

I really enjoyed this from the beginning itself. The story is light-hearted.
Tamalyn, one of the bride’s best friends is paired opposite Fletcher Stanton, the bride’s brother, at her wedding. The flirty banter between them at the start of the story is a breath of fresh air, compared to other HP’s heavy/emotional beginnings. This book was totally about fresh concepts, where before even getting to know each other properly, Tammy starts daydreaming about her whole life with Fletcher. And, my, my, the first in an HP, where the lady takes the lead, imagining him in bed, no less, not that the man is not arrogant enough, but this is a story told from a woman’s POV, so there’s that. And then there’s another wedding, and time for the much awaited reunion with Fletcher. After which they go for a five day trip to a paradise island, which culminates in heartbreak and a nine month consequence.

I want a ‘famous-gang-of-six’ for myself, the author has shown such a beautiful bond of friendship here. The story packed quite a punch.
A totally Australian story, with the beautiful scenes providing a perfect backdrop for the lovely story, I could imagine them in my mind’s eye through the author’s descriptions.
And the sexy dances, ooh!
The baby angle comes about more than halfway into the book. And I never heard of a partners-in-parenthood contract before.
I must say, it must be tough for a child prodigy to adjust in society, with all the jealousy and resentment they are subjected to from a young age, but the author has described a great journey for Fletcher, from being an unfeeling, unemotional man to a gem of a person.

What I loved most was the wedding theme of the book, with all the trimmings.
Profile Image for Fabiola Chenet.
Author 30 books31 followers
January 2, 2020
Lu en français (Le fruit d'une aventure). De temps en temps, un petit Azur ça fait plaisir. J'ai passé un bon moment avec les personnages
Profile Image for Maida.
Author 15 books463 followers
March 24, 2020
Six weddings and a baby

Bad title, great story. A feisty principled heroine going toe to toe with an alpha male. I love it! I adored Tammy’s independence and self-respect. I also loved Fletcher's willingness to adjust and open himself to allowing people--her friends, her family--in.

I miss this writing team. They’re my favorite of all Harlequin authors.
Profile Image for Janet.
3,326 reviews24 followers
August 20, 2020
The story was entertaining but not something I would recommend.
Profile Image for Ani.
103 reviews1 follower
April 30, 2020
Una pequeña historia donde los protas van contando su historia en cada boda que se encuentran. Así que en la primera se conocen, en la segunda se acuestan, en la tercera ya están casados, en la cuarta están enfados, en la quinta se reconcilian y la sexta es la de ellos por todo lo alto.
Aunq en principio la química de los dos te engancha, el no saber que pasa en el periodo de tiempo entre boda y boda ha hecho q me desencante. En ocasiones esos periodos son de varios años, y en otros de pocas semanas. Así que la línea de tiempo pega muchos saltos.
Un libro demasiado simple
217 reviews5 followers
November 29, 2020
What a disappointing story. Not really a romance, despite covering six weddings. It’s too flimsy to connect with any of the other five couples in their gang, and the MCs have a registry marriage contract off page because an unplanned pregnancy leads to a “partners-in-parenthood” arrangement. Almost everything happens off the page... them moving in together, the announcement to the group of friends of their convenient marriage, the baby being born, almost all of their marriage, and apparently even him *finally* falling in love with her many months later. Did she ever get an engagement ring from her billionaire? I don’t know. Honeymoon after the registry marriage? Don’t know that either. We aren’t shown any of it.

Because he’s a super-genius and very rich, he’s often arrogant, cynical, and dismissive. He feels like an outsider and treats others as untrustworthy. She, then, in an effort to keep herself grounded, is independent, and often cold or cutting. No ‘dates’ or joint activities are ever mentioned, and it is really like they’re only together to raise this child, with some off page sex on the side. The glimpses of their marriage are basically two meals and a huge fight?

I don’t blame her for being upset when he refuses to attend one of the important group weddings and sends her off dateless. That’s not supportive husband behavior. She lashes out at him very harshly the next day, but I’m not sure what he expected after embarrassing her and leaving her alone like that.

In the so-called declaration of love scene, he tells her he didn’t love or cherish her when they got married (ouch, how romantic)... and his speech after that saying but now he does love her came off as weak and not believable. After she’s been a bridesmaid five times, he says he’s finally willing to have her be the bride with an actual ceremony in front of friends and family... which would have seemed thoughtful but then their “wedding” doesn’t take place for another whole year. Hard to be convinced of his true desire to give her that dream when an additional year has gone by. (So the baby is now around 2 years old.)

There just wasn’t enough love shown between the two MCs for this to be a happy story. Emma Darcy is normally so solid, it’s unexpected and disappointing that this book was not much better. Unlike many other ED stories, I would rather never reread this.
Profile Image for Sati Marie Frost.
347 reviews20 followers
June 26, 2016
Emma Darcy's never going to be at the top of my romance list, but some of her books are quite nice. In this one, Tammy meets Fletcher at a wedding (the first of six in her group of friends). She's a bridesmaid, he's the bride's brother, and they hit it off. He's a billionaire, and also a genius who's a bit lacking in social skills, despite his good looks and external charm. They become lovers, with an agreement that there'll be no commitment, but when she accidentally falls pregnant he insists they marry, and she agrees, having secretly loved him since they met.

Although the whole "you're accidentally pregnant so we must get married" thing always grates on me - it seems like such a lazy reason for characters to get together - there were several things about this book that I thought elevated it above most others in the Modern Romance line. Having the six girls in Tammy's friend group all getting married over a year gave some much-needed structure, and propelled the storyline forward. I enjoyed the fact that there wasn't a big villain (something that Emma Darcy's books often suffer from an overload of) and the only thing keeping Tammy and Fletcher apart was his own social anxiety. And the thing that keeps bringing me back to Darcy is her talent for describing the details of a scene. She brings a beauty and a lushness to her descriptions of clothing or furnishings that is particularly evident in this book, and it's one of the things that keeps me reading.

So not a spectacular book, but good enough. 3 stars.
Profile Image for Caroline.
Author 3 books50 followers
May 1, 2020
There isn't much fire here and Tammy is difficult to like. She starts off okay and then turns into a super bitch. I don't know what Fletcher saw in her. She was rude, arrogant and just...mean. She couldn't manage to express herself without being incredibly insensitive. Diplomacy wasn't her strong point. Usually it's the guy who's a jerk and he was a teensy bit insensitive and a little arrogant, but in a well meaning way. She was like a barracuda. I wanted him to dump her.
Profile Image for Debby.
1,385 reviews26 followers
January 30, 2021
This h should write a handbook on ‘How to manipulate a man into doing what you want’ or ‘How to make a man your puppet on a string’.

I need to know what her secret is. The writer states that the h looks plain. She isn’t sweet, she isn’t funny, she isn’t nice. So it’s not her beauty and it’s not her character or personality.

The only logical conclusion then is that she must be amazing in bed. Her female organ must be of the softest velvet and silk, decorated with diamonds and gold with the most expensive little pearls. And when they have sex, she surely lets him see more stars than there are in the entire galaxy.

There isn’t another explanation for the spell she has on him that makes him dance every time at the tune she sets. And no, it’s not love, he admits that it wasn’t love straight from the beginning.

The H is a young, sexy, generous, handsome, intellectual genius, sweet billionaire. He marries her as soon as he knows she is pregnant (no questions asked). He loves and takes good care of their son. After the marriage he says his travelling working life goodbye and he works from home since then. He cooks delicious meals for them. Etc.

Yet this h isn’t satisfied and still finds reasons to be angry at him. Poor guy.

I really can’t stand this h. The writer should make a sequel in which the H dumps the h and he marries a good, nice woman who accepts him for who he is and who appreciates him. And they raise his son in a happy marriage while the h becomes homeless without having any friends or anyone who loves her.
Profile Image for MaryD.
1,737 reviews2 followers
December 13, 2018
Seriously? The blurb and title are so over-the-top. The story covers the wedding of 6 women who have been friends for years. Tammy aka Tamalyn is bridesmaid at 5 of the weddings (hers is the 6th) and meets "hottie" Fletcher at the first one. There's a ONS during which Fletcher emphasizes that he doesn't believe in love and there will be no relationship.

Even though Tammy is strong on the surface, she constantly "thinky thinks" about marrying him. IMO, she really doesn't *know* him and so "falls in love" with an image while the reality constantly hurts her. While I liked the ending where she helps Fletcher relate to her friends' husbands, it just wasn't enough for me to rate this higher.

I know other reviewers liked the series of the friends weddings, but to me it really didn't add too much to the story, except to compare/ contrast their relationships with their new husbands to Tammy's on-again, off-again physical relationship with Fletcher.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Elena.
716 reviews1 follower
July 5, 2023
Al primo dei cinque matrimoni delle sue amiche d'infanzia, Tamalyn Hayes è costretta a fare coppia con Fletcher Stanton, il fratello della sposa e famoso milionario. La donna si trova subito attratta da lui e viceversa, ma lui è abituato ad usarle le donne e non ad amarle, non sa creare rapporti duraturi con nessuno. Inoltre Tammy sa che lo rivedrà alle nozze di tutte le altre sue amiche del cuore.
Tamalyn si scopre innamorata, ma Fletcher pone delle condizioni: nessuna complicazione, nessun matrimonio, nessuna promessa per i futuro. Non mi è piaciuto. I personaggi non vengono abbastanza approfonditi, la storia d'amore non viene ben sviluppata.
Profile Image for mikaela.
222 reviews
December 18, 2019
i finished this book & all i can say it was boring. i was expecting more because of the title & i do usually love to read ed stories because of the emotions, but this i couldn't. it's taken me a long time to finish & i finally did. i found both main characters boring all around as well as her friends. i felt no chemistry at all w/c was such a disappointment. it was automatic love & the h just accepted what she said to him about his personality. zzzzz ...
Profile Image for Mattie.
1,982 reviews8 followers
December 29, 2020
Did not like this one. 1) Didn't like that was only from heroines perspective not one chapter of the heroes perspective. 2) It felt very long (probably because story took place over 2 years) and I didn't like the plot or heroine. 3) Heroine was I felt too harsh with the hero (said that she would not be with him if it weren't for their son). P.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
1 review
August 30, 2021
Don't know exactly why I hate this one but I DO.
Reread something good, you will never get the time back you spend on this stinker. It's not a so-bad-you-have-to-read-it book it's a what-editor-let this-thing-get published!? book.
Profile Image for Debora.
207 reviews
September 4, 2023
Mi è piaciuto davvero molto, non avevo mai pensato a quanto dovessero sentirsi sole le persone più dotate, questo libro ti fa riflettere e per fortuna non è stato il solito dove i protagonisti si vedono e vanno insieme, ma si conoscono un po' anche se l'attrazione è molta dal primo incontro
Profile Image for Lori P. Arnold-Mann.
18 reviews3 followers
September 5, 2017
Too much angst..

The characters were a little too one dimensional. The plot a bit too cliche without a strong feeling of passion. I finished it but it was a challenge.
425 reviews
May 11, 2018
Should've been called "Six Weddings and a baby". Nice story. Loved the characters, especially Fletcher's sister Celine.
Profile Image for Nicci Schroenn.
92 reviews9 followers
October 14, 2020
I enjoyed this book. Although, I would have liked to have alternating views. Tammy and Fletcher's. Easy and light.
7 reviews2 followers
August 26, 2025
So hard to finish.

There was no connection between the MC. It was hard to care about them staying together or not. They didn’t seem to really like each other.
27 reviews
December 12, 2025
Note to self: nice but not worth a reread.
A bit dry within like crusty bread on a Sunday morning.
Profile Image for Maura.
3,883 reviews113 followers
January 29, 2017
I enjoyed certain aspects of the book and didn't enjoy others. I loved that Fletcher was a genius, who related awkwardly to other people and because of perceived rejection and problems he's had with peers, he shuts people out and generally comes across as arrogant or mean. He's kind of clueless. He's clearly obsessed with Tammy, wants her desperately, but doesn't realize it's love and refuses to consider it. He just wants her...like a challenge he has to win. Tamalyn started out okay, with some backbone, but she kinda loses me when she just jumps into bed with Fletcher without any promise for a future relationship. I wasn't a huge fan of the jumping time spans either. We miss out on a lot of growth in their relationship later on in the book that way too. Presumably, Fletcher actually "falls in love" with Tammy during one of those jumps. Though we do get to see the development of their relationship throughout. I did like that this was a refreshing change from the marriage-of-convenience because of pregnancy deal. Tammy didn't really fight a marriage to Fletcher, but she was definitely disappointed that it wasn't for love. But she was able to find happiness in their marriage (except when she wasn't) and didn't get all depressed because her husband didn't love her. This is definitely a good story from Emma Darcy, but probably not my fave.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Kat at Book Thingo.
274 reviews97 followers
April 2, 2010
For a while this book was tolerable. But Tammy soon reveals herself to be a dishrag of the highest order. Even though she agrees to a casual relationship, it only takes a few pages for Tammy to start wanting more. Shortcut to angst. Gah. Then she gets pregnant by accident--or stupidity. (I'm not sure which because I never got that far.)

But the biggest WTF moment for me was when an Australian character says, ‘we’re all rooting for you.’ If you can get past page 100, you’ve done better than I have.

You can read my full review at Book Thingo.
Profile Image for Elisa Vangelisti.
Author 6 books34 followers
March 31, 2020
Questa trama mi piace poco. L’idea del fratello della sposa bello e dannato che irretisce una delle cinque damigelle/amiche di lei è fiacca. Anche perché già parte per la tangente immaginandosi un matrimonio per loro. E se dovranno sposarsi tutte prima che loro convolino (come suggerisce il titolo) che il cielo ci aiuti! Non credo di poter leggere senza sbuffare di altri quattro matrimoni/ricevimenti comprensivi di descrizione di locations, outfit, tartine e quant’altro.
Profile Image for Ana.
35 reviews2 followers
March 28, 2012
Im surprised, but I DIDN'T like this book at all. I usually like Emma Darcy's books, but this one was just plain boring. None of the characters were memorably, I didnt feel like I connected with them, and this is rare since I usually like the Hero. But not this time. Oh well, Im disappointed and regret buying it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews

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