Author: Dani Collins
Publisher: Harlequin
Publication Date: May 2020
She kept their child hidden…now the secret’s out!
Valentino Casale is outraged to find Kiara kept their daughter a secret from
him for two years! Forever branded by his own illegitimacy, the hardened
billionaire wants to do things differently…
Kiara could never regret the consequence of her one delicious night with Val.
Even if he turned out to be every bit as cold-hearted as their night was hot!
Yet behind Val’s reputation is another man—revealed only in their passionate
moments alone. Could she give that man a second chance?
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My thoughts:
A Hidden Heir To Redeem Him is the first in the Feuding Billionaire Brothers series. For the most part, the story kept me engaged enough to finish it. It had a lot of dramatic scenes as a lot of Harlequin books are known to have. I didn't like Val all that much in the beginning, but as his story was revealed, I could almost understand why he acted like a controlling douche. I'm not usually a fan of the secret baby trope and I did feel bad for the way he was manipulated. Kiara was, thankfully, not a wet blanket and did stick up for herself.
My biggest issue with the book was the feeling I had throughout that I was missing something. I was surprised to see this was the first in a series. I though it was the second. There seemed to be a lot of back story that I was missing. I had a hard time understanding the battle between the brothers at first because it seemed like the reader was supposed to already know. I hope that in the second book, more of this conflict is explained and we see a resolution. If you are looking for an entertaining read with lots of melodrama and sex, give this one a shot.
Excerpt, A HIDDEN HEIR TO REDEEM HIM by Dani
Collins
“You knew she was pregnant? And you didn’t tell me?”
he demanded of her.
“You were on your honeymoon.” His mother’s voice dropped to
the syrupy, conciliatory tone that wheedled for him to take her side. “You
didn’t need an ugly scandal.”
“Like the one I grew up in?” When had he last bothered to be
angry? Truly furious? Maybe his last visit to this tower? Maybe it was the air
in here that stoked his rage. The fetid stench of manipulation and jealousy and
profound selfishness. “You live for making a scene. Blaming Niko for my
shortcomings is your bread and butter. You could have used the baby for
leverage all this time if you had— Oh, my God.”
Val hooked his hands on his hips and laughed drily toward
the ceiling as he realized why she had preferred his baby be erased from
existence.
“This is a new low for you, Mother.” He was
un-characteristically, profoundly astounded. And sickened. “Or should I say…
Nonna?”
“Do not…” she warned in shaken outrage.
“Oh, I will. Because your precious vanity sent her to him.”
He pointed at Kiara then the folder rep-resenting the fortune that had been the
reason for, and the bane of, his very existence.
This situation was abhorrently reminiscent of his childhood,
when something clean and precious and his would be sullied and used as leverage
and snapped apart in the struggle between his parents and his half brother and
his father’s ex-wife, Paloma. Val’s wants and needs had never been part of any
conversation. If they had, they’d been dismissed as irrelevant.
And Kiara had played along with all of that.
“Why did you tell her instead of me?” he demanded of Kiara.
Whatever culpability flickered into Kiara’s face was quickly
schooled into something more facetious. “I guess I could have left a message
with your wife?”
It was a darling effort at shaming him, but, “I’ve been
divorced a year. You’ve had time.”
“There were circumstances.” She shifted uncomfortably. “Niko
was ill and needed us there.”
“You’ve been living with him? This whole time?” If Val
believed people were capable of true remorse, he might have thought the way
Kiara bit her lip might have signaled regret.
He had played this game too long to believe she felt
anything but glee, however, at claiming the pot of gold.
Walk away, he thought. Just. Walk. Away.
“He thought if you knew Aurelia existed, you would pressure
me to leave the island instead of staying with him.”
Aurelia. It was the name of the villa in Venice where they’d
spent their night together. The site of their lovemaking and, apparently, the
conception of their daughter.
Every morning, when he gazed on Kiara’s sketch, he was back
there on the bed with her, seated behind her in the rumpled sheets, teasing her
into continuing with her study of the open balcony doors while he sampled the
scent in her neck and tasted the smooth-ness of her shoulders and felt her
breast rise and fall in growing excitement against his palm.
He swallowed, trying to dismiss any profundity in her
bestowing that villa’s name on their child. He didn’t buckle to sentiment. It
was a manipulation tactic. Everything was.
Even so, he couldn’t take his eyes off her as she turned her
attention to his mother, showing no fear as she said baldly, “Niko didn’t want
you or Paloma to know about her or about Scarlett’s pregnancy. He thought it
would create more conflict than he could deal with in his weakened condition.
Since he was terminal, we respected his wishes.”
It was so poetic, it bordered on sappy, but to keep the
knowledge of his daughter from him for three years? He would never forgive any
of them for this.
“We’ll wait for a DNA test before we continue this
discussion.” Evelina took care to tuck her cashier’s check into her clutch.
“Niko can’t overlook his son in favor of a child we’ve never seen. We’ll fight
this.”
“You’ll be wasting your money,” Davin said. “There’s already
a DNA test that proves Aurelia is Niko’s descendant. Her sample was correlated
with the DNA test that proved Mr. Casale’s paternity. Niko was of sound mind.
Further tests won’t change anything.”
Val didn’t need a test. He wasn’t so gullible as to take
Kiara’s word, but his father had always been diligent about such fine points.
He didn’t care anyway, he assured himself. Not beyond how
galling it was that Niko had gotten the last laugh, but so what? Val had never
wanted offspring—one of the reasons his marriage had tanked—and he hadn’t
wanted his father’s money, either. He had no desire to take responsibility for
the child in possession of that fortune— Oh, wait. The girl was only entrusted
with half. That meant any involvement he had with her would mean dealing with
Javiero on some level, as well.
And all the while, his mother would continue to claw at him
for her piece of the pie.
Definitely time to exit stage right. He certainly could.
Kiara was financially equipped to meet the needs of his child. Nothing in his
life had to change. In fact, his mother would become Kiara’s problem. The solution
was elegantly simple and utterly freeing.
Yet, he remained where he was, coldly enraged. His insides
were gripped by a wrath that swelled his chest with the pressure of a primal
yell he couldn’t release.
He could hardly pick apart why this provoked such a volcanic
rise of fury in him. It had something to do with the grotesque replay of
history. While he’d been married to Tina, Kiara had been having his child,
sentencing an innocent to the label he’d worn like a dead albatross until he
was old enough to make damn sure he deserved the slur.
No. He might not have crafted himself into the most
upstanding of men, but he was decent enough to pluck a child out of a toxic
spill before she was lethally poisoned and scarred forever.
“Refuse that money,” he told Kiara. “My daughter will
inherit my fortune, not his.”
“A minute ago you didn’t even want to know her name.”
“She can have mine,” he shot back. “You’re going to marry
me. Today.”
About Dani Collins:
When Dani Collins found romance
novels in high school she wondered how one trained for such an awesome job. She
wrote for over two decades without publishing, but remained inspired by the
romance message that if you hang in there you'll find a happy ending. In May of
2012, Harlequin Presents bought her manuscript in a two-book deal. She's since
published more than thirty books with them and is definitely living happily
ever after.
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