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      Conquering

      King’s Heart

      By

      Dear Reader,

      Thanks to all of the letters I received asking for more KINGS OF CALIFORNIA books, I’m happy to offer you the first book in a new Kings mini-series – with more to come, I promise!

      Conquering King’s Heart is about Jesse King, a former world champion surfer. Jesse is the youngest of four brothers, and in the next few months you’ll be seeing more of them as well.

      But for now, let’s talk about Jesse. He’s travelled all over the world, living life his way. Now he’s retired from competition and has settled down in Morgan Beach – a place that haunts his memory thanks to the “mystery woman” he met one night three years ago.

      Bella Cruz is that mystery woman and she’s not happy that Jesse has moved into her home town, changing everything she loves about the place.

      When these two meet again, the fireworks are well worth watching!

      The KINGS OF CALIFORNIA will continue in August and October with stories about Jesse’s brothers Justice and Jefferson. Then, of course, there’s still Jericho to be heard from.

      I hope you have as much fun reading this story as I did writing it. I love hearing from my readers! E-mail me at [email protected] or send via post to PO Box 1883, Westminster, CA 92684-1883, USA.

      And please visit my website at www.maureenchild.com.

      Until then, happy reading!

       Maureen

      Maureen Child is a California native who loves to travel. Every chance they get, she and her husband are taking off on another research trip. The author of more than sixty books, Maureen loves a happy ending and still swears that she has the best job in the world. She lives in Southern California with her husband, two children and a golden retriever with delusions of grandeur. Visit Maureen’s website at www.maureenchild.com.

      To Patti Canterbury Hambleton.

      For years of friendship and laughter.

      For shared memories and too many adventures to count.

      For always being a touchstone in my life.

      I love you.

      Chapter One

      Jesse King loved women.

      And they loved him right back.

      Well, all except one.

      Jesse walked into Bella’s Beachwear and stopped just inside the store. His gaze wandered the well-kept if decrepit building and he shook his head at the stubbornness of women.

      Hard to believe that Bella Cruz preferred this ramshackle building to what he was offering. He’d arrived in Morgan Beach, a tiny coastal town in southern California, nine months ago. He’d bought up several of the run-down, eclectic shops on Main Street, rehabbed some, razed others, then built the kind of stores and offices that would actually attract shoppers to the downtown district.

      Everyone had been happy to sign on the dotted line. They’d accepted his buyout offers with barely disguised glee and most of them were now renting retail space from him. But not Bella Cruz. Oh, no. This woman had been working against him for months.

      She’d spearheaded a sit-in campaign, getting a few of her friends to plant themselves in front of his bulldozers for an afternoon. She’d held a protest march down Main Street that consisted of Bella herself, four women, two kids and a three-legged dog. And finally, she’d resorted to trying to pull off a candlelight vigil in memory of the “historic” buildings of Morgan Beach.

      There had been five people standing outside his office holding candles the night the first big summer storm had blown in. Within minutes, they were all drenched, the candle flames drowned out. Bella was the only one left standing in the dark, glaring up at him as he looked at her through his office window.

      “Why is she taking this all so personally?” he wondered. It wasn’t as if he’d come to town to deliberately ruin her life.

      He’d come here for the waves.

      When professional surfers stopped riding competitively, they settled in a place where they could always find a good ride year-round. Most ended up in Hawaii, but, as a native Californian, Jesse had decided on Morgan Beach. His whole

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