Title: King's Queen
Author: Marie Johnston
Series: Oil Kings #5
Publisher: Self-Published
Release Date: August 16, 2021
Genre: Contemporary Romance
More Info: Goodreads
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When Aiden King asked me out years ago, I couldn’t believe it. Six months later, I went from mousy librarian to wife of the most wanted bachelor in town. Heck, in the state, probably the country. I moved from a trailer house to a mansion by the river.

Turns out, I shouldn’t have believed it. After years of being alone while Aiden put in long hours at the office, I learned his secret. He needed to marry for a year to fulfill his trust requirements, and the nerdy girl from the wrong side of the tracks was an easy target.

I never thought I’d be the girl asking a handsome millionaire for a divorce. Now, I just want to limp my pride back to my family and find myself again. I want to forget the question that’s eating at me. If he only needed to be married for a year, why has it been five years since we said I do?

***

Work has become my identity. I went into the family business and the responsibility is staggering. One mess up and people can I die. I know that all too well and I’ve dedicated myself to doing better. I’m exceptional at my job. Meticulous. Dedicated.

But for a guy who’s such a perfectionist, I really messed up my marriage. It took Kate walking out to get me to wake up and realize what an empty existence I’ve built.

So what does a workaholic do when he realizes his work, and especially the money, means nothing to him? That there’s only one obsession he’s ever had, and she’s staying with her rowdy, overprotective family?

Kate’s always been the only one for me. It’s time for this King is going to loosen his tie and win back his queen.

Title: King’s Queen

Series: Oil Kings #5

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Author: Marie Johnston

Release Date: August 16, 2021

Excerpt

Had I ever thought of going anywhere by myself since I’d been married? When I was single, I’d traveled as much as my pocketbook would allow. A week in Cozumel. A weekend in Regina, Canada. Going alone didn’t bother me.

Going alone when I was married did.

I rose with an armful of blue tulle and caught Aiden staring at me.

He was doing that thing with the office chair. His body was hitched to the side, an arm draped over the back. A move that was devastating in his dress shirt and suit jacket. But with a T-shirt that left nothing to the imagination—well, I didn’t have to imagine.

Concern welled in his dark eyes. “What’s wrong? Why wouldn’t you visit Bisa?”

Sometimes he surprised me with how astute he was—about me. Not about anything else. “It just never worked out.”

“You enjoy traveling. I would’ve gone with.”

How did I explain? “When I was single, I made sure it didn’t limit me. I wasn’t going to be one of those spinster women who sat home with a bunch of cats and read books. After I was married…I didn’t want to travel with someone who didn’t want to be with me.”

He unhooked his arm and rose, towering over me. “I want to be with you, Kate.”

And I wanted him to understand. When we were together, he was rarely with me. The few minutes on the plane before we’d taken off was what I wanted. I didn’t demand his entire day. I knew work was important to him. I just wanted to be important too. “We’re working on it, Aiden. That’s enough for now.”

His expression remained pensive until his gaze dropped to the bundle in my arms. His brows drew together. “Are you going to wear that?” He peered closer. “Is that a blue wig?”

“It’s, um, dress-as-a-book-character night, and Bisa and I have this thing. She’s a children’s librarian, and…” I blew out a breath and looked at the getup I held. “We go as Thing One and Thing Two. Yeah, so, we do the costume with blue tulle and red-and-white-striped leggings. More comfortable than red footie pajamas, and…” I stopped before I started describing how I hated using a public restroom when I had to unzip the red pajama-style costume and strip down just to pee.

The corner of his mouth hooked upward first, then the rest as I was rewarded with a breathtaking grin. “She’s coming to grab you, right? So I can see the both of you together?”

I scowled. “No. I was going to meet her.”

“Then I want a picture.”

“No.”

“Kate.” He crowded into me, and god, did I love when he did that. “I’d really love to see a photo of you two together having fun.”

Sincerity filled his words. He wasn’t doing it to laugh at me. He’d never done that. I might’ve pointed out some of Aiden’s faults on this trip, but he had a lot of good qualities. A lot of reasons why I’d fallen in love with him. “All right. I’ll message her and ask if she can come up.”

“I just need to know one more thing.” He dipped his head down by my ear until his hot breath whispered over my ear. “Are you Thing One or Thing Two?”

---

King’s Crown (Oil Kings #1)

Amazon US

After losing my job and my home in the same day, I need a miracle. And that miracle is coming in the form of an interview with the son of a local oil baron, Gentry King. The catch? I have to hop on a private jet with said gorgeous oil baron to get to the interview.

Except, I miss the interview when we get waylaid by a snowstorm. Now I’m stranded with Mr. King. In the same hotel room. With only one bed.

I’ve made a promise to myself—no more women. It’s not like I’m a love ’em and leave ’em kind of guy. They all know the score, and they’re all looking for the same thing I am. But I have to set a better example for my grown sons, who seem to be making all the wrong decisions when it comes to their relationships.

The last thing I need is to be stranded in a snowstorm with Kendall, twenty years my junior and unintentionally sexy. We’re stuck in very close quarters. With no electricity. And no heat other than what we can generate…

---

King’s Ransom (Oil Kings #2)

Amazon US

When revenge turns into a fake engagement…

It was supposed to be a simple case of revenge: get to know King Tech owner and CEO Beckett King, learn his secrets, and ruin his life like he ruined my brother’s. But Beckett King offers me a deal I can’t refuse.

Not only does he want me to pretend to be engaged to him, he needs to marry me to get his grandmother off his back. And at the end of the year, we can go our separate ways, only I’ll be a whole lot richer.

I won’t fall for his irresistible good looks, or that aw, shucks country-boy charm he still possesses from growing up on a ranch. I’m smarter than that. He has a lesson to learn and I’m the best one to teach him.

But that’s the tricky thing with revenge. It doesn’t always go as planned.

---

King’s Treasure (Oil Kings #3)

Amazon US

Broke, jobless, and stranded in Las Vegas on Valentine’s Day, I am forced to call my parents for a bailout. Again. A pampered princess and wannabe environmentalist, I know I’m a cliché and would do anything to change it. So when I meet Xander, a struggling photojournalist with absolutely nothing in common with my domineering, millionaire parents, I know just where to go next:

A wedding chapel.

But when I wake up the next day, my matrimonial rebellion comes with an unpleasant surprise. My husband is no penniless globetrotter—Xander King is the son of a billionaire oil tycoon, and my parents couldn’t approve of the match more. Now the only thing that could shock them would be a quickie divorce…except my new husband has a proposition for me.

***

I take one look at Savvy and know I could spend the rest of my life with her. The feeling is mutual…until she figures out who I am. I didn’t mean to hide my identity, and I thought a desire to get out from under the weight of familial baggage was something we had in common. But with Savvy just moments from proposing divorce, I offer her the one thing I’d been ready to walk away from:

A trust fund worth millions.

All Savvy has to do is stay married to me for a year and then she’ll get half—except I have no intention of letting her go after 365 days. I’ve spent a decade running from my father’s disapproval and my brothers’ successes. Now I’m willing to spend a lifetime convincing the woman I love to stay put by my side.

---

King’s Country (Oil Kings #4)

Amazon US

I’ve been the wicked witch of King’s Creek since I was eight years old, from my angry red hair down to my ball-busting boots. With a mean drunk for a daddy who left nothing but insults and unpaid bills in his wake, was there ever any other fate? Now his passing has left me one bad turn from losing my land to the neighbors my family’s been feuding with for generations.

So of course it’s Dawson King who comes to my rescue in the middle of a snowstorm. But I don’t care how good he looks in a pair of Wranglers, or how much he spoils my horse, or how great of a cook he is. The Kings already have everything—money, looks, and charm. Dawson’s not getting my heart too.

***

I’m living my dream, I admit it. I took over the family ranch from my dad and grew it into the envy of Montana. I have the best views, the best employees, and the respect of the entire town. The only thing I don’t have is someone to share my dream with. So when my neighbor breaks her leg and nearly freezes to death, I all but kidnap her back to my place to recover.

We grew up less than a mile apart, but we couldn’t be in more different places now. Bristol’s had nothing but pride for so long, it’s hard to get close to her—and I want to get very close. I don’t care if the whole town loves me, I’m only interested in earning the love of one woman. But for a guy who’s got the world at his feet, Bristol’s heart might be out of my reach.

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