When she’d set Penelope up to be on Celebrity Proposal, she never in a million years would have guessed her sister would come home engaged. Engaged. Paige’s brain melted like wax just thinking about it.
The bell above the door jingled, drawing Paige out of her thoughts.
Sarah gave her a wave and goofy smile as she trotted over and took a seat. “Hey! Man, it smells good in here. I think I gained ten pounds just walking in. Twenty if you count the deep breaths I took on the walk to the table.”
“I got here ten minutes ago. I’ll be surprised if I can waddle out the door.”
“I can’t believe this place just opened. The whole area is getting revitalized. Not great for my budget, but it’s nice that the city is taking interest.”
“I think it helps when the outgoing mayor buys the strip mall our business is located in.”
Sarah waved Paige off and rolled her eyes. “Oh, stop it. Mayor Jakes wasn’t so bad. My mom loves him.”
“Because he’s cute.”
“Well, yeah, there’s that too.”
A petite waitress with a tag that read “Emmy” stopped at their table. “Hi!” Her tone was bright, and she bounced on her tiptoes. “Can I get you started with some of our fresh-baked cinnamon rolls? Ohhh…or our newest muffin? Orange-cranberry with our own in-house tangerine marmalade? Paired with our own blend of roasted coffee, it’s to die for.”
“Uh, I’ll take some coffee and a raspberry scone.” Paige gave a small smile.
“I’ll have that coffee and the muffin. It sounds wonderful,” said Sarah.
Emmy giggled and wrinkled her nose. “You bet. Trust me, you’ll love it.” She whirled in place and danced off.
Paige blinked as the girl disappeared through the double swinging doors. “That girl is entirely too perky for 7 a.m.”
“Don’t be a lumpy grumpy.”
“Seriously. She needs to lay off the espresso. No one should be that happy this early. And what grown woman says ‘lumpy grumpy’?”
“Me, and I’m that happy.”
Paige rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but I love you, so it doesn’t count.”
Sarah pressed her tongue to her cheek and harrumphed. “And I love you, so I’m not offended.”
Paige laughed and stuck her tongue out. Her laughter died, and she propped her head in her hand again. “Are you going to Penelope’s wedding?”
“Of course I am. The three of us have known each other since we were toddlers. I couldn’t not go. I can’t believe you aren’t.” Sarah’s ocean-blue eyes bored into her.
Paige dug in her bag and pulled out the plane ticket her sister had given her when she’d finished filming Celebrity Proposal a couple of days ago. “When she left in September to film the show, I never expected her to come home engaged after just twelve weeks. Or that she’d get married in February, twelve weeks after that. In Scotland. It’s insane.” How was Paige supposed to support that craziness?
“It might be, but she’s in love.”
“Oh, good grief.” She smacked the ticket onto the table, shaking her head.
“Did you see the way he looked at her?”
She hadn’t seen how Angus had looked at her sister, but she’d definitely seen how Penelope looked at him—completely and totally in love. “I swear, if you swoon, I’m going to let that perky waitress dance all over your unconscious body.”
Sarah huffed. “Paige, I get that you don’t approve, but she’s your sister. You love her.”
“I do love her, which is why I can’t support this.”
“You’re going to have to trust Penelope that she knows what she’s doing.”
Paige leveled her eyes at Sarah. “Like her not knowing the man she was dating for two years was a married lying fink?” Penelope should have told her about Tom. Paige could have done something to keep her sister from getting hurt.
“Okay, that’s a low blow, and you’re not one to talk.”
Sarah was right on both counts. Paige hadn’t done any better in the man-picking game. On the day she was to marry Tyler, she found a Dear Jane letter, and then the next day, she’d realized why when she found her inheritance gone.
And until Paige’s conversation with Penelope before Celebrity Proposal, she’d held on to that hurt for years. Not that anyone would’ve known. She’d dated plenty of men, let them buy her drinks, and danced into the wee hours of the night, but she let them down before they got any funny ideas or ideas about a future with her.
“Angus MacLachlan is not in love—”
Emmy reappeared, balancing a tray with their food and drinks, and set their orders down. “Is there anything else I can get you two?”
“I’m good for now,” said Paige.
“Me too,” said Sarah.
“Okay, well, just call if you need anything.” Emmy pirouetted and left again.
“Think she’s a dancer?” asked Sarah.
Paige lifted an eyebrow. “The clues are pointing to yes.”
Sarah chuckled. “Okay, back to your sister.”
“That actor is not in love with her. They met under the pretense of him wanting a wife to clean up his image.”
“It may have started that way, but you don’t know. Penelope is attractive, funny, witty, and sweet to a fault. Can’t you at least entertain the possibility that he fell in love with her?”
Paige picked up the ticket and sighed. “She is all those things.” And the only way to prove that Angus wasn’t in love with her sister was to show Penelope that Angus was not in love with her before she got hitched to a man only interested in fixing his image.
“See. So there is a possibility.” Sarah lifted her eyebrows and shrugged. “And we don’t know him. But we can go to Rosegail Bridge and get to know him. His parents are letting us stay in their guesthouse the entire time. I’ve got a little money saved that I can use for expenses here and there. Angus even offered to pay our rent on the business the next few months because Penelope wants you there. He would have flown us to Scotland on his family’s private plane if you hadn’t been so stubborn about going, and we wouldn’t have missed Thanksgiving with her.”
Scoffing, Paige said, “They don’t celebrate Thanksgiving there, remember?”
“But for her, he was willing to. I thought it was sweet. It seems he’s willing to do anything to make Penelope happy, including having someone who doesn’t like him at his wedding. If that isn’t love, I don’t know what is.”
Paige rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I know.”
“So, let’s go. I even had an idea to write a travel blog while we’re gone. I mean, Rosegail Bridge is a quaint little town. I was thinking I’d write about the food, the sights, and all the wonderful things the little town and Scotland has to offer. Plus, Christmastime in Scotland sounds romantic.”
“I think it would be cool to go.”
Sarah sat back in her seat and took a big drink of her coffee. “That was too easy. What are you up to?”
“Too easy? What are you talking about?”
“I know you. Your favorite pastime is tormenting your sister. Hence, her foray into reality television.”
Okay, she needed to sell it if she was going to keep her plan of stopping Penelope’s wedding a secret. “I did love tormenting my sister. I signed her up for that show because she seemed so sad and boring. I mean, she went to work, came home, and then rinsed and repeated. Her only friend was George.”
“And what’s wrong with having a dog as a best friend?”
“Nothing, but she needed to live. Going to work and back home isn’t living.”
“I agree, but you didn’t do that out of the kindness of your heart. You did it because you really like messing with Penelope.”
“Those were just pranks. This will affect her whole life.”
“And since when have you cared about that? Oh, I know, high school. When you came back from that camping trip with a chip on your shoulder.”
“Hey!”
During that camping trip
, Paige overheard something that broke her heart. It had changed her relationship with not only Penelope, but her dad too.
“Well, it’s true. When you got back, you’d turned into a jerk to her. Penelope took it in stride, but you got joy out of seeing her miserable.”
It was true. Paige had gotten joy out of giving Penelope grief. Still, this was a mistake Paige couldn’t let Penelope make. If Angus broke her heart, if he used her like Tom, Penelope wouldn’t recover.
“This is different. She’s engaged and getting married. I want to be there for her. It just threw me for a while. I mean, one minute she’s calling him the devil, and the next minute she’s thinking he’s a saint.”
“She got to know him. That’s all.”
“I guess, but I do want to go. I mean, if she’s gonna do this, someone has to be there to give her away. Plus, going would give me the opportunity to get to know Angus.”
Sarah eyed Paige for a moment. “All right, but if you try something, I’ll help Penelope send you home.”
Paige threw her head back and laughed. “You would not!”
“I would too! I’m vicious.”
“Oh, yeah, you might beat me with a wet noodle.”
“Hush, you.”
Sighing, Paige shrugged. “I guess I need to call the airline and see if I can get the date changed.”
Sarah smiled.
Paige narrowed her eyes. “What?”
“I may have already done it.”
“You did?”
“We leave tomorrow,” Sarah said, wiggling her eyebrows.
“Tomorrow? How am I going to get ready that fast?”
“I guess it’s a good thing I’m ready to go so I can help you. We’ll leave a note on the door and forward our calls. You need to call Penelope and tell her you’ve changed your mind. She’ll be so thrilled. I know she was disappointed you weren’t coming.”
“Let’s finish breakfast, and I’ll call her.” Paige had a little less than twelve weeks to prove to Penelope that Angus was a fake and to save her sister from getting her heart broken a second time.
Grab your copy of Mending the Billionaire Scotsman and find out if Paige stops her sisters wedding or if she finds her Scottish Prince Charming too.
Sneak Peek! Her Pretend Billionaire Boyfriend Chapter 1
Tristan Stone swiveled his chair away from the boardroom table and looked out over the Seattle skyline. The sun glinted off the windows of the Space Needle while a white-capped Mount Rainier stood in the background. He wished he was there, on the top of the mountain, and not dwelling on the board meeting that had just ended. He didn’t want to think about the dozen or so men and women who’d argued about which direction his grandmother would’ve wanted him to take the cruise line he’d inherited.
He missed her.
Find someone to love, sweetheart. Not all women will want you for your money. His grandmother’s words were like a megaphone in his head. He could still feel the aged hand touching his cheek and see the wrinkled face smiling up at him. Even while she was sick, she’d been thinking of him.
He’d tried to convince her he didn’t feel lonely, but she could always see through him. Three months, and not a day went by that he didn’t miss her laughter and wisdom.
“Tristan!” Grayson Matthews’s voice broke through his thoughts. “Are you listening to me?”
“No,” he said without taking his eyes off the skyline.
“Nice. Real nice.” Grayson huffed, pulling a chair directly in front of him and sitting backward in it.
Tristan leveled his eyes at him. “What?”
“That board meeting was out of control. Why didn’t you do anything?”
Why? Because he didn’t want to do anything. His grandmother wasn’t even cold, and vultures were circling. “My head isn’t here.” He had tasks to finish for his grandma. One of which was taking a cruise on the last cruise ship she’d designed so he could spread her ashes over the ocean.
Grayson’s icy blue eyes softened. “Buddy, I know you miss her, but if you want this company to continue, you’re going to have to bring that alpha dog reputation you’ve created to the table.”
Alpha dog. Tristan snorted. “I know, but this is different. I’m not buying up a company. This was her company. A company…people…I promised to take care of.” He was used to taking over companies, bulldozing over anything that got in the way of making it successful and turning it into a thriving business. This was different. He’d made a solemn vow to take care of her employees, among other things. Things he wasn’t willing to tell his best friend.
“Listen, man, I know you were close to her, but…”
Tristan stood and raked a hand through his dark-brown hair. “I’m not selling this company. I’ll buy out everyone’s shares if I have to. I don’t care if I go bankrupt keeping it.” He closed his eyes. He wasn’t just close to his grandmother. Other than Grayson and his Aunt Felicia, she was the only person he trusted to love him for more than just his money.
The chair squeaked as Grayson stood. “Maybe you should take a vacation. Get out of here, get some fresh air, grieve. Come back when you’re ready to make some hard decisions.”
Grayson continued when he didn’t respond. “Seriously, take one. Two weeks. What can possibly happen in two weeks without you here? It’s been three months, and nothing’s changed yet.” Grayson grasped his shoulder and turned him around. “You took care of her the last eight months of her life. I know it had to be hard on you. Taking a break will help.”
Tristan did like the idea. The stress of taking care of a loved one was worse than he ever imagined. The last month or so, his grandma didn’t even know who he was. She’d look at him with a blank expression most of the time, and when she was even remotely coherent, she’d call him by his father’s name, Thomas.
He had promised his grandma that he’d take a cruise and spread her ashes. May as well get it done. He could check that off the list. “Maybe you’re right.”
Grayson smiled and pulled out his phone. “Ohhh, I’m going to need you to say that again. I want to record it and replay it when you’re being arrogant and egotistical.”
“I’m not arrogant or egotistical. I’m just right all the time.” Tristan chuckled.
His friend’s eyes widened. “Let me take care of it. I’ve got the perfect place in mind. Hot women, warm sand, cool clear water. I can even picture it. The two of us, lounging on some tropical oasis and sipping fruity drinks that come in pineapples.” He pulled up the search engine on his phone. “Cheesy, but tasty.”
Tristan rubbed his knuckles down his jaw. “No, I want to go somewhere no one will recognize me. I want to be left alone.” He wanted to be Tristan. Not Tristan Stone the billionaire. He wanted to feel normal. For once, he wanted to be just one of the guys. An idea began to form.
“You might try Mars, then. You’re a thirty-one-year-old billionaire, and you’re in every socialite paper known to man. And with that baby face of yours? Good luck.” Grayson laughed.
“I could grow a beard.” The words popped out of Tristan’s mouth. What? He hated beards. They were itchy.
Grayson lifted an eyebrow. “You? Dude, you tried that remember? A five o’clock shadow nearly had you in a straightjacket.”
That was true, but if it could give him some anonymity, maybe it was worth it. “I’ll try again.” And if he went undercover on the cruise ship, maybe he could get a better understanding of the company.
“Okay, if you think you can.” Grayson’s lack of confidence didn’t help.
Tristan tugged on his dark-gray suit coat, straightening it. “And I want to go alone. I think I need it.”
His best friend’s face fell. “What? But I’m your wingman, your right-hand dude, your mate, your—”
“I know. Normally, I’d want you to come, but I really think I need some time alone.” Plus, he didn’t want Grayson to know what he was really planning.
Grayson eyed him and then huffed. “Fine, but you ow
e me a paradise getaway with hot women.”
“Aren’t you dating that model? What’s her name?” Tristan wracked his brain. Grayson had a new girlfriend every five seconds. “Gwen Hanover.”
He shrugged and looked at the floor. “Nah, she was okay, but she had this weird thing where she smacked her gum.”
“You broke it off because she smacked her gum? I met her twice. Neither time was she chewing gum.” He’d never met a guy so afraid of commitment.
“Yeah.”
Tristan shook his head. “One of these days, you’re going to have to evaluate a woman on more than her quirks. Granted, I didn’t think she was good for you, but she wasn’t horrible either. Not nearly as bad as that Heather woman.”
Grayson grunted and shivered. “At least I date.”
“I date. I date a lot.” Tristan was also lonely. A lot. The women who were attracted to him were typically interested in two things: his money or their fifteen minutes of fame from being associated with him. It happened enough times that he’d stopped asking anyone out.
A thin dark eyebrow went up, and Grayson pierced him with a look.
Tristan shook his head. “Fine, so I don’t. I have to go. I’ve got some plans to make.”
“Okay, but don’t forget, you owe me.” His friend pointed a finger at him.
“Whatever.” Tristan grinned and walked out of the room. He needed a beard, a single room, and passage on a cruise ship.
* * *
Belle Evans’s leg bounced as she waited to board the cruise ship. Never in her wildest dreams would she have ever thought she’d win a cruise and ten grand. All her life, she’d figured those contests were hoaxes. Who sticks their name in a box and actually thinks they’re going to win something? She’d hung up on the radio guy twice before he’d convinced her she’d won.
She wasn’t the only winner, either. At least twenty others had won, or that’s what she was told by the cruise people when she got her tickets. They’d be picking out random paying passengers too. Something about fixing their image and using them as advertisement by getting photos and feedback at the end of the cruise. If it weren’t for the ten grand that came with the trip, she wouldn’t be going. It’d given her the ability to get ahead on her mom’s nursing home payments.
Mending The Billionaire Movie Star (MacLachlan Brothers Romance Book 1) Page 27