“I’m going to keep encouraging your dreams, Jean. You deserve to have them just as much as everyone else does.”
“I’ll take your word for it.” They were interrupted as the newlyweds came into the room, and Jean looked at Erin closely. Her friend had obviously been very thoroughly kissed since the last time she saw her. Maybe Dr. Lachele knew what she was doing after all.
Jean expected no more from life than simply existing, and she never had. Dreams were for children. They were always crushed. No, she wasn’t going to even think about who her new husband would be after Dr. Lachele matched her up. What was the point? She was bound to be disappointed.
*****
Dillon Jeffries stared at his Uncle Larry’s lawyer, shocked to the core. “Are you kidding me?” Dillon’s uncle had raised him after his parents died when he was an infant. The man had never married, always seeming content to run his business and make money. Loads and loads of money.
“I’m afraid not,” John DaMommio told him. “He was very specific in what he wanted. He said that he doesn’t want you to get into the kind of rut he was in, and you need to live your life.”
“So he’s forcing me to marry?”
“That seemed to be his answer. He wanted you to have children to leave your business to. He claimed you’re the grandson he never had, but he wished he’d made better choices in his youth. So he decided to force you to make the choices he thought were better.”
Dillon folded his arms on the table in front of him, leaning forward. “What’s to stop me from marrying the first random stranger I meet and just staying married for long enough to fulfill the terms of his stupid will?”
The lawyer sighed. “He told me you’d ask that. I’m supposed to make periodic checks on your marriage. Every month for the first year. After that every three months. If you divorce within five years of marriage, you forfeit the entire sum of money. You keep the house regardless.”
“Like I could afford the upkeep on the house if I didn’t have the money.” He pushed away from the conference table and paced back and forth. “And I have how long to marry?” The old man must have lost his mind before writing that will. While there had never been a lot of warmth between them, he’d loved his great-uncle, and he’d believed the man loved him—as much as he was capable of loving.
“Three months from the date the will is read.”
Dillon groaned flopping back down in his chair. “I’m not even seeing anyone right now. How am I supposed to find a girl to marry me in three months? Are you sure there are no loopholes? Nothing I can do to get out of it?”
“You can forgo the money.”
Dillon sighed. Billions. He could forgo billions of dollars to assert his independence, or he could go find some woman desperate enough to marry a man she barely knew. “I guess I’m getting married.”
“I’m sorry. I told your uncle you wouldn’t be pleased with this.”
“What happens to the money if I don’t marry?”
“If you don’t marry the entire amount goes to homeless shelters across the nation. As it stands, a quarter of the money goes to shelters.”
“So do you need to be invited to the wedding, or can I just show you the marriage certificate.”
Mr. DaMommio smiled. “I’m afraid I need to be there every step of the way.”
Dillon got back to his feet. He wanted the money. He wasn’t greedy, and he didn’t have a lavish lifestyle, but he’d started his own business. It was glorified house-flipping. He bought up old mansions and restored them to their former glory, and then sold them. With more money, he could hire a crew for some of the work, and he could be the one overseeing it. He had a vision for what he wanted to happen, and the money was needed to make that vision a reality.
“I’ll be in touch. Thank you for your time.” Dillon left the room, determined to take a walk. That was his answer to anything that upset him. He walked.
He found the nearest park and sat on a park bench, ignoring the cold wind blowing at him. He may live in Atlanta, Georgia, but even Atlanta’s winters were cold. Late January had never looked so bleak. He’d lost the only father he’d ever known, and now he was being asked to comply with the ridiculous terms of this will.
He needed to find someone who would just set him up with a woman to marry. He didn’t want to have to mess with any singles websites. The idea of hooking up with a random stranger was appalling, but so was the idea of having to weed through women. How was he going to convince someone to marry him in three months?
The obvious answer was to tell her that he’d be rich if she married him, but how would he ever know if she married him for him, or for his money?
No, there had to be a better way. And he would find it.
To continue reading, search for Anxious in Atlanta wherever eBooks are sold.
Books in the Magnolias & Moonshine Series
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Hurricane Bride by Beth Williamson
The Wedding Charm by Susan Hatler
Sweet Love of Mine by Lindi Peterson
Moon Over Atlanta by Kymber Morgan
Georgia on My Mind by Amanda McIntyre
It Could Happen to Us by Lucy McConnell
SEAL You in My Dreams by Sharon Hamilton
Magnolia Mystic by Lisa Kessler
Anxious in Atlanta by Kristen Osbourne
Southern Secrets by Susan Carlisle
Out-lanta by Tina DeSalvo
From Now On by Raine English
Sweet Georgia Peach by Amelia Adams
Maybe Baby by E. E. Burke
A Kiss is Just a Kiss by Melinda Curtis
Heat Wave by Merry Farmer
Taste of Tara by Shanna Hatfield
Hit and Run Love by Jennifer Peel
About the Author
Lucy McConnell loves romance. She is the author of the Billionaire Marriage Broker Anthology and contributes to the Snow Valley Anthology and the Echo Ridge Anthology.
Her short fiction has been published in Women’s World Magazine, and she has written for Parents’ Magazine and The Deseret News. Besides fiction, Lucy also writes cookbooks. You can find her award-winning recipes under the name Christina Dymock.
When she’s not writing, you can find Lucy volunteering at the elementary school or church, shuttling kids to basketball or rodeos, skiing with her family, wakeboarding, running, cycling, baking, or curled up with a good book.
You can get a free gift from Lucy by clicking here, or check out her blog at lucymcconnell.wordpress.com.
Author Lucy McConnell
LucyMcConnell.wordpress.com
It Could Happen to Us: Quotable Romance Page 10