Preston Brothers The Complete Series

by Leslie North

  “You guys are too much,” said Drew. “Romance at the T-ball game.”

  “You’re just jealous,” said Charlie.

  Drew exchanged a familiar smile with Penny. “Not in the least. Hey, Jasper’s crossing home plate. He made it.”

  “We all made it,” said Stephanie, her voice quiet, and she leaned her head against Charlie’s chest.

  “So,” he murmured. “Where are we going for this honeymoon adventure?”

  She smiled up at him, lovely and radiant. “You’ll see.”

  End of The Billionaire’s Secret Son

  Preston Brothers Book Two

  Blurb

  For as long as she can remember, Claire Baldwin has dreamed of seeing the world. For a small-town girl it might seem impossible, but she’s already seen more of the world than she ever expected, and her skills as an interpreter promise more adventures to come. When sexy billionaire Archer Preston needs someone to interpret businessmen from China, Claire’s skills are more than up to the task. Not only can she understand and speak their dialect, she’s also pretty good at interpreting Archer’s obvious attraction. When he suggests a no-strings affair, Claire accepts, knowing that Archer would never want anything more. But all her dreams come to a screeching halt when she finds out she’s pregnant—with twins. Thankfully, she and Archer still agree that love and marriage are definitely not in the picture. After spending more time with Archer, though, Claire begins to realize she might want that picture to include a family portrait.

  Archer may not be entirely thrilled to know he’s going to be a father, but he’s committed to being in his children’s lives. Though the thought of settling down makes him more than a little queasy, he’ll take care of Claire, give her a place to stay at his house, and make sure his babies are healthy. Just so long as his relationship with Claire is strictly platonic. Which it is…for about a week. Seems they just can’t fight the searing attraction between them. Before Archer knows it, he’s fighting more than just a simple attraction to Claire. He doesn’t love her, does he? Just the thought of spending the rest of his life with one woman sends him running halfway around the world, and Claire can’t follow. If Archer doesn’t realize what’s really in his heart, he just might lose the only woman he’s ever truly loved…

  1

  “You’ve got to call someone else.”

  Archer burst through the door into his office at top speed, heart pounding. His assistant, Crystal, raised a hand. She sat at the wide desk in the office’s outer room. “Slow down—you said most of that to the hallway. Who am I calling?”

  He took a deep breath to steady himself. The translator they’d hired had been a pleasant and put-together young man whose pants had sharper creases than even Archer’s dry cleaner could achieve. But this wasn’t about having the right outfit. “We need a new translator.”

  He tapped the folio he’d been holding against the side of his leg. He needed to spend the next hour briefing the translator on the details of the morning’s meeting, but now he’d be lucky to get fifteen minutes.

  “What happened to Jason?” Crystal already had her hand on the handset of her phone.

  “Jason speaks Mandarin.”

  Crystal narrowed her eyes. “And?”

  “We need someone who speaks Yue. It’s a totally different dialect. The elder Mr. Li can speak English, but his English isn’t great, and it’ll add unnecessary tension if we can’t get somebody. This is the kind of detail that—”

  “Say no more.” Archer shut his mouth, and Crystal picked up the phone. “I’ll call them back. They’ll have someone else.”

  “Good. Great.”

  Archer paced into his office and did a lap around his desk. If this meeting went well, it would be the first international company that Preston, Inc. had formed a partnership with. Dad would have been so proud. He’d always wanted to take the company worldwide, but it hadn’t panned out before he died. He’d always been talking about his big plans—for the company and for everything else. “I’m going to be a world traveler,” his dad had said to him, brandishing paper maps as if smartphones hadn’t been invented yet. They’d gone so far as to arrange a trip to Japan. They were going to climb Mt. Fuji. They’d been going to do a lot of things.

  “I’ve got someone.” Crystal’s voice broke into his thoughts. She stood in the doorway of his inner office, a triumphant smile on her face. “He’ll be here in fifteen minutes.”

  The tension went out of Archer’s body in a whoosh. “You’re incredible.”

  “The agency is incredible. They hooked me up with someone who—well, he’s not technically certified, but—”

  Archer’s stomach twisted and dropped onto the carpet in front of him. “What do you mean, not certified?”

  Crystal winced. “They didn’t have anyone available who speaks Yue, but they have a trainee who’s available right now. He’s on his way.”

  “We’ll roll with it, then.” It would be fine, right? It would have to be. And if it wasn’t fine, he’d cancel the meeting. No—he’d reschedule the meeting. His face burned at the thought. Which was worse, showing up without an interpreter or telling them they’d need to reschedule? It was all bad. “I’ll be in the meeting room. Send him down as soon as he’s here.”

  Archer took his seat along one side of the long, polished table, adrenaline thrumming in his veins. He hadn’t planned on reaching out to his contacts in China until next year at the earliest, but he’d heard about the family-owned shipping company from a friend of a friend two weeks ago. Would Archer take a meeting? Yes. The answer was always yes. He’d jump and find a parachute on the way down. Life was more exciting that way. The sunlight gleamed on the table, dancing as the leaves on the tree outside swayed in the breeze.

  “Mr. Preston?”

  He looked toward the voice in the doorway, and his heart skipped a beat.

  Chestnut hair in a loose fall around her shoulders. Dark eyes to match. The woman in the doorway wore a simple navy shift dress. It would be totally unremarkable if not for the way it hugged the curves of her body. She had matching navy kitten heels and a delicate pearl necklace. She had a slim folio tucked under one arm. She smiled tentatively at him—her teeth were perfect, framed by heart-shaped lips—and it was another strike to his heart...and other places, too. The rosy shade of lipstick she’d chosen was doing things for him. It brought out the color in her cheeks, and he wanted to rub the pad of his thumb over that color and see if her skin was as soft as it looked.

  “Do I have the wrong man?”

  You have the right man. “I’m Archer Preston.” He rose and went to the door, feeling for all the world like she was drawing him to her through the sheer power of personal gravity. “But I think you have the wrong meeting room. I’m meeting a man from Connections Translation.”

  More color rose to her cheeks, but she drew herself up to her full height. “Funny enough, that’s just where I’m coming from. They called me twenty minutes ago and said they had an emergency booking.” Her eyes flickered downward—was she checking him out?—but came back to meet his own gaze so quickly he was sure he’d imagined it. “I hope I came in time to avert disaster. Claire Baldwin.”

  She stuck out her hand to shake, and he took it. The firmness of her shake took him by surprise, and so did the heat that rushed into his hand. For a moment there, when she’d been standing in the light from the window, she’d looked—well, not like a person who was going to be able to handle the Chinese businessmen.

  His heart thudded against his ribs like a fist knocking against a locked door. “If you can speak Yue, then you’re early,” he said. “Sit down with me, Claire.” He’d been expecting a carbon-copy of the first translator, and Claire was not a carbon copy of anything.

  “Of course.”

  Archer stood back to let her pass, and she brushed by him, leaving a trace scent of a citrusy shampoo in the air. She smelled like sunlight looked—bright and hopeful. He sat across from her at the meeting table and s
uppressed the urge to ask her out on a date. For one thing, she was his emergency interpreter, and for another thing, he didn’t have time for dating. He definitely did not have time for dating. Archer forced himself to relax. “So—you’re training to be an interpreter?”

  Claire’s chin lifted. “I’m not formally certified as a Yue interpreter. I am a certified interpreter in German, Spanish, and French.”

  “Wow. Really?” All along, he’d been thinking of her as a student—someone just starting out.

  “Yes, really.” Another flash of that smile had Archer wanting to cancel the meeting just to spend more time with her, which was absurd. It was insane. He couldn’t just cancel meetings for women. He’d never done it before, and he wasn’t going to start now. “I studied abroad in the Guangzhou Province in college. I was already taking classes in Mandarin, but while I was there I picked up the Yue dialect, too. Once I pass my certification test, I’ll be—” She pressed her lips together, eyes sparkling. “You don’t need to know about all that.”

  “Oh, I’m interested now.” Archer leaned forward. “Tell me. What happens after you pass your test?”

  Claire folded her hands neatly over her folio. “After I pass my certification test, I’ll be part of a group of interpreters who are certified in at least four languages. I’ll be able to call myself an Elite-Level Interpreter.”

  “It has a nice ring to it.”

  “Yes, it does.” She pushed her folio across the table. “Here’s proof of my certifications, to put your mind at ease, and a resumé that lists my pertinent experience.” Archer took the folio, and his hand brushed hers, the heat sparkling through his mind like pure electricity.

  “Oh, I—thank you.”

  Claire pulled her hand back. Had the movement been a beat too slow? “Welcome.”

  He scanned the resumé, the words meaningless. He was too aware of every breath she took to read any of them. He had to get a hold on himself. Archer sucked in a breath and started over at the top of the page. There was her list of certifications; there was a list of the time she’d spent in Guangzhou...he looked back into her dark eyes. “I think we’re good to go.”

  She let out a laugh. “I think you’ll have to be. The agency said your meeting started imminently. That was the word they used.” Claire looked him in the eye. “When it comes to translating, I’ll need you to pause for a couple beats before and after you answer, so I have time. I’ll be pretty much talking directly over you, but I need a moment to hear what you’re saying in the beginning.”

  She was forward. And he didn’t like the way she was taking over...but he didn’t hate it. “Any other rules I should know about?”

  “That’ll do it. I like to be up front about the guidelines. Besides, I don’t think we have much more time before the meeting.”

  “Enough to go over my expectations.” He glanced up at the clock. “They’re due to arrive in—” A knock at the door sent ice spilling through his veins.

  “Mr. Preston.” Crystal wore a smile that held a warning. “Mr. Li and his son have arrived.” The two men stood behind her, wearing matching scowls. “Gentlemen.” She held out a hand, and the two of them moved past her without a second look.

  “Ms. Baldwin—” He hissed the words, but it was too late. She was already on her feet. He hadn’t had time to explain. Claire looked back at him and jerked her head subtly toward the businessmen. A strange thrill moved through him. Archer was usually the one to lead in these meetings, but now he felt like he was on a team. Claire’s team.

  “Good afternoon,” he said to the Lis, and there she was by his side, echoing his words without hesitation. “I’m so glad to have you here. Let’s sit down, shall we?”

  They were off to the races.

  Archer was used to meetings. He sat in meetings all the time, with all kinds of people from all over the world. He’d had breakfast meetings and dinner meetings and even meetings in a loud nightclub or two. But none had seemed as high stakes as this one.

  “Preston is ready to partner with you so that we can both have the advantages of international distribution,” he said, and there was Claire’s voice, coming right on the heels of his words. She didn’t miss a beat. The moment the businessmen had stepped into the room, she had...transformed, somehow, losing the softness he’d seen for those first few minutes. She was part of the background, but in the way that a crashing waterfall was part of the backdrop to the surrounding forest. Impossible to ignore.

  The men glanced at one another, and Mr. Li gave a subtle nod to his son. Something in the younger man’s eyes flashed and flared, and then he spoke.

  Claire’s voice kicked in after a beat. “I’d like to propose a seventy-thirty split of the profits for the first five years of the partnership.”

  “That’s not the kind of deal we’re looking for.” Partnerships were the easiest way to get a foothold in China, but there was no way Archer and his team were going to do so much work for such a slim cut of the profits. “If we work together, it’ll be fifty-fifty.”

  The younger Mr. Li answered. Archer glanced at Claire, waiting to hear the reply from her lips...but instead she shook her head. She might as well have blown a whistle in the meeting room. Her reply was quick, and whatever she said, it made both the men across the table jerk back in their seats. A smile flashed across Claire’s face. “Mr. Li wanted to confirm that the only offer on the table is for an equal split of the profits.”

  He looked both the Lis in the eye. “Yes. Fifty-fifty or nothing.” Archer had done his research. The Guangzhou Fabai Shipping Company had had a down year. And the elder Mr. Li hadn’t said as much, but Archer suspected he wanted to retire and didn’t quite trust his son to manage his legacy to its full potential. He ignored the stab of envy through his middle—what he wouldn’t give to show his dad his own successes—but the decreased work and increased profit the younger Mr. Li was angling for wasn’t going to happen. “Let me show you my plans for the partnership.”

  Archer had prepared a set of folios just for this purpose—one for each of the Lis and one for Claire to follow along. He took them through, page by page, the air in the room practically crackling with...something. Was it the fact that Claire was sitting so close, or was it the way the Lis were clearly holding back? Maybe they’d expected a longer negotiation, or even an argument. And it was Claire, he was sure, who had headed it off. With one sentence. She hadn’t so much as flinched. The elder Mr. Li flipped his folio closed, stood, and offered his hand to Archer.

  “We have ourselves a partnership,” said Claire, and her voice in his ear made the hairs on the back of his neck leap to attention. The three men shook hands, exchanging congratulations, and Archer heard himself inviting the Lis to a high-end steakhouse in one of the luxury hotels on the other side of town for a celebratory dinner. Best to keep the good feelings going, but in order to do it, he needed Claire. He dropped the younger Mr. Li’s hand and shot her a look. Please say yes, he tried to communicate with the look.

  Claire gave him a wink, and everything in the air around him shifted again. It wasn’t a date—not by far—but she was coming to dinner with him. On the way out of the meeting room, she let the Lis walk ahead and nudged him with an elbow. “You can buy me a steak,” she said.

  “I’ll buy you a hundred steaks. What did you say back there?”

  She kept her voice low enough that it didn’t carry over the conversation the Lis were having a few steps ahead. “I said everything the three of you said.”

  “You’re very coy for a person who put herself right in the middle of the negotiations.”

  “I saved you some time,” she said with a satisfied smile. “And I saved the Lis some awkwardness.”

  He tugged her back by the elbow, lengthening the gap between the two parties. “Awkwardness?”

  “I passed the Lis on the way in,” Claire whispered. “Mr. Li the elder didn’t want to take the hard line and ask for more profits, but his son did. I only added that you wouldn’t
budge on the split.”

  “They seemed surprised by that.” They’d jumped back an inch in their seats.

  “They were surprised that I was...taking an active role, probably.” Claire shot him a smile then that was so determined and unapologetic that it stole the breath from his lungs. “Sorry about that.”

  “No apologies necessary.”

  2

  Archer Preston was hot.

  And maybe Claire had spent a few minutes focusing on just how hot he was back in the meeting room, but she was a professional—nobody was going to catch her mooning over a guy in the middle of a work engagement. Technically, this was still a work engagement, but the mood was significantly different from the tension back at the Preston building.

  By the time Archer pulled out her chair at a long rectangular table in the private dining area of Magellan’s, a steakhouse in one of the fanciest hotels in town, the party had multiplied. He’d stopped on the way out to invite a couple more people from his team—“They helped facilitate all the meetings, and Crystal arranges for the air travel”—and the Lis turned out to have brought three other people from the company with them. All in all, ten of them sat down together—Claire on Archer’s right, and the Lis across the table.

  Archer leaned over while two waiters handed out the night’s menus. “Thank you for coming.”

  Whew. It was hard to look at him. He was, in fact, so perfect that it made her blush to look into his blue eyes. Claire didn’t know if he could tell she was blushing, but she could feel it under her skin like the embers of a fire. His eyes might be the color of the sea, but they didn’t make her feel cool—not at all. And then there was the way he looked in his suit. Archer wore a crisp white shirt with the collar open under his unbuttoned jacket. On anyone else, it would look sloppy. On Archer, it looked...delicious.