The Billionaire's Christmas Baby

by Marion Lennox

  Fixing Max with a gimlet eye, she made her demand. ‘Well, young man. When are you going to make an honest woman out of my granddaughter?’

  ‘Sunny’s been wearing my engagement ring for ten months,’ Max said, grinning and tugging Sunny to stand beside him. ‘She’s had my heart for much longer. I believe we’re waiting for you to say the word.’

  ‘Because?’

  ‘Because we want you to be happy at our wedding,’ Max said simply. ‘Sunny won’t have it any other way, and neither will I. If you feel you can cope with a celebration...’

  ‘I knew it.’ Ruby smiled mistily at both of them. ‘I was just lying down on my bed thinking bridal and I thought... I bet they’re waiting for me. And then I thought Pa would have my hide if I don’t say something. So how about Christmas Eve? All the kids will be home. What a truly splendid time that’d be.’

  So here he was, in the little church he’d first attended two days after he’d met Sunny. He’d expected this to be a small affair but Gran was having none of it and she’d bulldozed Sunny and Max along with her.

  ‘All your friends from the hotel, Sunny—I know you haven’t worked there for almost a year but they were nice to you. And Max, your friends from New York and those nice ladies who look after your apartment...’

  ‘It’s too far to expect anyone to come,’ Max told her. ‘And Karen and Eliza can’t...’ And then he stopped because he thought... Why not use a fraction of what his company earned to bring Eliza and Karen and Harry, Karen’s little son, here? They’d been part of the first year of Phoebe’s life and somehow they were no longer employees. They were friends.

  On this day there were so many people here that he once would have called acquaintances but with Sunny by his side he somehow now called friends.

  And Max was aware of them, and glad of them, but right now, as the music soared to announce the arrival of his bride, he had no room for anything but Sunny.

  First came the ring-bearers, two tots, Karen’s four-year-old Harry leading two-year-old Phoebe, both intent, serious, knowing the importance of the job in hand. Or Harry did. Phoebe simply thought that if Harry was carrying a cushion with a ring, then she would too.

  Then came the bridesmaids, Daisy and Chloe, because how could they not be bridesmaids? Sam and Tom were standing beside him as groomsmen, because that seemed right too.

  Then came Ruby, dressed in royal purple. The maids wore pink, but: ‘Purple’s such a stately colour and if I can’t feel stately today I never can,’ Ruby had decreed. She was matron of honour, for how could she be anything else?

  ‘You don’t want to give me away?’ Sunny had asked and Ruby had chuckled.

  ‘My love, you’ve stood on your own two feet since the day you were born. You’re giving your heart and you’re taking one in return and you can do that all on your own.’

  And she surely could.

  And now she was at the doorway, starting her walk down the aisle towards him.

  Max thought briefly of the great churches of Manhattan, of the world. He thought briefly of the photographs of his parents’ wedding, a society wedding like no other.

  This was right though. This was...real.

  Outside, a cacophony of grass parrots was competing with Handel for sound honours. The church was surrounded by a sea of bcrimson bottlebrush. It was Christmas but more. The whole country seemed festive, as if this was truly something to celebrate.

  And it was. For Sunny was walking towards him, ethereal in her loveliness. Her gown had been her grandmother’s, cream silk with a high mandarin collar, tiny pearl buttons, a tight fitted bodice and a skirt that seemed to almost float. She’d left her curls hanging free but her sisters had threaded tiny rosebuds through. She trod steadily down the aisle, purposeful as ever, and he thought he’d never seen anyone so lovely.

  He couldn’t take his eyes from her. She smiled and smiled and as she reached him, as her gaze met his, as her hand slid into his palm, he felt as if he’d been granted the world.

  ‘Want to see my bouquet?’ she whispered and it brought him up with a jolt. What?

  He hauled his eyes from hers to the flowers she was carrying, a magnificent arrangement of crimson bottlebrush, white gypsophila—baby’s breath—and four perfect frangipani...

  And tucked inside was a tiny bottle, label up.

  Stain remover?

  ‘I figure I met you trying to remove a stain,’ she whispered, smiling and smiling. ‘And I didn’t succeed on one spot, but you know what? We’ve cleaned up so much more. Loneliness, distrust, distance... So I thought...maybe we should go into this prepared. Stain remover out front. Just in case.’

  And he grinned. His gorgeous, wonderful Sunny. It was a wonder she wasn’t carrying her mop.

  ‘Great idea,’ he whispered. ‘But I can’t see the need. I pretty much see our future as stain-free. You want to give the vicar a say and get ourselves married? Put our trust in love?’

  ‘Yes,’ she said and beamed and, even though it was out of order to do it right then, she stood on tiptoes and kissed him. ‘Yes, I do, Max Grayland. You and me and stain remover... We can take on the world.’

  ‘Let’s start with each other.’

  ‘Let’s,’ she said and he kissed her back.

  The music ceased. Even the parrots in the trees outside seemed to hush.

  Christmas...the time of miracles.

  Maybe this was a small miracle in the scheme of things but right now it felt huge. It was huge.

  It was one marriage between two people who truly loved so, without further ado, Sunny Raye and Max Grayland turned together to become one.

  * * * * *

  If you enjoyed this story, check out these other great reads from Marion Lennox

  REUNITED WITH HER SURGEON PRINCE

  STRANDED WITH THE SECRET BILLIONAIRE

  FALLING FOR HER WOUNDED HERO

  STEPPING INTO THE PRINCE’S WORLD

  All available now!

  Keep reading for an excerpt from CHRISTMAS BRIDE FOR THE BOSS by Kate Hardy.

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  Christmas Bride for the Boss

  by Kate Hardy

  CHAPTER ONE

  ‘ALL RIGHT, MISS FIRTH. You have ten minutes to convince me why I should invest in your company.’ Jamie Wallis leaned back in his chair, unsmiling, and looked at her.

  Sophie caught her breath.

&n
bsp; This was it.

  The next ten minutes could change her entire life.

  She needed to be more professional now than she’d ever been. And she really needed to ignore the fact that Jamie Wallis was one of the most beautiful men she’d ever met. The photographs she’d seen didn’t do him justice. And Eva hadn’t warned her that you could practically drown in his dark eyes.

  Focus, she told herself. Because everyone’s counting on you to get his backing. And you don’t do relationships any more. Not since Joe. You finally learned your lesson: focus on your business.

  ‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘I’m assuming you’ve gone through the accounts I sent you, so you’ll already know our company’s bottom line is solid.’

  He inclined his head, still unsmiling. ‘So why exactly are you asking me to invest in your company?’

  She took a deep breath. ‘Because as well as you owning several resorts, your company offers specialist holidays to travellers, so Plans & Planes—being a travel agency and event planning service—fits in very well with your business. Especially as we’re introducing a new service which merges both sides of our company—something you don’t offer at the moment.’

  ‘Which is?’ he asked.

  ‘A planning service for people who want to get married abroad. We can organise everything from the wedding ceremony and reception through to the honeymoon, plus accommodation for the guests, and we’ll deal with all the paperwork.’ It had been her brainchild and she’d been so looking forward to developing the new service.

  Until Eva had dropped her bombshell.

  ‘And your approach to me has nothing to do with the fact that your former partner is my late wife’s cousin?’

  Sophie had expected that question and worked out her answer in advance. ‘Eva suggested you as a potential investor, I admit. But I researched your company before I decided to approach you. I’m not looking for nepotism. I’m looking for someone who sees a good investment that fits in with their own business plans.’

  ‘I see.’ He steepled his fingers. ‘What about the fact that Eva’s leaving the company? How do I know that everything at Plans & Planes isn’t going to take a massive nosedive without Eva at the helm?’

  It was a fair question and Sophie wasn’t going to take it personally. ‘The impact of Eva’s departure on the business is mainly financial.’ The impact on her was another matter: Eva was Sophie’s best friend as well as her business partner and she’d miss Eva hugely. ‘Eva’s deputy, Mara, has worked for us for the last three years and she’s ready to step into Eva’s shoes on the travel agency side,’ she explained. ‘Mara has the experience, the knowledge and the capability to take that part of the company forward. I’m staying to manage the event planning side and the new weddings abroad service, so there’s continuity of management.’

  He made a couple of notes. ‘If the business is flourishing, why do you need an investor?’

  ‘Because, as I’m sure you’re aware, Eva is moving to New York with her fiancé.’ Aidan had been headhunted by a top New York advertising agency and the opportunity was too good to turn down. ‘So she needs me to buy out her half of the business.’

  ‘And you have no savings you can use to buy her out, Miss Firth?’

  She had, until two months ago. She took a deep breath. ‘No.’

  ‘Why?’

  Telling him the truth would make it sound as if she was trying to manipulate him. Plus it was between Sophie, her brother and her sister-in-law. She wasn’t going to break their confidence. ‘Personal reasons,’ she said.

  ‘Won’t your bank give you a loan?’

  She winced inwardly, knowing how bad her answer was going to sound, but she wasn’t going to lie. ‘No.’

  He raised an eyebrow. ‘Because your financial management isn’t good enough?’

  ‘There’s nothing wrong with my financial management,’ she said patiently. ‘The business is doing well.’

  ‘Then why don’t you have savings, Miss Firth?’

  ‘Personal reasons,’ she repeated.

  ‘That, Miss Firth, is tantamount to telling an insurance company that you’re a businesswoman. It’s too vague. They’ll need to know precisely what business you’re in so they can assess the risk.’

  ‘I’m not asking you to insure me, Mr Wallis. I’m asking you to invest in the business.’

  He gave her a cool, assessing look. ‘Miss Firth, if you want me to invest in your company, you can’t hide behind “personal reasons”.’

  Maybe she could tell him some of it. Broad brush rather than details. ‘All right,’ she said reluctantly. ‘Since you ask, I lent my savings to someone I love very much.’

  ‘Then surely you can ask that person to return the money, now you need it for yourself?’

  ‘No.’

  He frowned. ‘Why not?’

  Because the money had been spent, and her brother and sister-in-law were already under enough pressure. This was their fourth attempt at IVF, and she didn’t want to make it any harder for them than it already was. ‘I can’t explain more without breaking a confidence.’

  ‘So you’d rather see your business go under?’

  ‘Of course not. We have four staff and a roster of reliable temps, and I want them to have job security.’

  He shrugged. ‘Then ask for the money back so you can buy out Eva’s share of the business.’

  They were at stalemate. Or maybe there was another way round this. ‘Do you have siblings, Mr Wallis?’ she asked, already knowing that he did but not knowing how close he was to them; not every family was as close as hers.

  He inclined his head. ‘Two.’

  ‘If they needed you, would you hesitate to help?’ she asked.

  ‘Of course not.’

  Just what she’d hoped he’d say. ‘Then I can safely say you would’ve made the same decision I did, in those circumstances,’ she said.

  ‘Given that I don’t know the circum—’

  His mobile phone shrilled, cutting him off mid-word. He glanced at the screen, as if about to hit the button to decline the call, then frowned.

  ‘I apologise, Miss Firth. I’m afraid I need to take this.’

  From the expression on his face, this was definitely a private call, Sophie thought. ‘Shall I wait...?’ She indicated the reception area outside his office.

  He looked grateful. ‘Thank you.’

  Sophie left Jamie’s office, sat down on one of the chairs and closed her eyes.

  The bank had already said no. It was pretty clear that Jamie Wallis, her plan B, was going to turn her down. So now she needed to work out a plan C.

  Crowdsourcing? No. It’d make her look as if the business had run out of money. Which it hadn’t.

  Offering shares in the business to the rest of the team? But Mara was about to get married and the other three were saving up the deposit for a flat. None of them had any spare money, much less the ability to raise a loan to buy out part of Eva’s share in Plans & Planes.

  And Jamie’s suggestion of asking Matt and Angie to return the money was completely out of the question. Her brother and sister-in-law had been eligible for one free cycle of IVF treatment; it hadn’t worked and they’d already used up all their own savings and taken out a loan to pay for the next two cycles, which had also failed.

  OK, so there were no guarantees that the fourth cycle would be the lucky one, and if it had been purely a business decision Sophie probably would have decided that the risk was too great. But this wasn’t a business decision. How could she possibly have stood by and watched their hearts break when she could do something to help? So she hadn’t hesitated on offering to fund another cycle of treatment. She’d said it was a loan that Matt and Angie could repay whenever, but she’d always intended to quietly forget about the money. If the IVF w
orked and they had the baby they so desperately wanted, it would be the best repayment she could ask for.

  * * *

  ‘So let me get this straight,’ Jamie said, scowling at the phone. ‘You’re telling me that Cindy broke her leg skiing yesterday, so she won’t be able to walk, let alone work, for at least another two months. And you can’t offer me a temporary replacement for her because the nanny who took over while she was on holiday is already on another assignment, and everyone else on your books is already either on an assignment and can’t possibly be moved, or has gone down with a virus.’

  ‘I’m afraid so, Mr Wallis. I know it sounds like a feeble excuse, but it’s quite a nasty virus. It takes a couple of weeks to get over it. I’m so sorry,’ Felicity, the agency manager, said.

  ‘Effectively you’re leaving me in the lurch.’ Was there anyone in his staff he could ask to switch roles temporarily? He could hardly ask one of the resort team to move to London for two months, especially with Christmas coming up. There was nobody suitable in his London team, either. Those with children already had enough on their plates and he couldn’t expect them to neglect their own children for Sienna. The ones without children didn’t have the relevant experience. Short of asking his mother to help—and he knew from first-hand experience that his mother preferred to parent at a distance—Jamie knew he was stuck.

  ‘I wish it wasn’t the case, but I’m afraid the situation’s completely out of my hands, Mr Wallis,’ Felicity said.

  He could try another agency, but he still wouldn’t be able to guarantee having a new temporary nanny in place by the end of today—or that she’d be able to stay until Cindy was back at work. He didn’t want to dump his daughter on a string of women she didn’t know. Sienna needed continuity.