Dealmaker, Heartbreaker (Wickham Falls Weddings Book 5)
Page 1
When a business deal
Becomes an affair of the heart.
Big-city Noah Wainwright’s always viewed business as a game. But when he stumbles across bed-and-breakfast owner Viviana Remington, she’s playing by different rules. Rules of honor that bring the love-’em-and-leave-’em playboy to his knees. And reserved Viviana’s hardly immune to the real-estate guru’s many charms. When Viv learns how the Wainright family plays the game, though, all bets are off...
Noah rested a hand at the small of her back. “Why don’t you go sit down. Tell me what you want.”
“Oh, you’re going to serve me?”
He smiled. “Of course. We Wainwright men may not be able to cook well, but we do know how to serve a woman.”
Viviana wanted to remind Noah that she wasn’t his woman or even a Wainwright woman but decided to play along. It was better than trading barbs with him. She executed a graceful curtsy. “I’m sorry I barked at you yesterday, and I want to—”
Noah placed a finger over her parted lips, cutting off her apology. His mouth was a hairbreadth from hers. “No apologies. It’s in the past, and I don’t believe in reliving the past,” he said, winking at her. His eyebrows lifted questioningly. “Agree?”
Viviana was too stunned to speak and nodded instead. Noah hadn’t kissed her, but that did not stop her heart from beating faster than normal. Did he not know he was much too virile for her to ignore? All he had to do was stare at her, and she felt things she did not want to feel. The scars from her last relationship were still healing, and she did not want to reopen them.
* * *
WICKHAM FALLS WEDDINGS:
Small-town heroes, bighearted love!
Dear Reader,
The Wainwrights are back!
This time it’s Noah Wainwright who will take center stage in the latest Wickham Falls Wedding story. I’d asked myself from the first time I introduced Noah to readers in Because of You if there was a woman out there who could make him turn in his bachelor card.
Noah decided to answer that question for me when he first met Viviana Remington in Twins for the Soldier. Noah is not only smitten with the dark-haired beauty but is totally unaware that the owner of Wickham Falls Bed and Breakfast has just earned her third strike in the game of romance and is also totally immune to his practiced charm. What’s a man to do? Noah chooses to let events unfold naturally but never could he have predicted a deal he has executed countless times would not go as planned.
Viviana Remington breaks her vow never to get involved with another man, but she needs hunky blond Noah to save her bed and breakfast. They combine business with pleasure as he takes her on a whirlwind journey of glamorous parties in exotic locales, and when he introduces the small-town girl to his wealthy New York City real-estate family, she knows she’s in too deep. But in a single act, Noah will go from dealmaker to heartbreaker and he is forced to choose between the woman he loves and his family.
Y’all come on back to Wickham Falls to discover whether Noah and Viviana can seal the important deal of their lives that promises forever.
Happy reading!
Rochelle Alers
Dealmaker, Heartbreaker
Rochelle Alers
Since 1988, national bestselling author Rochelle Alers has written more than eighty books and short stories. She has earned numerous honors, including the Zora Neale Hurston Award, the Vivian Stephens Award for Excellence in Romance Writing and a Career Achievement Award from RT Book Reviews. She is a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., Iota Theta Zeta Chapter. A full-time writer, she lives in a charming hamlet on Long Island. Rochelle can be contacted through her website, www.rochellealers.org.
Books by Rochelle Alers
Harlequin Special Edition
Wickham Falls Weddings
Home to Wickham Falls
Her Wickham Falls SEAL
The Sheriff of Wickham Falls
American Heroes
Claiming the Captain’s Baby
Twins for the Soldier
Harlequin Kimani Romance
The Eatons
Sweet Silver Bells
Sweet Southern Nights
Sweet Destiny
Sweet Persuasions
Twice the Temptation
Visit the Author Profile page at www.Harlequin.com for more titles.
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Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Epilogue
Excerpt from A Fortunate Arrangement by Nancy Robards Thompson
Prologue
“How long have the Wolfes owned this property?”
Viviana Remington looked straight ahead rather than glance up at the tall, blond man walking a little too close for her to feel comfortable around him. When she and her brother had decided to sell off eight of twelve undeveloped acres of land on which their ancestral home sat, Giles Wainwright had suggested his developer cousin just might be interested.
However, when Noah Wainwright walked through the doors of The Falls House and stared rudely at her with his large aquamarine eyes, she’d suddenly felt like a specimen on a slide under a microscope. And he had continued to watch her when sharing a light repast with her brother, future sister-in-law and Giles.
Viviana concentrated, carefully putting one booted foot in front of the other as she led Noah down the sloping footpath into a valley. It had rained heavily the night before, and the earth was still soaked. She chanced a quick glance at him and would’ve lost her footing if Noah hadn’t caught her arm and steadied her. Viviana shivered, not from fear of falling but from the warmth of his hand and the sensual scent of his cologne. After her last disastrous relationship, she did not want a man to touch, look at or even smile at her. She was just that turned off by the opposite sex. And she did not know why, but there was something about Noah that intrigued her, even though she had a preference for dark-haired men.
This time Viviana did give him a direct stare. She wasn’t into stereotypes, but Noah did not look like any developer she’d ever seen. She thought he was the perfect prototype for the quintessential California surfer with his long, sun-bleached and shaggy hair falling around his tanned face and neck.
She felt the runaway beating of her heart against her ribs when he moved even closer. “Thank you.” The two words were a breathless whisper.
Noah released her arm. “You’re quite welcome. But you didn’t answer my question.”
Suddenly she recalled what he’d asked her. “One hundred fifty years.”
Noah whistled softly. “That’s a long time. And you want to sell eight acres of your legacy.”
“Yes.”
“Why?” Noah asked.
“I need the money to make repairs to the main house and update the guesthouses before I reopen the boardinghouse as a bed-and-breakfast.”
* * *
Noah stopped and shielded his eyes from the brilliant summer sun as he s
tared at the verdant landscape with towering trees and wildflowers growing in abandon. This was his second trip to Wickham Falls, a town boasting a population of four thousand permanent residents, and although he found it aesthetically beautiful, it still was much too rural and isolated for his tastes.
“I suppose that’s as good excuse as any to sell off land.”
“It’s not an excuse,” Viviana countered, “but a reason.”
Lowering his hand, he met her eyes. There was something so incredibly sensual about Viviana Remington that Noah found it difficult to draw a normal breath. He knew it was rude to stare, but sitting across from her at the table, he hadn’t been able to pull his eyes away from her black, curly hair framing her delicate face and cascading down her back, her flawless golden-brown complexion, her large and clear toffee-colored eyes, and her full, lush mouth.
A hint of a smile parted his lips. “Are you willing to sell some of your remaining four acres?”
Viviana shook her head. “No. The Falls House sits on two acres, the guesthouses on one, and I need the remaining acre in the event a guest would like to book an outdoor event.”
Noah thought about her brother’s fiancée’s suggestion he either build eight middle-income homes or sixteen moderately priced homes on one or half-acre lots. “I like what I see, but it’s going take some time before I decide which type of structures to design.” Since joining family-owned-and-operated Wainwright Developers Group, he had become involved in the division responsible for domestic sales.
“You’re going to design the homes?”
Noah looked at Viviana as if she had spoken a foreign language. “Yes. Why?”
“I...I thought your focus was being a developer.”
His eyebrows lifted slightly. “I’m an architect and a developer. Once I get back to New York I’ll scan a copy of my degree and send it to you.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Don’t be facetious, Noah. It’s not very becoming.”
His expression was the epitome of innocence. “I wasn’t being facetious, Viviana. I just want to prove that I’m not a fraud.”
“Did I say you were a fraud?”
Noah did not want to get into a debate with Viviana about his professional credentials. All he wanted was a verbal agreement as to the price of the land so he could set up in Washington, DC. Whenever he oversaw a new construction project, he’d made it a practice to live close to the site until it was completed.
“How much do you want for the land?”
Viviana crossed her arms under her breasts. “You’ll have to discuss that with Leland. He oversees the finances, while I’m responsible for running the business.”
“If that’s the case, then I suggest we walk back to the house.”
Viviana turned on her heel and headed in the direction of the antebellum mansion that showed obvious signs of disrepair. Noah was several steps behind her, which gave him the advantage of watching the fluid sway of her hips in a pair of stretch slacks. She was average height for a woman, slim, but not so slim she would be deemed skinny.
When he had asked his CEO father for authorization to purchase the land, Edward Wainwright had balked at the idea of building in rural West Virginia until Noah reminded him that his nephew Giles lived in Wickham Falls. Edward called him twenty-four hours later and gave his approval.
Noah wiped his boots on the thick mat outside the door and walked into the historic mansion boasting ten bedroom suites to discuss the terms of the sale with Leland Remington.
Chapter One
Three months later...
Noah downshifted and maneuvered onto the road leading to the Wickham Falls Bed and Breakfast. He’d completed the renderings for the homes, surrounded by age-old trees that he planned to build in the valley. The drawings included the retention of much of the natural plant life to blend harmoniously with the existing landscape.
He’d managed to keep busy since his last trip to the coal-mining region with a project in DC. It was the first time WDG had put up luxury condos in the capital city, and most of the units in the twelve-story high-rise were sold before completion. It had taken supreme willpower for Noah not to take a side trip to Wickham Falls with the hope that he would run into Viviana. There was something about her that made him less confident than he normally was around women. Even though he’d wanted to ask Giles about her, he’d decided it was best he not let his cousin know that his interest in Viviana Remington went beyond business.
Noah was definitely not a novice when it came to interacting with women.
Whether subtle or bold, he knew with a single glance whether or not to approach a woman to let her know that he was interested in her, but that hadn’t happened with Viviana. She’d met his eyes and then ignored him as if he did not exist. To say she had deflated his confidence was an understatement.
He had been tempted to ask Giles’s wife, Mya, about Viviana because she had grown up in Wickham Falls but then changed his mind once he realized he would have to return to wait for the town board to approve his building application. And when he’d informed Giles that he was coming to Wickham Falls for an extended stay, Giles had invited him to stay with him, his wife and toddler daughter, but Noah declined the invitation, preferring instead to live at the bed-and-breakfast to get to know Viviana better.
Again, Noah was overwhelmed with the natural splendor of the Mountain State. There were tree-covered mountains, lush valleys waterfalls, as well as rapids, lakes, rivers and primordial forest, which was nirvana for hunters and fishermen. He didn’t hunt, but he did fish. There was nothing more exciting to Noah than fishing off the side of a boat and catching dinner.
Viviana had said she’d needed to sell the land to make repairs to her home, and as Noah drove up the path leading to the magnificent mansion, his practiced eye immediately saw the changes. The house sported a new coat of paint; the black shutters framing tall energy-saving windows were also new. When he’d first come to the home that the locals called The Falls House, he recognized the design was modeled on architecture found in Barbados. He’d seen many island antebellum homes that were built on raised basements to catch the breeze, but it was odd to see the style in West Virginia where heat and humidity did not equal those areas farther south.
He slowed to less than five miles an hour when he saw a tall, slender man with a long, snow-white ponytail come out of the house with Viviana. With wide eyes, Noah stared at her as she embraced the man before he got into a late-model, gray pickup and started the engine. Maneuvering over to the side of the road, he let the man drive past him. Their eyes had met for a millisecond, yet it was long enough for Noah to surmise he was Viviana’s father. There was something about the man’s features that called to mind her brother Leland.
* * *
Viviana smiled when she saw Noah emerge from the racy silver sports car with New York plates. Her first impression of him having looked like a surfer was shattered completely with his transformation. The blond hair was fashionably barbered with a side part and heavy waves brushed off his forehead. She knew in a single glance that his charcoal-gray slacks had not come off a rack and his stark white shirt with a monogram on the left French cuff was also custom-made.
She had recommended Noah talk to her brother about how much he wanted for the sale of the land, and once Leland disclosed the amount Viviana hadn’t been able to say anything for several minutes. The Wainwright Developers Group had paid them more than three times the prevailing rate for land in a region where many people lived at or below the poverty line. Leland did not disclose the details of the negotiations between him, Giles, and Noah, and told her to use the money to make repairs and upgrade the house.
She smiled and extended her hand with Noah’s approach. He had called her the day before to inform her he had finished the blueprints for the homes he planned to build in the valley and would stay until the town council approved his prospec
tus.
“Welcome back to The Falls.”
Ignoring the proffered hand, Noah leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Thank you.”
Viviana’s eyes caressed his face, finding him even more attractive than when she’d first seen him. She normally didn’t attribute the word beautiful to a man, but Noah was just that. “If you’d come earlier I would have introduced you to my father.”
Noah’s eyes caressed her face. “Is he coming back?”
“No. He just drove down from Philadelphia to spend a few days with me. My father is a professional artist who has just been commissioned to paint a mural for the lobby of a major bank’s headquarters.”
“That’s impressive.”
She smiled. “I agree. As an architect I’m certain the two of you would’ve had a lot talk about when it comes to shapes and colors.” Mya Wainwright had disclosed, during Noah’s visit, that he was an architect and her husband an engineer and that they talked incessantly about buying, selling, designing and erecting buildings. “Please come in, and I’ll show you to the suite I’ve assigned to you.”
Noah hesitated. “If it’s all right with you, I’d rather stay in one of the guesthouses. I need the privacy to conduct business with my home office and potential clients. Will that be a problem?” he added when her jaw dropped.
“Oh no,” Viviana said quickly. When Noah alerted her about his arrival, she’d assigned him the largest suite of the five she had set aside for guests. “I have a vacancy in the second guesthouse. A writer, who insists on anonymity and is only known by his popular pseudonym, has taken up residence in the first one for the next two months while he claims he’s writing the sequel to one of his blockbuster novels.”
“If I don’t recognize him, then I don’t need to know who he is.”
Viviana nodded. Her reclusive guest had paid for the guesthouse two months in advance. He allowed housekeeping to come in to clean only twice a week while he went for a walk to gather his thoughts. Viviana thought it weird that he only ate freeze-dried prepackaged meals people purchased in the event of a catastrophic event that would destroy the country’s food supply. But, it did not matter how eccentric he was as long as he did not burn down the guesthouse.