Also by Catherine Bybee
Contemporary Romance
Weekday Bride Series
Wife by Wednesday
Married by Monday
Fiancé by Friday
Not Quite Series
Not Quite Dating
Not Quite Mine
Paranormal Romance
MacCoinnich Time Travels
Binding Vows
Silent Vows
Redeeming Vows
Highland Shifter
The Ritter Werewolves Series
Before the Moon Rises
Embracing the Wolf
Novellas
Soul Mate
Possessive
Erotica
Kilt Worthy
Kilt-A-Licious
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Text copyright © 2013 Catherine Bybee
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Published by Montlake Romance
PO Box 400818
Las Vegas, NV 89140
ISBN-13: 9781611099522
ISBN-10: 1611099528
Library of Congress Control Number: 2012953732
To Crystal
I’m so incredibly blessed to have you as my friend
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Chapter One
The flash of the cameras made her stand straighter, turn toward the heckling paparazzi, and smile. Lady Gwen Harrison knew the photographers weren’t entirely sure who she was. Here in the States the media didn’t follow her around. The photographers saw an elegant woman who looked as if she might be a movie star, but in fact was nothing more than a daughter of a deceased duke. That wouldn’t stop the paparazzi from cross-referencing her image and coming up with her name. Her brother, Blake Harrison, the current Duke of Albany, was quite popular in this country. And because of him, and his group of friends, Gwen’s own image had made many a paper.
Gwen took one more glance over the heads of the photographers, smiled, and turned to walk away. She had work to do.
The Wilson Charity Ball was exactly the event Gwen was born to work. Having grown up in an estate outside of London with a very proper mother and a father who rarely acknowledged her presence unless she was standing in front of him, Gwen was the poster child of a socialite. She wasn’t threatening to anyone here. Most of the guests were actors, activists, political figures, or the significant others of the aforementioned people. Gwen was none of them. Her sole purpose for attending the ball was to find potential clients for Alliance.
A waiter approached her as she stepped into the room and offered her a glass of champagne. She accepted it with a smile and moved into the room.
She recognized a few faces, mainly people Eliza, a friend and former employee of Alliance, had introduced her to in the past.
“Lady Harrison.” A voice called her attention to a small gathering of people a few feet away.
Marilyn Cohen, petite, stunning, and probably the most famous woman in the room, waved her over.
Marilyn kissed each of Gwen’s cheeks in greeting. “It’s lovely to see you again,” Gwen said. “How long has it been?”
“The governor’s ball, I believe,” Marilyn reminded her. “How are Carter and Eliza?”
“Settling into their new roles.” Carter had won the governor’s seat the previous election, and the two of them had moved to Sacramento once he took office. Carter was Blake’s best friend and Eliza was the sister Gwen never had.
Gwen glanced around Marilyn, expecting to see her husband. “Are you solo tonight?”
“Tom’s on location in Greenland. Why the studios can’t recreate that awful place on a set is beyond me. What about you, are you alone?”
Gwen offered a smile. “It’s hard to be alone in a room filled with people.” And it was filled. Women were dressed in floor-length evening gowns, men wore tuxes…and not the rented kind.
Marilyn slipped her hand into Gwen’s arm and pulled her along. “Well, let’s see what trouble we can cause, shall we?” She waved at a group of actors and moved in their direction. “Are you scouting tonight?” Marilyn whispered.
Marilyn knew enough about Alliance to warrant the question. “I’m always searching for clients.”
Her companion flashed her million-dollar smile. “Let’s see who we can hook up tonight then.”
Alliance was founded by Samantha, or Sam as most of her friends called her. Who just happened to be married to Gwen’s brother. Samantha had the brilliant idea of forming an agency that aligned couples. It wasn’t a dating service. No, it was a life planning service. Their clients consisted of men and women who needed to marry the perfect person for reasons other than love. Politicians who needed to fit the “family profile” in order to get elected into office. Dukes who needed to marry to fulfill their awful father’s will in order to inherit millions. Or perhaps an actor, or actress, who wanted a scandal to keep their name in the paper.
Gwen recruited the paying client at events like this. And on occasion she’d find a suitable match for the men already in her database.
Not everyone married for love and forever. Her clients married for their own reasons, and the matches Alliance set up paid them handsomely for it.
Marilyn introduced Gwen to everyone who was anyone. Once in a while Marilyn would nod toward a prospective client to whom Gwen would ask a few discrete questions. Alliance was a very private company and not something that was advertised on a business card.
As the evening grew late, Gwen thought perhaps it would end up a bust.
Over her shoulder someone said her name.
She turned toward the deep voice and offered a polite smile. The owner of the voice stood over her by several inches, his broad shoulders and easy demeanor told her he was very comfortable approaching strangers. “I’m sorry, do I know you?”
He chuckled as if she’d said a joke. “We haven’t met.” He extended a hand. “Michael Wolfe.”
Gwen accepted his hand, which he quickly let fall. “Did I say something funny, Mr. Wolfe?”
He leaned against the table and smiled at a couple as they passed. “You really don’t know who I am?”
She shook her head. “Sorry.”
“I’m an actor.”
“How wonderful for you. I still have no idea.”
He was laughing full on now, delighted with himself. “Oh, how rich is that? I’d ask to buy you a drink but they’re giving them away tonight.”
These words from anyone else would feel like a pick-up line. Not from this man.
His eyes traveled beyond her again, this time to a group of men standing far away.
Hmmmm?
“So, Lady Harrison. How is your brother’s marriage going?”
Gwen kept her expression neutral. “Do you know my brother?”
Michael Wolfe shook his head. “I haven’t had the pleasure. We share a few acquaintances.”
Which meant that Michael Wolfe wasn’t asking about Blake and Sam, but rather their marriage. And that meant that Mr. Wolfe was asking about Alliance.
“How about another glass of champagne, Mr. Wolfe?”
“I think I found you the perfect husband.” Gwen bent her knee and slid her Louboutins from her feet before tossing them to the floor. You would think shoes that cost nearly a thousand dollars would be exempt from hurting your feet. Sadly, that wasn’t the case.
“You think you found what?” Karen turned down the volume on the television and twisted around on the sofa.
“A husband for you.”
Gwen’s words sparked Karen’s full attention. The TV went dark and Karen patted the sofa beside her. “Come sit! Tell.”
After placing her handbag on the hall table, Gwen turned the lock on the door and set the house alarm. “Let me get out of this dress first. The beading has rubbed my skin raw all night.” She turned her back to Karen with a silent plea to unzip the evening gown.
Karen loosened the clasp and lowered the zipper, and then proceeded to follow Gwen up the stairs. “You can’t drop the ‘H’ word and leave the room, Gwen. That’s just mean.”
Holding the front of the dress up with one hand, and lifting the hem with the other, Gwen managed the stairs without tripping.
“The Wilson Charity Ball was filled with people. Lots of couples and plenty of those actor types running about.” She stepped into her closet and let the gown slide from her shoulders. After hanging the dress, she grabbed a nightgown from her chest and walked back into her bedroom. “You know, Samantha said I would tire of these dinners, but I’m enjoying them. I’ve met so many interesting people since I moved here.” Gwen had moved to the States nearly a year ago. At thirty-one years old, she had lived a sheltered life on her family estate outside of London. She’d traveled the world, but always with a bodyguard or her mother.
Now that her brother was the duke in the family, the estate belonged to him. Not that Gwen couldn’t live there, but his marriage to Samantha had presented the opportunity for Gwen to move forward with her life. Especially when Samantha had explained her business to Gwen.
With Samantha taking on the duties of full-time wife, mother, and duchess, she didn’t have time to run her business. Gwen stepped in to help run Alliance, even though she didn’t have a business skill to name as her own. However, living a titled life, she did understand how to brush elbows with the rich and famous, the very clients Alliance sought. Where Gwen was lacking, Karen excelled. Karen’s clerical skills and ability to keep all the records were better than any high-paid lawyer’s secretary. Together they ran the business flawlessly.
“Getting back to the perfect husband…”
“He’s a very handsome, tall…lovely man.” Gwen sat on the edge of her bed and unclasped her garters one at a time.
“You do know that no one wears those anymore.” Karen pointed to her lingerie.
“If that were true, finding a place to buy garters and stockings would be impossible.”
“Yeah, but you need to go to those sexy bra stores in order to find them,” Karen teased.
“Men love frilly underwear.”
“Lotta good that’s doing you. Seems I’m the only one who sees it.”
Gwen laughed and continued with her news. “His name is Wolfe…Michael Wolfe. You might have heard of him.”
“The actor?” Karen asked.
“So you have heard of him.”
Karen shook her head. “There is no way Michael Wolfe’s looking for a temporary wife through an agency. He’s like the hottest thing on the big screen right now.”
“So he told me.”
“He told you? You mean you didn’t know?”
Gwen shrugged, removed her bra, and pulled her nightgown over her head. “When have you seen me go to the cinema? I’d enjoy a good book before watching a movie.”
“But Michael Wolfe. He’s a big name, Gwen.” Karen followed her into the bathroom where she ran hot water in the sink and proceeded to remove her makeup.
“I don’t know who he is. Perhaps if he played in a Bond film I’d know him.”
Karen leaned against the frame of the door, and watched Gwen through the mirror. “You’re serious. Michael Wolfe?”
“Lovely man. Very funny.”
“And sexy, and single, and rich…women fall all over him.”
And that, Gwen thought, was the problem.
Gwen turned toward the commode and flushed it to fill the room with noise. While the noise of the toilet filled the room, she leaned into Karen and whispered. “I think he likes men.”
Karen’s eyes rounded. “Seriously?”
Gwen shushed her. The Tarzana home had undergone an extensive security system installation, including twenty-four-hour audio and video monitoring. Eliza had lived in the house before she married Carter, who had insisted on the security measures for multiple reasons. Once Carter won the gubernatorial race, and they both moved to Sacramento, the security system stayed in place at the insistence of Gwen’s brother.
And Neil.
“You think he’s gay?”
Gwen hushed her again and pointed toward the hall. There weren’t any cameras in the bedrooms or bathrooms, but Gwen knew for a fact the hall was monitored. “Our clients deserve all the privacy they can get.”
Karen rolled her eyes. “Good Lord, Gwen, we parade around here half naked and you’re worried about our clients’ privacy? You know Neil; he wouldn’t allow just anyone to listen to what goes on around here.”
Just hearing Neil’s name brought warmth to the pit of Gwen’s stomach. The man was a force of nature with the ability to stand shoulder to shoulder with sixteenth-century Highland warriors. His hard lines and broad physique might threaten others, but for Gwen, all they’d ever done was invite her in.
Too bad Neil never opened the door.
“Privacy is paramount to our clients. Best we keep some details as hidden as possible, don’t you agree?”
Karen rolled her eyes and they both descended the stairs.
“So if Michael is…you know, why is he talking with you? How did you approach him, anyway?”
Gwen made herself comfortable on the couch, and settled in for a long talk. “He came to me. Seems the Alliance name has found its way into a few celebrity circles.”
“That’s good to know. Lotta deep pockets in Hollywood.”
“Actors make the perfect clients. Especially if they want temporary.” Alliance helped the elite and rich find life matches. Many of whom wanted a temporary bride or groom and were willing to pay heavily for it. Beautiful women like Karen had no problem finding men, but some women weren’t looking for love.
For reasons Gwen had yet to discover, Karen wanted a temporary match to set her up financially for years to come. When two people came together with the understanding that their relationship would end on an assigned date, everyone was happy.
“Michael has no problem convincing the world he’s in love with every heroine he works with,” Karen said. “What makes you think he’s…?”
“He didn’t come right out and say it. Not yet anyway. He introduced himself and was completely taken aback that I didn’t know who he was.”
“He’s über famous, Gwen.”
“That may be. Anyway, he asked
me how my brother’s marriage was going. Strange question. I asked him if he knew Blake to which he promptly said he did not. Michael went on to tell me that he and Blake shared a few acquaintances.”
“His subtle way of saying he knew about Alliance.”
“That’s what I assumed. I asked him if he’d like to meet some of my friends. He winked, said he’d love to, and then handed me his card.”
Karen lifted both hands facing up. “So what makes you think g—”
“Ahh, just how he presented himself. Sometimes you just know these things.” Michael had flirted with the women in the room and appreciated the men. Oh, he’d been subtle but if there was one skill Gwen had perfected in the past few months, it was reading men and their intentions.
A man searching for someone…anyone…had a certain energy about him. Eliza had schooled Gwen for months about how to approach these men to help them learn about Alliance. There had been social events in which no contacts had been met. And others where Gwen was able to recruit men, and women, into their database.
“Michael Wolfe?” Karen tapped a finger to her chin.
“If he’s looking for temporary, I think you’d be the perfect match.”
“Oh, why?”
“First, you’re both beautiful people. The cameras would eat you up. Second, Michael’s high profile would prove difficult for many women to maneuver without cracking, and you, my dear, never crack.”
“What do you mean, I never crack?”
“You have your eye on the entire picture and would never lose sight of that under pressure.” Gwen waved three fingers in the air. “Third, you have no illusions that a temporary marriage might mold into a loving relationship.”
“All of our clients say that.”
“Yet some keep. If Michael is, you know, then that won’t be possible.”
Karen shrugged and pushed off the couch. “I think I’ll turn in early, see if any of his flicks are on pay-per-view.”
Gwen wished Karen a good night and made her way into their kitchen. She placed a kettle on the stove and boiled water for tea. She took in the small space with its cozy cottage feel and sighed. When the day came that Alliance did find a groom for Karen, she’d move away and Gwen would be living alone.
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