“Mina, one doesn’t have anything to do with the other.”
Mina wanted to agree with Kayla, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that it was all wrong. If Spencer had acted like he wanted her to love him, maybe she would’ve felt differently. But he was all business and had no interest in her whatsoever.
“Maybe you’re right,” Mina muttered.
“Don’t get so down in the dumps. Remember, the Billionaire Mate-Maker has a ninety-nine-point-nine-percent success rate. Maybe you two will fall in love. You can’t rule out that possibility.”
“You should’ve met this guy. He’d sooner love a spreadsheet than a girl.” Mina chuckled.
“Sounds exactly like the kind of guy who needs to fall in love.” Kayla turned back to her book.
“Could be.”
Maybe that was Kitty’s idea all along? Mina pondered the possibility as she took her pickle to her room and sat on her bed. She’d be emailed instructions for the wedding any minute. A dress would arrive at her door by courier. Everything would be arranged, and she wouldn’t have to lift a finger.
A notification on her phone pinged that she had a new email. She took the last bite of pickle and opened the application, finding she’d received a message from the Billionaire Mate-Maker. The subject line read, “Your wedding is scheduled.”
Mina’s heart flip-flopped as she tapped on the email. Scanning it through, she found that her wedding was arranged at a church in Beverly Hills in only two days’ time. She took a deep breath and let it out, trying to calm her nerves. This was it. She was really doing it. She was going to marry a dragon billionaire.
Chapter 4
Spencer pulled up to the church in his limousine, wearing his tuxedo and in the middle of an argument with his CFO about the Tahiti opening.
“We’re over budget,” his CFO, Henry Banks, said through the speakerphone. “We need to bring down spending.”
“We can increase the budget,” Spencer said. “What matters is revenue. Tightening the budget doesn’t make us more money.”
“I have to disagree with you on this one, Spencer. Everyone else is tightening their belts.”
“When others are tightening their belts, that’s when we expand,” Spencer said.
“Sir,” Olivia said. “We’re at the church.”
“We will finish this discussion later,” Spencer said. “I have to go get married.”
“I had no idea you were getting married,” Henry said. “Who’s the lucky girl?”
“What was her name again, Olivia?”
“Mina L’Amour.”
“Yes, a lovely girl named Mina L’Amour,” Spencer told Henry.
“Well, congratulations. I’m sure you’ll be very happy together.”
“I’m sure we will be.” Spencer hung up the phone, knowing that their happiness as a couple was inconsequential. What mattered was that he would have a marriage license to show his grandfather’s attorney before the deadline.
He slid out of the limousine as his driver held the door and looked at the crowd who had arrived to take pictures of the ceremony and the guests Kitty Malone and her associates had invited. He walked into the church and found his mother had already arrived, dressed in a rose-print summer dress and a wide-brimmed hat.
“You look lovely, mother.” Spencer leaned down to kiss her cheek.
“I knew you’d find a girl. She even called me to help make arrangements.”
“Everything appears serviceable so far.” Spencer looked around the church. It had been decorated with pink roses and white lilies. The minister waited at the head of the church, and the guests filtered in through the front door, finding their places along the aisle.
“Who called you?”
“The bride of course, silly,” his mother said. “We invited as many people as possible on such short notice.”
“Oh, yes. Mina. Lovely girl, respectable intelligence. She’ll be quite presentable.”
“Did you feel that special something when you met her?”
Spencer had no idea what his mother meant. Then he remembered the way Mina’s dress hugged her curves and the spark in her pretty green eyes—the way her full pink lips tipped up at the sides when she smiled and the way her tongue darted out to wet her bottom lip when she was nervous. His inner dragon roared.
Maybe he did know what his mother meant by special something. But no, that was ridiculous. He didn’t feel anything for Mina. She was just a girl Kitty Malone had found for him to marry so he could get his inheritance. That was it. No romance, no love, no long-term commitment.
Spencer took his place in front of the minister. He checked his watch. The wedding was supposed to start at any moment. He needed to finish his conversation with Henry Banks to ensure that no corners were cut on his gorgeous new Tahiti resort.
Everyone was settled, and the organ player started the wedding march. Spencer took a deep breath and let it out, anxiety suddenly growing in his stomach. What was the matter with him? This was exactly what he’d wanted. It was all working out beautifully. There was no reason to be nervous.
The doors to the church swung open, and a woman in white walked down the aisle, escorted by a middle-aged man. As she drew closer, he noticed the gauzy veil flowing around her lovely face gave her an angelic halo.
Her wedding dress fit her gorgeous curves, scooping low in the neck to reveal just a hint of voluptuous cleavage. The dress nipped in at the waist and billowed out in flowing layers of cloudlike white fabric.
His heart skipped a beat then charged forward, racing double-time. His inner dragon blew flames across the backs of his eyes at the sight. Mina was the vision of loveliness, beautiful and good with the spark of keen intelligence in her eyes. He took a sharp breath through his teeth, reminding himself yet again that all he wanted from this arrangement was his inheritance.
These feelings that bombarded his brain when he thought of her or looked at her would have to be dealt with. He couldn’t have his inner dragon distracting him, or Mina would become a liability rather than an asset. And if there was one thing that Spencer Camden cut out of his life faster than anything else, it was a liability.
Her father brought her to the head of the church, kissed her cheek, then handed her off to Spencer. Spencer took her hand and helped her onto the dais at the head of the church. A girl about Mina’s age, dressed in pale lavender, followed and took Mina’s bouquet.
Mina and Spencer stood hand in hand in front of the minister. Gazing into her lovely eyes, he almost fell into the deep pools of sea green—such an enticing shade. He had only ever seen anything like it on a stormy tropical ocean at dawn. He blinked several times, forcing away those poetic thoughts.
“Dearly beloved…” The minister began the ceremony. “We are gathered here today to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony.”
Spencer smiled, knowing that at any moment, the deal would be sealed.
* * *
Mina held Spencer’s hands and looked into his eyes. He really was a handsome man. And she couldn’t help feeling something for him, something deep and mysterious that she wanted to believe was what made Kitty pair them up. Maybe there was something to Kitty’s mate-making after all.
When the minister led them through their vows, she repeated the words, promising to love and to cherish Spencer until death separated them. Spencer repeated the same words, and Mina bit her lip for a moment, thinking it was probably wrong to lie in front of everyone in church. When he slipped the ring on her finger and they said their I dos, deep down inside, Mina wanted to believe it was all true.
The wedding march played, and the guests tossed rose petals over their heads as they made their way out of the church. Spencer’s limousine waited for them out front, and the driver opened the car door. Spencer let her climb in first then got in after.
Everyone waved and smiled at them as if they were starting their lives together. Spencer was immediately on the phone, yelling at someone about a budget and insisting, �
�You have to spend money to make money.” Mina frowned, her fantasy of happily ever after quickly broken.
What had she been thinking? She knew what he was like when she’d met him the other day. It wasn’t as though marrying her was suddenly going to change anything.
At the reception, the driver opened the door for Mina. She got out alone and was quickly greeted by a woman who introduced herself as Olivia Preston, Spencer’s administrative assistant.
“He’ll be coming along presently.” Olivia guided her into the reception hall.
Mina knew this was a sham marriage, but she was embarrassed going into the reception by herself. She glanced through the door, searching for Kayla, who’d been her only bridesmaid, but couldn’t spot her in the crowd. Her new husband should be at her side, but he wasn’t. She was alone.
She hid in an alcove off the entry hall and waited for Spencer for twenty minutes. When he finally arrived, finished with his phone conversation, Mina burst out of the alcove and hurried over to him.
“Where did you come from?” He looked at her with a shocked expression.
“I didn’t want to go into the reception by myself,” she said, shy and embarrassed.
“Why ever not?”
“I didn’t think it was appropriate for me to go in alone. Better for us to show up together and keep up the pretense that this is a real marriage. You know, for your grandfather’s attorney.”
“Oh, yes. Good thinking. He is in attendance. But the conditions of the will didn’t say the marriage had to be for love. It just said it had to take place, so you really have nothing to worry about.”
“Of course not. Silly me.”
He offered her his arm and walked with her into the reception. The guests were already being served while the bridal table sat completely empty. Where was Kayla? They hurried to the table, and the waiters brought them their food. Mina finally spotted Kayla sitting with her mom and dad. Kayla spotted Mina and waved, a relieved expression on her face.
Mina settled in beside Spencer, eating her roasted chicken and gazing at his profile. What had she gotten into? She’d just married this stranger, who had no desire to be in a real relationship.
He could never love her, and for the rest of her life, she would have the baggage of this marriage in her past. If she ever wanted to find someone who truly loved her, she would have to get a divorce. She couldn’t live without love in her life.
She needed to understand love if she was ever going to write about it. As Spencer checked his watch, his cell phone, and then his tablet and didn’t look at her once during the entire reception, it became more and more clear that Spencer would never be the man who would help her understand it.
Their guests came to congratulate them, and she met Spencer’s mother, a lovely woman named Tisha wearing an exquisite hat and a beautiful rose-printed dress. She had a kind smile and leaned in to give Mina a warm hug and a kiss on the cheeks. Mina usually thought of wealthy people as stuffy, but Tisha was anything but. She seemed thrilled that Spencer had married her.
Mina’s own parents had been against the wedding at first. When she had explained that the marriage was more of a way for her to get a million dollars than for love, they were suddenly in agreement.
Everyone was so obsessed with money. It made her a little bit sad. Even her mother and father didn’t mind that she was marrying herself off for it. They acted as if she’d won the lottery or something.
Mina knew she wouldn’t be able to change the way the world worked. She merely had to go along with it. Maybe someday she would meet a man who would love, honor, and cherish her the way the minister had said in their vows. She could only hope.
After the way Spencer ignored her throughout the entire reception, Mina became entirely convinced it would never be him. Kitty Malone had certainly had her first one-hundred-percent failure—because this billionaire match was one-hundred-percent not working.
Chapter 5
“And this is your room,” Spencer told her. Mina stood in the doorway of a bedroom suite that was larger than the entire apartment she’d shared with Kayla.
She blinked rapidly several times, trying to take in the splendor of the space. It looked like it had come straight out of an interior design magazine with a sitting room off the bedroom with classic-yet-modern furnishings.
Light gray couches framed a slate stone fireplace with a gas-burning hearth. A fluffy white rug was spread over the cherry-wood floor under the glass coffee table. Huge windows looked out onto the city below. She could even see the ocean. In the corner sat a massive desk with the most comfortable-looking executive chair she’d ever seen and a brand-new laptop.
She walked farther into the room, marveling at the view, the furnishings, and the serenity of the design. In the bedroom, she found the same large windows, a fluffy white rug, and a king-sized bed with a padded gray headboard.
“These windows black out when you need darkness or privacy,” he told her from the doorway. “There is a control panel by the bed. Or you can use voice activation.”
“This is amazing.” She stepped into the massive bathroom. It was tiled with white marble. A huge soaker bathtub graced one wall. A standing shower was against the other, and a long counter with huge mirrors behind it held the deep basin sink. Glancing in the mirror, she saw the awe in her eyes and shook her head a couple of times to brush away the disbelief.
“I’m glad you are pleased with the accommodations.”
“I’m more than pleased.”
Mina came back into the bedroom. She stood only a few feet away from Spencer, close enough to feel the energy of his body, but far enough away that she felt the gulf between them. She was definitely pleased with the accommodations. These were beautiful rooms, rooms more beautiful than she had ever seen firsthand. Spencer’s entire apartment dripped with luxury. It was hard to imagine staying in a place like this for an entire year.
As she stood before her new husband, a man she barely knew, she couldn’t help feeling a bit sad. She’d gotten into this situation because she needed help achieving her dreams. But underneath all that, she had hoped she would find the love of her life, as Kitty had promised. But after the wedding, she was positive neither of them believed the marriage would work out.
“Very well,” he said. “I’ll let you get settled in. The things you packed from your apartment have already arrived, and the boxes are in the closet. It is late. We should both retire. We will meet in the morning to discuss our living arrangements.” He turned away.
“But…”
“Yes?”
“It’s our wedding night,” she said with a chuckle.
“So?” His expression seemed confused.
“Shouldn’t we…” She glanced at the bed but then felt immediately embarrassed by the suggestion.
“I certainly don’t expect… that.”
“Oh, me either. I was just checking to make sure you didn’t.”
“Very well. Then we’re both in agreement.”
“Perfect agreement.” She smiled.
“The breakfast buffet is served at seven sharp. We will meet then to further discuss our arrangement. I bid you good night.”
“I… bid you, too,” she said awkwardly.
He gave her a strange sideways glance then headed toward the door. Turning back, he looked at her one more time, and she could have sworn she saw longing in his eyes. But then he frowned and turned away, closing the door behind him.
She let out a deep sigh and twirled around the room. She was still wearing her wedding dress, and it flared out around her as she spun. She giggled at the billowing fabric then stopped, plopping down onto the bed.
She held her cheeks in her palms and rested her elbows on her knees. This was not how she’d dreamed her wedding night would go. She reminded herself again that this wasn’t really a wedding night because she hadn’t had a real wedding. Spencer had no intention of ever having any feelings for her.
Then why couldn’t she shake her fee
lings for him, even after his rude behavior at the wedding? Was it because she wanted someone so badly? Was she really that needy? Or was it because of that determined look in his bright-blue eyes, the set of his jaw when he spoke on the phone, and the way he’d touched her when he guided her into the reception? Was she attracted to him?
She collapsed onto the bed and groaned. No. It couldn’t be that. She was not attracted to Spencer Camden. This was a business arrangement and nothing else. She would have to remind herself that every single day for the rest of the year.
Why would she like a man like him anyway? He was hard and cold and obsessed with his business—none of the things she had ever wanted in a man. There was no softness, no kindness, no romance. He treated her like an employee, not a lover.
Sitting up, she gritted her teeth and set her jaw. With firm resolve, Mina decided she’d treat Spencer the same way. She was his partner in this business called marriage. And she would be the best darn business partner she could be. Sighing, she stood and slipped out of her dress, hoping she could live up to her own expectations.
Deep down, she knew it would be difficult. She was a diehard romantic, and no matter what the reality of the situation, her silly, soft heart wanted to turn it into something else. She wanted this to be a real marriage based on love, understanding, and companionship.
“I’m just going to have to learn to accept it.” She pulled on her fluffy flannel pajamas. “I wanted a husband, but I got into this mess instead. Now, I have to see it through to the end. If I can’t be his wife, at least I can live up to my end of the agreement.”
Mina brushed her teeth and climbed into bed, finding the window control panel on the table beside her. She fumbled around with it until she figured out how to black out the city lights. The windows went black, and the room darkened. She stared at the ceiling and closed her eyes, hoping that tomorrow she would feel like she’d made the right decision.
She woke to her alarm the next morning at six and quickly got dressed and ready for the day. She met Spencer in a dining room with a long, pale wood table, modern chandelier, and a sideboard covered in a buffet of food.
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