by Katie Dowe
Garth
What starts as an arranged marriage soon turns into something much more…
A sexy arranged marriage romance by Katie Dowe of BWWM Club. Features another free bonus book.
Olivia Bailey is a real estate agent who has been called into Garth Heywood’s office.
Garth is determined to take over his father’s real estate company before his uncle does.
But there is one stipulation in his father’s will.
Garth must be married!
He approaches Olivia with this strange offer, and she agrees, provided she gets one thing: A baby!
What first is a business relationship soon turns complicated when Olivia becomes pregnant and falls in love with Garth.
Garth, however, is harder to crack.
When Garth’s family learns about his marriage, they are ready to do whatever it takes to make the company theirs.
Even if it costs Olivia her life.
Will it take a tragedy for Garth to realize his true feelings for Olivia?
Find out in this emotional yet sexy romance by Katie Dowe of BWWM Club.
Suitable for over 18s only due to sex scenes so hot, you'll be daydreaming about your own sexy billionaire.
Tip: Search BWWM Club on Amazon to see more of our great books.
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Copyright © 2017 to Katie Dowe and AfroRomanceBooks.com. No part of this book can be copied or distributed without written permission from the above copyright holders.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Bonus Book - Throw Him My Way
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
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Chapter 1
“What are we drinking to?” Glenna asked as she held her glass out for Olivia to pour the wine.
“To my selling my first house in three months,” Olivia said with a grin as she took a load off and sank down onto the sofa and brought the glass to her lips sipping the dry red wine appreciatively. “The houses are there but no one is buying. I spoke to someone at Heywood Real Estates and they told me the market is coming back up again.” She sighed dramatically. “I am tired of the rat race now. I am getting to that age where I need to settle down and have children.”
Glenna looked at her friend sharply. They had been friends since kindergarten and all through junior and senior high and then college. Glenna had studied accounting and worked at an accounting firm and Olivia had gone into real estate business. Glenna had been married three years ago but had caught her husband with another woman and had told him to get the hell out of her life! “It’s not all its cut out to be,” she said quietly as she drank the rest of the wine.
“I know,” Olivia looked at her sympathetically. “Jackson was a bastard and you deserve much more.”
“I do.” Glenna lifted her glass in agreement. “How long have you been thinking about a family?”
“Since recently.” She wriggled her toes in her stockings to ease the tension. She had been on her feet since eight this morning showing several houses to a very fussy couple who could not decide whether or not they wanted a house in the urban or the rural area. She had planted a smile on her face and trudged through the cold November weather to do the showing. But thank heavens it had paid off! “I have been doing this for too many years now and I am not getting any younger. I looked at the calendar the other day and saw that my thirtieth birthday will be coming up in December and I got so depressed that I took to bed.”
“You are still young and beautiful and you are the one who turned down a very lucrative offer from Gregory in college,” Glenna reminded her.
“Where is he now?”
“Going through his second divorce and as broke as the proverbial church mouse!” Glenna said with a laugh. “Okay not a good example but then again, honey, it might have been because you turned him down.”
“That’s not on me,” Olivia said with a grin. “His proposal was not something I would have ever considered. Remember how he asked me to marry him?”
“In front of the entire study group beneath the willow tree,” Glenna said musingly. “I could see the embarrassment on your face.”
“I asked him later what was he thinking and he told me that he wanted witnesses,” Olivia said with a shake of her head.
“I cannot believe you had sex with him!”
“He was not half bad but he kept wanting validation by asking if he did okay. It got on my nerves.”
Glenna laughed at that and Olivia laughed in return. “We are so bad.”
“We are,” Olivia agreed and sighed. “I saw that couple today and even though they were a pain in the nether region I could see that they had something special. I am tired of showing couples homes they will spending the rest of their lives together and it is not happening to me. I want children, Glen, and I want them before I am too old to enjoy them.”
*****
Garth Heywood stared at his mother in shock! He had started to suspect something but he had brushed it aside. His uncle had plans to take over the company and was planning to get the majority shares to do so! “What are we going to do?” he asked her grimly, his moss green eyes wintry.
“Your grandfather made a stipulation in his will a long time ago that in order for someone to take over the running of the company he has to be married with the intention of starting a family.” Margaret Heywood smiled at her tall ruggedly handsome son slightly. His father had died five years ago with the hope that Garth would settle down but it had never happened. Garth had been more interested in learning everything about the company that would one day be his but he had never taken into account his uncle’s deviousness and that he was just biding his time to swoop in. “There is still time to find a bride and settle down darling. You have six months.”
“So I am being forced to find some woman and marry to take over what really belongs to me,” Garth said bitterly as he strode to the window to look out. “What was Grandfather thinking?”
“He built Heywood with family in mind. Even when it appeared that he had to take in shareholders and make the company public he fought against that. Heywood Estate grew out of a dream he had to provide exceptional buildings that would stand out and he succeeded. He worked hard, darling, and he wants to ensure that the Heywood name continues. You have not been seen with anyone since you par
ted ways with Marissa three years ago.”
“I have been busy,” he said tightly, hating the probe into his personal life or lack thereof.
“You are going to have to find someone and wine and dine her. Your uncle Blake will be watching your every move. He and that greedy wife of his cannot wait to get their hands on the company.”
“And they won’t,” he swore as he looked over the rolling landscape of the neat but elegant townhouse his mother had moved into since her husband died.
Margaret walked up behind him and looked out. It was a chilly November night and she had called him here for a meeting to let him know what is going on. “You will find a way.” She patted him on the shoulder and felt him stiffened. Garth Heywood was not one for touching or being touched. “I have every confidence in you.”
*****
Blake Heywood sipped his Cabernet and stretched his legs out as he savored the texture and taste. He could just feel the success of being the next CEO within his grasp. His brother Barrington had been a capable CEO but that had been it and it had been because he had been the older brother why the company had been passed to him. It should have been his, he thought grimly. He had worked his ass off in the company, he did not deserve to be second in command and to add insult to injury his hands had been tied over the years when he wanted freedom to do anything. He had put through the idea of building a twenty four story office building in town but the zoning permit had not come through. He had tried to go around it but his too honest brother had voted against it. Now with the company finally within his grasp he could do whatever he wanted to.
He looked up as Selene came gliding inside the room. They had been married for twenty years now and he had told her beforehand that he wanted no children from the union and she had been more than agreeable to it. “Darling, I thought you were dressed,” she said with a pout. He had been meaning to tell her that she was far too old now to carry that off but he did not really care what she did or how she looked. She was tall and blonde and had hard blue eyes and spent his money making sure that she looked exceptional. She was good on his arm and that was all that mattered to him. He had affairs every so often and right now had a willing woman stashed in one of the Heywood apartments in town. She did not nag him about his hours and for that they got along well together.
“I will be ready in a few minutes.” His eyes wandered over her body encased in a metallic silver dress that appeared to be stitched onto her curvaceous body. “I see you are,” he said lazily, feeling a stirring of lust for her. “How about you slip out of the dress and come and sit on my lap?”
“Darling, you are so naughty!” she said as she approached him. She started undressing and slipped out of the dress showing that she was not wearing underwear. “What would you like me to do?”
He put away his glass and pulled his zipper down. “Make me happy,” he growled.
*****
Olivia dipped her toes into the water as she tested the temperature. She did this once a week. She would draw a bath filled with tepid water and pour some herbs and bath crystals into it. Next she would select a mood altering music and pour herself a glass of wine and then she would sing to the tune of whatever it is and forget the outside world. It had started when her parents had been killed in a pile up on the freeway ten years ago and she had been trying to find ways and means to cope with the tremendous loss! It had helped her throughout the years and she swore by it. She often wished that her parents had saw it fit to have other children but they had been so involved with their careers as lawyer and nurse that they had started late. She did not want to be like them. She wanted family to enjoy while she still had the chance to do so. She was not badly off since they had left their money and house to her in the event of their passing. The music was ‘A Thousand Years’ by Christina Perri and she sank down into the water as the poignantly beautiful music washed over her and sent shivers over her skin. She was an incurable romantic and dreamed often of the perfect love. She sank down into the water and felt it submerge her thick black shoulder length hair. She stayed down as much as her lungs allowed and came back up pushing back the heavy hair out of her face, blinking the water from her eyes. She sat there transfixed as the lyrics sounded inside the beautiful off white bathroom, her wine glass suspended in her hand as she listened to the sound of the woman’s beautiful voice. She had watched the Twilight movies so many times that she knew them by heart. Olivia was petite, barely reaching five feet with gently swaying hips and a tiny waist. Her breasts were very generous and had been a constant despair to her when she was in high school. She had coffee and cream complexion with gentle dark brown eyes and winged eyebrows. Her lips were pouty and drew attention to them as soon as she made an appearance. She had wanted to be a model but her height had never allowed it so she had gone into real estate claiming that she wanted to find the perfect houses for families. She was an introvert most of the time preferring to stay at home and delve into a historical romance novel instead of going out. She finished the wine and got out of the bath reluctantly, reaching for a towel to wrap around her body as she padded with bare feet to through her bedroom and into the kitchen. There was memorabilia all around the three bedroom house and although she had put away her parents’ clothes she did not have the heart to put away their books and awards they had gotten through their work in the community. Their wedding photo held place of honor over the mantel in the living room. Ophelia Bailey stood there with a wide smile on her exquisite face the mirror image of her daughter’s in a sheer white dress with her hand placed on that of her husband’s Blaine Bailey, a tall serious looking man with a slight smile on his face and an indescribable tender look on his dark attractive face as he looked down at his bride. Olivia had stared at the picture many times when she was growing up and wondered what it felt like loving like that. She had asked her mother one day when she was a teenager in high school and she had laughed softly and looked at the photo herself as if just noticing the look on her husband’s face.
“It is an awesome and wonderful experience, honey,” she had told her daughter softly, with a whimsical smile on her face. “Your father is moody and taciturn but we communicate with each other and I have every confidence that he loves me and always will. I am the only one for him and he is the only one for me. We might disagree sometimes when we discuss politics and religion but at the end of the day we never go to bed anger at each other.” She had taken her daughter’s hand and held it. “I hope you find something like that.”
Olivia wrapped her towel tighter around her as she stared up at the picture and for a moment tears flooded her eyes. “Oh, Mom!” she whispered as she stared at the beautiful woman. “I wish you and Dad were here.”
*****
Garth paced the living room of his elegant two bedroom apartment restlessly. He had thought about going to the club he was a member of but had decided against it. He was not in the mood to socialize at the moment and he was certainly not up to a group of men around him exchanging jokes and stories. He had too many things on his mind and he need to sort things out. He had to find a woman and he had to form a relationship at least in front of the public’s eyes and it had to look real. He had thought about letting the company go to his uncle but the man did not even deserve to be second in command much more owner of the company his grandfather had spent his life building. All through his growing up he had realized that his uncle was not who he appeared to be. He had overheard him one time when he was on his way to his dad’s office talking to someone on the phone about his own brother and saying that his father had given the company to the wrong Heywood and that it would be sorted out eventually. Garth had told his father about it and his father had told him not to worry about it. But he had been wary of him ever since. When he had married Selene, it had been further established after the woman had tried to get him into bed when he was only a teenager. He had avoided going to their home from that.
What the hell was he going to do?
He poured himself a st
iff brandy and drank it down immediately grimacing as the sharp liquor hit his stomach lining. He ran through the list of women he had slept with and was acquainted with and none of them suited the purpose. Either they would be in it for the money or they would want to hang onto him. He was a Heywood and that meant a lot in this town and the better parts of the country.
His phone rang suddenly and he jumped a little bit.
“Heywood,” he said brusquely.
“Man, you sound as if you have a guillotine hanging over your head. What’s with you?” his best friend Martin asked him dryly.
“Just preoccupied,” Garth said lightly, not willing to tell even his closest friend what was going on. “I thought you were in Spain for a couple more days.”
“Duty calls. I had to cut it short for Sophia’s wedding. You are coming, right?”
“I had forgotten about that.”
“You had better be there, buddy. Ever since you turned her offer of a relationship down; she has been pissed at you. Don’t get her any more upset.”
“Sophia is more of a sister than anything else. Stop making it to be more than it is,” Garth said with a smile. “Of course I will be there.”
“Good. Look, man, whatever it is you know you can always talk to me.”
“I know.”
He hung up and stared out the window. He had to sort it out by himself and he had an idea who he could ask!
*****
Margaret Heywood nodded to the Maître D politely as she made her way to the table she had requested. Her sister-in-law Selene Heywood was not her favorite person in the world and she had always thought the woman too pushy and lacked class. She had called and asked to have lunch with her and she had reluctantly agreed. “Just lemon water for now thanks,” she told the hovering waiter. She had told Selene twelve thirty but had gotten there a few minutes earlier to gather her bearings. The restaurant was an exclusive one and was part of the Takahashi chain. Kane Takahashi had vision and had taken his restaurants beyond the scope of anything they had ever seen before and it had worked very well.