Secrets of the Playboy's Bride

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Book: Read Secrets of the Playboy's Bride for Free Online
Authors: Leanne Banks
“Then it’s settled. I can have one of my assistants get together with you to make the arrangements. She knows the dates I’m available.”
    She held up her hand. “Wait just a second. You’re moving at warp speed and I’m still trying to catch up. What made you think to get married?”
    “I tried to put you out of my mind during the last two weeks. I found I didn’t want to,” he said.
    Given the fact that they hadn’t known each other very long, she was surprised at how his words got under her skin. It was a far cry from hearts and flowers. “I don’t know what to say.”
    “Yes,” he said.
    She bit her lip and couldn’t swallow a chuckle. “You didn’t ask.”
    “Will you marry me?” he asked without missing a beat, his dark gaze holding hers.
    “This is crazy,” she whispered. Her heart lurched. After all her planning, could she really do this?
    “Is that your answer?” he asked.
    “No,” she said, her lungs squeezing so tight she couldn’t breathe. It was the best solution for Tina and Tami. Hisfather owed her family for what he had taken from them. It was necessary. “Yes, yes.”
     
    Leo sat on the deck of his lakefront home the night before his wedding and shared Scotch with George. Calista and her family would arrive tomorrow morning via his helicopter. All the arrangements had been made. The only thing Leo had to do was show up at the ceremony tomorrow at noon and make sure not to see Calista before then. She had insisted. Silly superstition, but he would play along for her ease. With each passing day, she had seemed to grow more nervous.
    George lifted his shot glass in salute. “I never thought I would see the day when you would marry a woman only a month after meeting her. Good luck to ya.”
    Leo shot George a sideways glance and lifted his glass. “Thank you. You haven’t said much about my bride-to-be.”
    “What’s to say?” George asked. “She’s beautiful.” He shrugged and tossed back the scotch, setting his glass down for a refill. “There’s just something about her.”
    “What?” Leo asked, his antennae on alert. George was an excellent judge of character.
    George frowned and squinted his eyes. “I can’t put my finger on it. She’s not evil,” he said. “But there’s something going on beneath the surface. The woman’s more complicated than she seems.”
    Leo twirled the thought around in his head. “Most intelligent women are complicated.”
    “True,” George said, nodding his head. “How’d the prenup go?”
    “I insisted she have her attorney look at it. He put in a clause about her getting ten million after six months,” Leo said. “Mine cut it down to two million. Her attorney didn’t like it, but she signed.” He shrugged. “She’s so family-focused that I’m sure this wasn’t her idea. It had to have come from her attorney.”
    “You’re sure she doesn’t know your guardian helped bring down her father?” George asked.
    “How could she?” Leo asked, the familiar taste of bitterness filling his mouth at the mention of Clyde Hawkins. “It was ten years ago, and I’ve wiped out my association with him. Besides, that was one scheme I didn’t play. I may have been introduced as Clyde’s genius, gifted son, but I didn’t have to do anything but validate Clyde’s super success.”
    “Why are you marrying her?” George asked bluntly.
    Not many would have the nerve to question his decisions, but he trusted George more than he trusted anyone else. “Besides the fact that I want to have sex with her?”
    George chuckled. “Yes.”
    “I want the expanding Japanese and Indian markets, and I’m finding that the leaders of the companies I’m negotiating with aren’t comfortable with my single status. I’m competing with other companies for the business. It’s time to get a wife. Calista fits the bill. She’s well educated and beautiful. She’ll be an asset.”
    “So this is a business decision?” George

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