Read The Billionaire's Convenient Bride: A BWWM Billionaire Love Story for Free Online Page B

hand. “Hello Peter, welcome to my home. Please have a seat and make yourself comfortable.”
         Peter shook his hand and then sat down in a chair near Henri. “Thank you, sir,” he said humbly.
         “Can I offer you a refreshment? Lemonade? Sweet Tea?” Henri asked, still standing before him.
         Peter smiled and was about to decline when he saw the look on Emmaline’s face and he changed his mind at the last moment. “Uh, yes, sir. Sweet tea would be very nice, thank you.”
         The old man smiled and nodded, then shuffled off inside the house, humming to himself, and the screen door slapped shut behind him.
         Emmaline smiled at Peter. “He just loves company. Thank you for letting him treat you.”
         Peter nodded and smiled, turning his cap over and over in his hands. He stared hard at it, and kept silent. When Henri returned, he handed Peter a tall glass with fresh ice and dark sweet tea in it. Peter sipped it and raised his eyebrows, impressed with the drink.
         “That’s really good! Thank you so much, sir,” Peter said with a smile. Henri grinned and nodded and sat down.
         “I make good sweet tea,” he said as he sat. He got comfortable again and then looked at Peter. “So you’re seeing my granddaughter?” he asked amiably.
         “Yes, sir, I am,” Peter answered.
         “Well, young man, you’ve got your hands full then. She’s a firecracker. Where’ve you taken her?” Henri looked at him with wise old eyes and a kind smile.
         Peter almost choked on his tea, “She and I were at Café du Monde just a while ago.”
         Henri looked at his granddaughter’s clothes smudged with powdered sugar. “Yes. I can see that,” he said, stifling a good laugh. “She let you get away with that? She must like you, then.”
         Peter smiled and then laughed. “That’s the first time she’s let me get away with anything at all, so I’m counting myself lucky, sir.”
         Henri laughed at him. Emmaline moved her seat next to her grandfather’s and took his hand in hers.
         “Papa,” she said softly. “I hope you won’t be upset with me, but I want to tell you what it is that’s going on here. You know you’re the most important person in my life and I would never keep anything from you, so I want you to know this, but you can’t tell anyone.”
         Henri looked at her with great concern, but he listened quietly to everything she had to say, occasionally shooting dark looks of uncertainty over to Peter, but he let her finish and by the time she was done with her story, he whistled and leaned back in his chair, then began to rock in it quietly for a long while.
         Emmaline waited for him to respond, so Peter followed her lead, and he waited as well and sipped his sweet tea.
         At long last, Henri spoke. He looked at Peter. “Why did you choose my granddaughter for this deal of yours?”
         Peter looked right at him. “I chose her because she is the most upstanding, honest, hardworking, respectable woman I know, and she is genuinely interested in helping her community. Besides that, she is a truly beautiful woman and she will make a believable wife.”
         Henri nodded his head and sighed. “Well, I don’t think it’s right, but I understand what you are doing. I’m never going to let my little one down, so I’ll be right there to give you away, Emma, but I hope someday you will let me give you away to a real husband who will love you all of your life like your grandmother loved me. I was a lucky man to get her and I don’t know how I ever talked her into marrying me, but I’m grateful every day that she did, and I want that same kind of love for you, little one.”
         She hugged him tight around his neck and then sat back down again and wiped tears from her eyes. He looked once more at Peter. “You better take good care of her,” he said. It was clear