The Temporary Duchess: A Jet City Billionaire Serial Romance

  She looked up. My heart caught. The look in her eyes. Damn, it was enough to turn me to mush.

  "Sorry. Am I disturbing you? Thorne said I'd find you here."

  "You're not disturbing me. I'm not so sure about the ducks. But I'm out of bread, anyway. And pretty sure these guys will turn traitor on me quickly enough once they discover I'm empty-handed." She shook the crumbs from a paper napkin into the water.

  The ducks dove after them and quacked and fluttered, begging for more.

  "Sorry, guys!" She held out her empty hands and laughed as they paddled away. "So much for loyalty! Was I right?"

  She stood and faced me. "The weekend has been fantastic. Thank you. I'm only sorry that it's flown by so quickly and tomorrow I'll have to return to work and regular life."

  I took a step toward her and caught her soft, small hand in mine. "Will you? I'm not so sure about that. The weekend isn't over yet. I still have one offer to make."

  I pulled the ring box from my pocket, opened it, and balanced it on my open palm like an offering to a water nymph. She looked so damn beautiful with the breeze blowing her silvery hair over her face, rippling the previously calm water behind her. She could have been the lady of the lake risen from the deep.

  She stared at the open box, not quite sure if I was serious or what I was suggesting.

  "Will you marry me, Haley? And be my temporary duchess for as long as it takes to foil the Dead Duke's dastardly plans for us?"

  Her gaze bounced between the ring and me. "That's an unconventional marriage proposal. Not exactly how I imagined a guy doing the job."

  "Should I get down on one knee?"

  She laughed softly and shook her head. "Do dukes get down on one knee when proposing to commoners? That must go against protocol."

  "May I remind you—on American soil I'm only Riggins, commoner, completely at your mercy and your disposal." I smiled an idiot sort of grin. She did that to me. Made me feel light and happy, almost against my will, like a drug that ran through my veins. "We both know this will be an unconventional marriage."

  "Will it?" She grinned lopsidedly. "Before I answer, I have to ask—will it be a real marriage? With everything that marriage generally entails? Mr. Thorne seems to think consummating it is part of the deal."

  I couldn't tell her thoughts on the matter. The idea excited me. In fact, thoughts of making love to her had invaded even my dreams this weekend. And before. There was something about her…

  And why shouldn't we have fun? We were young and healthy.

  "Thorne's been talking to you about sex?" I shook my head, amused at the thought of the staid, reserved solicitor bringing up the birds and the bees. "I thought it was only me he had the talk with." I couldn't help running with the gag. "He made some vague allusions to respecting you and taking time to let things progress naturally."

  "He did not!" She looked adorable as she laughed again. "You haven't answered my question."

  "Yes, it will have to be real. Especially, given the circumstances—"

  "You mean my virginity?" Her eyes were clear and dancing with amusement, not embarrassment like I'd expected.

  "I will draw the line at anyone inspecting the sheets for blood the morning after the wedding night, but yes, that. The marriage will have to be legal. And to be legal, we'll have to have sex. Lots of it."

  I took another step closer to her, catching a whiff of her clean, sexy scent. It was a combination of perfume, soap, and beauty products that was all her own. "You're beautiful, Haley. And it's no secret I'm attracted to you.

  "I can't lie and say I'm in love with you. I'm not sure I'll ever fall in love again. But I like you. I feel comfortable with you. We get along. We can be friends with benefits, at least. Most couples can't ask for more."

  She pursed her lips. "And the requirement to have an heir?"

  I was thinking of the pleasures of having sex with her. Her question caught me up short. "I'm not ready for children. I can't see foisting a dukedom on some poor, unsuspecting baby. Can you?"

  She took her time answering. "I don't know. Maybe. It would be simpler for both of us if we decided to get right down and attend to duty. Produce the heir and go our ways."

  I was still holding the ring in the palm of my hand. I hadn't expected a marriage proposal to involve this much negotiation. "You're probably right. But as I told you before, my dad abandoned me when I was a baby. I swore I'd never do that to a child." My mouth went dry. "I won't consider having a kid unless I can't foil the Dead Duke's plans. Or someone completely steals my heart." Meaning her.

  Why the hell had I said that? My heart was as hard as they came. But she'd softened it already.

  Her eyes shone with sympathy. "I understand. It's no fun growing up with only one parent. Believe me, I know. Even if that one parent was a good one."

  "Then we're agreed. We won't let the Dead Duke force our hand. We won't bring children into anything less than a stable, loving relationship. As for my hand, I'm offering it to you. You haven't answered my question yet—will you marry me?" Why was my heart hammering so loudly?

  "Yes." She nodded and smiled sweetly. "I will."

  I grinned like an idiot, ear to ear. Why was I so damn happy? Was it only relief? Or was I fooling myself? I pulled the ring from the box and slid it onto the ring finger of her left hand. It was a perfect fit.

  She held her hand out to admire it, wiggling her fingers so the diamonds sparkled in the sunlight, and smiled with happiness.

  She threw her arms around my neck and looked into my eyes. Her lips were moist and gently parted. "We'll be the happiest temporary couple on the planet."

  "Will we?"

  "I promise to be the best temporary duchess I can be. And do everything I can to make you temporarily happy. Together we'll conquer the world, in passing, at least, and save my sister. But my sister's salvation has to be permanent."

  I brushed the hair out of her face. "You do realize we have to be married within the week. This is going to be a scandalously short engagement. People will talk, and my British fans will be furious."

  "Let them eat cake!" She laughed. "Wedding cake."

  "I can't believe it. The power and title has already gone to your head and we aren't even married yet."

  I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her close. "We'll have to get the license tomorrow. There's a three-day waiting period before it's valid. Married on Saturday?"

  "Five days? Or is it six?" Her eyes went wide. "You want me to plan a wedding in less than a week?"

  "Why not? We'll get married at my place. Just close friends. My housekeeper can arrange everything—the flowers and catering, if you give her the menu and let her know your preferences. Or we'll pay a wedding planner. One of the top ones in the city will take us on if we throw enough money at them."

  "I can do it if you can. You have to arrange the honeymoon, after all."

  "That's easy," I said. "We'll go to Witham House."

  "I'm sensing a theme here—staying at one of your many homes. Is that really the dream honeymoon for a duke and duchess?" Her voice was teasing.

  "What's more romantic than honeymooning in a private castle? Lots of people would pay good money for that."

  She paused. "You have a point. All right, then. I'll have to give my notice at the bakery tomorrow. I work until two. I can go for the license after that. If you want my famous mint brownies, baked especially for you, you'll have to come in early to get them. The Blackberry staff won't be happy I'm not giving two weeks. More like two hours. I'll need every minute I can to plan—"

  I lowered my lips to hers, silencing any more wedding talk. A guy should at least get a kiss for the trouble of proposing and handing a woman an expensive antique ring.

  The first taste of her made my pulse race. As my tongue slid into her mouth, I wondered what the hell I was doing playing this dangerous game of chicken with my heart. And what was it thinking, beating out of control, as if Haley might be the best thing that had happen
ed to me in a long time?

  Chapter 3

  Haley

  Looking at my ring, being in Riggins' arms, the thought of being his wife—all made me ridiculously happy. For more reasons than I was willing to analyze at the moment. For both Sid and me. And yet guilt flitted around the edges of my mind. Riggins didn't know what Mr. Thorne had told me about Sid's possible twin. Which gave me a ridiculously strong motive for marrying Riggins, everything else aside. And meant we started our marriage with a secret between us.

  Though I'd teased him about honeymooning at Witham House, I was only playing it cool. I couldn't wait to get there and start looking for clues to Sid's sibling. And then there was the plain fact that my crush on Riggins had grown into love.

  I had fallen in love with him against my own common sense. But the heart wants what it wants. And mine was no different. I would have wanted Riggins even if he hadn't been filthy rich and titled. In fact, if that were the case, things would have been so much less complicated. We might have even have had a real chance if he was just a regular guy.

  When Riggins and I finally broke our kiss, we couldn't stop smiling into each other's eyes. I know I couldn't keep my grin down.

  "We should go back to the castle and tell the others." Riggins squeezed me.

  I was dying to tell Sid. And Kayla. But Rose…

  As if my thoughts had conjured her out of lake mist, we heard footsteps coming down the path. Riggins turned toward them.

  Rose appeared around a bend in the path. She squinted into the sun. I could have sworn she scowled when she saw us together. She recovered quickly and shaded her eyes with her hand before waving.

  "Is this a private party? Or can anyone join in?" She sounded a little frantic and breathless. Like she'd been trying to stop the inevitable.

  But she'd arrived just a fraction of a second too late. The ring was on my finger now. And the only way it was coming off was if someone pried it off.

  Riggins arched an eyebrow. I stifled a laugh and matched his look, heart racing.

  "What's going on here?" Rose approached us.

  Riggins grabbed my left hand and flashed the ring on my finger. "This beautiful woman has just agreed to be my wife."

  Another scowl quickly crossed Rose's face. She replaced it fast enough with a forced smile that had absolutely no warmth to it.

  "You're the first to know." Riggins grinned at me and brushed my lips with a kiss, laying it on thick.

  "Lucky me!" She didn't sound lucky at all.

  "You have to promise to keep it quiet," Riggins said in a stern voice I'd never heard him use before. "We'll make an official announcement to the press after we've told our friends and family."

  The look on Rose's face said it all—she would have to come up with a new scheme to get what she wanted. I wasn't naïve enough to expect her to be a gracious loser and simply fade into the background. But I wondered what her next move would be. Would she still try to contest the will?

  "We should get back to the castle, then." Her smile was frozen in place. "So you can share your good news." She was speaking to both of us, but her gaze was on Riggins.

  Back at the castle, Riggins called everyone together and ordered champagne all around. He held my hand as a waiter poured. "Haley and I have an announcement. She's agreed to be my duchess." He lifted his champagne glass. "To my beautiful future wife!"

  Everyone lifted their glasses in toast.

  "And," Riggins said, "consider this your save-the-date announcement. Keep next Saturday afternoon open. You're all invited to the wedding. My place."

  "Here or in England, Your Grace," Justin said with a twinkle in his eye. "If it's England, we're out. Kayla's grounded for the duration until the baby comes."

  Riggins shook his head. "Here. On Lake Washington just around the lake from you, neighbor."

  "In that case, I think we can make it." He winked at his wife.

  Mr. Thorne looked happiest of all. Next to Sid, of course.

  Kayla was giving me a funny look. She came up to me as the guys crowded around Riggins to give him a bad time about losing his bachelorhood. "Another unconventional marriage. Remind me sometime and I'll give you my pointers for surviving, and thriving, after being thrown into a very unconventional quickie marriage." She laughed.

  I wondered what she meant by unconventional. It was no secret her marriage had been spur of the moment. She and Justin had each been in business in Reno for different companies, reconnected after knowing each other in college, and ended up married by the end of the weekend. It was rash, but they were obviously happy together. Was that what she meant by unconventional? If so, it was nothing like Riggins and mine would be—an old-fashioned marriage of convenience. An arranged marriage. A marriage arranged by a dead guy, even. I dared her to top that. But, of course, I kept those thoughts to myself.

  Instead, I smiled at her. "I'll hold you to it. I have no idea how to be a billionaire's wife, let alone a duchess! I'm a middle-class girl and probably always will be, deep down."

  Her smile matched mine. "I can help you with making the transition from middle class to being married to a billionaire. It's not so bad really, after you get used to being with a man who's constantly in the spotlight. The part about being titled—I've got nothing there." She hugged me sideways to avoid her pregnant belly. "I'm sure you'll be wonderful. Because you're kind and caring and motivated. That's all key.

  "One piece of advice—develop a thick skin quickly. There will be detractors who will say horrible things everywhere you look, particularly online and in social media. Trolls who can't stand for anyone to get something more than they have or that they think isn't deserved or earned.

  "Ignore them. They're simply jealous. In your case, I think it may be worse because so many women had their hopes up and their sights set on him." She slid a quick glance at Rose.

  I nodded and stifled a laugh at her pointed look, not fully believing I could ever get used to Riggins' lifestyle. "I'll keep that in mind." I hesitated, but my thoughts tumbled out anyway. "What I really need to know is how to stay married to a man like Riggins."

  I couldn't believe I'd just blurted that out. But I figured Kayla knew Riggins as well as anyone. Or at least her husband did. And I was suddenly desperate for help. Because even now the thought of my marriage being temporary broke my heart. It only made sense that the longer we were married, the more devastating losing Riggins would be. But if it lasted for a lifetime…

  Kayla studied me closely, clearly trying to read my face.

  I didn't try to mask my feelings for Riggins from her. I was in love with him. I hated to admit it, even to myself, but I was. Which seemed ridiculous after so short a time. Didn't love take time to grow? Wasn't that conventional wisdom?

  But wasn't it also true that most people knew pretty quickly when they met someone whether they were the kind of person they could marry or not? It was easy enough to discard perfectly nice men because there was no chemistry. And for me, it had as much to do with the meshing of our personalities as with physical lust. So maybe I wasn't too far off base or as crazy as I seemed.

  "Oh, I see," she said finally, as if understanding.

  Justin knew the real circumstances behind our situation. I didn't know how much he'd told Kayla, if anything. I was taking a chance she knew at least something. And now it was clear she did.

  She lifted one eyebrow. "Riggins isn't any more complicated than any other guy. He values loyalty, honesty, and trust. Make yourself indispensable to him. Be the best thing that ever happened to him. Stick by him no matter what.

  "Get public opinion on your side early on. Let people live the fairytale vicariously through you and you'll have them hooked. He won't want to be the bad guy. That's not Riggins' style. Most importantly, treat him so well that he loses his heart and can't imagine life without you." She glanced at Riggins and the guys. "That shouldn't be too hard. There's clearly chemistry between you two."

  The baby kicked.

  She
winced. And laughed. "Or get pregnant," she joked. "That pretty much links you forever. In your case, with a boy if at all possible."

  I hadn't noticed Rose hovering nearby until then. How much had she overheard? Did it matter? What could she do now?

  Anything, I told myself. She was unpredictable, and that worried me more than anything.

  After lunch, the party broke up and people headed home. Justin and Kayla left first, followed by Mr. Thorne. Rose played it cool, suddenly attaching herself to Lazer and begging a ride home in the Bentley from him. I didn't trust her, but maybe I was wrong about her. Maybe she had her eye on Lazer now. I wished her luck with that. Lazer was enjoying his freedom too much to give it up for the commitment of marriage. Without his own Dead Duke to force him into matrimony, I didn't see him walking down the aisle anytime soon.

  Riggins sent Sid and me home in a car. Sid was still looking peaked, but she was now excited, too.

  She seemed happy as she studied me. "You're glowing."

  "Why shouldn't I be?" I grinned at her. "I just won the duchess contest. And best yet—we're going to get you your cure!"

  I had to bite my tongue to keep from spilling my news to her. Mr. Thorne was probably right that it was best not to get her hopes up. But I could revel in the joy of thinking about it and imagining the happy outcome.

  "You look really happy." Sid squeezed my hand. "Be careful, sis. You know I love you. I don't want to see you get hurt." She looked suddenly worried.

  "Don't worry about me. I can handle myself."

  "Can you?" She frowned. "Can you really control your heart? It looks pretty out of control already to me." She leaned her head on my shoulder. "Do you think he loves you?"

  "No," I said. "But he likes me very much."

  She sighed. "That's something. It's a start. If this were a really good fairytale destined to have the proper ending, we'd seek out an old crone, a witch, and buy a love potion."

  "You mean like The Little Mermaid?" I said. Sid had always loved that story. "We'd have to lose our tongue for that, I think. Love potions always have a steep price."