The Billionaire's Weekend Bride (2 page)

“It's lunchtime. Let's go turn these cold coffees into beer,” Max said. “Or maybe champagne. We can celebrate your wedding. Make it official.”

They laughed again and left the office, proudly patting each other on the back.

“I won't be back for the afternoon, Penny.” Damian said as they passed through her office. She looked at her watch. It said eleven forty-five. She shook her head and watched them saunter out. She raised her eyes to the ceiling and tutted before returning to the letter she'd been typing.

*

Damian had a smooth flight to New York on Friday evening and called Max's contact to make sure his weekend wife was primed and ready to go. As far as he knew, everything was arranged and she would arrive in the foyer of his hotel the following evening, ready to be his escort for dinner with the Merrimans at eight o'clock.

On Saturday evening, he stood in front of the mirror, fixing his tie, when he got a call from reception. His escort had arrived. He threw on his navy suit jacket and left the room. He had just under an hour to get this girl ready to play the part of his wife. As the elevator door opened at the hotel lobby, Damian saw three different women standing alone and wondered which one was his escort.

The first was a red head who soon waved to someone and ran to join him. Damian sighed with relief, he'd always had bad experiences with red heads and tried to avoid them at all costs. The next woman stood by the entrance to the bar. She was a sweet looking blond, short, wearing lots of makeup and amazingly high heels. He wondered how she'd walk in those and started to approach her.

He smiled at the blond but a middle-aged man came out of the bar, dabbing his brow with a handkerchief before putting an arm around her waist and heading for the exit.

“Mr. Hedley?” a sultry voice from behind him called. Damian turned to see the third woman, the one who'd first caught his attention but the one he thought least likely to be an escort.

“That's me,” Damian said.

The black woman in front of him must have been in her early to mid-twenties. She was tall, with an hour-glass figure that would make heads turn
. Was she too sexy?
he thought. Her slim waist was accentuated by her curvy hips and rounded buttocks. These were balanced with a full and voluptuous bosom over which the low-cut dress she wore left very little to the imagination – well, Damian's imagination, anyway.

She extended a smooth arm, the color of golden syrup and as elegant as that of a dancer. Damian shook her hand.

“Sonia Wright,” she said. When she spoke her name, her voice was soft and hesitant. Not surprising when Damian's eyes were scooping her up and swallowing her whole. “Am I dressed all right?” she asked. “I do have this jacket if you'd prefer me to put it on.”

“Um … maybe the jacket is a good idea,” he stuttered.

She put on the silky jacket and let it fall loosely over her breasts. Damian coughed.

“Let's get a drink in the bar first. I can tell you what to expect of tonight.” He gestured in the direction of the bar.

As she made her way there he watched her gently swaying hips and shapely brown legs.

“What can I get you?” Damian asked at the bar.

“A red wine … if that's all right?”

“Of course. Anything you want. That goes for the meal, too. When I meet my client, everything will be on me. No need to worry.” He gave an embarrassed cough because he didn't want to come across as some jerk who was showing off.

Once the waiter placed their drinks on the bar, Damian pulled at his collar and began.

“Okay, so here's the deal. I'm not sure what your agency said but tonight, I need you to pose as my wife. We've been married a few weeks and we kept it out of the news because you don't like the publicity. I'll do most of the talking. I just need my client and his wife to believe I'm a reformed character.”

“Reformed from what?”

“Well, I … er … I have a bit of a playboy reputation, you see? And Mr. Merriman seems to have picked up on it. I'm keen to show him I'm a family man. That's all there is to it. This deal is more or less in the bag. All you need to do is seem like you're crazy about me. Just nod and smile sweetly for a couple hours and then you're done.”

“Seems easy enough,” Sonia smiled.

“Easy, sure it's easy, but why do I get the feeling you're a little nervous about this. You've done this kind of thing before, right?”

Sonia took a large gulp of wine. “Can I be honest?” she said in a timid voice, looking around the bar.

“Please.”

“I haven't done this before. This is my very first assignment as an escort.” Sonia looked away from Damian and into her wine glass.

“You're kidding me.” His voice was full of disappointment and she leaped to her own defense.

“But I can do this, Mr. Hedley. I promise I won't let you down. It's a simple enough job and a lot easier than many I've heard about.”

He looked at her a long while and contemplated calling the agency to see if it wasn't too late to send someone who could really pull this off. The deal was a big one. He had been waiting for Joseph Merriman's call for weeks after first submitting his proposal to buy out Merriman Hotels. Now he was ready to clinch the whole thing. Was he about to let an amateur escort blow it for him?

“I shouldn't have said that,” she told him. “I could've lied to you but I didn't think it would be fair.”

“I appreciate that but--”

“Or maybe you want to change me for a white escort instead?”

“No, the color isn't a problem. It's just that this deal is so important to me. I fly back to Washington tomorrow and I want to go back with a signed contract.”

“You will. I'll do everything I can to make that happen,” Sonia said, earnestly.

“Good, because I would've been sorry not to have spent time in your company.”

There was a long silence between them. It was as if time stood still when Damian uttered the words that brought out the deep down feeling they'd both had when they first met. They were sexually aroused by each other. They wondered how they would pull off an act when their underlying desire was to tear each other's clothes off.

“Sonia, it's late. I couldn't swap you for another girl if I wanted to.” He threw back the last of his bourbon and stood to help her off her stool. She took his hand to step down and the second their skin touched, a wave of hot energy passed between them.

“Thank you,” she said, holding eye contact for an overly long second.

Outside the hotel, he hailed a taxi and allowed her to enter first.

“By the way,” he said. “Your name is Penny.”

“Okay, I'm Penny for the night and you're a respectable married man. Tomorrow you can go back to your bed hopping, right?”

He paused for a second. “I guess so. Everything that happens tonight is all about the contract. It's all business.”

“All business,” Sonia repeated and gave him a reassuring nod.

They arrived at the Merriman Hotel and were shown to their table in the plush hotel restaurant. The Merrimans were already seated. Mr. Joseph Merriman was squat and thickset. His gray hair was receding and his bald patch shone under the chandelier lighting. He wore thick glasses and his bow tie seemed to be too tight but he had a huge, genuine smile.

His wife, Gloria, was shorter still, but she looked strong and wiry. Her white hair was pulled into a high bun and her silk dress gave her the air of royalty.

Mr. Merriman stood when he saw the couple arrive.

“We're not late are we?” Damian said with a wide smile. “But don't blame the wife, I was the one who took ages to get ready.”

Mr. Merriman laughed as he shook hands with Damian. “No, no, you're not late at all.”

Damian was sure Merriman's eyes, in their thick glasses, were on Sonia's breasts.

“This is my wife, Penny,” Damian said as Sonia outstretched her hand.

“My pleasure,” Merriman said. “And let me introduce you to Gloria.”

Gloria didn't stand but she smiled sweetly as Damian shook her hand. When she shook Sonia's, she held onto it with both hands.

“My dear,” Gloria said to Sonia. “You look absolutely ravishing. I can see that it would take a woman with your beauty to tame a stud like Damian Hedley.”

Both Sonia and Damian laughed as they took their seats at the large table.

“Well,” Sonia said. “He was already tamed and ready to settle down when we met. I didn't have so much to do in that department. I guess you could say it was good timing.”

“How did you meet?” Gloria asked, as the waiter put menus in front of them all. Damian and Sonia both looked at each other.

“You tell it, sweetheart,” said Sonia.

“No, no,” Gloria interrupted. “Men always skip the best parts. You tell me, my dear.”

“Well,” said Sonia, who looked at how pale Damian was becoming. “It was at a party. A garden party to be exact. You remember, don't you, Sweetheart?  Joyce and Anton were getting engaged. I was Joyce's friend and Damian knew Anton. We arrived separately and as the evening continued, I noticed Damian was always where I happened to be. At the buffet table, next to the band, by the bar. It was like he was following me. It turned out he was, but I didn't find out until the very end. It started to rain, you see, and I was at the far end of the garden. It rained heavily, just really suddenly, and I could either make a run for the house or shelter under the trees.

“I chose to run, but I tripped, and there was Damian, right behind me like a little puppy. My heel had gotten stuck in the grass and he helped me up and carried me to shelter. I thanked him and told him it was lucky he always seemed to be there whenever I looked up. He said he would always be there for me. He'd be my knight in shining armor. And from that day, he was.”

“What a delightful story. Is that how you would have told it, Damian?” Gloria smiled at them both.

Damian, who had been absorbed by the story, didn't hear the question. He stared at Sonia and said, “That's exactly how it happened. I couldn't take my eyes off her.”

They ordered their meal and the course of the evening was going just the way Damian wanted it to go. Sonia could see he was happy with her and was relieved he hadn't called the agency to swap her for another escort. She was enjoying Damian’s company. He was good looking, and his sense of humor matched her own. He had such a relaxed way about him that he put the whole table at ease.

Sonia observed him closely. This had to be the full-on charm he used in business as well as his private life. If he was this way when he tried to pick up women, it was no wonder he had so much success and could get as many women as he pleased. She thought about how many that could be. Had he slept his way around every single woman in Washington, DC? The Merrimans seemed to know a lot about his reputation even if she didn't, so he must have quite a few notches on his bedpost.

She studied his profile. He had a strong chin and a brave nose. His eyes were the most striking and she melted a little every time he looked into her eyes.
He is such a good actor
, she thought. He was making her feel as if he really was attracted to her. She knew from the feeling lowdown in her stomach that she was attracted to him and she lit up each time he put an affectionate hand on hers or their legs accidentally brushed together under the table. By the time dessert was served, Sonia found herself wondering if a man like Damian Hedley could ever be tamed.

“That was a marvelous meal, Mr. Merriman,” Damian said. “The food in your hotels is always top class.”

“Well, you know we only hire the best chefs,” he replied. “Something I hope the future owner will continue to honor. Food was where we started, you know? My great, great grandfather owned a market cart and sold meats and cakes, of all things. Years later, that became a delicatessen in Harlem and from there, the family went into the restaurant business. A guest house followed shortly after and by my grandfather's time, we had our first hotel in Manhattan. This very one, in fact. Although it has gone through several transformations. The rest, as they say, is history.”