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“For a start, fiancé.” He nodded. “Yep, definitely that, soon to be followed by husband, of course.”
“Of course,” she traced his lips. “Except those kinds of positions usually follow after a well-planned and very, very... and I can’t emphasize this enough, very romantically asking of the proper question.”
“Ah... that question! Damn, how could I forget.” He flopped onto his back and stretched out lazily with his hands folded behind his head. One eyebrow pitched upward. “So... fire away, Lovebug. I’m all ears. Ask... but be sure it’s very, very... and I can’t emphasize this enough, very romantically done.”
“Tsk,” she smiled as she straddled him. “It seems I’m the one who needs to go shopping for that Oxford thesaurus after all.”
The End.
Be on the lookout for book 2 in the series, Just A Touch, the story of Daphne’s sister, Bailey.
Excerpt: Claimed Bride
The Bride Series, Book 1
CHAPTER ONE
“Drew Carver was killed in a motor vehicle accident last night.”
Alexander Sinclair didn’t react visually apart from his narrowing eyes. His steely gaze remained glued to the cityscape horizon. He stood in front of large picture windows—his usual spot when strategizing—in his luxurious office in Columbus Circle, New York.
“How sure are you it was an accident?”
His deep voice carried to Blake Harper, his friend as well as one of the shareholders in the company. Alex was a property mogul. He was the chairman and majority stakeholder in the Allied Group, a global property development firm he had founded at the young age of twenty-five. The company was best known for developing Time Warner Center, where their HQ was situated, as well as for the new Manhattan Redevelopment Project. According to Forbes magazine, Alex had a net worth of $5.5 billion. Alex was a philanthropist and a sports team owner too. He had recently bought a large stake in the NY Giants and the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford. His generous donations and support to various welfare organizations had made him a sought-after businessman.
“According to the reports, he lost control of his vehicle as he approached the curve onto the Tappan Zee Bridge on Route 287. He went through the rails and into the Hudson river.”
“Don’t tell me. They couldn’t recover the body?” Alex said cynically.
“No. They found his body. He’s confirmed dead—drowned. It seems he was on his way back to New York.”
“Very convenient, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Yes. I also have my doubts whether it was an accident but the witnesses on the scene couldn’t confirm either way. It apparently happened too fast.”
Alex sat down behind his desk. The dark mahogany surface gleamed in the sunlight streaking through the window.
“Who is the beneficiary of his life insurance?”
It was one of the fringe benefits all Alex’s employees enjoyed—a lucrative pension fund and life insurance, differing with specific job level of each person. Drew Carver had been a top-level project manager at the firm and his beneficiary would receive about five million dollars.
“His wife, Penelope Carver.”
Alex’s brows drew together. “The same woman he claimed was the mastermind behind his fraudulent scheme?”
Blake shrugged. “If he was to be believed, yes but according to rumors I’ve just overheard, they’ve been separated for over a year.”
“Based on what we know, it was probably a front to give their scheme more authenticity.” Alex shook his head. The expression on his face turned dark. “How did we not see him for the con artist that he was, Blake? Normally our instincts are on point. I completely misjudged Drew Carver.”
“He was a pathological liar, Alex. He manipulated everyone by burying his true self-expression and replaced it with a highly developed compensatory false self-confidence. We should’ve caught him earlier. He often came across as grandiose, self-absorbed, and conceited. I only realized it once we uncovered the fraud. He lived his lies, believed every word he said as true. We all fell for it.”
“He was reasonably successful with all the projects he handled, so we had no reason to doubt him. The clients preferred to deal with him above other Project Managers. We missed it because those traits never came to light when he was dealing with business. It was only outside of the office.”
“And greed was the final contributor to his fall from grace. He thought he would be far away by the time we found out about it, especially as his reports indicated the deposits by the investors hadn’t been paid yet.”
“Which we had no reason to doubt. It was a stroke of luck that I bumped into Logan Burroughs at the airport. If not for that, we wouldn’t have known the contracts for the development had been signed prematurely and deposits paid.”
“Yeah, Drew was fucking clever, I’ll give him that.” Blake shifted in the chair. “What are we going to do? Drew disappeared with fifty-million dollars. That’s not small change.”
