Not Her Billionaire: The Jack Kemble Duet, #1

By Sky Corgan

An arranged marriage? Who does that anymore? Apparently, my parents think it's okay to sell me off if it will benefit their company.

It can't be that bad. Jack Kemble, the man they're marrying me to, is one of the hottest bachelors on the market. He's also an arrogant prick.

I try to play the part of his dutiful fiancée until he tells me I'll need to go to a special school to learn how to meet his needs. This is way out of my comfort zone. Should I do my best to mold myself into his perfect wife? This marriage is important to my family, but my heart may already belong to another.

Heat level: Smokin' Hot

This is a stand-alone novella and was previously published under a different title.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sky Corgan
• Release date: Jul 16, 2018
• ISBN: 9781540190819

Book preview

Not Her Billionaire

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SKY CORGAN

Text copyright 2017 by Sky Corgan

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the author.

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SYNOPSIS

An arranged marriage? Who does that anymore? Apparently, my parents think it's okay to sell me off if it will benefit their company.

It can't be that bad. Jack Kemble, the man they're marrying me to, is one of the hottest bachelors on the market. He's also an arrogant prick.

I try to play the part of his dutiful fiancée until he tells me I'll need to go to a special school to learn how to meet his needs. This is way out of my comfort zone. Should I do my best to mold myself into his perfect wife? This marriage is important to my family, but my heart may already belong to another.

Heat level: Smokin' Hot

This is a stand-alone novella.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

About the Author

CHAPTER ONE

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It was one of the saddest yet happiest days of my life. In a few short hours, I would be flying to meet the man I had been promised to, multibillionaire Jack Kemble. He was practically a movie star—a man of every woman's dreams, with a chiseled physique and a smile that could stop you dead in your tracks.

It wasn't all happy times, though. As I sat in my room, my gaze darted to all the memories on my bedroom walls, avoiding the eyes of the man in front of me. Liam and I had been best friends since kindergarten, and as the years turned us from innocent children into adults, it had been clear that he wanted something more. Still, my arranged marriage had kept any feelings that I had for him at bay, and he had suffered through it, just content to be by my side.

Now I would have to say goodbye to him forever, and I could almost feel his heart breaking as he stared at me longingly.

Please reconsider, Melita. You know you don't want this. His voice was strained, and I could hear the crisp pain in his words.

You know that I have to do this for my family. I let my eyes fall to my hands, and then they instinctively crossed my lap to his. His thick fingers twitched, and I couldn't help but remember all the times those same unsteady hands had held me in my moments of darkness. How would I ever survive without those strong hands to comfort me?

The tears began to flow, despite my resolve not to cry. Crying would only weaken both of us, and I didn't want to hurt him any more than I already had.

What if you don't love this man? he asked.

People don't always marry for love, I reminded him, trying to recall the lessons my mother had taught me.

Coming from a wealthy family wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. Often times, marriages were arranged so that two families could join assets, making them both even wealthier. My parents were deeply enriched in the oil business, while Jack's family was into everything else. If our marriage went through as planned, my family would give Jack a large sum of money to expand his business to overseas markets, and my father would become CFO of Jack's corporation. It was a win/win situation for all involved.

If not for Liam, it would have been a win for me as well. What girl didn't want to marry a handsome billionaire? But the ties that bound me to Liam were strong, and there were definite secret feelings there. Leaving him would break my heart.

It's time to go, my mother said through the bedroom door.

I'll miss you, I told Liam, taking his hand into mine.

If he doesn't treat you well, you come back to me. Do you understand? His voice commanded my attention, and I allowed myself to gaze into his silvery-blue eyes a final time. So beautiful and soothing. I would miss them, too, the way they seemed to look at me with all of the gentleness and affection in the world.

We embraced, and I worried he might never let me go. To be honest, I wasn't sure if I wanted him to let me go. But then my mother was at the door, opening it and giving us both her best impatient glare.

Liam walked me out to the limo, and I watched him through the back window as we drove out of sight and I left the life that I loved behind.

The flight to New York was grueling, despite first-class accommodations. I spent most of it nauseous, though I couldn't tell if it was from altitude sickness or nervousness. I tried to distract myself by imagining what Jack would be like, but I think that only made things worse.

He would be waiting to greet me at the airport, and hopefully, he'd be considerate enough to leave the paparazzi at home. They tended to follow him around like dogs, looking for any juicy tidbit that they could present to their papers or news stations. From what I could tell, Jack didn't have a personal life. Every woman he went out with, every good or bad thing he did, was quickly aired across the nation like dirty laundry. It was sickening to know that my life would soon be like that simply because of my association with him.

When I stepped into the NYC airport terminal, I didn't have to scan the crowd long to realize that Jack wasn't waiting for me there. In his place stood a large, intimidating-looking man in a suit holding up a cardboard sign with my name printed on it. Maybe it was for the best that Jack wasn't there in person, I thought with a sigh, a bit relieved that the butterflies in my stomach could have a rest. At least this way, I didn't have to worry about the paparazzi.

The man greeted me and escorted me through the airport. He seemed nice enough. Obviously, one of Jack's bodyguards.

After picking up my luggage, he led me outside to a waiting limo. Courteously, he opened the door, and I stepped inside, nearly tripping on myself as my eyes landed on Jack Kemble sitting coolly with his legs crossed.

He leaned forward and extended a hand to guide me into my seat. Miss Rickard.

Mister Kemble. It's a pleasure to finally meet you. I put on my best smile, trying not to blush.

It felt like sitting across from a celebrity. Jack Kemble was wearing distressed jeans and a stylish t-shirt with a black dress coat. His dark disheveled hair was accented perfectly by a large pair of sunglasses, which were completely unnecessary for the dimly lit limo. After a moment of being intrigued by him, I began to realize that the whole get-up was a bit silly, as if he had gone out of his way to try to impress me. Perhaps he was just as nervous as I was.

The pleasure is all mine. He bent forward to kiss my hand before releasing it back to me. I apologize for not meeting you inside. I figured you would probably be exhausted coming off of your flight and wouldn't want to be bothered with the media.

How considerate of you. I nodded in thanks.

We're going to my parents' house for dinner right now. They're greatly looking forward to meeting you as well.

It sounds lovely.

Would you like some champagne? Jack leaned towards the built in wine glass holder to take out a glass before I had even responded.

No, thank you. My stomach is still a bit unsettled from the flight.

He straightened himself, looking ever collected. My nerves were on fire, and I only hoped I seemed half as calm as him.

So, tell me a bit about yourself. I'm to marry you in six months, and I don't even know anything about you, he said.

Well, I searched for things to say. In all honesty, there wasn't much to tell. I just graduated from UTSA with an Associates in Mathematics. After we're married, I plan on going back to school to get my bachelors and then my masters and PhD.

Very admirable. What do you hope to do with your degree?

I'd like to be a calculus professor at Yale or Harvard.

Impressive ambition. I like a woman with ambition. And hobbies? What do you like to do for fun?

Painting and playing the harp.

I would love to hear you play some time, and see some of your artwork. He sounded genuine, but I was almost