How to Wed a Billionaire: Rich and Famous Fake Weddings, #1

By Genevieve Goodwin

He needs a wife and heir. She wants a husband and a baby. A marriage made in heaven, right?

After attending five baby showers this past Spring alone, Danielle Williams is fed up with being single and childless while all her friends are swimming in kids. But she's sworn off dating after just one too many loser boyfriends, so what's a girl to do? Enter Mason Rutherford, the most eligible billionaire bachelor in the country. And he is dead set on remaining single forever. That is until his father demands he marry and produce an heir or be fired as the CEO of the family business.

While it seemed like a good idea at the time, Danielle's marriage arrangement with Mason Rutherford has now blossomed into dangerous territory. With his father's disapproval and her heart on the line, can Danielle keep up the charade long enough to find marital bliss?

If you love Fake Wedding Romances, this is the series for you! Genevieve Goodwin's books are full of sweet romantic sizzle with no explicit content.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Love Smitten Books
• Release date: Mar 11, 2019
• ISBN: 9798215873410

Genevieve Goodwin

Genevieve Goodwin writes sweet, romantic Contemporary Romance and Romantic Comedy with swoony heroes that will melt your heart. She loves writing witty banter, real life emotions, and forcing her hero and heroine to wake up and realize they've found the love of their life. She love chocolate, traveling and an endless cup of carmel machiato coffee. She currently lives in Florida where you can find her on the beach with her toes in the sand, when she's not spinning another story for her next book.

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How to Wed a Billionaire

Genevieve Goodwin

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, events, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locals is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher and author. For more information regarding permission, contact the author.

Copyright © 2019 Genevieve Goodwin

All rights reserved.

Love Smitten Books

How to Wed a Billionaire

He needs a wife and heir. She wants a husband and a baby. A marriage made in heaven, right?

After attending five baby showers this past Spring alone, Danielle Williams is fed up with being single and childless while all her friends are swimming in kids. But she’s sworn off dating after just one too many loser boyfriends, so what’s a girl to do? Enter Mason Rutherford, the most eligible billionaire bachelor in the country. And he is dead set on remaining single forever. That is until his father demands he marry and produce an heir or be fired as the CEO of the family business.

While it seemed like a good idea at the time, Danielle’s marriage arrangement with Mason Rutherford has now blossomed into dangerous territory. With his father’s disapproval and her heart on the line, can Danielle keep up the charade long enough to find marital bliss?

If you love Fake Wedding Romances, this is the series for you! Genevieve Goodwin's books are full of sweet romantic sizzle with no explicit content.

Chapter One

Danielle Williams sat in her best friend’s baby shower with a tense smile plastered on her face. Although she was ecstatic about Bailey’s third baby girl, she couldn’t help the stab of pain in her heart as a group of women oohed and ahhed over all the adorable clothes, knowing she would never have her own baby shower, much less a baby.

She was still plenty young and healthy. But after a string of bad boyfriends, she had given up on love and marriage and realized she would end up a spinster for the rest of her life. Okay. She was being dramatic. No one called a single woman a spinster these days, and plenty of women made a choice not to have children or even marry. These were modern times with modern women. And she was a modern woman with a successful career she enjoyed here in San Francisco. She’d also been blessed with a lot of great friends. She couldn’t complain. Then why was she sitting here among all these young mothers criticizing her life? The truth was, she wanted a family, had wanted one her whole life. Being an only child had instilled that desire in her even stronger. And it was the one thing that seemed to evade her despite her every effort.

Aren’t these just adorable? Bailey asked her, holding up a cute pair of pink booties. All the women cooed like a harmonized church choir on Sunday morning.

Absolutely gorgeous, she agreed.

When are you going to find yourself a man and start making your own babies, Danielle? Bailey’s snotty cousin, Rebecca, had never had anything nice come out of her mouth since the day she was born.

Danielle was silent, unable to think of a comeback that wouldn’t go over as rude at Bailey’s baby shower. A few choice words came to mind, but she didn’t want to upset the cheerful atmosphere of her best friend’s baby shower.

Who says you need a man? she finally retorted. An audible gasp filled the suddenly quiet room. She found it hard to believe that women who lived in San Francisco, the center of some of the most modern IT companies out there, could not know about the medical advances in baby-making.

Bailey raised her eyebrows at her. A ‘what?’ forming silently on her lips.

There are other ways. Just saying, Danielle said with a shrug.

I think adoption is a wonderful choice, offered one of the mothers Danielle didn’t know.

She thought so too. Unfortunately, it was nearly impossible to adopt as a single woman.

Now, let’s look at this next one. This one is from Patsy. What lovely wrapping! Bailey squealed, unwrapping a sparkly pink flower tied to a yellow bow. She knew Bailey was trying to save her any more grief by changing the subject. There was a reason Bailey had been her bestie since the third grade.

Danielle appreciated her friend’s understanding. She was tired of the questions she got regarding marriage and kids. Like it was anyone’s business. It was rude to ask such personal questions, and it seemed the less acquainted she was with someone, the nosier and more brazen they were with such questions.

No one understood how painful it was to be put on the spot. She wondered about it herself every single day. What was wrong with her? Why couldn’t she meet a nice guy and settle down like all her friends had years ago? She’d just dated loser after loser until, finally, a year ago, she had given up. One had no ambition and lived in his parent’s attic, enough said there. The next one had commitment issues. He couldn’t commit to which movie to go see, much less a relationship. Another was a serial cheater with an ego the size of Texas. Another guy was angry at the world. Ugh. After that one, she’d given up.

But this baby shower, the fifth one she’d attended this spring, had brought back those feelings of longing for a family of her own. And just like that, she decided. She would have a family on her own. Like she’d said to all the women sitting around here with the comfort of their husbands back at home, she didn’t need a man. All she needed was a little something from a man and she’d be a mama.

~

Mason Rutherford the third, was about to lose his cool. These weekly calls never failed to rile him. His father was at it again. He was always complaining about something, no matter how hard Mason worked. No matter how successful their companies were, no matter how hard he tried. Mason couldn’t please his father if he’d found a way to turn pennies into gold.

You need an heir. Someone who will continue the line of Rutherford. You need to get married, son. No more playing around.

No more playing around? All I do is work. The one who plays is Derek. He lives a sweet life off of my hard work, surfing all day and partying all night. He has never worked a day in his life. And now you’re going to hand our company over to him? Your step son? Over my dead body, Mason muttered.

Derek has my name. And he has a son.

A child he hasn’t seen in three years. I know. I’m the one who writes the checks to his ex-wife.

He is still your brother, and he is still a Rutherford, his father said.

Step brother. And he is only a Rutherford in name, not blood. I only hear from him when he wants me to pay the rent for his beachfront apartment, which happens precisely once every month.

He has an heir, his father insisted.

He would run this company into the ground, Mason warned. In fact, I doubt he’d ever show up to work at all.

Then get married. Have a family. Give me an heir, son. Make me proud.

Make him proud? After all he had done? He’d taken his grandfather’s company from the brink of bankruptcy and made it into a corporation worth billions. What more would it take?

I can’t believe you are saying this, Mason said, his voice wrought with anger. After all I have done.

All you have done won’t mean anything if you don’t have a family. Who are you doing it for, anyway? You don’t even enjoy the wealth you’ve made now. Trust me, you need a family.

Coming from a man with three ex-wives who raised none of his children? Mason asked.

His father let out a hoarse chuckle. Now, son. I think I’ve done right by you.

The same old line he’d heard countless times that was always accompanied by an awkward silence and a major eye roll from Mason.

Find a wife, give me an heir, and you can stay in charge. That’s my final offer.

Mason hung up the phone, fighting the urge to throw it across the room. There was no way he was going to turn over the family business to his surfer dude step brother. He spent the last decade working day and night to build the family’s fortunes after his father had run them into the ground. How dare he tell Mason he suddenly had to have an heir to stay in charge. If it wasn’t for him, it wouldn’t matter if there was a family name or not. There would be nothing to inherit without Mason.

He shoved away from his desk. He needed some air. He needed to think. He needed to calm down before speaking to his father again. Mason took the elevator down from the 16th floor of the company offices and was hit by a crisp May breeze as he walked outside towards Union Square. Then he just kept walking, turning his father’s words around in his mind again and again until he’d built himself into a near frenzy.

After he exhausted his anger, he stopped and looked around, realizing nothing looked familiar. He studied the surrounding area. He’d walked a long way from Union Square out to the outskirts of the city. A chilly breeze swept over him, and he realized he hadn’t brought his coat. Or his phone. He glanced down the street to see a young woman standing outside of a building, as if she was waiting for someone. Maybe she had a phone, and she could call a cab for him. He dashed down the street after her before she disappeared.

Excuse me, Miss, he yelled out as he approached her.

She turned around, her expression confused for a moment. She scrutinized him as he drew near, covertly glancing around the empty street where they stood. It was an odd neighborhood to not be bustling at this time of day when everyone was heading home from the work day, but as he scanned the buildings, he noticed it was more of a warehouse district. He’d walked a lot farther than he’d realized.

I wonder if you could help me out. I’ve forgotten my phone and need to call a cab, he started. She glared at him with suspicion. He gave her a sheepish grin. Would you mind?

She put her hand out as if stopping traffic. Keep your distance, pal, she said as she dug into her purse with one hand while as she eyed him. She pulled out an object and shook it at him. I’ve got a handful of extra-strength mace and I’m not afraid to use it!

I didn’t know they made extra-strength mace. Interesting, Mason mused. Look, I’m not trying to rob you. I’m embarrassed to say, but I didn’t plan to walk so far. I’ve lived in San Francisco for over a decade, but I’ve never been in this neighborhood before. I just want to call a cab.

She gave him a once over, sniffing disapprovingly at his appearance. He looked down and noticed his mud splattered pants and wrinkled shirt. After a long walk, his hair was probably standing on its end. He must look pretty disheveled.

She tilted her head to one side as she studied his face. Despite your appearance, something in the way you talk tells me you don’t belong anywhere outside of Nob Hill, she said.

He stared at her, observing her closely. She was petite with long dark hair and a pretty heart-shaped face. She was dressed in a red suit that complimented her fair skin and brought out the freckles across her nose. What in the world was he doing thinking about her freckles? He gave her another once over.

Nor do you, he said. Are you lost too?

She shook her head and took a sly glance at the building in front of them. He squinted at its sign, picking up on the ‘bank’ part of the sign. A bank in this area? He blinked and read it again. There was no money in this type of bank.

Were you going in there? he asked, pointing to the sign that read: San Francisco Cryobank- For all your fertility needs.

Her face turned the most beautiful shade of pink. Of course not, she said. And it’s none of your business anyway, she huffed. She took a step away from him, but then twirled around, as if she didn’t trust turning her back on him.

Will you leave me alone, please? I’m meeting my husband here. She appeared to glance at an imaginary watch on her wrist. Any minute now.

Mason made no attempt to hide his narrow gaze on her fingers. Husband?

She shoved her hands into the pockets of her coat.

I don’t see a wedding ring, he said. What kind of husband would leave his wife waiting alone on a street like this?

Her lips bent into an endearing frown. I told you to mind your own business. Please go away.

"I’m sorry to bother you,