Read Online The Academic Bride: Billionaire Marriage Brokers Book One by Lucy McConnell - Free Book Online Page B

bedroom. His room could be converted into two bedrooms, one for a boy and one for a girl. Then the family would have private space, away from all the distractions and noises, where they could just be together and do things like play board games or watch cartoons on Saturday mornings.
    As much of a playground as the rest of the house was, and he’d wanted it that way for when his kids were teenagers, the upstairs was his nest and he never let anyone but the maids up there … until Janel.
    The think-tank group lined up at the buffet.
    Nick pulled Brenda aside. “Will you call Janel and let her know I won’t be back until late?”
    “Janel?”
    “My—” He looked around to see who was listening. Charli had her head bent over the Mo Shu Pork, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t hear. “—wife. Janel.”
    “I don’t have her number,” Brenda whispered.
    “It’s in my contacts list.”
    “Right. I’ll let her know.”
    Nick took his place in the back of the line. When he settled in his seat with a full plate, Charli asked in a voice loud enough for the whole room to hear, “When did you get married?”
    Nick felt his face burn. Never ones for subtlety—indeed, she’d thrown herself at him on multiple occasions—women like Charli were one of the reasons he’d contacted Pamela in the first place. He was thankful he and Charli only had to work together when their companies collaborated on a project. Otherwise she was safely on the other side of the city.
    “Charli, you’ve got to be joking.” Darrin slapped his hand on the table and laughed.
    Nick cleared his throat. “Actually, I was married recently.”
    “I thought I spotted some new hardware.” Charli brushed her fingers over his wedding ring, and Nick had an urge to douse his hand in sanitizer. He settled for wiping his hands with his napkin.
    “Are you serious?” Darrin pointed his chopsticks at Nick. “If you went and got married without letting me throw a bachelor party, I am going to be majorly ticked off.”
    Nick held up his hands as if to say, “What do you want me to do about it?”
    “It’s not too late. We could do it this weekend.” Darrin perked up like a horse at the starting gate.
    Nick smiled. He could only imagine the type of bachelor party Darrin would throw, and he knew full well it wasn’t the way he wanted to start a marriage. He said, “Sorry, man, the ring is on the finger. You’ll have to work on Tray over there. He looks like he could use a night out.”
    Tray shoved an egg roll in his mouth and lifted his shoulders.
    Mr. James, head of the partnering company, returned from making a private call in the hallway, and they were soon back to work. As the hours stretched on, Nick’s hope of spending the evening with Janel melted away like a snow cone on a July afternoon. By the time he drove home and climbed the stairs to his nest, Janel’s door was closed. He showered and changed as quietly as possible, hoping he didn’t disturb her.
    After setting his alarm, he fell into bed smiling. It wasn’t a bad day; he’d gotten married and sealed the deal on a new chip that was sure to make a lot of money.
    His smile faded. He would have felt much better if he’d been able to see Janel before he went to sleep to find out what she thought of the house and if she’d read over the household account information ... and maybe, if he was lucky, to see her blush just once more.

Chapter 11
     
    “Janel?”
    Pulling the covers up over her head, Janel tried to hide from the voice that was bound and determined to ruin her few good hours of sleep.
    When Nick’s secretary called last night to say he wouldn’t be home for dinner, she’d asked, “Do you know what time they will be done?”
    “These meetings have gone on all night before. It could be an hour or it could be six hours. I’m sorry, I wish I had more information.”
    “No, that’s okay. Thanks for thinking to call me.”
    “Mr. Ryburn asked me to.”
    “Well …