A Contract, a Wedding, a Wife? Read online

  “What I need most right now is a wife.”

  But can their convenient marriage turn into forever?

  Solitaire Saunders will do anything to save her family’s café—even marry enigmatic billionaire Xavier McQueen! As his contracted bride, she’s there to secure Xavier’s inheritance—not to enjoy his delicious kisses... It’s only meant to be temporary, until the pretense of being married starts to feel passionately real!

  “Look, is there some sort of arrangement we could come to here?” Soli asked desperately, blinking back her tears and looking a little embarrassed about losing her cool.

  Xavier looked hurriedly away, frowning down at his desk. “I’ve already held back on rolling out the new rent, and if I do it for you I’ll have to—”

  “Please. Have a heart,” she broke in hoarsely, clearly aware she was losing the battle but seemingly not prepared to accept it. “I’ll do anything. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep our café running.”

  The ring of hope in her voice made something twist painfully inside him. He had to give her credit, she was certainly determined.

  Or maybe just desperate.

  His heart gave a hard thump in his chest. He knew what desperate felt like and he wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

  “Whatever it takes?” he asked slowly, meeting her eyes again now. He wasn’t sure where he was going with this, but he had the strangest feeling there could be a solution here that he hadn’t quite hit upon yet.

  “Anything. Just name it,” she said, her eyes wide with anticipation.

  “What I need most right now is a wife.”

  Dear Reader,

  I love a Cinderella rags-to-riches story, don’t you? There’s nothing quite as satisfying as seeing someone who deserves a break get the thing she most longs for in the world—something that’s previously been well beyond her reach because of circumstances out of her control.

  My heroine, Soli, has had it hard for quite some time when we first meet her, and it’s at a point of crisis when my hero, Xavier, offers her a seemingly perfect way out of her troubles. The only problem? She has to put her life on hold and marry him—a practical stranger, albeit a handsome, charismatic and very rich one.

  Soli was such a fabulous character to write. I found myself loving her for her determination to ensure a happy ending for the people she loves, even, potentially, at the expense of her own happiness. Though perhaps her positivity and compassion will turn out to be the very things emotionally reserved Xavier never knew he needed.

  And maybe, ultimately, she’ll end up saving him?

  I hope you enjoy reading their story to find out.

  With warmest wishes,

  Christy

  A CONTRACT, A WEDDING, A WIFE?

  Christy McKellen

  Formerly a video and radio producer, Christy McKellen now spends her time writing fun, impassioned and emotive romance with an undercurrent of sensual tension. When she’s not writing, she can be found enjoying life with her husband and three children, walking for pleasure, and researching other people’s deepest secrets and desires. Christy loves to hear from readers. You can get ahold of her at christymckellen.com.

  Books by Christy McKellen

  Harlequin Romance

  Romantic Getaways

  The Unforgettable Spanish Tycoon

  Maids Under the Mistletoe

  A Countess for Christmas

  Unlocking Her Boss’s Heart

  One Week with the French Tycoon

  His Mistletoe Proposal

  Harlequin KISS

  Holiday with a Stranger

  Lessons in Rule-Breaking

  Fired by Her Fling

  Bridesmaid with Attitude

  Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.

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  This one is for you, lovely romance reader, for choosing to spend your precious time reading my words. I am truly grateful. May you always have romance in your heart.

  Praise for

  Christy McKellen

  “Packed with compelling drama, moving romance and nail-biting emotional tension, Unlocking Her Boss’s Heart is a first-rate romantic tale readers shouldn’t dare miss!”

  —Goodreads

  Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  EPILOGUE

  EXCERPT FROM UNLOCKING THE MILLIONAIRE’S HEART BY BELLA BUCANNON

  CHAPTER ONE

  Risk—a game of strategy, conflict and diplomacy.

  HE WAS NEVER going to find someone suitable to marry at this rate.

  Xavier McQueen let out an exasperated sigh as the woman who had seemed like his best hope—on paper at least—gave a firm and very final no to his admittedly completely barmy-sounding proposal before putting the phone down on him.

  Apparently only being married for a year before divorcing wouldn’t look good on her dating CV. She was under the impression it could put off real prospects in the future because they’d be worried about her coming with baggage from such a short previous marriage.

  Closing his eyes, he slumped back in his chair.

  Three months he’d been wasting his time with this ridiculous endeavour and now he only had six weeks left before the Hampstead mansion where he’d lived for the last four years—the home that had been in his family for the last hundred and fifty years—would pass to his money-grubbing clown of a cousin.

  Damn his great-aunt and her jeopardous eccentricity.

  He thought she’d loved him—certainly more than his parents ever had—but this bizarre stunt she’d pulled with her will had made him wonder about that.

  Shoving a hand through his hair and trying not to pull it out in his frustration, he stared out of the floor-to-ceiling window of his office, barely registering his view of the majestic Tower Bridge stretching out across the fast-moving River Thames.

  He’d not wanted to widely advertise exactly what he was looking for in case it brought out the crooks and the crazies but that meant he’d quickly run out of people to ask to help him out. The problem was, the chosen candidate needed to be someone he could trust, as well as someone he’d be able to get along with, but all his good female friends were already married and he didn’t fancy taking his chances with any of his exes. A year was a long time to live with someone who detested the very sight of you.

  The other two women, who had also been put forward as possible candidates by his friend Russell—the only friend he’d trusted with his problem—hadn’t worked out either. Not being able to have sex for a year hadn’t appealed to either of them. They’d both been looking for the real deal. Soul mates. An ideal he had no faith in whatsoever any more, not after being left humiliated at the altar five years ago by the woman he’d thought he’d spend the rest of his life with. His disaster of a non-wedding, which he now liked to think of as a near miss, had put paid to that ridiculous notion.

  Nope, it was short-term, uncomplicated relationships for him from here on in. Or a purely business one like this needed to be, thanks to the bizarre
demands stipulated in Great-Aunt Faith’s will.

  Just as he was reaching for the glass of water on his desk to relieve his parched throat, there was a loud knock on the door and a petite woman with bright blue eyes and a riot of blonde curls walked purposefully into his office and placed a small basket of assorted cakes on his desk with a flourish.

  He frowned down at them, then up at her. ‘I didn’t order any cakes.’

  ‘I know. They’re an excuse to get some face-to-face time with you,’ she said, folding her arms and looking down at him with a determined expression that made his stomach sink.

  ‘I’ve been trying to get a meeting with you for weeks but your PA keeps fobbing me off,’ she went on before he had a chance to say anything. ‘So I’ve been forced to take drastic action. On the other hand, I’ve brought you some really fantastic cakes. I made them myself. So it’s actually a win for you.’ She flashed him a half-smile that didn’t entirely convince him she was as self-assured as her spirited speech had made her seem.

  He leant back in his chair again and studied her in bemusement.

  She looked young, maybe early-to-mid-twenties, with a sweetly pretty face. Her abundance of curly blonde hair, which she’d tried to tame with an Alice band, stuck out around her head, probably due to the windy day. She surveyed him back with intelligent eyes, her button nose, which was scattered with freckles, wrinkling a little under his gaze. She seemed to him to have the air of someone who could cause a great deal of mischief if she put her mind to it.

  As he scrutinised her she shifted on the spot and visibly swallowed as if rapidly losing her nerve in the face of his silence. It seemed her blustery, confident entrance had all been an act to get past the temporary PA sitting outside his office. Soon to be his ex-temporary PA.

  ‘And you are?’ he said with a sigh. He really didn’t need this extra hassle today; his nerves were already strung as tightly as they’d go and he had an important meeting in ten minutes which he needed to have his head in the game for.

  ‘Solitaire Saunders. Soli for short. That’s what everyone ends up calling me, anyway. It’s a bit of a mouthful otherwise.’

  His eyebrow twitched involuntarily upwards.

  ‘Solitaire? Like the diamond?’

  She gave a self-conscious grin. ‘No, like the card game. My dad was a huge fan of games. He set up our board game café on Hampstead High Street—in the unit we rent from your company.’

  Board game café?

  He was surprised anyone could make a living from a business like that, though, judging by the increasingly irate letters he now remembered receiving from the woman running the place—presumably this woman—after they’d notified her of the upcoming rent raise, perhaps she didn’t.

  Despite his reluctance to get into this with her right now, he knew he ought to nip the issue in the bud while she was here in front of him. His executive assistant was fed up with having to field her constant phone calls asking to speak to him directly and he’d never been one to shy away from a legitimate business conflict when it reared its head. Its pretty, curly blonde head in this instance.

  ‘The trouble is, Soli,’ he said, splaying his hands on the desktop, ‘the market’s moved on a lot since you last signed the rental agreement a couple of years ago—’

  ‘Four years ago,’ she butted in. ‘And it was my father who signed it. I’ve been running it without him for the last three of them.’

  ‘Okay, I don’t have the exact details to hand right now,’ he said, trying to remain patient, ‘but I do know that the market’s moved even more since then.’ He lifted his hands, palms towards her. ‘We’re not monsters here, we’ve actually held back on increasing the rent on a lot of our property because we know how hard it can be for small independent businesses to survive in London, but we have to move with the times.’

  ‘You know how hard it is to run a struggling business, do you?’ she shot back. ‘How utterly heartbreaking it is when a once thriving business starts to fail? How demoralising that can be?’ Her voice rose on each question. She glanced pointedly around his plush office with its high-end furniture and enviable London view then fixed him with a challenging look, her cheeks flushed a deep shade of pink but the expression in her eyes unwavering.

  He experienced a shiver of guilt, but knew he couldn’t let it get to him. Everyone he came across these days seemed to have a sob story to tell him so that he’d agree to charge them less money for the property they rented from his company. He couldn’t let his personal feelings get in the way. This was business.

  ‘We live above the café,’ she said before he could form his careful reply. ‘If we can’t afford to keep the business going we’ll lose our home as well, but then I don’t expect you’d know how a threat like that feels either!’

  If only that were the case.

  He began to shake his head, but she took a step closer to his desk and put her hands over her heart, her cute little nose wrinkling again in a way that made something twist uncomfortably in his chest.

  ‘Is there any way I can persuade you to hold off for a little while longer?’ she asked in a voice wobbly with emotion. ‘Please. Just give me a chance to get a bit more business in.’

  ‘How do you intend to do that?’ he asked, genuinely interested. ‘Aren’t there a lot of other café options on Hampstead High Street?’

  Her bold stance deflated a little. ‘Yes. Unfortunately there are. But they’re all chains owned by big corporations.’ She waved a dismissive hand. ‘We offer a more local, family-run atmosphere. And board games! Who doesn’t love playing board games?’

  He shuffled a little in his chair. ‘Can’t say I’m a huge fan of them.’

  ‘You just haven’t played the right ones yet,’ she persisted. ‘If you come in you’ll see how much fun they can be. We have four hundred games to choose from. Something for everyone. We’ll even teach you how to play them.’

  He shook his head, holding back the smile that was pushing at the corners of his mouth. Learning to play board games was the last thing he could imagine wanting to do with his precious time off. ‘As appealing as that sounds,’ he said, trying to keep the irony out of his voice, ‘that doesn’t tell me how you’re going to start making enough profit to pay your rent.’

  ‘I’m working on it,’ she stated, but her gaze wasn’t meeting his now; instead she was staring out towards the river, her hands clenched at her sides as if she was fighting to keep her composure. ‘I just need to find some time to do a bit of local advertising, update the website and post to the social media sites we’re on,’ she said, almost to herself. ‘Trouble is, I work long hours. I have a cleaning job at a gastro pub from seven thirty till ten, then I have to make the cakes and prepare the sandwiches we sell at the café, then we’re open from eleven till three. When we close I have to go shopping for supplies for both the café and the family and take care of anything my mum needs and then the café’s open again from five till ten pm. So there’s not been a lot of time for developing a high-concept business strategy.’

  More guilt tried to shoulder its way in as she looked back at him with tired eyes.

  He shook it off. This wasn’t his problem. He couldn’t allow it to become his problem either. He had enough of his own troubles to deal with right now.

  ‘Look, Soli, things are complicated for me at the moment and I’m afraid I don’t have time to deal with this today. I have an important meeting in a few minutes, so if you leave your contact details with my PA—’

  She flinched at the hard edge he’d given his voice now, but didn’t move from where she stood.

  ‘Complicated? You think your life’s complicated? Beat this, buster.’ She pointed her finger at him. ‘I’m desperately trying to save the business my late father built from scratch, our family’s legacy, so I can afford to get my mother, who’s suffering with Parkinson’s disease, the care she needs whils
t also trying to scrape together enough money to support my younger sister, who’s a brilliant mathematician with an offer from Oxford University, but who can’t afford to take the place there. And you’re making it even harder for me to do all that by raising our already extortionate rent. That’s complicated!’

  The ensuing silence rang out loudly in the still air of his office.

  ‘Okay. Fine,’ he said resignedly when he saw a glint of tears in her eyes. ‘You win the “complicated” competition.’ He made a placating gesture. ‘But only just—believe me. My life isn’t exactly easy right now either.’

  ‘Look, is there some sort of arrangement we could come to here?’ she asked desperately, blinking back her tears and looking a little embarrassed about losing her cool. ‘Any sort of deal we could make which would give me a bit more time to try and turn the fortunes of the café around and make the money we need to afford the rent hike? I can’t lose the place. Not after all the love and hard graft my father put into it. It’s all we have left of him now.’ Despite her efforts, a single tear ran down her cheek.

  He looked hurriedly away, frowning down at his desk. ‘I’ve already held back on rolling out the new rent and if I do it for you I’ll have to—’

  ‘Please. Have a heart,’ she broke in hoarsely, clearly aware she was losing the battle but seemingly not prepared to accept it. ‘I’ll do anything. I’ll come and work here for you when I’m not working at the café. I can type and make coffee, file things. Documents. Tidy up! I’ll do whatever it takes to keep our café running.’

  The ring of hope in her voice clawed at his chest. He had to give her credit, she was certainly determined.

  Or maybe just desperate.

  His heart gave a hard thump. He knew what desperate felt like and he wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

  ‘Whatever it takes?’ he asked slowly, meeting her eyes again now. He wasn’t sure where he was going with this, but he had the strangest feeling there could be a solution here that he hadn’t quite hit upon yet.