The Billionaire's Proposal (Scandal, Inc Book 4)

by James, Avery

  “I’ve seen that look before,” Katrina said. “Not on you, of course. Who would have thought, Gavin Howard actually in love? I guess I should be offended it isn’t with me.”

  “You’ll survive,” Harry said. “I should go back.”

  “There’s still the problem of the dozen paparazzi your girlfriend had told to expect a proposal and a ring. They all saw me run out of a restaurant in surprise. That’s not exactly the news story we’re looking for.”

  “I’m sorry if I don’t really care about that at the moment,” Harry said.

  “Do you have the ring?” Katrina asked.

  “Right here,” he said.

  “Let me see it,” Katrina said.

  Harry tossed her the box. He barely paid attention as Katrina slipped the ring onto her finger. She pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of it. “It’s a shame no one will ever get to see this,” she said. “Maybe my friends will get a kick out of it.”

  “Share it with whoever you want,” Harry said.

  Katrina’s phone buzzed. “My publicist,” she said. “Already people talking about trouble in paradise. There’s a picture of you and Maggie.” Her phone buzzed two more times while she was typing out a response to her publicist. “We need to do something to stop this story,” she said. She looked back down at the ring. “I have an idea. I think you might actually like it.”

  Harry was only half listening to her. There were pictures of him with Maggie. He needed to protect her. This was all his fault. He’d managed to drag her into the middle of his mess. “Do whatever you have to do,” Harry said. He pulled his phone out. Maybe he should call Maggie. She needed to know what was going on. He needed to find a way to keep her out of the spotlight. It was one thing for the media to crucify him. He’d made the decision to step into the limelight when he agreed to this fake relationship with Katrina, but Maggie had never asked for any of this.

  He looked down at the phone to see two missed texts. His heart leapt as he saw they were from Maggie. Feverishly, he clicked through to the first message. By the time he got halfway through, he slumped even further down in his seat. The second message was more of the same.

  “What’s up?” Katrina asked. She was taking another picture of the ring on her finger.

  “That was Maggie. It’s an explanation as to why you and I ran out of the restaurant,” he said.

  “Does it involve her?”

  “It involves a family emergency,” he said.

  Katrina laughed. “The past month has been a family emergency for you, hasn’t it?”

  “Try the last fifteen years,” Harry said.

  “Did she say anything else?”

  “No,” Harry said. He ran his hands through his hair. He knew Maggie had feelings for him, and he knew she had her reasons for keeping her distance, but everything had changed. They didn’t have any time left. “If it came down to her or the company, I’d choose her every time, but I know she won’t let me. What the hell am I supposed to do?” Harry asked. “I can’t let anything happen to her.”

  “Then stick to the plan,” she said. “It’s your plan, and it’s a good one. We had a deal. We pretend to go through with the engagement as a cover while you line up board members to support you. Once you’re in control, you’re free to date whoever you want. You have the votes. You’ve had them for days, but instead of doing anything, you decided to keep stringing things along so you could spend more time with Maggie. You could have told her days ago. You could have told me from the start that she was the woman you were in love with, and we wouldn’t have been in this situation.”

  “I didn’t want to complicate things between you,” Harry said.

  “A little late for that now,” Katrina said.

  “What the hell am I supposed to do?” Harry asked again.

  “Whatever you want,” Katrina said. “I can’t believe I’m the one saying this, but do you love her?” Katrina said.

  “Of course I love her; I’d do anything for her,” he said.

  “Anything?” Katrina asked.

  “Yes,” he said.

  “Good,” she said, holding out her phone. “Marry me. I just took a picture of the ring for my publicist. All you have to do is click send. If you’re worried about the story being about Maggie, this is one way of protecting her.”

  “Protect the woman I love by getting engaged to someone else?” Harry asked.

  “Protect her by giving everyone something better to talk about. No one has to say engagement. Well, we don’t have to say engagement, we can let the press say that. By the time the story blows over, we’ll write it off as some kind of inside joke that got out of control,” she said. “I’ll call it my gift to myself. Of course, I’ll be keeping the ring. Besides, if your little plan works out, we’ll both be married to the job anyway.”

  Harry laughed.

  “See, things are looking up already,” she said. “I hope that laugh is you realizing my brilliance.”

  “No,” he said under his breath. “I was just thinking about something Maggie said to me,” Harry replied. He paused for a moment and started to work everything out. “There’s no way,” he added. It can’t be that simple, he thought. But each time he ran through the possible outcomes, it worked out. Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Care to share? Even when I’m saving your backside, all you can think about is her,” Katrina said.

  “I was saying there’s no way this could work,” he replied, “but I wasn’t talking about your idea.” He took the phone from Katrina’s hand. All he had to do was press send. It was that simple, and yet, he knew he had to do more. If he wanted any chance of being with Maggie, he needed to do better than just saving face for one night. He needed to find a way to change the whole equation. “I think your idea might just work. It just needs one more thing.”

  “What’s that?” Katrina asked.

  “Does your publicist have the contact information for the reporter who interviewed us?”

  “You mean Janice? She’s practically on the payroll,” Katrina said.

  “We need to get in touch with her right now,” he said.

  “What do we need the reporter for?”

  “Just wait,” Harry said. “You’ll love this.” This was either the worst idea he’d ever had or the best, and there was only one way to find out. The whole plan depended upon Katrina playing along. She could just as easily claim the engagement was real, and leverage it against him. He checked the picture on Katrina’s phone one last time and pressed send.

  Chapter 28

  Maggie stared down at her phone. It was nearly 7 a.m., and she hadn’t slept at all. Since receiving word that Katrina had posted an engagement ring shot online, she hadn’t been able to do anything except wonder what the hell had happened. She barely remembered leaving the restaurant and heading home. She kept waiting for a call or text from Harry to tell her that it was all just for show. She was waiting for a call or a text from Harry saying anything. Really, anything would be better than how they’d left things.

  She checked her voicemail again, for the third time that morning. There were no new messages, so she decided to go through the old ones. There were three calls from Abby and one from her father that she didn’t remember hearing before. “Hey, honey, your mother and I just wanted to check in to see how you’re doing. She wanted to know if you could make it home for the holidays. Anyway, give me a call back. We’re proud of you, kiddo. If your clients are giving you any trouble, just remember: don’t let the bastards get you down. If anyone gets out of line, I’ll be on the next flight out.”

  As terrible as she felt, hearing her father’s voice made Maggie smile. Maybe Harry was right about being from different worlds. She couldn’t imagine a world in which her dad didn’t support her unconditionally. Losing Harry felt like a terrible blow, but she had to remember how lucky she was to have her family and her job. It was her job to be levelheaded. She played the message from her father again. “Don’t let the ba
stards get you down.” She wondered what he’d tell her to do.

  She sat there with the phone against her ear until it started buzzing. It was probably Abby calling with more news about the engagement ring photo. Maggie did a double take as she looked at the screen. Maybe staying up all night was starting to get to her, but she wasn’t seeing things. She was getting a call from Katrina. She had a good idea what Katrina wanted to discuss. After all, the last time they’d seen each other, Maggie had been full-on seven-minutes-of-heaven with Harry.

  Maggie picked up but didn’t speak. “Maggie? This is Katrina Nussbaum. I’ll be at your door in ten minutes. You and I need to talk. See you soon.” She sounded almost cheerful.

  Before Maggie could reply, the call was over. Katrina was coming to her. This was a good thing. It meant Katrina wasn’t going straight to Stanton or Amy or anyone else. It would give her a chance to explain herself. Maggie raced upstairs and tried to find something, anything to wear. What exactly does one wear when trying to look both contrite and unashamed? Maggie wondered. Something professional and understated, maybe?

  The sound of the doorbell killed any chance of that. Maggie grabbed the first dress she found in her closet and pulled it on before rushing down to open the door. What seemed like a thousand flashes went off as Katrina stepped inside.

  “I hope you don’t mind. I invited a few friends,” Katrina said.

  Maggie walked over to the window. “Do I want to know why?”

  “I thought the two of us should be seen together as friends. It’s important to me that no one gets the wrong idea.”

  “I promise you nothing will happen to your image,” Maggie said. “What you saw last night won’t happen again.”

  “So it was a onetime thing?” Katrina asked.

  Maggie searched for an appropriate response, one full of nuance, one that could explain how complex and deep her feelings for Harry were and how she had never intended for any of this to happen. “No,” was all she managed to say.

  “No?” Katrina said. She cracked a smile. “Harry said you have a way with words.”

  “No, it was not a onetime thing, and no, it won’t happen again. Harry is everything I’ve ever wanted in a man. He’s smart and funny and challenging, and I will do everything in my power to protect him. I’m doing what I have to do because I know it will be better for him.”

  “I heard you got his father fired as a client,” Katrina said.

  “He got himself fired,” Maggie said. “I tried to give everyone an out.”

  Katrina looked down at her engagement ring, making sure Maggie noticed it too. It was hard not to. It was even larger than Maggie remembered. “That’s your problem,” she said. “That last part. I know I don’t know you very well, but you have to decide what you want, and you have to go after it.”

  “I want Harry to be happy and successful. I want him to do everything he’s capable of. I’m not going to let him throw away his future for me,” she said.

  Katrina kept her attention on her ring. “Will you tell me the truth? You helped pick this out, right? What do you really think of it?”

  “It’s gaudy,” Maggie said. “No one needs a diamond that big.”

  “Of course no one needs it,” Katrina said. “That’s half the appeal. Now come on, let’s go. We have a full day ahead of ourselves.”

  “You realize I don’t work for you anymore, right?”

  “You want to protect Harry and keep him happy?” Katrina asked.

  “Yes,” Maggie said. The real question was whether Katrina had any reason to help protect Harry. She could just as easily use this whole situation to get whatever she wanted.

  “Then don’t ask any more questions,” she said. “You’ll be my guest at the board meeting this morning.”

  “I don’t know what your end goal is, but if you try anything that could harm Harry, I will do everything in my power to make you regret it.”

  Katrina rolled her eyes. “Did I mention the meeting is at the hotel? Maybe the two of you can get a room.”

  Maggie started to protest, but Katrina slung the front door open and walked out to a volley of flashes. Katrina turned back and waved her out. Maggie took a deep breath and stepped forward.

  ***

  Of course, when they arrived at the hotel, Harry was waiting by the elevator. He stood in the reception area in front of the conference room, framed by the large windows that looked out across the monuments and marble facades of the city. To his side, a group of board members was talking quietly. To Maggie, they looked like they were waiting for a show to begin. As far as she could tell, a show was exactly what they were going to get.

  Harry was certainly dressed for the part. He was wearing a dark gray suit but no tie, and the top button of his shirt was undone. Even when he was playing the part of doting fiancé and dutiful son, Harry had a look of danger to him, a bit of wildness that Maggie found irresistible. After a scandal-marred CEO, Harry’s particular form of wildness might be just what the company needed. She wondered where that wildness had been the night before, when he’d run off after Katrina. She wondered why he hadn’t decided then and there to end the whole act.

  Because you wouldn’t let him, she reminded herself. “About last night,” Maggie said. She was looking for the words to tell him she was sorry. She wanted to explain that she only wanted the best for him, even though losing him was tearing her apart.

  “I was worried you wouldn’t make it,” he replied, seemingly ignoring what she’d said.

  “Well, she’s here,” Maggie said.

  “I meant you,” he replied. He looked to Katrina. “Thank you,” he said. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

  “You sent Katrina?” Maggie asked.

  “Of course,” he said. “I thought you’d like that. I wanted people to see the two of you as friends so they wouldn’t draw the wrong conclusions.”

  “What conclusions would those be?”

  “That you’d broken us up,” Harry said.

  “The ring on her finger says otherwise,” she replied. “Can we talk about anything else?”

  “When you love someone, you do things for them they wouldn’t do for themselves,” he said. “I know what you meant when you told me to leave, and I know why things have to be the way they are. I hate it, but I understand it. I meant every word of what I said to you, though. You’ve helped me do things I never thought I was capable of, both little and big. You’ve made me a better person.”

  Somehow, Harry’s words made her heart ache even more than it had when he had chosen to run after Katrina the night before. Maggie felt a rush of emotion, and she did her best to bottle it up, to keep it from overflowing. She couldn’t find the words to respond.

  “You’ve made me better. I just wanted to tell you that,” Harry said.

  “You could have called,” she said. Could have called to tell me you loved me. Could have called to tell me this. Could have called for any of a hundred reasons and I would have picked up.

  “That’s not why I wanted you here. I wanted you here because I want you in the room when I take over the company. Without you, none of this would have happened.”

  “You would have made it through either way,” Maggie said.

  “No, I would have run or I would have just gone along with the plan, but I wouldn’t have made the decision to take control.”

  “Take control?” Maggie asked.

  “You were right. I can’t make a difference if I’m not the one calling the shots,” he said.

  “What about your father?” Maggie asked.

  “I wish he’d understand that I don’t want to hurt him. I just want to do the right thing. That means for him, too. He wasn’t always like this, Maggie. When I was a kid, he was a lot happier, even if we weren’t as rich. I told him that. I told him it would be good for him to step away for a while. When I told him I was going to get the votes to take over on my own terms, he laughed at me and said I’d never pull it off,” Harry said. “I don’
t think he counted on you.”

  “So the fact-finding was about leveraging information against the board members?”

  “No, it was about solving their problems. My father wanted to use the information against them. I wanted to help them move forward. I had to show them that I was serious about leading this company. So what if they made mistakes in their past? You showed me that people deserve a second chance,” he said. “I hope you feel the same way about me. It was also a chance to spend more time with you. It’s funny—at one point Abby told me the only way to win you over would be to work with you. I think she was right. I’d trade a hundred dates with Katrina for one more morning with you.”

  “Well, it’s morning, and here I am,” Maggie said.

  “And here I am,” Harry said.

  “Harry! They’re here!” Katrina called from across the room.

  “Speak of the devil,” Harry said.

  Maggie watched as Abby and the reporter stepped off of the elevator. What the hell are you up to, Harry? she wondered.

  “If you excuse me, there’s something I need to take care of before the meeting,” Harry said. “In a few minutes it will all be over,” he added, as if that would be some kind of relief.

  Everyone deserves a second chance, Maggie thought. What about us? She ran through everything he’d said about not wanting the story to be about her breaking up his fake relationship with Katrina, about doing something that she wouldn’t be able to do for herself, and about the reporter.

  “Is something amusing, Ms. Walsh?” Stanton said from behind her. “I seem to remember your employer deciding that my business was no longer welcome.”

  “I’m not here on her behalf,” Maggie said.

  “My son invited you,” Stanton said.

  “Katrina, actually,” Maggie replied. She watched Harry and Katrina talking with the reporter, laughing and smiling. If you love someone, you’re willing to do things for them they wouldn’t do for themselves. Maggie couldn’t believe the words that came out of her mouth next. “But I was hoping to have a word with you,” she said.