Declan
Melissa Belle
Copyright © 2020 Melissa Belle. All rights reserved.
Published in the United States of America by Autumn Ink Press.
This is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. All names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual situations or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or distributed in any form or by any means, except for brief quotes used for the purpose of review, without the prior written permission of the author. Any trademarks, service marks, or product names are the property of their respective owners and are used only for reference.
Cover Art: J. Hunter Designs
Editing: J. Dylan & D. Yacovetta
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Contents
Also by Melissa Belle
ABOUT
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Epilogue
Declan Bonus Scene
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STAY UP TO DATE WITH MELISSA
About the Author
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Boston Boys
BOSTON BILLIONAIRE
BOSTON LOVE
BOSTON ESCAPE
BOSTON ROOMIE
BOSTON BAD BOY
Wild Men
WILD MAN
COLTON
DYLAN
AYDEN
JENSON
BRAYDEN
CAMERON
DECLAN
Boudreaux Universe
EASY PUCK
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ABOUT
My one-night stand is now my fake husband…a marriage of convenience hockey romance.
Mia
I don’t do professional athletes. And I certainly don’t do one-night stands.
But after my father tells me to marry before he’ll let me take over the family PR firm, which has been my one and only dream since I was a kid, I decide I need a night out.
And when a hot hockey player picks me out at the local bar, I decide I want to play.
He takes me to his home on a gorgeous ranch. We steam up the sheets all night long.
I’m sure I’ll never see him again.
Until the next day, when my uncle introduces him as my future husband.
Declan
Before I retire from playing professionally I’m lining up my next shot—ownership in the Montana Wild Kings hockey team. But the team’s got a PR problem, and they’ll never approve a bachelor.
I’m not in a relationship. I’m not even dating.
And I can’t remember the last time I was interested in someone. Until I go to the bar after the game to blow off some steam and figure out my next move.
That’s when I meet her. Mia. The first woman I can remember who doesn’t know I’m a big time hockey player.
After we spend an incredible night together, I figure that’s it.
Until my agent calls me into his office. The only other person in the room? Mia.
My future wife.
We vow to keep our arrangement strictly professional so we both get what we want. But the more we face off, the more I want to score…
Chapter One
Declan
“You need a wife.”
“What?” I look at my agent, startled. “Be serious, Ned.”
He shrugs as he stares down at the tablet in his hands. He’s poring over the application to join the ownership group of the Montana Wild Kings, the professional ice hockey team I’m currently playing for. “Right here.” He points to the screen. “All owners—even those with a minority stake—are required to be married.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Ridiculous or not, if you want to throw your stick in the rink to own a part of the Montana Wild Kings hockey team, you must have a wife.”
“That is the stupidest fucking thing I’ve ever heard,” I say as I pace around the small room inside the Wild Kings hockey arena, an old storage room Ned likes to use for privacy. “What is this, the eighteen-hundreds?”
“No. But it is Kings’ country, not New York or Chicago. You heard how the board just forced out a stakeholder for too many public incidents involving too many women. Not to mention that he attended an underground gambling ring and got caught with a married woman as his guest.”
“Right. I heard about that.”
“After that public embarrassment, the board is more insistent than ever about making sure they get a stable, family man. They’ll reject you if you don’t fit their criteria.”
I sink down onto my chair. “Look, I’ve got a game tonight. And this season is my last chance at the cup. I don’t have time to worry about this. I shouldn’t need a wife to buy into the team.”
Ned finally looks up at me, and those wise eyes narrow. “The question is: how serious are you about this? You want to retire after this season. And you want to do something ‘meaningful’ in retirement that also keeps you close to hockey, correct? Your words. What better way than to own a hockey team and contribute to its success on and off the ice?”
“None of that justifies their marriage requirement. Not to gossip, but I know for a fact that at least one of the owners regularly cheats on his wife. How is he a better choice than me? At least I’m honest.”
“It’s all about public image and perception. You know that. Some influential members of the board believe the whole publicity nightmare with the former owner could have been avoided. He was young and single, and he had wealth and privilege. Kind of like you.” Ned rubs his gray beard thoughtfully. “Come to think of it, you haven’t been in a serious relationship in…” He thinks. “Well, ever, to my knowledge.”
“I also don’t treat women like shit,” I growl. “Fuck, I haven’t even been on a date in over a year.”
He holds out his arms. “So you’ve got nobody to upset when you suddenly get married.”
I shake my head.
He just smiles. “Leave it to me. I’ll figure something out. I always do.”
“Ned, I swear to Christ, if you show up with some woman I’ve never even met and think I’m going to exchange marital vows with her…”
“You just focus on the game tonight. Go give them hell.”
I glance at the time on my phone. I do have to go or I’ll be late.
“Don’t do anything without checking with me first.” I stand up and give Ned a hard look. “Understood?”
“Sure thing, Wild. You can trust me.”
Right. Ned’s
been my agent ever since I entered the pros. I love him like a second father. But as I walk out of his office and close the door, all I can think is, I don’t trust him at all.
“Hey, Wild.”
I glance over my shoulder at Jared Storm, star defenseman for the Wild Kings. “Hey.”
He catches up to me and slaps my back. “What’s up?”
I need a wife.
Not wanting to get into anything serious before our game, I just shake my head. “Nothing that’s pre-game conversation. Where are you coming from?”
He jerks his thumb in the direction of the parking garage. “I had to take the long way. Some puck bunnies were waiting at the door.”
I grimace. When I was a rookie, I admit to enjoying the attention of all the women. But that got old quickly, and I soon realized none of them liked me for me. They just wanted to be with a professional athlete.
“Oh my God! Declan Wild!” A blond woman, passing by us in the hallway, screeches to a halt and just…stares at me.
“Hi,” I say politely.
She waves her hand in front of her face. “You’re even hotter in real life!”
Jared cracks up next to me. “He’s like a king, isn’t he? A Wild King.”
The woman doesn’t even look at him as she answers, “You are, Mr. Wild.”
I give her the fake smile I’ve mastered over the years. I appreciate my fans, but I’ve never been comfortable with all the attention off the ice. “Thank you for the compliment, but I can assure you I’m no king.”
“He’s just shy,” Jared, the fucker, says to her. “Would you like me to take a pic of you two?”
The woman hands him her phone immediately and rushes to my side.
After we’ve smiled for the camera, Jared hands her phone back to her. She scans the picture and then looks up at me. “You’re the most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen.”
I flash another distant but friendly smile, the kind no one can see the real me through. “Thank you. I hope you enjoy the game.”
As soon as we’re out of sight of her, I punch Jared in the arm. “A king?!” I say to him. “Are you serious?”
He grins. “Hey, I think I’m popular with the ladies, and then I get around you and remember you’re about a thousand times more so. You keep me grounded, man. Women literally faint in front of you. In all seriousness, I can see why you don’t date much.”
Yeah. Dating. The thing most people do before they ask someone to marry them.
“It just got to be more of a hassle than it was worth,” I mutter as we reach the locker room and head inside.
“I get it.” He opens his locker. “Don’t sweat it, Wild. You’ve got time to find the right woman if you want to settle down someday.”
Time is something I definitely don’t have. But I don’t tell Jared that. Instead, I reach into my locker and start to get dressed for the game.
Chapter Two
Mia
“Your ranch is perfectly set up for corporate retreats,” I say to the Butlers as I stand at the front of my family’s company boardroom.
“Tell us more, please,” Bud Butler, the son whose opinion will make or break this deal, asks me with just a hint of boredom in his voice.
I take his clear challenge the way I always do with potential clients. I nod at him and turn back to the video screen. Time to win this account.
I use the pointer to highlight the slide on the screen. “With all these unused cabins on this section of your property, you have a beautiful area to convert into guest bunkhouses.” I flip through the different designs I had our company architect draw up. “You can keep the remodeling minimal. You can have eco-toilets installed as well.”
Dressed in my lucky fitted black jacket with matching skirt that hits me just above the knee, I feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins. My assistant, Dean, has the camera trained on me so that if we get what we hope to get out of this meeting, we’ll have the training materials to do it again.
“Wonderful,” Alice Butler says from the video screen where she and her husband, Jack, called into the meeting. “I love the concept, Mia. Our family definitely needs the additional income.”
“That’s what Circle PR is here for, ma’am,” I tell her. A single strand of my jet-black hair falls into my face, and I tuck it back behind my ear. “Our motto is ‘Preserving Montana’s Ranches,’ and we do our best to satisfy each and every customer.”
“I like this idea, too, Mia,” Jack says from his spot next to Alice. “What do you think, Bud?”
His son, Bud, who runs the ranch in conjunction with his parents and who’s sitting directly to my right, frowns. “I’m still not sold. What about guests traipsing in and out of our family kitchen for meals? It sounds awfully distracting. I’m not interested in eating with a bunch of strangers.”
I’ve spent weeks working with the Butlers and getting to know their likes and dislikes. I had anticipated Bud would feel this way. And I’ve prepared a solution.
“I totally understand,” I tell him as I stride over to my tablet. The only sound in the room is the click of my black heels as I walk across the hard floor. I tap on my tablet and point to the screen. “Here’s an alternative for meal sharing.”
The slide I’ve flipped to features one of the bunkhouses remodeled into a kitchen. “Just for cooking meals,” I explain. “You could hire some students from the culinary school nearby at a lower rate. And the guests can eat either in their cabins on cold days or out on the picnic tables we’ll set up in the open field.” I click the trackpad on my tablet, and an image appears of the pastured land next to the bunkhouses. The field is filled with tables covered with checkered cloths. “This would fit within your budget as well.”
Bud stares at the screen. Just when I’m starting to worry I’ve lost him, he grins. “I like it. This’ll work.”
I smile at him. “Excellent.”
Thirty minutes later, the contract is signed, Bud’s left the building, and the meeting is a wrap.
“You nailed it,” Dean says to me as I gather up my stuff. “No surprise, of course. You’re the best at this stuff.”
“Thank you.” I’m still smiling when I hear a throat clear.
I look up.
“Mia. My office, please,” My boss—and father—calls to me from the open doorway of the conference room.
“Coming,” I say.
I stand in front of my father in the usual pose I’ve learned to adopt with him—arms crossed and a poker expression on my face.
“You’re retiring.” I say the words in nearly a whisper.
“That’s what I just said.” His dark eyes assess me, looking for cracks. I give him nothing. “Are you ready to take over the company?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Your mother’s father started this company, and then he passed it on to his daughter. She was gracious enough to share it with me, and we always knew we wanted to pass it on to our only daughter when the time was right. That time is coming soon.”
“Soon?” Or now?
“The exact timing will depend on your feelings when you look over the contract.”
I start rambling immediately. “I can guarantee you, Dad, that nothing in that contract will stop me in any way from saying yes. I’ve wanted this since I was old enough to know what Circle PR was.” Ever since my mother passed, taking the torch felt natural, a way for me to stay as close to her spirit as possible.
My father picks up the thick contract from his desk and hands it to me. “Excellent. Take a look at this, and come back to me with any questions.”
“I will.”
I wait until I’m outside of his office to jump up and down with excitement.
And I definitely wait until I’m inside my office with the door closed to squeal and pump my fist in the air.
I’ve been waiting—and waiting—for my father to give me the reins to our family’s Circle PR firm. He was supposed to retire when I graduated from business school. But he changed his min
d and decided I wasn’t ready yet.
Nonetheless, all’s well that ends well because my time is now.
I open the contract and glance through all of the standard clauses and transfer stipulations. Everything looks to be in order.
Until I read the last page.
Mia Matilda Carroll must be married for one year before this contract goes into full effect.
I slap the contract down on my desk and rush to my door.
Like he was waiting for me, my father is just outside. He’s got the barest hint of a smile on his face.
“What—” I point to the contract on my desk. “—is that?”
“Exactly what it says.” He steps into my office, shutting the door behind him. “And before you bite my head off,” he adds immediately, “this wasn’t my idea.”
“Well, who the heck’s was it?”
But suddenly, I know. It’s so something she would do…
“Your mother’s,” he says, corroborating my thought. His eyes twinkle as I curse under my breath. “Mia Matilda, you may think your mother was an old-fashioned romantic; however…”
Declan (Wild Men Book 8) Page 1
