A BRIDE FOR THE BILLIONAIRE BAD BOY
(THE ROMERO BROTHERS, BOOK 2)
Shadonna Richards
Copyright 2013 by Shadonna Richards
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All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you, God, for all my blessings. To my cherished son and husband for your unconditional love. With gratitude to my family and friends for your endless support. To Solomon, Jermaine, Merdella, Nesitta, Monica, and Percell. To my editor M.M. for always being brilliant.
Praise for Shadonna Richards’
AN UNEXPECTED BRIDE
"Her debut novel, An Unexpected Bride, has burst onto the scene, zooming up the bestseller lists and racking up fans faster than other writers racking up words....a smash hit!"
- KINDLE FIRE DEPARTMENT
A BRIDE FOR THE BILLIONAIRE BAD BOY (THE ROMERO BROTHERS, BOOK 2)
She needs security…
When Maxine Summers took over Dream Weddings, Inc., her friend’s former business, she had no idea what a nightmare she would have. It is believed a past disgruntled client is making attempts on her life and she can no longer return to her apartment. Feeling alone, Maxine has nowhere to turn—until the sexy, notorious bachelor, Lucas Romero, offers her a proposition. Her heart says yes, but her mind is saying “no way!”
He needs stability…
Scandal-ridden billionaire, Lucas Romero, knows his reputation with women could cost him everything he’s worked for. He previously met Maxine when she helped plan his grandfather’s remarriage, a fifth one at that, so when Lucas discovers she needs protection, he is all too willing to help. Except, falling in love was never a part of the arrangement.
Will Maxine be the one to tame his bad boy ways?
PROLOGUE
Six months earlier…
Besides the occasional influenza bug, Maxine rarely caught anything. But on this night, she caught the fragrant bouquet of flowers from her friend and former boss, Lucy! She also caught the attention of Antonio’s sexy-as-hell playboy cousin, Lucas.
“Beautiful!” Lucas grinned as he gave Maxine a salacious glance. Maxine was playing with the flower petals of the arrangement when he approached her at one of the tables on the lawn.
Of course, he was dangling the lace garter that his cousin Antonio stripped from his new bride's thigh using only his teeth. That was quite an x-rated sight to behold!
Did sexiness run in the family? It certainly looked like it. Lucas had a few glasses of wine and seemed quite mellow on this eve.
The music was blazing from the speakers in the dimly lit garden reception. The night was fresh and crisp. And Lucas was, well…fresh!
“Thanks, Lucas!” Maxine flushed. Lucas was not her type. He was a player. Period. She saw the way he flirted with every other girl at the Diamond Ball a couple of months ago. Why, surely, he didn’t think she was some fly-by-night girl, did he?
Lucas?
Lucas caught the garter?
Good grief!
Marriage material, he was not!
“Would you like to dance?” He extended his hand. And his voice, it was oh so deep. It commanded respect and oozed sexiness at the same time. It was as if to challenge her to say no. It was more statement than question.
Oh, God, there was the flirtatious thing going on again.
Hell no! Players are just not my type.
She’d heard too much about Lucas’s reputation with the women. The countless women. He was smooth as warm caramel and could be just as sweet with his mouth.
Maxine felt terrible having thought that. What harm could one dance possibly do? It wasn’t as if he’d asked her to board his private yacht or anything like that. Heck, it was her good friend’s wedding. People dance at weddings. Nothing wrong with that.
“Sure,” Maxine finally agreed. Her mind was telling her one thing but her heart was speaking a whole different language.
It’s just one dance, she told herself. Nothing more has to come of it.
So why did she get the feeling this would not be the last time she would see Lucas?
CHAPTER ONE
This is a nightmare!
Reporters gathered outside Toni Romero’s black chauffeur-driven SUV as his driver pulled up to the gate of his sprawling estate, Romero Mansion in the quiet town of Mayberry Hill. A place that was often dubbed a beautiful scenic paradise with breathtaking views of the hills and stretches of green land just north of the city of Toronto. A few hours drive from Buffalo, New York. A tranquil escape and stark contrast from the hectic bustle of the concrete jungle. And now? The center of unwanted media attention!
Toni was seventy-six, after all. He didn’t need this type of ridiculous scrutiny. Especially resulting from the behavior of one of his own grandsons, Lucas!
Lucas!
Why couldn’t Lucas stay out of trouble and out of the headlines once in a while? Would that be too much to ask?
“Would you like me to turn around and go to the west entrance instead, sir?” the driver asked Toni.
“Oh, no. I’m not going to hide. We’ll use the main entrance. They’re not going to intimidate me that easily.” Toni stiffened his upper lip.
The Romero family’s grand estate covered forty impressive acres of sweeping land with scenic surroundings protected by several gated entrances. You could drive to the location from any direction since it housed several properties, including the main house between four different roads. One of the roads was not even accessible to the public.
But the last thing Toni wanted was to give the impression that he was hiding or cowering from disgrace. The Romero family did not hide ... from anyone. Not a true Romero, anyway. It was his home and he would not be using any back entrances to enter.
“Will they ever go away?” Shelly, his forty-six-year-old wife number five turned to him, her brows furrowed.
“Probably not for now,” Toni sighed deeply. “They’re like vultures, you know.”
“The reporters?”
“Yes. They feed on scandal. Where are they when the Romero men raise millions of dollars to house poor families and feed children from broken homes?”
Toni grasped his cane as the driver drove through the open gates. “Where are the reporters on our good days? One misstep with one of my grandsons and they go crazy.” He waved his hand in the air. “And they totally ignore all the good we do for our community.” He frowned, pinching his lips tightly as he leaned back into the leather seat of the vehicle.
Once the gates opened, the reporters raced through to follow the SUV that drove slowly up the driveway towards the main house.
“This is intrusive,” Shelly called out as she shook her head and gaped at the press through the tinted window.
Once they pulled up to the steps outside the main doors, Henry, the driver, switched off the engine and opened the driver’s door. He was a burly man of six feet, five inches who could easily pass for a bodyguard for the stars. It was only recently that Toni’s grandson Lucas insiste
d he hire a driver to take him around after a stroke.
Lucas had made all the arrangements and hired Henry himself.
The good thing about Lucas was, like the rest of Toni’s grandsons, he was fiercely protective of his grandfather—and anyone who was vulnerable for that matter. That was why it irked Toni so when Lucas took the initiative to help curb the skyrocketing unemployment rate among young people from various backgrounds by creating jobs in his company and opening up centers to train those who lacked job skills, the same hoards of reporters were pretty much absent from the opening—not that Lucas cared much for hype. He acted out the goodness of his heart, never for publicity. But still, a press release was sent out and very few thought it was as newsworthy as the current headline scandal of the day that often rocked ratings to soaring levels.
Lucas even went as far as personally mentoring many of the community youth. He had such an amazing rapport with youngsters who needed guidance. Lucas’s main love was for the Healthy Start Program that operated out of many walk-in clinics around the province, especially in low-income neighborhoods—in addition to Funds for the Future, another program he launched with his brother, Zack, and his cousin, Antonio III. Lucas had taken one rundown clinic that was about to close down and turned it into a flourishing program encouraging people from all economic backgrounds to do various health screening and preventative medicine practices. He’d made it fun by investing in incentive programs to get people to come in.
Then it was soon followed by that cringe-worthy scandal when he’d arranged to have free condoms delivered to local community colleges to promote safe sex—only it was taken way out of context. So this recent scandal only made matters look worse.
When Lucas was growing up, he didn’t have the privileges he currently had. Toni never knew he even existed up until his teens.
When Lucas received his inheritance, he’d done a lot of things with the cash, including purchasing fast cars and dating fast women but he’d also invested a lot of his money in all sorts of programs. Following the Romero tradition, of course. Every living person in Mayberry Hill knew about the Romero family’s Annual Diamond Ball and Fundraiser. It was the place to be every September.
Lucas was certainly down-to-earth and easily approachable. Ha! And that was his problem! Easily approachable by gold diggers!
Lucas could be a hardhead sometimes, actually most of the time. Always out to prove himself. Always taking chances. Doing the unconventional. Making strides. Creating waves. The press dubbed him the Romero Poster Boy for Bad Behavior once when he’d been mixed up in a scandal involving one of his ex-girlfriends who turned out to be some notorious jewel thief.
Toni had made sure to take a hand in raising his grandsons when he learned about his son Jack’s existence later in life. Jack was Toni’s illegitimate son with a relationship he’d had after one of his divorces. When Toni first met his son, Jack already had five sons and was going through difficult times.
“He said he didn’t have anything to do with that woman’s claim, so why are they here?” Shelly pursed her lips in disbelief.
“Because, he’s a good looking, single man who parties too hard and often with the wrong crowd.”
“But Lucas is a workaholic, Toni. He works hard so what he does outside of business hours is his own business.”
“His own business? No. It’s the family’s business. The family’s name. He has to think about that every waking moment. Like it or not, he's a role model in the community.”
“Toni, don’t you think you’re being a bit harsh on your grandson?” she tried to soothe him.
“He thinks he can just date any pretty woman who bows to him. I warned him that he needs to think about settling down early instead of dating these opportunists. Every year he has a different woman. It’s like he gets bored easily and thinks the New Year change means a New Woman. There’s bound to be trouble. Now this young lady has a paternity suit. What else is new?”
“Don’t be too upset with him, Toni. He’s just an easy target. You know that. Lucas is way too careful for get himself into that position. You raised your grandkids well, Toni. They would never put themselves into danger like that.”
Toni scoffed. Those words didn’t seem to ease his anger. It was the last thing he wanted to hear. “I’m going to settle this once and for all,” he murmured under his breath.
“And just how will you do that?” Shelly looked taken aback.
Toni said nothing more as the passenger door to the SUV opened and the noise from the cameras clicking and the reporters all shouting questions besieged his ears at the same time. “Mr. Romero, do you have any comments on the latest allegation regarding your grandson, Lucas?” one reporter shouted.
“No comment,” Toni replied firmly and as politely as he could while he hobbled out of the vehicle with his cane at his side. He then walked up the steps, trying to ignore the commotion surrounding him. His chin was raised proudly. If there was one thing about a Romero, it was that they were a proud and confident family. Even in the midst of adversity or scandal. Shelly held on tightly to his arm as they walked inside the foyer of their home.
Shelly and Toni had just returned from a weekend excursion to Niagara Falls when the news broke about the latest scandal surrounding his grandson. He’d summoned his entire family to the estate, those who could make it, to conduct an emergency family meeting. Jack, his son, was still in hiding somewhere in Paris and hadn’t stepped foot in the country the past few years. Jack was the father of Lucas, as well as his brothers, Zack, Jules, Troy and Carl. All in their late twenties and early thirties. Toni’s eldest son, Antonio Romero II, died at the age of fifty-five, but his grandson Antonio III and his new wife Lucy Shillerton-Romero would be present.
Toni was so proud of his enterprising family; they’d inherited his good business smarts and established their own names in the community, but of course, scandal and controversy seemed to follow them everywhere they went.
A long running feud with the Romero and the Bronson families didn’t help either. His old rival, Larry Bronson, was the former mayor of Mayberry Hill and also the patriarch of the Bronson Media Corp.
Surprise. Surprise. The Bronson family owned most of the newspapers in town. Larry made his dislike for the Romero family very clear from the early days—since the Romero family won claim to a piece of land that the Bronson family had insisted was theirs.
But Toni was not about to entertain that idea right now. He had other more important things to tend to. Like, once again, clearing his family’s name. He ignored the scores of reporters, knowing full well who owned the papers and TV channel they were reporting for. Talk about media bias.
But somehow his ears zoomed in on a raspy voice of one TV reporter. “So there you have it…Toni Romero will not be making any statements about his grandson Lucas Romero over the latest allegation. I’m Blue Monroe reporting for Channel 31 News.”
He’d seen that reporter many times before camped out at his functions. He shrugged and moved up the steps carefully as his wife, who happened to be his former nurse, assisted him.
Shelly whispered in his ear. “You still didn’t answer my question, Toni. Are you planning on telling me what you’re planning to do to settle this problem with Lucas?”
Toni wouldn’t dare admit it, but he’d always had his eye on Maxine Summers who, along his other grandson, Antonio’s new wife, Lucy, made glorious arrangements for Toni and Shelly’s wedding to happen through their Dream Weddings, Inc. agency. Maxine seemed like a stable, well-adjusted young woman. He had already had her checked out through his contacts. And as if fate couldn’t have done a better job, Maxine caught the bouquet from Antonio’s wedding while Lucas, of all men, caught the garter. Well, that could only mean one thing. Two birds with one stone. He didn’t know how he was going to pull it off, but he was going to do something about getting Maxine and Lucas together as fate had intended. Yes, he hated to meddle, but for the good of the family, sometimes it was necessary. T
hat would help Lucas’s wild-partying image and also provide some stability in his life. Maxine didn’t know it yet but Toni already considered her part of the inner circle. Trustworthy.
“You’ll see,” he whispered back, and he raised a brow.
CHAPTER TWO
Somebody is stalking me.
Maxine Summers sat dazed in her office at Dream Weddings, Inc. Heat shot through her veins and boiled her blood. It hadn’t been six months since she’d taken over the position of CEO of the company from Lucy Shillerton and, ever since, she’d been plagued by a series of hate mail in her inbox.
Trouble was—she didn’t know she even had enemies!
“Well, this one’s new,” Maxine whispered looking at the screen of her laptop on her desk.
“What does it say?” Betty, the new receptionist who took over for the previous secretary, Darla, seemed as anxious as Maxine.
Maxine read the message out loud. “I know where you live. Your apartment is 11C at the Westwood.”
“Wow! That’s crazy! Maxine! You have to call the cops. You will call them, won’t you?” Betty asked; her mouth fell open as she glared at the screen behind Maxine’s desk. There was more to the message Maxine hadn’t read aloud. Much more. And it was explicit to say the least.
“I'd say I have no choice.” The previous emails seemed like pestering and more of a nuisance, so Maxine was hesitant to call the police for what could have been simply spam or a hoax. But now these creepy people, whoever they were, had her personal information. Heck, they had her home address!
How on earth did they manage to track her down like that? She was a nobody. She wasn’t famous or even widely known.
Not like the Romero family!
And thank goodness for that! She’d read the latest scandal surrounding Lucas Romero, whom she’d met at Lucy’s wedding. Lucy was the previous owner of Dream Weddings, Inc. and Maxine's good friend since she worked for Lucy before taking over. Lucas was hot but thank goodness she’d stayed clear away from him! How awful to be in his shoes. She pitied the girl who would be his next arm candy.
A Bride for the Billionaire Bad Boy (The Romero Brothers, Book 2) Page 1
