by Sicily Duval
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A
BILLIONAIRE
BEAR
MAIL ORDER BRIDE
By Sicily Duval
Chapter One
The way I looked at it, it was the inevitable. At some point my parents were going to set up an arranged marriage, I just thought it would be later rather than sooner. Boy, how wrong was I? I was only 28; gloriously young, ultimately free and unbelievably rich. It wasn’t like I was undeserving of my wealth, like so many of my business acquaintances who had inherited billions off mommy and daddy. As far as I saw it they were easy targets; used to wealth, expecting of money and ill-experienced in the business world. The idiom ‘like taking candy from a baby’ would be considered hard work when compared with how easy it was to pry money from their hands.
Despite the ease I had worked hard, I was still working hard and with one goal in mind that now seemed a distant fantasy. I wanted to choose my own wife, to make my parents proud with my own addition to the family, a family that above all else was exceptionally picky. To look at them you wouldn’t think it but beneath their skin lay a legacy and a blood line that was second to none. Bare fisted, owing much to my hidden beast, I had fought my way to the top of the business world and had billions of pounds to my name. But that only fuelled the fire, now I was expected to claim a woman to fit my status of wealth and power. My ultimate plan had backfired on me.
A billionaire shape-shifter; I was one of a kind in the eyes of my people, and especially of my family. Naturally smart, gifted and extraordinary as a species, we looked down on the rest of the world but I was still the first of my kind to hit the billionaire status and to be included in the special elite club. It was humorous if you thought about it; the bear beneath my skin was the cause behind it all. He was the intimidation in the eyes of my partners, the fear that was struck into the hearts of those about to lose their business and the hungry greed that belonged to those who would pay the highest price to acquire the companies of their rivals.
It was a special thing to be a shape-shifter; it was a dying breed of elite warriors, talented strategists and exceptional minds. Each of us was different; each had their own beast lying beneath their skin that was ready to break free at any moment. We each had power, power beyond belief and best of all nobody could see it until it was too late. But to this day there were two people who my power had never worked on, my parents; burning strong in the fore-front of my mind I could regrettably still remember how our conversation had gone.
“I have finally found her,” my mom shouted the second I walked into their small country home. I looked at her like she was crazy, beyond crazy. She seemed flustered yet excited; her inner cat, a small beautiful tabby, pounced around.
“I hadn’t realised you had lost anybody,” I stated bluntly as I picked up a cookie from the freshly made batch on the table. I twisted it over in my fingers, it was a long way away from the gourmet breakfast I had enjoyed this morning but still a friendly reminder of homely times.
“Don’t be stupid,” my dad scolded, despite his harsh tone I could still see the excitement dance in his ruby red eyes. His eyes always managed to interest me, a startling characteristic of his chameleon nature, his eyes changed drastically with his mood.
“Sorry dad,” I said quickly, it wasn’t in my nature to apologise but there was something in his look that told me now was not the time to argue. I popped the cookie into my mouth, restraining the growl that tried to break free as the sugared treat settled in my stomach. My bear had a sweet-tooth; it was not something we normally had in common.
“We have found her,” my mom said again as my dad came to stand beside her.
“You said that already,” I chimed in, only to earn another death glare from my father. I held up my hands in defeat and sat down at the kitchen table, waiting to hear exactly what she meant. My interest was diminishing, I had a big meeting in a couple of hours and it was going to take everything I had to convince the company to sell.
“We found you a wife,” my mom said, sounding happier than she ever had before. I slammed my fists down on the table, hard enough to split the old wood in half. The table crumbled beneath my fingers as I dove from my seat, uncaring as to whether I broke it too in the process.
Still to this day, nearly a week later, those five simple words rang hauntingly in my mind. ‘We found you a wife’, how could words as small and plain as those sound so dangerous? I shivered even now as they repeated over and over again in my mind as exact as they sounded on the day. I was sat safe in my office, overlooking the city beneath me, for the first time in my life I realised just how good they had it. Money meant power, power over men, but apparently it didn’t give me the freedom I wanted to choose my own future.
Chapter Two
I checked my clock again, only to notice that less than a minute had passed since the last time I had looked. Frowning I turned back to my laptop and stared blankly at the document in front of me; it was only half filled in and still lacking my signature. Forgetting that the laptop was both expensive and breakable I tossed it abruptly across the room and watched on in annoyance as it crumbled to the ground, a mix of plastic and broken circuits. Resting my forehead against my palms I shook my head roughly, what was happening to me?
This wasn’t me; I wasn’t normally out of control. In fact control was something I was good at, control over myself and others. I was the city’s most eligible bachelor and I had made sure that I had made the most of it. But not anymore, I was sat in my office waiting for the woman that my parents expected me to spend the rest of my life with. The concept was somewhat ridiculous, it was a normal Monday morning and one I hadn’t planned on spending waiting for her to arrive. To make matter worse she was late, I didn’t appreciate lateness.
“I have Mr George on the phone, he wants to know if you’re sure you want to cancel the meeting at 11am?” my secretary, Linda, questioned through the intercom.
“Yes, of course I do,” I snapped as soon as I had pressed the button to answer her. I had been furious when I had had to ring him and cancel, the first meeting I had ever cancelled and it was costing me big. I had no doubt that he would sell to someone else and for much less as well. He was desperate to sell which was how I had found him, we had struck a deal but now I had no choice but to cancel.
“William,” to the sound of my name I looked up to see my beaming mom looking over at me. How had I not heard her walk in? She smiled her famous smile down at me and I had no choice but to smile back. It was only a half-smile that definitely showed my unwillingness, despite this she practically jumped up and down on her feet, clapping her hands.
“You’re excited!” she exclaimed breathlessly.
“Sure,” I grumbled under my breath, as always she saw what she wanted to see and right now it wasn’t my reluctance.
In a second her arms were across the perfectly polished desk and wrapped around my neck in a show of affection that was unlike her. However excitable and over the top she may be, affection was not something any of us showed easily. She ruffled my blonde hair fondly before dropping her hands and looking away, clearly startled by the display. I blinked, taking it in as I flipped my hair back to where it should be. Today was just getting stranger and stranger.
“I knew you
would be,” she almost sang as she took the seat in front of my desk.
“Where is she anyway?” I asked unsurely, wondering just where she could be hiding, it was ten minutes after when she was supposed to be here and I was getting impatient.
“She’s running a little late, but she will be here soon I’m sure,” my mom said, she was clearly trying to excuse her lateness; she knew it was something I hated.
I looked my mom up and down, she seemed happy about this match, overly happy. It made me wonder just what this girl was going to be like. With my life-time worth of experience being part of this family it had always been blatantly obvious that we didn’t accept just anybody into our mix. In the last few years when I had publically displayed my independence, my wealth and my looks I had almost been shunned out of the ranks. Apparently dating girl after girl just wasn’t the best image for one of the oldest families in England. We were almost royalty in our age, of course we had no blood links with them, no our bloodline had stayed clear of royal blood, what good would it do for the queen to be a shape-shifter.
“Mr Hastings there is a woman here to see you,” Linda spoke nervously into the intercom. She had always been nervous, my secretary, whether it was my unpredictable nature or the bear that shifted constantly beneath my human skin that made her so, I wasn’t sure.
“She’s here,” my mom said, actually singing this time. It almost seemed like she was going to leap up from her chair but somehow, and I’m not sure how, she remained seated.
The excitement that she showed was definitely not contagious as excitement was supposed to be. Instead of reflecting her mood I shrunk back in my seat as the nerves from before re-surfaced anew inside me. It took me a second to remember myself, remember who I truly was; William Hastings, heir to the Hastings name and owner of the richest company in the country. No, it would do no good to be nervous. I straightened my back and sat firmly in my chair; while there was no escaping the inevitable there was perhaps a way to make it work.
“Send her in,” I said sharply down the intercom most likely making Linda jump in the process.
“You’re going to love her, I just know it. Her family’s status in the community is almost as good as ours and her family has money, lots of money,” my mom bumbled all at once.
“Great,” I muttered quiet; she was from old money, the same kind of money that now filled my bank accounts but through a different means, I had earned my money.
There was no going back now, my future wife was about to walk in. I breathed in deeply; yes there was no avoiding the inevitable. I prayed that my mom had chosen wisely for my fate was uncomfortably in her hands.
Chapter Three
A few minute passed and I knew Linda would be fussing over the woman, making sure she had everything she needed before entering. Not for the first time I wished that I had chosen a more efficient secretary, one that was perhaps a little quicker. Now the woman, no she wasn’t the woman she was my fiancé, was so close I wanted to get this over and done with. While it occurred to me that these last precious few seconds before I laid eyes on her were to be my last moments of freedom I tried not to dwell on the fact. Finally, slowly but surely, the door swung open.
The woman was beautiful. I’m not sure why the fact was a shock, my mom had chosen her after all but it was indeed a fact, she was breathtakingly beautiful. Her long fiery red hair was a perfect complement to my own short styled blonde. It was wavy but only just, flowing down her back, the startling shade was unlike anything I had ever seen before. The woman’s face was just slightly sun kissed making her hair stand out violently against her complexion. She was slender but not skinny, perfect curves framed her body in a way that looked so right. Yes, she was nothing less than beautiful.
It took a second, a long torturous second, before she finally met my eyes. The colour, such a unique shade of swirling blue almost knocked the breath out of me as they collided with my own chocolate brown orbs. The demon I had fantasised about, the one that was going to come and take my life away from me was normal. She held my eyes for just a moment longer and her bright red lips twisted into the smallest of smiles, it was a confident subtle smile that instantly caused me to mirror it.
“Jasmine, you made it,” my mom exclaimed, finally leaping up from her seat to greet the woman. It was only a fraction of the excitement she had shown mere moments before but it was enough to startle even the most confident of souls.
“Mrs Hastings, it is lovely to see you again,” Jasmine spoke softly, sincerely. To my surprise her smile didn’t falter, she didn’t back away from my exuberant mom but instead she walked to greet her. If I had had less control my mouth would have dropped open, my mom had once reduced Linda to tears with her extravagant nature and here was this woman, this stranger, fully ready to greet her.
“No my dear, it is lovely to see you,” my mom said quickly as she reached out to shake my fiancés hand. It seemed that some things didn’t change I mused as they undertook the professional greeting.
Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that the moment between the three of us wasn’t as private as I had previously imagined. Lent against the doorway was Linda and her eyes were fixated on something. I followed her wistful gaze back to Jasmine where she and my mom were getting re-acquainted. I stared in shock as I tried to stop my mouth dropping open for what felt like far too many times already today. Linda caught my eye and scampered away before anyone else could notice that she was here. I had no idea how Jasmine had done it but seemingly she had everyone twisted around her finger already.
“William, won’t you come and say hello?” my mom asked, her tone was sharp and impatient to me but I knew that to anyone else it would sound like an innocent question. It had only just occurred to me how rude I had been, Jasmine had been here for a few minutes and all I had done was stare at her.
I jumped up from my desk a little too quickly and in haste I almost knocked over my now empty coffee cup. Steadying it carefully, I straightened out my suit and brought my shoulders back, trying to be every bit the professional I had learnt to be. I knew Jasmine was like me, a shape-shifter, but as I strode towards her I couldn’t even to begin to gauge what exactly she was. Normally it was easy, the image of what a person really was would come to me straight away but with her it was difficult. I looked her up and down, knowing that I probably looked slightly crazy, but then maybe I was. How was it that I couldn’t tell who she really was?
Approaching her slowly I tried as hard as I could to read her, to read her face, her features, her looks. Ultimately it was impossible, it was either that like me she had learnt to hide it, to seal away her true nature, or I was getting rusty. The thought wasn’t one I wanted to dwell on; I had built this business and earned my fortune on being able to read people perfectly. She looked wild, untamed but in essence completely normal; nobody would suspect her of anything.
Jasmine’s eyes landed on me once again before they shifted and gazed off somewhere else in the room. I couldn’t help but to follow her look, intrigue over-powered me. She stared off into the corner of my office, directly at where my laptop lay broken and beyond repair. Instantly I stopped in my tracks, mere metres away from her as I waited for her reaction whatever it may be. I was nervous, it was stupid but I was. Slowly she turned to me once more and I braced myself for her reaction and my mom’s to follow.
“William Hastings, it’s wonderful to meet you,” she said perfectly innocently, holding her hand out to me. Her eyebrow raised in a questioning look as see indicated to the laptop and her mouth twisted into a teasing smile, one I had seen so many times before on myself. This time though my mouth dropped open. This woman was a mystery, one that I hoped I would be able to uncover and maybe, just maybe learn to love.
Chapter Four
After our first meeting everything moved quickly, more quickly than I could ever have believed. If I was the suspicious type, even just a little, I was sure I would have believed something wasn’t right. As it was everything seemed normal,
other than the speed of things that is. I had had nothing to do with the wedding, I hadn’t even chosen my own suit; not even a grown man of my status had been able to pick out his own wedding attire. There was only one part I had played in the whole arrangement and that was the funding. Yes, on the first day, maybe a little into the second, I had been asked permission every time a large chunk had been carved off my bank balance, but every day since then I had just watched my wealth wither away.
I couldn’t do much other than to just sit back and laugh to myself, my mom of course had everything under control, who even needed a groom at a wedding? If it wasn’t for the surprise wedding invitation I had received yesterday I doubted I would have even been spared an invite. The most I knew about the wedding was the company gossip and the small snippets from the newspapers that had been thrust onto my desk by the nervous hands of Linda, no doubt forced to do so by my mom or maybe even Jasmine, my wife to be, I didn’t know.
I suppose I could have asked, could have shown an interest, but they seemed to be doing so well without me. It was only in the last week, after finding out that the colour theme was an old and slightly unappealing shade of pink that I had realised that they could probably perform the whole ceremony without me. Perhaps they could have used a cardboard cut-out, one of me in some suit from some event that I had most likely forgotten about. I even looked it up once, wasting a little time before a meeting, only to find out that you could in fact buy a cardboard cut-out of someone without their consent, in fact it seemed that people had done it before.
But through it all, through all the planning and all the shaving of my bank account there was one thing that I cared about and it was something I would rather not. My soon to be wife. I couldn’t get her out of my mind, couldn’t shake the image of her fiery red hair and her teasing grin, one that had my body tighten every time I thought about it. Yes, if there was one thing I cared about it was her, as much as I hated to admit it, I was attracted to my fiancé. I had never believed I would be, not after I found out the whole thing was to be arranged at least. It was an odd concept, to me anyway, that I was attracted to her.
