Her One Night Proposal (One Night Book 4)

by Katherine Garbera

  She was attending his cousin’s wedding. He should tell her who he was, but then she might not believe he really wanted outside investors. They were still essentially strangers and telling people he was a Bisset, had complicated his life in the past.

  He knew the embrace was meant to be all show for the photographers, but he’d never been good at hiding the truth of who he was. He was ambitious and some would say militant when it came to what he wanted. But then he was a Bisset, and even though he hadn’t gone into the family business, he’d brought the cutthroat Bisset drive with him to the world of competitive sailing.

  But this was an entirely new situation and he was trying to be chill until he got the lay of the land. The conference room they were led to in the Collins Commons building was well appointed. Not unlike the massively impressive boardroom in the Bisset Industries headquarters in New York.

  He knew that at some point he needed to clear up who he was, but not yet. He was enjoying this. She’d wrested control back from him, and though it was counter to his nature, there was something about her that fascinated him.

  Maybe it was that for the first time since he’d left Team GB and came back to New England to start his own team, he wasn’t facing a choice that he didn’t want to make. He had always been the kind of man who forged his own path. He’d known from watching Larry Ellison’s attempts to win the America’s Cup with his Oracle backing that it wouldn’t be easy. But he hadn’t realized how hard it would be to convince investors to take a chance on him without Bisset Industries’ money also backing him.

  He had always been able to make things happen without his father’s assistance. It had been a point of pride for him and now... Well, unless he missed his guess, Iris had the connections to the kind of investors he needed. All he had to do was be her date for a long weekend. Simple enough.

  Except his family would be at this wedding and, though he kept his private life private, the kind of splashy relationship she wanted from him...might raise questions. He had to make some decisions quickly.

  “Are you freaked out now?” she asked.

  “Aren’t you?” he countered.

  “Yes. I am. Listen, you were so sweet to come to my rescue when I tripped, but I’m not sure you know what you’ve gotten into,” she said.

  He leaned back in the large leather chair and steepled his fingers across his chest in a move he’d seen his father make many times when facing an opponent in the boardroom. The fact that the opponent was usually his aunt or his mom had always made Zac smile, but right now he was glad to have that model to draw on.

  “Tell me about it,” he said.

  She nodded and stood up, moving to the other side of the large boardroom table and pacing in front of the windows that looked down on Collins Commons. The summer sun was filtered through the tinted windows but still provided enough light for him to admire her slim silhouette.

  “As I mentioned, I’m a lifestyle television personality. My career started with a blog, and I was a personal assistant to Leta Veerland. I’m not sure if you’ve heard of her,” Iris said.

  “I know her,” he said.

  Leta Veerland was on par with Martha Stewart. She’d built her career in the 1980s and ’90s with her lifestyle books, monthly magazine and television show. Yeah, he’d heard of her. His mom had considered her the gold standard for entertaining and had emulated Leta Veerland at all her Hamptons summer parties and events.

  “I figured. She’s a household name. Anyway, she wanted to cut back on the show and I transitioned into it and brought a younger, fresh perspective—her words—to it. And people seemed to respond. So, I’ve been doing this for about seven years now. My market has been growing from single-girl-in-the-city to coupledom-and-settling-down—”

  “But you’re not in a couple?” he asked.

  “Well, yes. I mean I was dating someone but that didn’t work out. And I’d been teasing that I’d reveal my new guy at this wedding that I’m a bridesmaid in. I’m also promoting a new product launch for brides-to-be and new wives so...”

  “It would look really bad if you showed up stag,” he said. “Okay, that makes sense. So what exactly do you need from me if I do this?”

  She turned around, and he noticed when she talked business there was none of that sweetness to her. She had a very serious go-getter expression that reminded him a lot of his father and his brother Logan when they were going in to close a deal.

  “If? The paparazzi just caught us embracing. I’m afraid it’s you or no one else,” she said. “We just need to work out a price.”

  He stood up and walked around the long conference table, taking his time. He had somehow gotten the upper hand and while he knew funding and financing an America’s Cup bid was way too high a price to ask her to pay for four days as her “boyfriend,” they were both in a position where there wasn’t an out.

  She didn’t back up when he moved closer, not stopping until only an inch of space separated them. “I’m afraid what I need is very pricey.”

  Three

  Coming home to Nantucket was always bittersweet for Juliette Bisset. She and her mother, Vivian, had continually had a difficult relationship when they were in the city but on Nantucket they’d always been strangely close. Maybe it was the beach-hair-don’t-care attitude that seemed to infuse the island. Juliette had never really thought too much about it, had simply vowed she’d be less harsh if she had a daughter of her own, something she’d failed at.

  Her younger sister, Musette, had loved it here as well when she was alive. She’d been gone almost twenty-five years now. Juliette still missed her even though during the last few years of Musette’s life, it had been difficult to love her and not live with the constant fear that she was going to kill herself with her reckless lifestyle.

  “I figured I’d find you out here.”

  Juliette turned around to see her niece, Adler, standing there. Musette’s daughter. She was the reason the entire family was descending on the island.

  Adler’s was going to be a no-holds-barred, celebrity-studded, televised ceremony. And as if that wasn’t enough to cause stress, she was also marrying into the family of Juliette’s husband’s business rival. It was completely insane and yet seemed perfectly normal considering she was Musette’s daughter. A part of Juliette imagined her sister, who’d never like August Bisset, chuckling in glee at the fact that her daughter was marrying into his rival’s family.

  “I can’t help thinking about your mom this week as we are all here for your wedding.”

  “Me too. I miss her,” Adler said.

  Juliette put her arm around Adler and hugged her close. “Me too. I feel like she’s here with us.”

  “I hope so,” Adler said. “That’s one of the reasons why I picked Nantucket for the wedding. This is where we were always happiest when she was still alive.”

  “I’m hoping the gardenias bloom in time for my wedding bouquet,” Adler said.

  Juliette knew that Musette used to leave the blossoms in Adler’s nursery when she was a little girl. “I’m sure they will.”

  Adler turned away to the other headstones in the private family cemetery. This land had been in the Wallis family for six generations and most of their ancestors were buried here.

  “Why is this gravestone blank?” Adler asked.

  Juliette’s stomach felt like lead and her throat tightened. That tiny gravestone held her deepest, darkest secret. “It’s for a baby who was stillborn.”

  “Oh. That’s sad. Was it Gran’s?” Adler asked.

  “No, it wasn’t,” Juliette said. “Let’s get back up to the house before that storm blows in.”

  Adler slipped her arm through Juliette’s as they walked back up the cobblestone path toward the house. Adler was talking about her wedding and the last-minute things she needed to do in the three days before all of her guests arrived. But Juliett
e’s mind was elsewhere—back there with that tiny unmarked gravestone. There were times when she’d wished she’d never hidden that baby.

  But there were other actions she’d taken...things that couldn’t be undone, so her little stillborn baby boy would always be hidden there.

  They went through the house’s beachside entrance, switching their sandy shoes for slippers that the butler, Michael, thoughtfully left for them. As soon as they entered the hallway, Dylan, Vivian’s corgi, ran toward them. Adler dropped down to her knees, petting Dylan and getting several sloppy kisses.

  Juliette petted Dylan, as well.

  “Nice walk, Juliette?” her mother asked as she entered the hallway. Vivian was in her seventies but looked younger. She wore a pair of slim-fitting white jeans and a chambray shirt that she had loosely tucked in on one side. While on Nantucket and in beach mode, she let her naturally curly blond hair actually stay curly instead of having it straightened by her lady’s maid, Celeste, each morning. She held a martini glass in one hand, and as she came closer to Juliette, she reached over and gave her a loose hug.

  Then her mom did the same with Adler but added an air kiss. Juliette had compared herself to others for so many years, and for a moment she started to let the old feelings of jealousy well up before she shoved them aside. She had a daughter of her own that she was finally getting close to. Something she’d never expected to happen at the ripe old age of sixty-one.

  “Martini, girls?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Adler said.

  “Definitely,” Juliette said. This weekend was going to be hard for her in more ways than one, but she was going to do her best to face it with charm and a smile firmly in place.

  “When is August coming?” her mom asked when they were all seated in the sunroom.

  “I’m not entirely sure. He and Logan have a meeting with a client this week and they will be coming together,” Juliette said.

  She and her husband were enjoying a new closeness since he’d stepped down and handed the reins of Bisset Industries over to their son, Logan.

  “I hope Logan and Uncle August are nice,” Adler said. “Zac promised he’d help me ride herd on his older brother, but you know how Logan can be.”

  “I do. He’s so much like your uncle,” Juliette said, trying not to let her mind linger too long on that thought.

  * * *

  “How pricey will it be for you to join me?” Iris asked Zac as they continued their negotiation. She was trying to stay focused on business but he smelled good and that kiss earlier... How she’d felt when he’d kissed her kept distracting her. Was it a fluke? That was the one thought that was going through her head.

  His mouth continued to be a distraction. It was firm looking, but his lips had been so soft when he kissed her. Had she just imagined it? She wasn’t sure that hiring a man to be her date at the wedding was a good idea. She’d barely kissed Zac and she was already losing her focus on the big prize. She had to hustle to stay ahead of the competition. And instead of worrying about that she was wondering about his kiss.

  Focus, girl.

  “I’m actually putting together my own team for the America’s Cup.”

  She blinked. That wasn’t what she’d been expecting to hear. She knew very little about the America’s Cup except that the CEO of Oracle had won for the United States a few years ago and that it had taken him a lot of money and time. “Is that what you do for a living? Sailing? Or is this a new hobby?”

  “Yes, it’s my job. I have some other interests as well, but the bulk of my time is spent training and participating in yachting competitions around the world. I’ve been in Australia for the last few years and I had hoped to captain the team I’d been training with, but they went in a different direction and I’m not really that great at taking orders so I’m doing my own thing. I need investors to help sponsor us.”

  “Okay. I think I can help,” she said. “Actually, my dad manages all of my investments and I think this might be something that he would be interested in. He’s always trying to diversify but this is niche.”

  “It is,” he said. “You want your dad to know you hired me?”

  “No. What I’m now thinking is that you and I would be together the four days at the wedding and then, since this is going to be a big investment, could we possibly extend the arrangement for, say, three months to get through my new product launch? Then you could go off to do your yachting and we could drift apart but it won’t look like it was just for the wedding,” she said. Now that she knew what he wanted, it was easier to get her head where it needed to be. She turned away from him and moved to the sideboard where she knew pens and paper were kept.

  She took two legal pads out and pens and then hit the intercom button on the phone and rang her father’s assistant.

  “Hello, Bran. It’s Iris. Could we send some refreshments into the small conference room and I’ll need some time on my dad’s schedule in an hour or so,” she said.

  “Certainly, Iris. I’ll get some fresh fruit and those cookies you like sent up. Shall I also bring in cold beverages and some coffee?” he asked.

  She looked over at Zac. “Do you want coffee?”

  “That’d be great,” he said.

  “Yes, please. Coffee for two.”

  “Certainly, Iris,” Bran said, hanging up.

  She walked back to the table and pushed one of the pads of paper and a pen across to Zac, and then pulled out a chair for herself. He took the paper and pen, then came around and sat down next to her.

  Dang, but he was impossible not to watch as he moved. He had a lithe, masculine grace. She was still staring when he sat down next to her.

  “What are we doing?”

  She shook her head. She had to get over this ridiculous attraction to him. He would be an employee like KT or Stephan. She had to treat him as such.

  “I thought we could each write down the things we need. I know you already have a prospectus. Do you have a profit-and-loss sheet?”

  “I do,” he said.

  “Good. How do you feel about the three months?”

  “I’m not even sure what it is you want from me,” he said.

  “I need you to be my boyfriend in public. Take photos with me, of course. You’d have to give me permission to use them on all social platforms. There are four days of events at the wedding, so I’d want you there at all times by my side. Once the wedding is over, I’m thinking we’ll need one or two dates a week, as well as some cute social media exchanges and maybe a couple of live videos so I can keep us relevant. My product launch is in six weeks and once it does, I’ll be traveling and doing events. We won’t be together so maybe we can do some exchanges on social media again and possibly, if it works for your schedule, you could fly out and meet me at one of my appearances. I will give you the full schedule so we can see if that works.”

  “Uh, I don’t know about that. Being your boo for the weekend is one thing, but all that other stuff is a big commitment. I’ll have to start hiring my team and get to work on having the yacht I’ve designed manufactured. My time is going to be pretty well spoken for. I can do the wedding but beyond that you are on your own.”

  “Forget it then. I need someone... Actually now that you were photographed with me, I need you, Mister... I don’t know your last name,” she said.

  “It’s Bisset. My dad is—”

  “Mr. Bisset, I don’t think we need to go into families right now. All I’m interested in is the details. I’m going to be giving you a large amount of money, you are going to have to work for it.”

  “You are investing in my racing team, Iris,” he countered. “You will see a profit from it when I win. I’m doing this as a favor because I like you, angel face.”

  He leaned in closer and she felt the brush of his minty breath across her cheek. “I think you like me too or you wouldn’t have suggested t
his in the first place.”

  * * *

  Her skin was as soft as it looked and the more time he spent with Iris, the happier he was with his gut decision to help her out. He hadn’t liked watching the paparazzi question her, but he knew that was in no small part due to the way that they had treated his own little sister, Mari. Mari had had an affair with a married man when she was younger, and the press had sniffed that story out and made her life a living hell for a while.

  As much as he knew that everyone seemed to live for the latest tea, he didn’t like it. His sister said that being in the spotlight meant taking the good with the bad, but he wasn’t sure about that. And because he wasn’t going to lie to himself, that kiss between him and Iris had been hot. Hell, hotter than he’d expected. He didn’t want to just walk away. But hanging out with her at the wedding was one thing. Three months of fake dates and appearances would be hard to maintain.

  He wasn’t at the point in his life where he wanted to focus on anything but winning the America’s Cup and that meant his next few years were taken. But she wasn’t going to back down; he could easily read the determination in her eyes. And as she’d said, now that they’d been photographed together, it was either him or no one. And he didn’t want to leave her in the lurch.

  “I do like you,” she said, at last, touching her finger to his lip and then drawing her hand back.

  A tingle went through him at her touch.

  “So then. Let’s make this work,” he said, shifting back because he couldn’t allow this to be anything more than a business deal. He needed investors and unless she was lying—and Iris didn’t strike him as a woman who would make things up—she could provide solid backing. This place belonged to her father; she had real money on the table. He would make the three-month arrangement work.