The Billionaire's Unlikely Bride Read online

  ‘The Billionaire’s Unlikely Bride’ (Book 1)

  By Helen Cooper

  The Billionaire’s Unlikely Bride

  Copyright Helen Cooper

  Prologue

  I stared at his handsome face as he slept. I could barely believe that he was here with me. The man that I loved. I reached down and ran my hands through his dark hair and marveled at its silkiness. What I wouldn’t have done for hair so fine and shiny. He opened his eyes at my touch and smiled into my eyes.

  “Morning,” I whispered to him.

  “Morning beautiful.” My heart skipped a beat. Those words would never grow old.

  “Morning handsome.”

  Bang bang. A sharp knocking on the door startled me.

  “Elle, are you in there, Elle?” I heard Olivia’s voice screeching.

  I looked at him worried. “Uh oh.”

  He smiled at me. “It will be okay Elle.”

  “I don’t want to see her face when we tell her.”

  “She’ll have to deal with it.” He grinned and kissed me.

  “I know, but…” I paused to kiss him back, my body melting into him.

  “No but’s, we’re both adults Elle. We make our own decisions.” And then we laughed at his words.

  “Elle, open that door now. I can hear you.” Olivia continued her angry screeching and I sighed.

  “Let’s go face the music, “ he jumped up and we walked to the door, knowing all hell was about to break loose. Only thing was I didn’t know exactly what we were going to tell her.

  Chapter 1

  I hadn’t planned on staying in New York. I wanted to move to Los Angeles to try and become a screenwriter after I graduated from college. Yet here I was 3 years later, still in New York and no closer to becoming a screenwriter than I was to becoming a super model.

  “Elle, come on. We’re going to be late.” My best friend Brittany walked into my room and jumped on my bed. She looked amazing of course. She always looked amazing. She was beautiful and rich and she never had to want for anything. Her self-confidence was something that I admired though sometimes I wished that she wasn’t always so insistent on having her own way. We had met on the first day at Columbia; we had been assigned to be roommates. She the daughter of a billionaire and me daughter of a farmer from Iowa.

  “I’m feeling tired Brit, I don’t know.” I didn’t really want to go out dancing, I never had the right clothes and I never had enough money. I was also fed up of the looks and the whispers until someone finally said, “She’s Brittany Rosewood’s best friend, they went to Columbia together.” And then it would be okay, or at least I was accepted. Because I was Brittany’s best friend and she was the only child of Elliott Rosewood, one of the richest men in New York and in fact the world.

  “Elle, you promised. You know I want you to meet Peter tonight.” Brittany pleaded with me.

  “Who?” I looked at her confused.

  “Peter Branford,” she sighed. “I told you about him remember?”

  “No, not really,” I think I vaguely remembered her mumbling on about a Peter a few weeks ago when I had been writing a scene in my new play but hadn’t really paid attention to her.

  “Elle, how am I ever going to find you a husband?” Brit sighed again. “Peter Branford, only son of Olivia Branford and heir to the Branford fortune. He’s a billionaire Elle.”

  “Uh, okay.” Her words meant nothing to me. I didn’t care that Peter Branford was by all accounts a billionaire, at least when he inherited. I didn’t really care about money. I was happy just getting by, though I suppose that was easy to say living rent free with Brittany in her penthouse apartment in the Upper West Side. That was part of the reason why I still lived in New York. Brittany’s dad had bought her this apartment when we were sophomores at Columbia and we had both lived here ever since. Her dad had told me that no rent was due because I was such a good friend to Brittany. I knew that he meant because I didn’t do drugs and party all night but I had been happy to accept. It had meant that my student loans were that much smaller and for that I was ever grateful. Now, it meant that I was able to work part-time at a pre-school and spend the rest of my time writing and hoping for my big break.

  “Earth to Elle, earth to Elle.” Brittany was going through my closet.

  “Sorry,” I sighed and stood up. “Okay, let me go take a shower and get ready for this Peter.”

  “Yay Elle. I’m so excited. I know you two are going to hit it off. He is absolutely gorgeous.”

  “Okies Brit, this I have to see.” I laughed. Brittany was worried that we were going to become old maids at the age of 25 and had been trying desperately to set me up with every eligible man this side of the river. She was dating Mark Bronson, the son of the 2 richest man in New York. They’d been dating for about 9 months now and it seemed as if it were getting serious. They looked like Barbie and Ken together. She the cute short blond, with big blue eyes and he the tall dark handsome man. They were the perfect couple and I had a feeling that they would be getting engaged soon.

  As I showered I started to think about what I would do when Brittany got married. There was no way I could stay in this penthouse and I would never want to live with Brittany when she was married. I had about $15,000 saved up and figured that would be enough to get me to Los Angeles and into a cheap apartment while I tried to make it in the land of fortune and fame. It scared me when I thought about moving to LA, I had no plan B and no parents rich enough to pay my way if things didn’t go well.

  “Hurry up Elle.” I could hear Brittany dancing around to some music. I was sure she must have had a couple of drinks and was anxious for us to get out and start dancing.

  “Coming, coming.” I quickly put on a pair of skintight leather pants and a silver sequined top. The top always made my gray eyes shimmer. I grabbed a brush and pulled it through my chestnut brown hair. I examined myself in the mirror as I applied my makeup. Not too shabby, though I needed a haircut. I applied my eyeliner and sprayed some Obsession on my neck and wrists. Everyone in Brittany’s crowd laughed at my choice of perfume but it was my mother’s favorite and it always made me feel closer to her.

  “Okay, I’m ready.” I walked into the living room and Brittany grabbed my arm and danced me around the room.

  “You are so hot Elle. Peter is going to love you.” I laughed at her, she had definitely been drinking.

  “Well, let’s go and meet him then.”

  “Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you. Brunch tomorrow at Dad’s at noon.”

  “Oh, he’s back from Europe?” Elliott Rosewood was always traveling. It seemed that he was never in one place for longer than a few weeks. Brittany told me it had been that way since her mom died when she was ten years old.

  “Yeah, a couple of weeks ago. Olivia will be there as well.” She made a face.

  “Olivia?”

  “Olivia Branford. Peter’s mom.”

  “Oh.”

  “I suppose Peter will be there as well.”

  “Oh.”

  “I guess if you guys hook up tonight you can always just go together tomorrow.”

  “What?”

  “Ha-ha, you should see your face Elle. Trust me you won’t be such a prude when you see what a hottie he is tonight.”

  “Uh huh.” I smile at her. I was not a prude by any means but felt pretty confident that I wouldn’t be hooking up with Peter that night, hottie or not.

  “Will Mark be there?” I ask.

  “No, he’s out of town on business.” She pouts. “But that won’t stop us from having fun.”

  “So is Olivia dating your dad?”

  “Who knows?” She laughs. “They’re old friends but I’m sur
e she would love to snag him.”

  “Oh ok.”

  “Let’s go Elle.”

  “Okay, okay.” I grab my handbag and we head out the door.

  ****************************

  “Nice to meet you Elle,” Peter kissed my hand and Brittany grinned at me.

  “I told you she was a beauty Peter.”

  “That you did Brittany. I shall never doubt you again.” Peter turned towards her and gave her a hug, giving me time to study him. He was about 5”10, with dark hair and green eyes. He was devastatingly handsome and radiated money. I had to admit that Brittany had done me right here, there was nothing that I could see on the surface that was wrong with him.

  “Would you like a drink Elle?” Peter offered politely. I was impressed, I was so used to guys that told me to go and get a drink expecting me to be their personal ATM.

  “Rum and coke please.” I smiled at him and giggle along with Brittany as he walks to the bar.

  “Isn’t he to die for?”

  “Not really.”

  “Elle!”

  “Okay, okay, he’s hot. Good job.”

  “Omg, what if we had a joint wedding?”

  “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here Brittany.” I haven’t told her about my plan to move to Los Angeles. She knows I want to be a screenwriter but I think that she thinks I want to be a wife and mother more because I’m a teacher.

  “We should plan to have kids around the same time and then they can get married and we can be related.”

  “Yeah, it would be nice to be related.” I smile at her wistfully.

  “Here are your drinks ladies.” Peter passes me a drink and I thank him. Our fingers graze when I take it and we smile at each other.

  “So Brittany tells me you’re from Iowa?”

  “Yeah, Des Moines.”

  “Cool.” He nods at me. I know he has nothing to say about Iowa. It’s funny. The rich crowd can always talk about a vacation in almost every country in the world but none of them ever had a word to say about Iowa.

  “Yup. It was me and about a million corn fields.”

  “Well, I like popcorn.”

  “I like popcorn too.” I smiled at Peter. He was a lot nicer than most of Brittany’s other friends. I had never really been comfortable around most of them. They seemed more concerned with comparing new shoes and handbags than talking about anything substantive. And I certainly didn’t fit in, I didn’t know my Gucci from my Mossimo and had never owned a designer pair of jeans or shoes.

  “We should get some soon.” Peter watched me as he spoke.

  “Yes, we should.”

  “Maybe we can grab a movie.”

  “Maybe we can.”

  “Omg, you two, I am going to scream already. Just plan a date already.” Brittany flapped her arms around as she screeched at us. Sometimes she reminded me of a teenager as opposed to a 25-year-old girl. I think it was because she was spoilt. She was my best friend and one of the best people I knew but she acted like a little kid sometimes. It was her dad’s fault. He always gave her everything she wanted. In fact, it was because of her that I had been able to live with her rent-free for soo long. I’m pretty sure that he didn’t really want that. Though, I wasn’t really sure. I’d only met Mr. Rosewood about 5 times and he’d never really paid much attention to me.

  “Elle, will you go to a movie with me next week Friday.”

  “Yes, I will. Thank you for asking Peter.” And then we all laughed.

  “C’mon guys. Let’s go dance.” Brittany grabbed our arms and dragged us onto the dance floor. Laughing I followed her and we all started to dance. It didn’t take long for a tall man to grab her and they drifted off on the dance floor to bump and grind. The music playing was all top 40 R&B and I tried to keep up.

  “I’m sorry,” I apologized. “I’m not the best dancer.”

  “You seem like a good dancer to me.” Patrick grabbed me around the waist and proceeded to grind into me. I tried not to flinch away from him. I wasn’t really in the habit of dancing intimately with strangers, but I didn’t want him to think I was making a big deal of the way he was moving.

  “You’re a really good dancer Elle.” He whispered into my ears. I felt his hands on my butt and nearly jumped. Somehow we had made it to the side of the dance floor and he had me pushed up against the wall as we were dancing.

  “I wish you had a skirt on.” He grinned at me as he continued grinding into me. “I’d lift you up right now and then you could wrap your legs around me.” I tried not to look too shocked at his words. Maybe he thought I was turned on by his talk, I mean it’s not everyday a modern day Don Juan wants to be with you. I tried to ignore him and just smiled as I danced. It was when he started nuzzling my neck that I knew I had to take a break.

  “Sorry, I, uh, I need the bathroom.” I pushed him away and almost ran off the dance floor.

  “Yeah, I need to take care of things too.” He grinned at me and followed me off of the dance floor. I nearly cringed but tried to keep my face calm. Maybe it was me. Maybe I was more of a prude than I thought. I hadn’t dated in over a year and because I didn’t believe in casual sex, I also hadn’t made love in that long either. While I didn’t know Peter well enough to know whether or not I could see him as a husband, maybe I should at least think about a casual relationship with him.

  Chapter 2

  We got home around 1am. We all were going to brunch at Brittany’s dad place the next day and knew we couldn’t show up with a hangover. I let Peter give me a long kiss as we said goodbye and had to put up with Brittany’s squealing all the way home.

  “I knew you guys would hit it off.”

  “Yeah, thanks for the introduction Brit.”

  “So, I should tell you something, prepare you for tomorrow.”

  “Uh, yeah?” My heart started beating.

  “So Olivia…” She paused.

  “Yeah?”

  “She’s a bit of a snob and a bitch?”

  “Okay.” I was puzzled as to why she was telling me this.

  “So she may not approve of you and Peter.”

  “Oh, okay.”

  “I just want you to be prepared. Just in case she’s mean.”

  I laugh. “Oh Brit, it’s okay. She has nothing to worry about.”

  “Well, if you guys get married she’ll be your mother-in-law.”

  “That’s a big if Brit.”

  “Well, you should…”

  “Hey, I’ll worry about it if it comes to that, ok?”

  “K. Night Elle.” And with that Brit went to her room to call Mark before she fell asleep. It took me a while to get my makeup off before bed. I thought about trying to write for a bit but dismissed it. I then thought about Olivia. What if Peter and I did start dating, how would I feel if she hated me? I laughed to myself, Brittany had been encouraging me in stupidness, it was highly unlikely that Peter Branford, a billionaire, was going to fall in love with me and want to marry me, very unlikely indeed.

  ***********

  We got to the Rosewood house a little after 11am. Brittany’s dad had his driver come and pick us up. Elliott Rosewood lived about an hour out of Manhattan and I absolutely loved Brittany’s childhood home. It reminded me of my home: only much grander. I was excited to see Peter in the daytime to see if we had a real connection or of it had just been the alcohol that had him acting so friendly towards me.

  We walked into the entryway with the housekeeper Mrs. Heath there to greet us. Brittany gave her a big hug. “Mrs. H, I’ve missed you.”

  “It’s been too long Ms. Brittany. You must come home more often.”

  I nodded my head in agreement. I would love to come here more often with her.

  “Where’s Dad?” She questioned Mrs. Heath.

  “In his study as always Ms. Brittany.”

  “Okay, let’s go say hi to Dad Elle. Thank God Olivia isn’t here yet.” I followed Brittany as she went running up the stairs. My heart started pounding as we
walked towards the study.

  “Dad,” Brittany rushed into the study and gave her dad a hug. Elliott Rosewood stood up and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “How’s my princess?”

  “Good daddy. Elle’s here with me.” She nodded towards me.

  “Hi Mr. Rosewood.” I smile at him.

  “I think you can call me Elliott now Elle.” He smiles back at me but seems a bit reserved.

  “Okay Mr. Ros, I mean Elliott.”