Alpha Billionaire’s Bride, Part Three (BWWM Romance Serial) Read Free Page A

without all the layers people put
between themselves and others. She doesn’t pretend to be anyone other than who
she is. And who she is, is pretty special.”
    “For what it’s worth, I’ve dug as deeply into her past as I
can go, and I can’t find any skeletons in her closet. It’s remarkable.”
    “Well quit digging,” Ian said. “It seems dishonest to do
that sort of thing now that I know her.”
    “No problem. Nowhere left to dig anyway.”
    “And don’t mention that you’ve researched her history.”
    “She’s a smart lady,” Sullivan said. “She has to know you’d
look into her background. She is your wife, Ian.”
    “I’m not kidding. Whether she knows it or not, I don’t want
it thrown in her face. Somehow, I know it’s not something she’d approve of.
That’s all.”
    Sullivan grinned. “Aw, you don’t want to disappoint your
sweet little wife, do you?”
    “Shut up.”
    “The country’s most eligible bachelor, Ian Buckley, is
actually worrying about what his fake wife thinks about him. It’s adorable.”
    “Don’t call me adorable. I know how to rock this boat so you
go flying and I stay dry.”
    Sullivan shrugged and set down his fishing pole. “I think it
might be worth it. Tell me, do you like Jada this much,” he held out his hands
about a foot apart, “or THIS much?” He stretched his arms as wide as they’d go.
And he smirked.
    Ian began to shake the boat from side to side. “It’s a long
swim back to shore, friend.”
    Sullivan dropped his arms and clutched the bench. “Then it’s
a good thing I won’t be doing it alone, buddy.” And he began rocking the boat,
too.
    Water sloshed up over one side and soaked Ian’s feet. “Stop
it! You don’t know what you’re doing. You’ll drown us both.”
    “You stop first.”
    “Fine, I’ll be the adult. As usual.” Ian stopped rocking.
    Sullivan let go of the bench and gave Ian a cocky wink. “Now
where were we? That’s right, you were telling me all about how you’ve been
trying to impress your wife.”
    “You’re a pain in the ass,” Ian said.
    “And that’s why you love me.”
    He was probably right, Ian thought. But he didn’t tell him,
because the lawyer had a big enough head as it was.

    “OH,” JADA EXCLAIMED, STILL STANDING on her balcony and
squinting at the lake. “Someone’s out in one of the rowboats. Wait. It’s
rocking. Fast ... faster. Oh no! It’s going to roll over and sink! Wait. Never
mind. It stopped. I wonder what that was about. Do lakes have undertows?”
    Marina had moved over the chaise longue and draped herself
with extreme languor down its length. “Who cares? We need to figure out what our
next move is.”
    “We don’t have a next move.” Jada turned away from the
balcony. “Your part in this is done.”
    “No way. I’m not stepping out of this now. We’re in it
together, sister.”
    “I can’t decide if that’s good or bad.”
    “It’s good. We’re going to solve the crime, I tell you.”
    Jada wasn’t so sure. “Then let’s go back over the facts.
Sylvia accepted a bribe from an unknown woman to leak info to CGTV about my and
Ian’s fake marriage license.”
    “That’s not actually true,” Marina said. “In fact, Sylvia
accepted a bribe to leak info about Sasha . That’s how she said it to me.
She said, ‘Tell CGTV there’s shocking information about Sasha the supermodel.’”
    “Hmm. I see what you’re getting at. All this time I’ve been
focused on possible enemies who were out to get me or Ian. But I overlooked
someone else who was also hurt in all this ...”
    “Exactly. Sasha. Or, she should have been hurt over this,
but actually isn’t, apparently, because she was never engaged to Ian to begin
with.”
    “So,” Jada said, “this whole debacle may have had nothing to
do with Ian and me. Whoever was behind the fake license and the bribe was
probably out to get Sasha? I hadn’t even considered that.”
    “I’ve gone over and over it,