The Millionaire's Convenient Bride Read Free

too soiled to wear.
    “ How are you feeling?” Sophie asked as she served the tea that she had brought up once Louisa was settled.
    “ Battered.” Her head was starting to throb, and her ribs stabbed with pain every time that she moved despite the calming effects of the bath.
    “ Dominic has called for the doctor, but he is away at the moment with an urgent call back in town. He won’t be here until the snow has cleared I’m afraid.”
    Louisa nodded, the action sending blood throbbing through her aching skull. Her condition must have been plain on her face as Sophie called for the butler to bring some more pain killers before helping Louisa to lie back on the pillows. The other woman’s pale skin shone in the firelight . Louisa didn’t want to think of what she looked like in her too small clothes. Sophie was petite to Louisa’s hour glass, and with no makeup and her hair matted and wet down her back she knew she was nothing to look at right now.
    To take her mind off her situation she tried to focus on why she was there in the first place. Her mind was still fogged around the edges , yet she could remember the core problem that had her travel across the country. Remembering back to the car accident Louisa found her hands shaking. She closed her eyes and clenched them until they stilled again. The heavy floral of Sophie’s perfume hung in the air around them like a warm blanket making Louisa feel warm and safe. She focused on that as she realised she would need to request replacement papers from her office. If the front windscreen had been broken by the deer’s body, as she suspected, the papers on the passenger seat would have been soaked by the falling snow.
    “ Louisa, what’s bothering you?” Sophie asked.
    She would like to have a copy of the documents she needed to show Sophie, and now Dominic also, in case they didn’t believe her. She would need to get things moving as soon as possible.
    “Would it be too much to ask for a laptop or computer?” she asked.
    “ Of course not, just a moment.” Sophie smiled and shook her head at Louisa’s apparent eagerness to get back to work and left to retrieve the laptop from her office.
    “ Will this suffice?” she asked returning with a small silver laptop.
    “ Thank you, this shouldn’t take long.” Smiling at the younger woman Louisa booted up the laptop then typed the email to her assistant. Sophie waited as she typed. Louisa had the feeling she had been told not to leave her alone.
    The McKillips were one of the wealthiest families Louisa had ever heard of. Their money came from generations of brilliant businessmen. This generation had been headed by Dominic’s father until he died. His empire was now in the hands of Dominic, being the only one of his children left that his father hadn’t written out of the business contract. Sophie had studied hard to support her brother, but when their father died she was not yet out of college and Dominic and his brother, Cole, had decided that she was too young to take over. Cole was the eldest brother but had decided to start his own business several years ago, which angered his father and led to him writing him out of the business contract, and his will. Dominic had of course overridden his father’s wishes and given Cole his inheritance, which was what had brought her to the lodge in such spectacular style this evening.
    “ Why is Dominic here?” Louisa asked, hating herself for needing to know.
    “ You don’t remember?” Sophie asked with concern. “He came down to sign the papers in person to ensure Cole was not left waiting. You remember Cole is trying to buy out another business to merge with his own?”
    “ Yes, I remember.” It was the reason she had been willing to try to get here last night. The company had given him a deadline that was much too close for her liking, and he would need his inheritance money to seal the contracts.
    Whilst going through the will, Louisa had found another clause