Matched to a Billionaire(32)

       
           



       

She was simply a convenience. Exactly as he'd always said. Reading unmet   needs into his actions and pushing him into intimacy hadn't gotten her   anywhere but brokenhearted.

Wife was her identity, her essence. Work was his. Cliché indeed.

So he went back to his sixteen-hour days and she made a doctor's   appointment. After three days of falling asleep before Leo came home,   the pills were unnecessary insurance thus far. Apparently telling her   husband she loved him was birth control in and of itself.

The music of her stupid phone's ringtone cut the silence in the bathroom.

She glanced at it. Elise's name flashed from the screen. What in the world?

"Hello?"

"It's Elise. I'm sorry to bother you, but I'm in a bind and I need your help."

"Of course. Whatever you need, it's yours."

There was very little Dannie wouldn't do for the woman who had changed   her life, broken heart notwithstanding. Elise had helped her find a   secure marriage. This was the "for worse" part-so much worse than she'd   predicted, and she'd expected it to suck if she fell in love with Leo   and he didn't return her feelings.

"Thank you. So much. I've got a new applicant for the program and I'm   totally booked. But I can't turn her away. Will you go through the   preliminary stages with her?"

"You want me to teach someone else how to do her hair and makeup?"

Elise chuckled. "Don't sound so surprised. You're highly qualified."

That was only because her fairy godmother had no idea how solidly   catastrophic Dannie's match had become. "As long as it's just   preliminaries. I couldn't do any of the rest."

"Oh, I'll pay you."

"I wasn't talking about that." But now she was thinking about how it was   almost like a short part-time job. Good timing. That might get her  mind  off the empty house. "I'd do it for free."

"I insist. Can you help me out or am I imposing on your new marriage?"

Dannie bit back maniacal laughter. "I can do it. Be there in thirty minutes."

She ended the call and finished getting ready for the day. She'd stopped   rolling out of bed before dawn and making Leo's coffee. What would be   the point? He probably hadn't even noticed.

Elise's elegant two-story town house in uptown brought back bittersweet   memories. Inside these walls, Dannie had transformed from an outspoken,   penniless-and hopeless-woman into a demure, suitable wife for the man   Elise's computer had matched her with.

Well, not so demure. Scarlett sometimes took over, especially when   Dannie's clothes came off. And when Leo made her mad, or smiled at her   or-okay, Scarlett was here to stay. Dannie sighed. The suitable part was   still true. She'd orchestrated a heck of a party and Tommy had signed   with Reynolds Capital. Clearly, some of Elise's training had taken  root.

Elise answered the door and threw her arms around Dannie in an exuberant   hug that knocked her off balance, despite the fact that Dannie had six   inches on Elise in height. But what she lacked vertically, Elise more   than made up for in personality and heart.

"Look at you," Elise gushed. "So gorgeous and sophisticated. Thanks, by the way. Come meet Juliet."

Dannie followed Elise into the living room where she'd married Leo. It   seemed like aeons ago that she'd stood at that fireplace, so nervous   about entering an arranged marriage she could barely speak. Never had   she imagined as she slipped that ring on Leo's finger that she'd fall in   love and when she told him, he'd so thoroughly reject it.

Not just reject it. He'd exorcised her. As if she'd been haunting Leo   and he hoped to banish the grim specter of his wife from the attic in   his head.

If she had known, would she have still married him? Her mother's face   swam into her mind. Yeah. She would have. Her mother was too important   to balk at a little thing like a broken heart.

Dannie turned her back on the fireplace.

The woman huddled on the couch unfolded and stood to greet her.

"Juliet Villere," she said and held out a hand.

Even without the slight accent, her European descent was obvious. She   had that quality inherent in people from another country-it was in the   style of her shoes, the foreign cut of her clothing and light brown   hair, and in the set of her aquiline features.

Dannie introduced herself and smiled at the other woman. Curiosity was   killing her. As Dannie did, surely Juliet had a story behind why she'd   answered Elise's ad. "You're here to let Elise sprinkle some magic dust   over you?"                       
       
           



       

"Magic would help."

She returned Dannie's smile, but it didn't reach her eyes and Dannie was   sold. No wonder Elise hadn't turned her away. The woman radiated a   forlorn aura that made Dannie want to cover her with a warm quilt and   ply her with hot chocolate. And it was eighty-five degrees outside.

Elise nodded. "Juliet is a self-described tomboy. I couldn't think of   anyone more ladylike than Dannie and I've already taken on more   candidates than I can handle. It's a perfect match."

Heat climbed into Dannie's cheeks. She was ladylike when it counted.   What had happened between her and Leo in the media room after he ignored   Tommy's call was nobody's business but hers. Besides, he liked it when   she put on her brazen side.

At least she excelled in that area of her marriage.

"Thank you for helping me, Ms. Arundel. I had nowhere else to turn."   Juliet bobbed her head first at Elise and then at Dannie. "I would be   grateful to find an American husband."

"Did your computer already spit out some possibles?" Dannie asked Elise.

Elise shook her head. "She's not entered yet. Makeover first, then I do   the match. The computer doesn't care what you look like, but I find  that  the makeover gives women the confidence to answer the profile  questions  from the heart instead of their head. Then the algorithm  matches based  on personality."

"Wait." Dannie went a little faint. "External characteristics aren't part of the profile process?"

"Of course not. Love isn't based on looks."

"But..." Dannie sank onto the couch. "You matched me with Leo because he   was looking for certain qualities in a wife. Organized. Sophisticated.   Able to host parties and mingle with the upper crust."

Which had everything to do with external qualities. Not internal.

"Yes. That covers about four of the profile points. The rest are all   related to your views on relationships. Love. Family. How you feel about   sex. Conflict. You and Leo fit on all forty-seven."

"That's impossible," she countered flatly.

"Name one area where that's not true and I'll refund Leo's money right now."

"Love. I believe in it. He doesn't." Saying it out loud made it real all   of a sudden and a breakdown threatened Dannie's immediate future.

"That's totally false." Elise's brow puckered as she paused. "Unless he   lied on his profile. Which I suppose is possible but highly  improbable."

"It can't be that foolproof."

Why was she arguing about this? The computer had matched her with Leo   because they'd both agreed a marriage based on mutual goals made sense.   Neither of them had expressed an interest in love from the outset and   Elise was absolutely correct-Dannie had answered the profile questions   from her heart. She loved her mother and marrying Leo had saved her. End   of story.

"It's not. But I am." The flash of Elise's smile did not temper her   self-assurance. "I administer the profile test myself and I wrote it."

Juliet watched the exchange as though it was a tennis match, eyelids   shielding her thoughts. "But something is amiss or you would not be   having this discussion, right?" she suggested.

Something as in Dannie had created this mess by forgetting love didn't   create security, but honoring your word did. Her mother's stance on   relationships had never steered her wrong before, and if she'd tried a   little harder to embrace the idea of a loveless marriage, she could have   avoided all this.

Elise deflated a little. "Yes, of course you're right. I'm sorry. I have to shut down my analytical side or it takes over."

Yeah, Dannie knew all about shutting down inappropriate emotional   outbursts. "I'm just disappointed and mad at myself for thinking I could   entice him away from his dollar signs with promises of fulfillment.   It's not your fault."