The Unknown Billionaire (Captured by Love Book 6) (22 page)

“Well, that
is
your reputation, dude,” Tristan said. “A reputation you didn’t mind having, I must say.”

“True,” Simon said. “But I’ve started to realise that I’m getting sick of much of the same. It might be with different girls, but the ones I go out with are only interested in my lifestyle and the mile-high experience with me.”

“You’re starting to feel empty, aren’t you?”  Marilyn said gently. “It’s not doing it for you anymore?”

“I just want to know how to not get turned down again by a girl I want to date. I don’t have anything against the ones who ask me out. They’re fun and lively. But I just want something like... this.” Simon swept his arm in front of the girls.

“Hey, too late for that,” Jarryd said, pulling Marilyn to him.

Simon snickered. “Don’t worry, dude. Still no spark. But do you know what I mean? I’m surrounded by female friends who are nice, lovely girls, but I end up with, what? The players, the immature ones, the gold-diggers.”

“Um, it’s called karma,” Derek said, “except for the gold-digger thing.”

Simon’s eyes rounded. “Shit. You’re right.”

Tristan laughed. “And he only just realised it.”

“Look who’s talking,” Marilyn said with an eye-roll.

“The problem with Simon is,” Derek said, “he’s cultivated his reputation so well that most nice ladies won’t touch him with a bargepole.”

“Gee, thanks,” Simon said dryly. “I already know I’m not known to be boyfriend material. Question is, how do I change that image?”

“Wow,” Tristan said. “I really can’t believe this is coming out of your mouth, dude.”

“I just want to go out with girls who aren’t all over me just because of my airplanes, muscles and pretty face. I’m starting to feel that I’m really just a plaything, that without those, I wouldn’t have all this attention. Sometimes I wonder if things would be different if women didn’t know who I was. Like Jarryd, when no one knew he was a billionaire. I know he snagged Marilyn, who’s rich, but that’s not the point. I know of women—decent, nice, beautiful ladies—who were interested in Jarryd because he’s just a nice guy, not because he’s a billionaire.”

“Who were they?” Marilyn asked with a frown.

Simon grinned. “Ask your boyfriend. He knows who they were.”

She looked at Jarryd.

“I wasn’t interested in them at all, babe,” he said. “It’s always been only you.”

She beamed at him.

“See?” Simon said, gesturing at her and Jarryd. “What’s that?”

“It’s love,” Cassie said with a giggle.

“You know, Simon,” Gavin said, “I think that if you want to break the cycle, you need to meet girls who don’t know you as the rich playboy who owns many jets.”

Simon nodded, deep in thought. “I have been considering that ever since I found out that Jarryd was able to hide his billionaire status. Wouldn’t it be a fun experiment if I pretended that I was just a worker in my company? Maybe I’ll go fly one of my planes as a pilot and work the regional route for a few weeks. See if I meet some nice girls there. My reputation is only well-known in Sydney anyway.”

“Simon,” Marilyn said with warning. “You can’t expect to develop a strong relationship with a woman if you’re going to keep from her important things about you.”

“Then why are you still with Jarryd?” Simon said with an arched eyebrow.

She sighed. He had a point.

Simon clapped his hands once, then rubbed them together. “It’s all settled! I’m looking forward to this experiment. We can stop talking about me now.”

The doorbell rang.

“You do have perfect timing,” Erin said to Simon, jumping up to answer the door.

Marilyn followed her, keen to see Jade and Lucas, but most of all their four-month-old son, Julian.

“Feeling clucky, are you?” Erin teased.

“Kind of,” she admitted. “But it’s definitely not yet time for babies for me. What about you and Brad? You said you’d be trying for a bub after your wedding. It’s now almost five months since you got married.”

“Well, we said we’ll try after our big holiday overseas this year. Or
while
we’re on our big holiday,” Erin said with a giggle.

They greeted the Renner-Biltons and Marilyn carried Julian back to the party. The adorable little guy was wide awake, his eyes round as he took in all the people who were saying hello to him.

Marilyn sighed. She definitely wanted a little one like this with Jarryd. Sometime in the future, hopefully.

“Jade!” Jarryd said. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

“I’m so sorry we’re late,” Jade said. “I’m here now.”

Marilyn raised her eyebrows at the exchange. That was strange. Why was Jarryd waiting for Jade specifically? And Jade seemed to know Jarryd was waiting for her.

Jade went to the centre of the room and got everyone’s attention. “Okay, peeps. You all know what you have to do. Give me the money,” she said theatrically.

“For what?” Marilyn asked.

But everyone ignored her. They all reached into their wallets to hand Jade wads of cash—some appearing to be many hundreds, even thousands.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Marilyn asked. She now felt as bewildered as Julian had looked moments ago.

“Hello, little kiddo,” Natasha cooed, taking the baby from her.

“What’s this about, Tash?” she asked, relinquishing Jade’s child to her friend.

“You need to give Jade some money.”

“For what?”

Natasha ignored her question, walking away as she tried to elicit a smile out of Julian.

Marilyn was about to call out her frustration when Jade clapped her hands.

“Thank you, everyone,” Jade said, putting all the money in an envelope. “My charity thanks you all very much for your generous donation.”

“You mean our generous
bets
, Jade,” Jarryd said, turning up by Marilyn’s side.

“Oh, yes,” Jade said, grinning widely.

Marilyn’s breath hitched, realising what was happening. When Jarryd bent on one knee in front of her, she blinked back the tears to see him clearly.

“Marilyn, you are the most wonderful, smart, beautiful, generous, loving person I’ve ever met,” Jarryd said, his voice cracking. “I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve you, but I promise that I’ll spend the rest of my life making myself worthy of your love. You mean more to me than anything else in this world. You’re my happiness, my home, my now and my forever. Marilyn Grant, will you marry me?”

She swallowed her sob. “Yes,” she said as clearly as she could with her throat all closed up.

Jarryd kissed her hand before reaching into his pocket and producing a ring.

Her jaw dropped to the floor. It was a huge blue diamond, round cut, with smaller clear stones surrounding it. The band of the ring also had small diamonds set all around it. My, it was absolutely gorgeous.

“These diamonds, including the blue one, are from our WA mine,” Jarryd said, placing the ring on her finger. “And I asked the best jeweller at Well of Brilliance to set them into a very special ring.”

“Thank you,” she said, finding her voice.

Jarryd stood up and she threw her arms around him, kissing him thoroughly as cheering went up all around them.

When they parted, their friends flocked to congratulate them.

“Gosh, it’s gorgeous,” Jade said, checking out her ring.

“Thank you,” she said shyly. “Hey, I need to hand you money too, since you won our game.”

“Yes,” Jade said with a laugh. “We thought we’d give you a break with the collection for this round since it’s you who captured Jarryd’s heart.”

“And we better start the next round before I forget,” she said with a grin before calling out, “Hey, everyone, you know the drill. You have to give me your bets for the next Captured by Love game before you go home today.”

“Who’s the frontrunner?” Lucas asked.

“Simon,” Lexie answered teasingly. “He has a plan to entice nice, wife-material ladies to go out with him. He’s going to hold off telling them he’s rich.”

“Really, now?”

“I’m not looking for a wife,” Simon said. “Just a girlfriend who’s attracted to
me
first and foremost before knowing about what I can give them as a lifestyle.”

Lucas laughed. “Do you even know what it’s like to be on a budget, Simon? It will be impossible for you to keep your financial status from the women you want to woo.”

“What’s so impossible about it?”

“It’s one thing saying you’re not rich, and another thing to be
living
it. Just take your wardrobe, for example. You only own expensive brands that average people can’t afford.”

Simon pursed his lips. “Then I’ll buy a whole new wardrobe from K-Mart or Costco.”

“I bet you won’t be able to keep it up,” Lucas said.

“Hey, you wanna bet on it?” Simon asked.

“Sure.”

As Simon and Lucas shook hands, Marilyn shook her head. “I was going to bet again on Simon,” she said to Jarryd, “but I think I’ve changed my mind. I think he’ll run for the hills the moment he’s with a girl who asks for a long-term relationship.”

“So who do you want to put your money on?” Jarryd asked, wrapping his arms around her.

“Tristan, I think.”

“Tristan, my future cousin-in-law,” Jarryd said with a grin.

“I can’t believe I’m getting married to you,” Marilyn said, resting her head on his shoulder.

“Why not?”

“Because it’s a dream come true.”

Jarryd cupped her face. “It’s
my
dream come true.”

Marilyn sighed with contentment as Jarryd placed his lips on hers. She knew that she and Jarryd would make more dreams together—and make each of them come true.

###

T
hank you so much for reading!

The next book in this series,
The Unmasked CEO
,
is about Simon Alexander and the woman who finally tames this playboy. To find out how Simon hides his true identity in his quest to “not get turned down again” by someone he wants to date, and how he ends up being captured by love, check out
The Unmasked CEO (Captured by Love Book 7)
by
clicking here
.

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f you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review on the store from which you got your copy. Reviews help us authors in getting our books discovered by new readers. Thank you!

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on’t miss out on reading the first two chapters of my books prior to them being released and being invited to giveaways and contests that are
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T
he
Captured by Love
series started with Lucas and Jade’s love story. To get your copy of
The Unwilling Executive (Captured by Love Book 1)
, please click
here
.

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D
id you know that Simon Alexander made a cameo appearance in
At Last (Time for Love Book 5)
? If you haven’t read that book yet, flip the page to read Chapter One.

Greg Carmichael and Gemma Aldwyn

CHAPTER ONE

U
gh! Awkward!

Gemma Aldwyn suppressed her sigh and tried to look as nonchalant as possible while standing in the middle of a crowded dance floor. It was bad enough that it was a ten-year-old kid she’d been dancing with when the MC announced it was midnight, and therefore Christmas Day. Now, everyone was kissing someone—except for her, it seemed.

Here she was without a date in one of the most romantic places she’d ever stayed—the Carmichael Sanctuary, a private, exclusive and luxurious resort in Australia, located in the quiet country town of Serenade Bay on the fringes of a sub-tropical rainforest. Trying not to look out of place, she casually looked around for a person who wasn’t smooching with someone, only for her gaze to land on the one man she’d hoped would at least give her a peck on the cheek—Greg Carmichael, the brother-in-law of two of her best friends.

But just her luck. A pretty supermodel wannabe had caught Greg, and was giving him a very flirty embrace.

Her lips twisted into a rueful curve at the snarkiness of her thought. Truth was, rather than a supermodel wannabe, that woman happened to be Liana Sanders—the only daughter of Tony Sanders, one of Australia’s wealthiest entrepreneurs. In terms of social status and power, the Sanderses were almost at the same level as the Carmichaels—up there.

With Greg being CFO and co-owner of the Carmichael Corporation, one of the most successful private companies in Australia—whose business interests included property development, ecotourism and wineries—it didn’t surprise Gemma that women from equally influential families would want to snare him. Being a hunk with knee-weakening good looks, Greg had sophisticated and beautiful women flocking to him everywhere he went. With his older brothers, Zach and Jeff, both off the market, the ladies hadn’t been holding back in showing their interest in Greg, the only Carmichael brother left unattached.

Gemma had been quite surprised by the overt flirtation by a couple of the women at tonight’s party. Apart from Liana, there was also Annette, a well-known actress, who’d been vying for Greg’s attention all day. The unfortunate thing was they had plenty of time to fight over Greg. Both women were also staying at the Carmichael Sanctuary until after New Year’s Eve.

Well, Greg looked like he was enjoying Liana’s attention. His hands were even lingering on Liana’s waist as they chatted.

This time, Gemma’s exhale came out loud and gushy. Seriously, she should stop noticing what Greg was doing, what he was drinking, who he was talking to, who he was hugging...

She already knew he wasn’t going to be her New Year’s resolution guy. Even if she’d had a secret crush on him for ages, it didn’t matter.

Greg’s own brothers had a nickname for him—Mr. Commitment-Phobic. Since Gemma was looking for something serious, and all he was into was play, they weren’t a match. Besides, Greg wasn’t interested in her anyway.

It was kind of morale sapping that she was the only one who wasn’t going to accomplish the group New Year’s resolution she’d made with her four best friends. Worse, it had been
her
idea to make a deal with Rebecca Andrews, Sarah Daley, Amanda Payne and Brenna Ward to make time for love this year. She’d argued—aided by the effects of alcohol—that they should pinky-promise to get off their butts and be pro-active in finding themselves their true loves.