A Bride for the Billionaire Bad Boy (The Romero Brothers, Book 2)

A BRIDE FOR
THE BILLIONAIRE BAD BOY

(THE ROMERO
BROTHERS, BOOK 2)

Shadonna Richards

Copyright 2013 by Shadonna Richards

Author
Contact:

Website:
www.ShadonnaRichards.blogspot.com

Email:
[email protected]

Facebook:
http://www.Facebook.com/AuthorShadonnaRichards

Twitter:
@Shadonna

All rights reserved; no part of this publication may
be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying
or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

This book is a work of
fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the
writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously. Any resemblance to
persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you, God, for
all my blessings. To my cherished son and husband for your unconditional love.
With gratitude to my family and friends for your endless support.
To Solomon, Jermaine,
Merdella
,
Nesitta
,
Monica, and
Percell
. To my editor M.M. for always
being brilliant.

Praise for Shadonna Richards’

AN UNEXPECTED BRIDE

"Her
debut novel, An Unexpected Bride, has burst onto the scene, zooming up the
bestseller lists and racking up fans faster than other writers racking
up
words
....a
smash hit!"

-
KINDLE FIRE DEPARTMENT

A BRIDE FOR THE BILLIONAIRE
BAD BOY (THE ROMERO BROTHERS, BOOK 2)

She needs security…

When Maxine Summers took
over Dream Weddings, Inc., her friend’s former business, she had no idea what a
nightmare she would have. It is believed a
past disgruntled
client is making attempts on her life and she can no longer return to her
apartment. Feeling alone, Maxine has nowhere to turn—until the sexy, notorious
bachelor, Lucas Romero, offers her a proposition. Her heart says yes, but her
mind is saying “no way!”

He needs stability…

Scandal-ridden billionaire,
Lucas Romero, knows his reputation with women could cost him everything he’s
worked for. He previously met Maxine when she helped plan his grandfather’s
remarriage, a fifth one at that, so when Lucas discovers she needs protection,
he is all too willing to help. Except, falling in love was never a part of the
arrangement.

Will Maxine be the one to tame his bad boy ways?

PROLOGUE

Six
months earlier…

Besides the occasional influenza bug, Maxine rarely
caught anything. But on this night, she caught the fragrant bouquet of flowers
from her friend and former boss, Lucy! She also caught the attention of
Antonio’s sexy-as-hell playboy cousin, Lucas.

“Beautiful!” Lucas grinned as he gave Maxine a
salacious glance. Maxine was playing with the flower petals of the arrangement when
he approached her at one of the tables on the lawn.

Of course, he was dangling the lace garter that his
cousin Antonio stripped from his new bride's thigh using only his teeth. That
was quite an
x-rated
sight to behold!

Did sexiness run in the family? It certainly looked
like it. Lucas had a few glasses of wine and seemed quite mellow on this eve.

The music was blazing from the speakers in the dimly
lit garden reception. The night was fresh and crisp. And Lucas was, well…fresh!

“Thanks, Lucas!” Maxine flushed. Lucas was not her
type. He was a player. Period. She saw the way he flirted with every other girl
at the Diamond Ball a couple of months ago. Why, surely, he didn’t think
she
was some fly-by-night girl, did he?

Lucas?

Lucas
caught the garter?

Good grief!

Marriage material, he was not!

“Would you like to dance?” He extended his hand. And
his voice, it was oh so deep. It commanded respect and oozed sexiness at the
same time. It was as if to challenge her to say no. It was more statement than
question.

Oh, God, there was the flirtatious thing going on
again.

Hell no!
Players are just not my type.

She’d heard too much about Lucas’s reputation with the
women.
The countless women.
He was smooth as warm
caramel and could be just as sweet with his mouth.

Maxine felt terrible having thought that. What harm
could one dance possibly do? It wasn’t as if he’d asked her to board his
private yacht or anything like that. Heck, it was her good friend’s wedding.
People dance at weddings.
Nothing wrong with that.

 
“Sure,”
Maxine finally agreed. Her mind was telling her one thing but her heart was
speaking a whole different language.

It’s
just one dance
, she told herself.
Nothing more has to come of it.

So why did she get the feeling this would not be the
last time she would see Lucas?

CHAPTER ONE

This is
a nightmare!

Reporters gathered outside Toni Romero’s black chauffeur-driven
SUV as his driver pulled up to the gate of his sprawling estate, Romero Mansion
in the quiet town of Mayberry Hill. A place that was often dubbed a beautiful
scenic paradise with breathtaking views of the hills and stretches of green
land just north of the city of Toronto. A few hours drive from Buffalo, New
York.
A tranquil escape and stark contrast from the hectic bustle
of the concrete jungle.
And now? The center of unwanted media attention!

Toni was seventy-six, after all. He didn’t need this
type of ridiculous scrutiny. Especially resulting from the behavior of one of
his own
grandsons, Lucas!

Lucas!

Why
couldn’t Lucas stay out of trouble and out of the headlines once in a while?
Would that be too much to ask?

“Would you like me to turn around and go to the west
entrance instead, sir?” the driver asked Toni.

“Oh, no. I’m not going to hide. We’ll use the main
entrance. They’re not going to intimidate me that easily.” Toni stiffened his
upper lip.

The Romero family’s grand estate covered forty
impressive acres of sweeping land with scenic surroundings protected by several
gated entrances. You could drive to the location from any direction since it
housed several properties, including the main house between four different
roads. One of the roads was not even accessible to the public.

But the last thing Toni wanted was to give the
impression that he was hiding or cowering from disgrace. The Romero family did
not hide ... from anyone. Not a true Romero, anyway. It was
his
home and he would not be using any
back entrances to enter.

“Will they ever go away?” Shelly, his forty-six-year-old
wife number five turned to him, her brows furrowed.

“Probably not for now,” Toni sighed deeply. “They’re
like vultures, you know.”

“The reporters?”

“Yes. They feed on scandal. Where are they when the
Romero men raise millions of dollars to house poor families and feed children
from broken homes?”

Toni grasped his cane as the driver drove through the
open gates.
 
“Where are the
reporters on our good days? One misstep with one of my grandsons and they go
crazy.” He waved his hand in the air. “And they totally ignore all the good we
do for our community.” He frowned, pinching his lips tightly as he leaned back
into the leather seat of the vehicle.

Once the gates opened, the reporters raced through to
follow the SUV that drove slowly up the driveway towards the main house.

“This is intrusive,” Shelly called out as she shook
her head and gaped at the press through the tinted window.

Once they pulled up to the steps outside the main
doors, Henry, the driver, switched off the engine and opened the driver’s door.
He was a burly man of six feet, five inches who could easily pass for a
bodyguard for the stars. It was only recently that Toni’s grandson Lucas
insisted he hire a driver to take him around after a stroke.

Lucas had made all the arrangements and hired Henry
himself.

The good thing about Lucas was, like the rest of
Toni’s grandsons, he was fiercely protective of his grandfather—and anyone
who was vulnerable for that matter. That was why it irked Toni so when Lucas took
the initiative to help curb the skyrocketing unemployment rate among young
people from various backgrounds by creating jobs in his company and opening up
centers to train those who lacked job skills, the same hoards of reporters were
pretty much absent from the opening—not that Lucas cared much for hype.
He acted out the goodness of his heart, never for publicity. But still, a press
release was sent out and very few thought it was as newsworthy as the current
headline scandal of the day that often rocked ratings to soaring levels.

Lucas even went as far as personally mentoring many of
the community youth. He had such an amazing rapport with youngsters who needed
guidance. Lucas’s main love was for the Healthy Start Program that operated out
of many walk-in clinics around the province, especially in low-income
neighborhoods—in addition to Funds for the Future, another program he launched
with his brother, Zack, and his cousin, Antonio III. Lucas had taken one
rundown clinic that was about to close down and turned it into a flourishing
program encouraging people from all economic backgrounds to do various health
screening and preventative medicine practices. He’d made it fun by investing in
incentive programs to get people to come in.

Then it was soon followed by that cringe-worthy
scandal when he’d arranged to have free condoms delivered to local community
colleges to promote safe sex—only it was taken way out of context. So
this recent scandal only made matters look worse.

When Lucas was growing up, he didn’t have the
privileges he currently had. Toni never knew he even existed up until his
teens.

When Lucas received his inheritance, he’d done a lot
of things with the cash, including purchasing fast cars and dating fast women
but he’d also invested a lot of his money in all sorts of programs. Following
the Romero tradition, of course. Every living person in Mayberry Hill knew
about the Romero family’s Annual Diamond Ball and Fundraiser. It was the place
to be every September.

Lucas was certainly down-to-earth and easily
approachable.
Ha! And that was his
problem! Easily approachable by gold diggers!

Lucas could be a hardhead sometimes, actually most of
the time. Always out to prove
himself
. Always taking
chances. Doing the unconventional. Making strides. Creating waves.
 
The press dubbed him the Romero Poster
Boy for Bad Behavior once when he’d been mixed up in a scandal involving one of
his ex-girlfriends who turned out to be some notorious jewel thief.

Toni had made sure to take a hand in raising his
grandsons when he learned about his son Jack’s existence later in life. Jack
was Toni’s illegitimate son with a relationship he’d had after one of his
divorces. When Toni first met his son, Jack already had five sons and was going
through difficult times.
 
 

“He said he didn’t have anything to do with that
woman’s claim, so why are they here?” Shelly pursed her lips in disbelief.

“Because, he’s a good looking, single man who parties
too hard and often with the wrong crowd.”

“But Lucas
is
a workaholic, Toni. He works hard so what he does outside of business hours is
his own business.”

“His own business? No. It’s the family’s business.
The family’s name.
He has to think about that every waking
moment. Like it or not, he's a role model in the community.”

“Toni, don’t you think you’re being a bit harsh on
your grandson?” she tried to soothe him.

 
“He thinks
he can just date any pretty woman who bows to him. I
warned
him
that he needs
to think about settling down early
instead of dating these opportunists. Every year he has a different woman. It’s
like he gets bored easily and thinks the New Year change means a New Woman. There’s
bound to be trouble. Now this young lady has a paternity suit. What else is
new?”

“Don’t be too upset with him, Toni. He’s just an easy
target. You know that. Lucas is way too careful for get himself into that
position. You raised your grandkids well, Toni. They would never put themselves
into danger like that.”