Preston Brothers The Complete Series
Preston Brothers
The Billionaire’s Pretend Wife
The Billionaire’s Secret Son
The Billionaire’s Pregnant Employee
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales, is entirely coincidental.
RELAY PUBLISHING EDITION, APRIL 2020
Copyright © 2020 Relay Publishing Ltd.
All rights reserved. Published in the United Kingdom by Relay Publishing. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Leslie North is a pen name created by Relay Publishing for co-authored Romance projects. Relay Publishing works with incredible teams of writers and editors to collaboratively create the very best stories for our readers.
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Contents
The Billionaire’s Pretend Wife
Blurb
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Epilogue
End of The Billionaire’s Pretend Wife
The Billionaire’s Secret Son
Blurb
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Epilogue
End of The Billionaire’s Secret Son
The Billionaire’s Pregnant Employee
Blurb
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Epilogue
End of The Billionaire’s Pregnant Employee
Thank you!
About Leslie
Also by Leslie
Blurb
Penelope Fox thought she was applying to be an assistant to billionaire Drew Preston. With her business savvy, she’s hoping she can help Drew’s successful shipping company reach new heights. Too bad the position she applied for isn’t as his assistant: it’s as his young son’s nanny. With her bank account nearly dry, Penny’s desperate enough to take the job. But when Drew is meeting with the owner of his next potential acquisition, the other man mistakes Penelope for Drew’s wife—and to her surprise, she agrees to play along. Even more shocking? The way she’s beginning to feel about this maddening, passionate man.
Drew learned the hard way to never mix business with pleasure. His ex-wife is proof. But it’s difficult to ignore his attraction to his son’s nanny. There’s more to Penny than meets the eye. She’s as brilliant with business as she is with his son. And with him—in bed. All his orderly lines get all tangled up. Playing along with a fake marriage is one thing. Wishing it was real shakes him to his core.
As the business deal Drew wanted so badly goes south, so does his fledgling relationship with Penny, leaving him wondering if there can be any pleasure in business without Penny by his side.
1
“Why don’t you and Lisa come over to my place on Thursday night? I’ll have my chef whip up something delicious, and we can talk details on the sale.”
Drew Preston kept a bright smile on his face. That was one of the rules of business his father had taught him early in his life, when his dad was building the family shipping business from the ground up. Wear the expression you’d want people to see, even if you’re on the phone. They’ll hear it in your voice.
He needed Jack Holloway to hear an easy confidence today, because Jack’s company—up for sale in a once-in-a-lifetime deal—was the final piece for Drew to pick up for Preston Logistics. After everything that had happened with his ex-wife Susan…
Drew wasn’t going to think about that now.
“Oh, sure.” Jack Holloway seemed to follow Drew’s father’s advice, too, because he sounded genuinely excited to come out to Drew’s place. Of course, that could be because Drew’s house was a mansion overlooking some of California’s most beautiful wine country. “Lisa will be thrilled. What time should we arrive?”
“Six o’clock?”
“Perfect. We’ll be there with bells on.”
They ended the call at the same moment Drew’s son Logan laughed in the next room of the office suite, where Drew’s secretary had her desk. His son had the best laugh. What he didn’t have was a nanny. The last nanny had been good—a little goofy, with curly blonde hair that she wore in an enormous bun on the top of her head—but two weeks ago she’d announced that she was headed off to business school, and that had been that. He’d had to interview eight candidates to find her, too.
The interview with a potential new nanny was coming up in fifteen minutes. Drew added the dinner with Jack and Lisa to his calendar, then stood up to meet Sam, his uncle on his father’s side. He’d been spending time with Logan the last couple of weeks while Drew’s staff vetted candidates for the nanny position, and Drew owed him. It was well within his means to hire a temporary nanny, but Drew didn’t want to switch out Logan’s caretakers more than he had to. The boy was only three. It was hard enough switching back and forth between Drew’s and Susan’s houses.
But when he got to the door of his office, Sam wasn’t there.
Logan sat on the leather sofa across the room from the secretary’s desk, pressed leg-to-leg with a woman so gorgeous that Drew’s heart stopped, stuttered, and raced ahead to catch up.
The light from the window caught in her dark hair as she bent toward Logan, her finger tracing a path on the book she held. The table in front of the sofa had a drawer with books just for this purpose, and Logan had clearly chosen one to give her.
“Look at that red truck.” Her voice was clear, almost songlike, and Logan glanced up at her with wide eyes before he focused back on the book. “What do you think about that?”
“I like red trucks.” Logan nodded decisively. “Some red trucks are fire trucks, and they’re loud and fast. We’re going to see a fire truck tomorrow.”
She flipped the page. “Hmm. A blue boat. Have you ever been on a boat?”
“I swam in the water.” Logan’s eyes lit up. “Daddy took me to the pool, and I have dinosaurs on my bathing suit.”
Drew’s heart ached. It had been a couple of months since the last time he’d taken Logan to his favorite pool—an indoor setup at one of the larger gyms in town. He had a home gym and a pool at the house, but Susan had
wanted Logan to mingle with other kids, so the two of them had gone in on a membership at the gym when Logan was a baby. Drew had never given it up.
Logan sat so still for this woman. She had to be the candidate for the nanny position, but she was dressed more like an executive in a gray blazer and pencil skirt.
They interacted with an ease that he’d rarely seen in Logan. It was a balm on his heart—a bittersweet one. How could his boy be almost as comfortable with this perfect stranger as he was with his own parents?
How long had he been standing here watching?
Drew cleared his throat, a smile already on his face. “I hate to interrupt…”
She looked up at him and boom—there it was again, reverberating like a bass drum in his chest. Those chocolate eyes, that pointed chin—he could picture himself taking it between his thumb and forefinger and tilting her face up toward his own.
“Hello,” she said, her own white teeth flashing in a smile. “Here, Logan. Check out that lifeboat a minute and let me know what you think.” Logan took the book, putting it studiously in his lap, and the woman stood gracefully. Drew met her halfway across the room, his hand extended to shake. “I’m Penelope Fox. Your uncle—”
“I had to step out for a minute.” Drew’s uncle rushed back in through the front entrance. “Call from one of my students.” He came across the office and gave Drew a quick embrace. “I left Logan in good hands, and Britta—where’d she go?”
“Here,” sang Britta from the doorway, a stack of papers in her arms. “Copies are done. Are you headed out?”
Drew laughed. “Yes. Meeting room down the hall. Are you good, Uncle Sam?”
“Better than ever.” The older man clapped his hands. “Logan, the playground is calling our names.”
Logan scrambled off the sofa and put the book carefully on the table. “I want to go on the swings.”
“We’ll go on the swings.” Sam led him to the door.
“And the slide.”
“And the slide, three times if you want.”
“Four!”
“Four times, if you want.”
“Wait!” Logan wheeled around and came tearing across the room toward Drew. He leapt at the last second, landing solidly in his arms. When had he gotten so big?
Drew hugged his son tightly with a pang. It wouldn’t be very long before Logan stopped doing this. “Love you, buddy,” he murmured into his ear.
“Love too, Daddy.” The little boy, who had his blond hair and blue eyes, scrambled to get down as quickly as he’d come up. Drew stood him on his legs—they were full-on preschool legs now, losing the softness they’d had when Logan was a toddler—and the boy was off again.
Not to Sam, but to Penelope Fox.
Logan ran full tilt into her knees, wrapping them into a fierce hug, and Drew caught a glimpse of her surprised smile as she leaned down to pat Logan’s back.
What was in the air today—magic? It wasn’t just his plans with Jack that had Drew feeling so optimistic.
He had to pull it back. This kind of optimism had gotten him into the mess with Susan, which—as he reminded himself daily—had forced him to lay off at least two dozen people while he got Preston Logistics back on its wobbly feet. If he managed to acquire Jack’s business, the company would be solid again. He had to focus.
Logan let go of Penelope’s knees and ran at full speed back to Sam, who caught him by the hand and called a goodbye as Logan dragged him out.
“He’s full of energy.” Penelope’s voice had a smile in it, though her expression was more reserved now that Logan had left the room. “You have a sweet boy.”
“I can’t argue with that.”
“I bet he’s a hit at the playground.”
“Oh, usually the center of attention, for sure.”
Drew was missing something, and Penelope’s presence in the room made it hard to think what it was.
“Ms. Fox’s resume and application.” Britta stepped to his side and pressed a slim folder into his hands.
Right. The interview.
“Right this way, Ms. Fox.” Drew led her down the hallway and into a meeting room with a table for six. Penelope took a deep breath and settled into one of the seats. He took the one across the table.
God, she was stunning. A faint hint of spring rain and jasmine floated across the table.
“Penelope Fox. It’s a pleasure to have you here.”
“It’s good to be here. Most people call me Penny.”
“Penny.” It felt good just to say her name, but they were in the office, and she might be his nanny. Best to draw a firm line. “Ms. Fox. Most people around the office call me Mr. Preston.”
“Mr. Preston it is.” She folded her hands on the table and took a deep breath. How could a smile that was so subtle be so confident at the same time?
Work. Focus on the work.
“How did you hear about the open position, Ms. Fox?”
“I’ve been casting a wide net in the area.” She leaned forward slightly as she spoke. “When I saw the posting, I thought the position would work nicely with my experience.” Penny ran through some of the highlights, and Drew picked up her resume so he could force himself to stop looking at her perfect lips.
He’d read the words on the paper before, but now they struck him in a new light. Yes, there was experience as nanny listed there—but far more experience in corporate work. Penelope Fox was way overqualified to be a nanny. But Logan had liked her instantly. The last nanny search had been exhausting for everyone.
Hire her.
“—a lot in common.” She squared her shoulders, smiling at him. “And I’m available to begin work right away.”
“You’re licensed to drive, correct?” He rifled through the other sheets of paper in the folder. “I wanted to check—”
A knock at the door caught his attention—Britta. “Ms. Fox’s clearance papers,” she said, hustling across to give them to Drew.
They were flawless. Not a ticket, not a blemish.
As Britta slipped out the door, he took another look at Penelope Fox. She looked him in the eye, expectant. Radiant, even.
“I have a list of questions I’ve prepared about your philosophies, but honestly…” Drew ran his fingers through his hair. “I’m impressed with the way you connected with my son. He doesn’t take to everybody so easily.”
She blinked, shaking her head as if his comment was a bit of a surprise. “He’s a lovely little boy.”
“My gut says I should hire you right now and stop the search.”
Her eyebrows went up. “Now?”
“We haven’t even scratched the surface of the candidate list for the nanny position.” Drew laughed. “I shouldn’t be telling you that, but there you go.”
“Yes,” she said quickly. “Right, yes.” Penelope squeezed her hands together. “Well, I can’t say I’d be opposed to it if you offered me the job. I can work nights and some weekend days, too, if it helps.”
“And you don’t mind several trips a day to the playground?” The suit she was wearing would never work for an outing like that, but if she dressed like this for the interview, she undoubtedly had a wardrobe fit for the world’s greatest nanny.
A pair of voices at the door interrupted his train of thought. “Guys, room’s occupied.”
His brothers, Charlie and Archer, stopped halfway through the door. Archer grinned, eyes dancing. “Sorry to interrupt.” They went back the way they came.
“My brothers,” he said with a tight smile. “You’ll be seeing them from time to time, when you’re picking up and dropping off.
“Not in the office?” Penny asked.
“Oh, no. Logan doesn’t spend much time at the office. The last couple of weeks have been an anomaly, with my uncle helping out.”
“Of course.”
Hire her. That little voice was a gut reaction to the way she’d been with Logan, and Drew knew from experience that the first choice could be the best one. The way Logan
had hugged her…
“Let’s skip the rest of the questions. Will you do the job to the best of your ability, knowing that my son is the most important thing in the world to me?”
Her expression turned solemn. “I will.”
“Then welcome aboard, Ms. Fox. You’re hired.”
2
Bullet: dodged.
Kind of.
Who showed up to an interview for the wrong job? Penny did, apparently. She’d come dressed for an office position she could leverage into a brand-new, zero-controversy career in logistics. A fresh start. If she had to climb a few rungs on the ladder at Preston, that would be fine. Start as an assistant, work her way up. She had the explanation down pat for why her skills in the corporate world were actually in shipping—a tight non-disclosure agreement, a boss who was tough to get a recommendation out of.
In reality, it was a far messier story. Her heart still pounded to think of it.
None of it had come up, obviously. So that was a small win.
Penny steered her beater of a car down the long driveway to Drew’s house. The view from the access road had been stunning.