Slade Read online

  Slade

  Marian Tee

  Contents

  Blurb

  About The Book

  Also by Marian Tee

  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

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Dear Reader…

  Also by Marian Tee

  Blurb

  In the small Wyoming town he calls his second home, billionaire Slade Wyndham trades his thousand-dollar suits for aprons and jeans, and instead of wheeling and dealing in the boardroom, he's manning the counter at Redwood Cafe and whipping up the best latte art in town.

  It's a (seasonal) role Slade's come to enjoy, but when quiet little mouse Kady applies as a part-time waitress, the tycoon finds himself adding a new job title to his résumé: fake boyfriend, with Slade feeling strangely protective (and possessive) when he chances upon Kady's ex trying to make trouble.

  As the secret tycoon and Kady gradually grow closer in more ways than one, all signs should've pointed to a happy-ever-after ending...until the billionaire realizes the lines between fact and fiction have started to blur a little too much.

  Kady's looking at him like he's Prince Charming...even when Slade never pretended to be anything but a villain who only wants her for her body.

  * * *

  Author's Note: Reading has always been a form of escape for me, and so this has always been #1 on my mind when writing as well. And with the Secret Tycoons of Wyoming series, I honestly went all out with my fantasies: a charming small town filled with secret billionaires who fell in love with ordinary girls like you and me.

  * * *

  So, yes, just to be really clear: this is 100% over-the-top insta-love with just the right mix of steamy, funny, and sweet, and most important of all, a touch of tear-jerking heartbreak to make happy-ever-afters (read: no cliffhangers) all the more meaningful.

  About The Book

  Kady slowly ran her hand over the leathery texture of her brand-new apron. The new chapter of her life officially began now, and while the thought still filled her with trepidation, she simply started chanting more of John Wayne's wise words in her mind as she changed into a shirt and jeans.

  A man's got to do what a man's got to do.

  Farica was seated by the bar when Kady came down, chatting and laughing with a young couple, who - Kady couldn't help noticing - also happened to be as extremely attractive as the cafe's co-owners. And come to think of it, wasn't the man on horseback she saw yesterday just as good-looking?

  Kady tried not to grimace as she considered the possibility of all of Hartland's locals to have somehow descended from Aphrodite.

  Seeing that the couple was also wearing the same apron she had on, Kady realized that they were probably the two other employees Farica had told her about last night.

  Farica caught sight of Kady hovering at the foot of the steps and waved gaily at the younger girl. "There you are." Seeing Kady's shy look, she said with a smile, "Come here and join us. I promise we don't bite---"

  "But I do," Slade purred, standing right behind their newly-hired waitress, and when he started to lower his head as if about to take a chunk off Kady's shoulder---

  Farica did her best to smother her laugh as Kady virtually tripped over her own feet in her haste to get away from the billionaire. And Slade being Slade, the conceited oaf didn't even appear the tiniest bit bothered as Kady seemed to dither like a headless little chick, bumping into tables, chairs, and even into their huge-ass-jukebox before finally arriving at the bar, looking dazed and exhausted.

  Poor Kady. It just wasn't like Slade to have such fun torturing a girl like this, and Farica was doing her best not to think why it was so.

  Slade deliberately avoided Farica's disapproving look as he sauntered forward and took the bar seat that would once again place adorable little Kady between him and his business partner. His proximity had the younger woman practically wilting in her chair, and Slade nearly smirked. A less experienced man could've easily mistaken this as a sign of Kady's secret attraction to him, but Slade had fucked too many women to harbor the same delusions.

  Incredulous as it may seem, Kady was immune to him, almost as if the billionaire didn't even register as a man in her eyes.

  The realization chafed somewhat, but since he needed her waitressing skills more than he needed her presence in his bed...

  Also by Marian Tee

  Stepbrother Prince

  What if Cinderella’s prince was her stepbrother…and he was anything but charming?

  I used to be an ordinary small-town girl, working day and night just to make ends meet. But then my mother married the king and my life changed forever.

  Now, I had a stepbrother prince. He was beautiful and sexy, really charming with everyone. But with me, he was a controlling jerk.

  God, I hated him, and I thought he hated me back…until the prince showed me hate was just another form of love.

  Truly Madly Deeply

  From the very first day we met, with the professor saving me from a wagon full of daisies of all things, he's never tried to hide how much he despises me. Even so, I can't help it. Beautiful men are a dime in a dozen in my life, but he's different. There's just something about him that leaves me enthralled, enamored...enslaved.

  I know the professor has secrets, and it's what makes him push me away. But I won't let him. I'll make him understand I'm the girl he never knew he needed. I won't let my shyness get in my way - not even when I find myself in his office, and I catch the professor...pleasuring...himself...at the thought of me.

  The Billionaire Rancher She Married

  * * *

  Evergreen, Texas’ most eligible bachelor Devon Montgomery does not believe in love, which is why the handsome but cold-hearted ranch owner gets himself a mail order bride who’s sure to be undemanding of his time.

  Old-fashioned and hopeless romantic Hilary “Harry” White has never been happier to leave the city and be wife to a hard-working Texan cowboy. Imagine her surprise when she instead finds herself wife to an intimidatingly powerful billionaire rancher instead.

  Swept off her feet, Harry thinks it’s happy-ever-after for her…until she realizes that Devon only sees her as a property he’s bought to do his bidding.

  * * *

  The Billionaire Rancher's Temporary Wife

  (previously published as The Billionaire Rancher's Christmas Wife)

  * * *

  28-year-old Isla Bouchard signs up to be a mail-order bride to escape her heartbreak and start a new life as a cowboy's wife. She comes up to Aspen, Colorado to meet her future husband, who's nothing like the sweet, gentle man his letters have made him out to be. Instead, Sean Northwood turns out to be a devastatingly handsome rogue, and even more shocking, he's no ordinary rancher but a billionaire who owns one of the world's most successful stud farms.

  Isla is terrified of trusting and loving a man again, but just one kiss from Sean is enough to make her forget all her fears and insecurities. And so she gives herself to him - heart, body, and soul - not knowing that the billionaire only sees her as a temporary part of his life.

  * * *

  The Billionaire Rancher's Unwanted Wife

  * * *

  Billionaire cattle rancher Nicholas Sutherland was one of San Antonio's Finest Eligibles, aka what the media loved to call as SAFE. But tod
ay, he found out he was no longer eligible, with his teenage son having forged his signature to serve as Nicholas' proxy groom in a mail-order marriage.

  * * *

  Tabitha "Bee" Sandler couldn't stop pinching herself. Her beautiful and devastatingly sexy husband Nicholas was ideal in every way, and even more amazing was how he seemed to feel the same towards her. Life was perfect...until she found out it was all a lie, and Nicholas had only been pretending all along.

  Bought by The Billionaire Rancher

  Billionaire oil baron Logan Hardwall may be the last bachelor standing among San Antonio's Finest Eligibles, aka SAFE, but it didn't mean he was ready to get leg-shackled like his other friends and believe in all that true love sh*t.

  When he suddenly found himself in need of a wife to take care of his orphaned nephew, Logan began his hunt for the perfect mail-order bride. She had to be good with kids, but she also had to understand her place in his life, and that was not as his loving wife.

  She might warm his bed, wear his wedding ring, and be able to spend his money at will, but other than that...she was just the nanny, and that was all she would ever be.

  The Rockstar I've Loved for So Long

  French billionaire Dylan Charbonneau is my best friend. He's also the world's sexiest rock star and all the girls who love him consider Dylan as public property.

  All these years, he pretends he doesn't know I love him, but I've had enough. It hurts too much, seeing him all the time with them and not being able to call him mine.

  This time, I'm going to tell him. I'm going to make him take me. And this time, I'm going to make him decide. Am I really just a friend to him?

  Secret Tycoons of Wyoming #1

  By Marian Tee

  * * *

  Copyright 2019 by Streak Digital Publishing

  All rights reserved. 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.

  All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Chapter One

  True

  * * *

  "I think I don't regret a single 'excess' of my responsive youth—I only regret, in my chilled age, certain occasions and possibilities I didn't embrace." ~ Henry James

  * * *

  Kady slowed the car to a stop so she could reach for the map she had tossed on the passenger seat.

  She had bought it on impulse at a 7-11 near her university in Laramie. She had heard that the Internet was next to nothing where she was going, and true enough, her Google Maps had stopped working as soon as she was several miles past the city limits and making her way up west.

  Unfolding the map on her lap, Kady ran a finger over the map to carefully retrace her route one last time, never mind if it was basically one straight long road then a right turn at the end.

  Thirty minutes later, and Kady breathed a sigh of relief as a horse-shaped sign came up on the other side of the road, with the words 'Welcome to the Town of Hartland (Population 9,008)' written in cursive. With directional parking signboards mounted on just about every post, it took only a few minutes for Kady to find a free slot for her five-year-old Toyota. And then she was stepping out, her throat tightening in nervousness at the realization that a new chapter in life could be starting any moment.

  This was what you wanted, Kady reminded herself. The simple life, and how simpler could it get if there wasn't Internet to have people compare each other's lives? So get your inner John Wayne going: courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.

  And almost as if God was listening to her pep talk, she was just about to cross the street when she heard something strange and loud, like...horse hooves chopping over the pavement? Her head immediately lifted up, and her jaw dropped as a man on horseback galloped past her, leaving a faint trail of dust. She rubbed her eyes, and when she looked for the man again, he was reining his steed in, using it to turn the big, black horse towards...

  Was this for real?

  Was that man really falling in line at a McDonald's drive-thru lane...on horseback?

  She could only shake her head, knowing that had to be a sign God was listening...and that He had a sense of humor. As she finally crossed the street, a giggle from a young boy startled Kady into looking around, and it was then she realized she hadn't been alone in her amazement.

  The boy was chatting animatedly with his dad now while his mother smiled at Kady, her bemused gaze seeming to say, Wasn't that the strangest and coolest thing ever?

  Kady beamed back. Absolutely. It was a tiny wordless exchange, but the whole thing meant the world to her. Her whole life, she had lived in one of the nicer (and snobbier) communities of Denver, and while she had never lacked for anything materially, constant criticism from the people around her had made Kady see herself as an ugly odd duckling with nothing to offer.

  But that was then, she reminded herself, and this was now. Kady resumed walking, the memories of the guy on horseback causing her to smile to herself and ease her nervousness. It was even enough to gift her with a (false) sense of security when she eventually found what she came for: a job vacancy ad framed on the window of a charming two-story coffee shop.

  It was as picturesque as the rest of the town, a brick building with flowers all around it, and what seemed like a vegetable and herbal garden at the back. Craning her neck, she even saw the edges of a swing set, and it just about completed her idea of small-town living.

  The only thing that could've made this whole scene perfect was if the sign door had not been flipped to CLOSED.

  Kady bit her lip as she considered whether to try her luck anyway. She knew small towns had to close earlier than the shops back home, and Denver wasn't even like NYC to begin with, but for this one to be closed at 3:30 in the afternoon...surely that couldn't be the norm?

  YOLO, Kady reminded herself. Quoting millennial jargon wasn't really her thing, but this particular modern-day shorthand she had instantly gravitated to the moment she realized what it meant. YOLO was something she had never done in all 24 years of her life, but that, too, would change.

  Starting now.

  Chin up, Kady tried the knob and it turned under her fingers a little too easily, making her think fancifully that this was the door of opportunity she was fated to open.

  The interior was a cozy take on industrial, with its old brick walls, hanging vertical shelves in black iron, and polished concrete flooring. The furniture was a mix of elegant and comfy, with its leather couches and refurbished wooden tables, while the ubiquitous use of copper - from flower pots to pans and coffee mugs - added an attractive metallic accent to the place.

  A dreamy smile curved over Kady's lips. I can see myself working here every day---

  A couple suddenly burst out of the kitchen, their voices easily drowning out the soothing notes of True by Spandau Ballet playing faintly in the background.

  Or maybe not.

  The woman was a petite golden-haired beauty who seemed to be making a conscious effort to downplay her looks, with her granny glasses, pine-cone-and-lavender printed sweater, and shapeless sweatpants. She also looked, Kady observed nervously, ready to murder someone.

  "You know how I feel about him," the other woman was snarling.

  And the man currently tying apron strings behind his back growled in return, "He caught me at a bad moment, okay?"

  Tall, tanned, and dark-haired, the man had the kind of chiseled features that easily placed him in Henry-Cavill levels of perfection - the farmboy Clark Kent version, Kady couldn't help thinking, considering the amount of facial hair he was sporting, not to mention his rugged choice of clothes: red plaid shirt, faded jeans, and a well-worn pair of boots.

  It didn't exactly scream cowboy (he was patently missing a Stetson hat for that), but he definitely seemed down-to-earth enough to have the upper middle cl
ass society Kady had grown up with turn their noses in the air at him.

  All the better, Kady thought, except...

  "I just can't believe you'd let something like that slip so easily!" Banging noises suddenly cut through her silent fretting and caused Kady to nearly jump out of her skin. Lord help her, but was it normal for the drop-dead gorgeous pair to fight like this? Kady hated confrontations of every kind, and yet the other woman appeared intent on creating as much furor as possible, with the way she was slamming pots and pans against each other.

  "Will you fucking quit that?" Hartland Superman roared.

  "Never!"

  "For fuck's sake. No wonder Steel March hasn't ever---"

  "AAAAARGH!"

  Seeing that steam was about to come out of the other woman's ears anytime, Kady slowly started backing away.

  Definitely not the right place to apply for a job.

  She tried to leave without drawing attention to herself, but as all best-laid plans (of hers) tended to go, she ended up doing the opposite instead, with her hip accidentally bumping against the corner of one table.