The Matchmaker Bride (The Bride Series) Read online

  Praise for Shadonna Richards’

  AN UNEXPECTED BRIDE

  (BOOK 1 IN THE BRIDE SERIES)

  "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

  "Author Shadonna Richards has an "unexpected" bestseller on her hands with this unheralded romantic comedy....An Unexpected Bride has sold 10,000 copies in its first three months..."

  -KINDLE NATION DAILY

  "Shadonna Richards is a wonderful author!...It's a sweet and romantic story that will

  sweep you off your feet."

  - REVIEWS BY MOLLY

  THE MATCHMAKER BRIDE

  (BOOK 3 IN THE BRIDE SERIES)

  Shadonna Richards

  Copyright © 2011 Shadonna Richards

  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, Godwin, Monica, and Percell. To my editor M.M. for always being brilliant.

  To Judy, Yvonne, Fenn, and Anne.

  “Ask, and it shall be given (to) you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you…”

  —Matthew 7:7

  THE MATCHMAKER BRIDE

  What happens when a lonely matchmaker unexpectedly falls in love with a forbidden client— a gorgeous, high-flying CEO with a secret past?

  Confirmed bachelor and sexy jetsetter Carlos Bradley III is in need of a contract bride to win a secret custody battle. He will pay any price for an elite and discreet matchmaking agency to hook him up with an emotion-free relationship of convenience. What he did not bargain for was his attraction to the agency’s newest matchmaker, Sophie.

  Single and not-searching, Sophie Wilson is the newly-hired consultant for Stone’s elite matchmaking services. Desperate to pay off her medical bills, she tries to match the agency’s top-paying client with charming Carlos, but he has already decided his match. Torn between ethics and her emotions, can she afford to trust him with her heart and her future?

  1

  “You can rent a bridal gown, Carlos, but you can’t rent the bride in the gown,” Julian said to his long-time friend and business partner, Carlos Bradley III.

  “This is no laughing matter, Julian,” Carlos said, rubbing the stubble on his face. Lately, he had been too busy to shave. He’d been sporting the five-o’clock-shadow-bad-boy look. “I’m serious when I say I need to hire, rent, borrow or whatever it’s called, a woman who can at least pretend to be my wife for thirty days so that I can win this custody battle. I need her right away.”

  Carlos felt heat rise to his throat as he stared out of his luxury glass-walled penthouse suite overlooking a panoramic view of the city of Toronto skyline and the great lake of Ontario. He was also in close distance to his office building. It was one of his two residences. The other was a luxury mansion in the Bayview area where he had housekeepers and a therapist seven days a week for his fragile half sister. He held tight to the letter from his stepmother’s lawyer regarding his half sister whom he’d cared for during the past year, paying for her medical bills and therapy while his stepmother was in and out of rehab.

  “Look, I know it hurts. We all know why Tessa wants Bria back.”

  “Yeah, so she can become her guardian again,” Carlos said with a grimace. “Great way to grab hold of that fortune my old miser Dad left behind.”

  “But you need to think straight. It’s not going to be that easy to buy someone’s time and reputation to pull off this fake marriage thing.”

  “Money bewitches people, Julian. People will do almost anything for the right price. And I need such a person now.”

  “I know. I hear you, man,” Julian said with a sigh.

  “I’m not interested in any emotional chains to any woman right now. Having a Velcro attachment to anyone is the last thing I need. My lifestyle doesn’t lend itself to a romantic commitment. All I want is an actress to do her part when the time comes, like in court. She’ll be paid generously for her time. I wish there was an agency I could call now to hire someone.”

  “Oh, there is.”

  “There is?”

  “You sound so surprised. You just said you wished there was an agency for such a thing,” his friend joshed, trying to ease the tension.

  “I’m not talking escort here!” Carlos warned with a deadly expression.

  “I know, my friend. There’s this elite and discreet agency called Stone’s north of the city. They don’t really advertise their services like other matchmaking agencies. What they do is they go mostly by referrals. And they’re doing quite well apparently.”

  Carlos shook his head in disbelief. “Julian, I’m almost afraid to ask but…how did you find out about this agency?” He raised a brow.

  “Oh, let’s just say I checked them out, okay? Besides, it’s not about me; it’s about you. Now check this out: some wealthy, celebrity people go to them to get a hookup for all kinds of reasons. They have women looking for rich men and rich men looking for cute, intelligent, women from decent backgrounds and education. Tons of celebrities.”

  “Can’t the celebrities find their own matches?”

  “Well, dear friend, just like you, time is of the essence,” Julian said, taking a sip from his drink.

  “They don’t have the time and resources to check that every person they date is not a gold digger or exploitative. This agency runs a really tight security check on all clients. They have some sort of BS detector to weed out phonies and opportunists on both sides. Their success rate is like, almost one hundred percent. The best in the industry. No complaints. Professionals use them too, like top lawyers, doctors, CEOs, pro athletes, B-list actors, you name it. They screen for different categories like marriages of convenience for both parties, marriages for companionship, love, breeding purposes… Oh, and heiresses are very popular,” he rambled on with enthusiasm.

  “You’re kidding me, right?”

  “Nope. Some rich heiresses wanna please daddy by marrying the right type of person while they live the party life they really want. There was this heiress who had to get hitched to keep her inheritance and prove she’s through with her party ways. Of course, she wasn’t but she wanted him to feel that way.”

  “And?”

  “And…well, they matched her up with some rich dude who was looking to hide his secret other life by having a trophy wife by his side on occasions.”

  Carlos wiped his brow and shook his head. He could not believe he was about to agree to this but when he looked at it, he didn’t have much choice. The mediation would be in four weeks. He had to come up with something. He didn’t want to turn to his own circle of friends right now. The women he’d dated would want more and possibly lead to a scandal and blackmail him about the whole fake marriage business. He couldn’t think straight. But he hated being backed up into a corner. If he thought his stepmother was going to use his baby sister as bait, she had another thing coming. She’d married his father for his money…but never dreamed the old man hid most of his finances and had such a huge fortune in st
ocks that he told no one about. Bria cried and begged to come back to Carlos’s home in northeast Toronto when she stayed with her mother over a weekend. It was too much. He had his detectives check out the home situation and it turned out that she wasn’t getting the care and attention she needed. The woman he hired to be her therapist was perfect for Bria but his stepmother was using the excuse that he never spent time with her himself and had a different woman every night which was not true, though he’d had his share of women. He was never close to his father and often defied him to branch out into his own business, software development, a far cry from the family owned restaurant his father was so proud of. He’d been burned by his own father before his passing but he was not going to be burned by his father’s fourth wife. Neither would Bria. He would make sure of that. He’d stop at nothing to set things straight.

  2

  “We have a reputation to maintain, my dear,” Janice Stone, CEO of Stone Inc. Matchmaking Services explained in her faint British accent.

  She sipped her tea from her tea cup as she sat in the boardroom talking to her latest recruit.

  Sophie was sure the woman was scrutinizing her choice of clothing by the way her eyes scanned her entire body from top to bottom. This was, after all, an elite agency. She was supposed to be a preschool teacher, not this. But she had no choice right now. Rubbing noses with the rich and famous was not really her thing, not that she had anything against them. She was just more low-key, down to earth. She found herself feeling terribly awkward in a lot of social situations. But, oh, God, she really needed this job.

  “We all want love, dear, or at least companionship. That’s why matchmaking and online dating are big business,” Mrs. Stone continued, eyeing Sophie as she sat before her. “One must present a level of professionalism in manners and appearance, discretion and…well, knowledge. You must be thorough in your assessment of the client to provide a perfect match.”

  “Right. Got it.” Sophie swallowed hard. “I mean…I understand, Janice.”

  She noticed her boss flinch.

  “I mean Mrs. Stone.” Sophie corrected herself, then noticed Mrs. Stone calmed down a bit. She reminded Sophie of an older British comedy actor who played Hyacinth Bucket pronounced “bouquet” on Keeping Up Appearances. She was very old-fashioned and proper. This was not going to be an easy task but she was determined not to screw this up. She just couldn’t afford to. Luckily she’d passed all the security checks and references since she was a qualified teacher who had gone through meticulous police background checks and personality tests. Still, she had a private situation that she’d gotten herself into that needed to be sorted out fast. She loved a job where she could make people happy, namely disadvantaged kids like her volunteer work she did on Saturday mornings but still, matching up couples was a good deed. Both parties would get what they desired in the other, whether for love or companionship. She’d have to learn to like it or it’d show in her job. But for her, she had no intention of getting involved again after her own personal heartbreak which left her with a temporary moment of emptiness and despair. Being single was just fine for her.

  “Good. Now, let’s go through the rules of the agency again.” Mrs. Stone took another sip of her tea and placed the cup back on the saucer. She wore heavy makeup and bright red lipstick with a wide-brimmed hat fit for the Ascot Racecourse. Her British accent was somewhat subtle but ever so present.

  “Rule number one, privacy is a must. Rule number two, under no circumstance do you get involved with a client. Rule three; do not get personal with said client. Rule four; be accurate in your findings. Rule five, honesty and professionalism are crucial,” she said carefully.

  Sophie nodded thoughtfully as she took mental note. She’d heard from a friend of hers that Mrs. Stone was a society woman with countless connections. You screw anything up and you’d be blacklisted faster than a speeding freight train. She had no intention of screwing up ever. Oh, God, she wished she could just teach and work with children. She felt more comfortable around children. What was she doing there? She really didn’t like working around adults with the politics, backbiting and rivalry.

  “Now, the procedures have been read, I trust.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Good. Any questions about procedures before I present you with your client’s file?”

  “Well, you did mention that it would be necessary do a surveillance of some kind. Is that right?”

  Mrs. Stone rolled her eyes and leaned forward in her chair. “My dear, it’s not quite a surveillance…it’s more of a reality check to ensure the applicants are who they say they are. One can only rely on the internet so much. We don’t need to divulge exactly how those checks are followed through to the client. That information stays here at the agency. Besides, the only thing that’s unethical is people misrepresenting themselves. That’s why Stone has always had a one hundred percent success rate. No other agency could boast that. Anyway, let’s get down to your responsibilities,” she finished, not inviting any more questions.

  Sophie could tell that she was slightly peeved and tried not to ask any more silly questions.

  “First of all, we sent a few profiles without the pictures at his request to Mr. Bradley who is in need of a wife for a specific period of time.”

  “Specific period of time?” Sophie asked incredulously.

  Again, the eye roll followed by another verbal lashing from Mrs. Stone. “My dear, did you not read any of our offerings? We do marriages of…let’s just say convenience as well as marriages for companionship and love. Both have their suitable purposes,” she emphasized, flipping through some folders on the desk.

  “For instance, one of the ladies he has chosen is the daughter of one of my dear clients, Lady Dextworth,” Mrs. Stone continued, eyeing the contents of one of the manila folders. “In order to gain her inheritance she will need to marry by the time she turns thirty, which is soon. Her name is Sandrina Dextworth but she prefers to be called Sandy. Anyway, Mr. Bradley needs a wife for at least thirty days for a personal reason he did not disclose. Do you see how both parties win? We’ve matched them perfectly. In fact, I’m quite pleased with this match. You will be very careful not to mess this one up, dear. Your background check and references are unimpeachable. I trust that I can rely on you.”

  Sophie felt her heart beat in her throat. She really wanted to ask her boss why she would trust her with such an important match.

  “Yep, I’m your…woman.” Sophie felt her stomach squeeze. “I mean, you can absolutely count on me, Mrs. Stone.”

  “Very well, then. You will meet tomorrow at two o’clock in the afternoon at his office and find out what type of person he really is before we allow both parties to meet next week. We often put a lot of time into our matches; that’s why we have a one hundred percent success or satisfaction rate and that’s why our fees are what they are.” Mrs. Stone handed Sophie the file with Carlos Bradley’s preliminary information.

  When her friend told Sophie about the agency she really could not believe it. She could not believe there were such secretive matchmaking societies like this one. But still it was a job and one she needed. She was grateful that she had a solid background and had worked for police services as a civil servant prior to going back to college and switching careers to childcare.

  Her eyes widened when she saw the fee code on the front of the file. Holy crapola. That was quite a tall fee to pay to be matched up.

  In the past, Sophie had been matched up with her now ex-fiancé, her first real love, so she thought. He was her very first and only love so far. She’d trusted him and thought that she meant as much to him as he did to her. Boy, was she naïve. She gave it up to someone who didn’t really care for her. She had a condition that first appeared during childhood and during that period of time it was difficult for her to form relationships but he was less than understanding. Since then, she’d been back to more extensive therapy and racked up a lot of credit card bills for her treatments but
was slowly paying them off. They were matched up by a mutual friend. Of course, she found out later that the mutual friend, her best friend, only wanted to get him off her shoulder because she had so many guys swooning over her. But she obviously had a change of heart when she saw how happy Sophie was with him.

  Her face heated up like a furnace as the thought slid into her mind of Randy the charmer with her best friend from childhood. God, did that sting her ego and smash her heart into a million pieces. She lost what she thought was a best friend and a boyfriend all in one go when she caught them together. She cringed and squeezed her eyes shut at the thought. To make matters worse, they were getting married soon and all their mutual friends would be in attendance. Everyone except Sophie. Her parents felt so horrid for her. She really wanted them to feel that she’d gotten over it and that it didn’t hurt as bad so she buried herself in her work and left the police services where they had both worked together. Well, she got over Randy alright—just not the betrayal. She never got too close to anyone again after that.