by Brenda Jackson
Prologue
Christmas Day
Nolan Madaris III took a sip of his beer while standing on the balcony of his condo. Leaning against the rail, he had a breathtaking view of the exclusive fifteen-story Madaris Building that was surrounded by a cluster of upscale shops, restaurants and a beautiful jogging park with a huge man-made pond. The condos where he lived were right across from the water.
The entire complex, including the condos, had been architecturally designed, engineered and constructed by the Madaris Construction Company that was owned by his cousins Blade and Slade. For the holidays, the Madaris Building and the surrounding shops, restaurants and jogging park were beautifully decorated with colorful, bright lights. It was hard to believe a new year was just a week away.
When Nolan had arrived home from his cousin Lee’s wedding, he hadn’t bothered to remove his tuxedo. Instead he’d headed straight for the refrigerator, grabbed a beer and proceeded to the balcony for a bit of mental relaxation. But all his mind could do was recall the moment his ninetysomething-year-old great-grandmother, Felicia Laverne Madaris, had finally cornered him at the reception that evening. She was a notorious matchmaker, and he’d been avoiding her all night. Her success rate was too astounding to suit him—and she had calmly warned him that he was next.
He was just as determined not to be.
Nolan, his brother, Corbin, and his cousins Reese and Lee had all been born within a fifteen-month period. They were as close as brothers and had been thick as thieves while growing up. Mama Laverne swore her goal was to marry them all off before she took her last breath. They all told her that wouldn’t happen, but then the next thing they knew, Reese had married Kenna and today Lee married Carly.
What bothered Nolan more than anything about his great-grandmother setting her schemes on him was that she of all people knew what he’d gone through with Andrea Dunmire. Specifically, the hurt, pain and humiliation she had caused him. Yes, it had been years ago and he had gotten over it, but there were some things you didn’t forget. A woman ripping your heart out of your chest was one of them.
His cell phone rang. Recognizing the ringtone, he pulled it out of his pocket and answered, “Yes, Corbin?”
“Hey, man, I just wanted to check on you. We saw you tear out of here like the devil himself was after you. It’s Christmas and we thought you would stay the night at Whispering Pines and continue to party like the rest of us.”
Whispering Pines was their uncle Jake’s ranch. Nolan took another sip of his beer before saying, “I couldn’t stay knowing Mama Laverne is already plotting my downfall. You wouldn’t believe what she told me.”
“We weren’t standing far away and heard.”
Nolan shook his head in frustration. “So now all of you know that Mama Laverne’s friend’s granddaughter is the woman she’s picked out for me.”
“Yes, and we got a name. Reese and I overheard Mama Laverne tell Aunt Marilyn that your future wife’s name is Ivy Chapman.”
“Like hell the woman is my future wife.” And Nolan couldn’t care less about her name. He’d never met her and didn’t intend to. “All this time I thought Mama Laverne was plotting to marry the woman’s granddaughter off to Lee. She set me up real good.”
Corbin didn’t say anything and Nolan was glad because for the moment he needed the silence. It didn’t matter to him one iota that so far every one of his cousins whose wives had been selected by his great-grandmother were madly in love with their spouses and saw her actions as a blessing and not a curse. What mattered was that she should not have interfered in the process. And what bothered him more than anything was knowing that he was next on her list. He didn’t want her to find him a wife. When and if he was ready for marriage, he was certainly capable of finding one on his own.
“You’ve come up with a plan?” Corbin interrupted Nolan’s thoughts to ask.
Nolan thought of the diabolical plan his cousin Lee had put in place to counteract their great-grandmother’s shenanigans and guaranteed to outsmart Mama Laverne for sure. However, in the end, Lee’s plan had backfired.
“No, why waste my time planning anything? I simply refuse to play the games Mama Laverne is intent on playing. What I’m going to do is ignore her foolishness and enjoy my life as the newest eligible Madaris bachelor.”
He could say that since, at thirty-four, he was ten months older than Corbin, who would be next on their great-grandmother’s hit list. “By the time I make my rounds, there won’t be a single woman living in Houston who won’t know I’m not marriage material,” Nolan added.
Corbin chuckled. “That sounds like a plan to me.”
“Not a plan, just stating my intentions. I refuse to let Mama Laverne shove a wife that I don’t want down my throat just because she thinks she can and that she should.”
After ending the call with his brother, Nolan swallowed the last of his beer. Like he’d told Corbin, he didn’t have a plan and wouldn’t waste time coming up with one. What he intended to do was to have fun; as much fun as any single man could possibly have.
A huge smile touched his lips as he left the balcony. Walking into his condo, he headed for his bedroom. Quickly removing the tux, he changed into a pair of slacks and a pullover sweater. The night was still young and there was no reason for him not to go out and celebrate the holiday.
As he moved toward his front door, he started humming “Jingle Bells.” Let the fun begin.
One
Fifteen months later...
Nolan clicked off his mobile phone, satisfied with the call he’d just ended with Lee about his cousin’s newest hotel, the Grand MD Paris. Construction of the huge mega-structure had begun three weeks ago. Already it was being touted by the media as the hotel of the future, and Nolan would have to agree.
Due to the hotel’s intricate design and elaborate formation, the estimated completion time was two years. You couldn’t rush grandeur, and by the time the doors opened, the Grand MD Paris would set itself apart as one of the most luxurious hotels in the world.
This would be the third hotel Lee and his business partner, DeAngelo Di Meglio, had built. First there had been the Grand MD Dubai, and after such astounding success with that hotel, the pair had opened the Grand MD Vegas. Since both hotels had been doing extremely well financially, a decision was made to build a third hotel in Paris. The Grand MD Paris would use state-of-the-art technology while maintaining the rich architectural designs Paris was known for.
Slade, the architect in the Madaris family, had designed all three Grand MD hotels. Nolan would have to say that Slade’s design of the Paris hotel was nothing short of a masterpiece. Slade had made sure that no Grand MD hotel looked the same and that each had its own unique architecture and appeal. Slade’s twin, Blade, was the structural engineer and had spent the last six months in Paris making sure the groundwork was laid before work on the hotel began. There had been surveys that needed to be completed, soil samples to analyze, as well as a tight construction schedule if they were to meet the deadline for a grand opening two years from now. And knowing Lee and DeAngelo like he did, Nolan expected the Grand MD Paris to open its doors on time and to a fanfare of the likes of a presidential inauguration.
After getting a master’s graduate degree at MIT, Nolan had begun working for Chenault Electronics at their Chicago office. Chenault Electronics was considered one of the top ten electronics companies in the world. The owner, Nicholas Chenault, was a family friend, had taken Nolan under his wing and had not only been his boss but his mentor, as well.
After working for Chenault for eight years, Nolan had returned to Houston three years ago to start his own company, Madaris Innovations.
Nolan’s company would provide all the electronic and technology work for the Grand MD Paris; some would be the first of its kind anywhere. All high-tech and trend changing. It would be Nolan’s first project of this caliber and he appreciated Lee and DeAngelo for giving him the opportunity. Lee and his wife, Carly, spent most of their time in Paris now. Since DeAngelo and his wife, Peyton, were expecting their first child four months from now, DeAngelo had decreased his travel schedule somewhat.
Nolan also appreciated Nicholas for agreeing to partner with him on the project. Chenault Electronics would be bringing years of experience and know-how to the table and Nolan welcomed Nicholas’s skill and knowledge.
Nolan had enjoyed the two weeks he’d spent in Paris. He would have to go back a number of times this year for more meetings and he looked forward to doing so, since Paris was one of his favorite places to visit. There was a real possibility that he might have to live there while his electronic equipment was scheduled to be installed.
Nolan leaned back in his chair. In a way, he regretted returning to Houston. Before leaving, he had done everything in his power to become the life of every party, and his reputation as Houston’s number one playboy had been cemented. In some circles, he’d been pegged as Houston’s One-Night Stander. Now that he was back, that role had to be rekindled, but if he was honest with himself, he wasn’t looking forward to the nights of mindless, emotionless sex with women whose names he barely remembered. He only hoped that Ivy Chapman, her grandmother and his great-grandmother were getting the message—he had no intentions of settling down anytime soon. At least not in the next twenty-five years or so.
He rubbed a hand down his face, thinking that while he wouldn’t admit to it, he was discovering that living the life of a playboy wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. Most of his dates were one-night stands. There were times he would spend a week with the same woman, and occasionally someone would make it a month, but he didn’t want to give these women the wrong idea about the possibility of a future together. He was probably going to have to change his phone number due to the number of messages from women wanting a callback. Women expecting a callback. Women he barely remembered from one sexual encounter to the next. Jeez.
Nolan wondered how his cousins Clayton and Blade, the ones who’d been known as die-hard womanizers in the family before they’d settled down to marry, had managed it all. Clayton had had such an active sex life that he’d owned a case of condoms that he’d kept in his closet. Nolan knew that tidbit was more fact than fiction, since he’d seen the case after Clayton had passed it on to Blade when Clayton had gotten married.
Blade hadn’t passed the box on to anyone when he’d married. Not only had he used up the case he’d gotten from Clayton, but he’d gone through a case of his own. Somehow Clayton and Blade had not only managed to handle the playboy life, but each claimed they’d enjoyed doing so immensely at the time.
Nolan, on the other hand, was finding the life of a Casanova pretty damn taxing and way too demanding. And it wasn’t even deterring Ivy Chapman.
Nolan picked up the envelope on top of the stack on his desk. He knew what it was and who it had come from. He recalled getting the first one six months ago and he had received several more since then. He wondered why Ivy Chapman was still sending him these little personal notes when he refused to acknowledge them. All the notes said the same thing... Nolan, I would love to meet you. Call me so it can be arranged. Here is my number...
Nolan didn’t give a royal flip what her phone number was, since he had no intentions of calling her, regardless of the fact that his matchmaking great-grandmother fully expected him to do so. He would continue to ignore Miss Chapman and any correspondence she sent him. He refused to give in to his great-grandmother’s matchmaking shenanigans.
He tossed the envelope aside and picked up his cell phone to call his family and let them know he was back. He had slept off jet lag most of yesterday and hadn’t talked to anyone other than his cousin Reese and his brother, Corbin. Reese and his wife, Kenna, were expecting their first baby in June and everyone was excited. For years, Reese and Kenna, who’d met in college, had claimed they were nothing but best friends. However, the family had known better and figured one day the couple would reach the same conclusion. Mama Laverne bragged that they were just another one of her success stories.
Nolan ended the call with his parents, stood and walked over to the window to look out. Like most of his relatives, he leased space in the Madaris Building. His electronics company was across the hall from Madaris Explorations, owned by his older cousin Dex.
He loved Houston in March, but it always brought out dicey weather. You had some warm days, but there were days when winter refused to fade into the background while spring tried emerging. He was ready for warmer days and couldn’t wait to spend time at the cottage he’d purchased on Tiki Island, a village in Galveston, last year. He’d hired Ron Siskin, a property manager, to handle the leasing of the cottage whenever he wasn’t using it. So far it had turned out to be not only a great investment but also a getaway place whenever he needed a break from the demands of his job, life itself and, yes, of course, the women who were becoming more demanding by the hour.
The buzzer sounded and he walked back over to his desk. “Yes, Marlene?” Marlene was an older woman in her sixties who’d worked for him since he started the company three years ago. A retired administrative assistant for an insurance agent, Marlene had decided to come out of retirement when she’d gotten bored. She was good at what she did and helped to keep the office running when he was in or out of it.
“There’s a woman here to see you, Mr. Madaris. She doesn’t have an appointment and says it’s important.”
Nolan frowned, glancing at his watch. It’s wasn’t even ten in the morning. Who would show up at his office without an appointment and at this hour? There were a number of family members who worked in the Madaris Building. Obviously, it wasn’t one of them; otherwise Marlene would have said so. “Who is she?”
“A Miss Ivy Chapman.”
He guessed she was tired of sending notes that went unanswered. Hadn’t she heard around town what a scoundrel he was? The last man any woman should be interested in? So what was she doing here?
There was only one way to find out. If she needed to know why he hadn’t responded, that he could certainly tell her. She could stop sending him those notes or else he would take her actions as a form of harassment. He had no problem telling her in no uncertain terms that he was not interested in pursuing an affair with her, regardless of the fact that his great-grandmother and her grandmother wanted it to be so.
“Send her in, Marlene.”
“Yes, Mr. Madaris.”
Nolan had eased into his jacket and straightened his tie before his office door swung open. The first thing he saw was a huge bouquet of flowers that was bigger than the person carrying them. Why was the woman bringing him flowers? Did she honestly think a huge bouquet of flowers would work when her cute little notes hadn’t?
He couldn’t see the woman’s face behind the huge vase of flowers, and without saying a word, not even so much as a good morning, she plopped the monstrosity onto his desk with a loud thump. It was a wonder the vase hadn’t cracked. Hell, maybe it had. He could just imagine water spilling all over his desk.
Nolan looked from the flowers that were taking up entirely too much space on his desk to the woman who’d unceremoniously placed them there. He was not prepared for the beauty of the soft brown eyes behind a pair of thick-rimmed glasses or the perfect roundness of her face and the creamy cocoa coloring of her complexion. And he couldn’t miss the fullness of her lips that were pursed tight in anger.
“I’m only going to warn you but this once, Nolan Madaris. Do not send me any more flowers. Doing so won’t change a thing. I’ve decided to come tell you personally, the same thing I’ve repeatedly told your great-grandmother and my grandmother. There is no way I’d ever become involved with you. No way. Ever.”
Her words shocked him to the point that he could only stand there and stare at her. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared back. “Well?” she asked in a voice filled with annoyance when he continued to stare at her and say nothing. “Do I make myself clear?”
Finding his voice, Nolan said, “You most certainly do. However, there’s a problem and I consider it a major one.”
Those beautiful eyes were razor-sharp and directed at him. “And just what problem is that?”
Now it was he who turned a cutting gaze on her. “I never sent you any flowers. Today or ever.”
Find out if Nolan Madaris has finally met his match in
by New York Times bestselling author
Brenda Jackson, available March 2018
wherever HQN Books and ebooks are sold.
Copyright © 2018 by Brenda Streater Jackson