Kostas's Convenient Bride: Kostas's Convenient Bride / Desert Prince's Stolen Bride. Кейт Хьюит

I...” She just didn’t believe it.

      “You know I do not care if I impress my Greek family.”

      “And yet you have this elaborate plan designed to prove to them how great you are.”

      “Or rather how much I do not need them.” He said it like she should know this. She supposed he’d said it often enough.

      She shrugged. She simply didn’t believe him.

      He raised his brows. “Who else do I care to impress?”

      “Your future wife? Genevieve? Other billionaires? I don’t know.”

      “None of the above.”

      “Then why would you care what I think?”

      “Because you are my friend.”

      “You say that like you don’t have any others and we both know that isn’t true.” Well, sort of. He wasn’t a social guy.

      Andreas Kostas was focused on his goals.

      “Acquaintances, contacts, even casual friends maybe,” he listed. “But not people whose opinions will ever matter to me enough to change the course of my life.”

      “Mine doesn’t either.”

      He looked around them, then at her, his expression belying her words. “And yet here I am, in New York, when I am supposed to be in Portland having a makeover with the matchmaker.”

      “I wonder if she’s going to give you hair extensions and a man bun. They’re pretty popular right now.”

      Andreas shuddered. “Not going to happen.”

      “Oh, I know, she’ll put you in jeans every day and those graphic tees that cling to your muscles and show off all the goodies.”

      “You like to tease me.”

      “Well, she’s not going to leave you in your perfectly tailored bespoke suits and an overpriced businessman’s haircut.”

      “Why not?” Andreas demanded, aggrieved.

      “How should I know? You’re the one who said she insisted on a makeover.” Kayla thought he was plenty devastating just the way he was.

      “Genevieve believes I am not approachable enough for husband material.”

      “What kind of husband does she think you need to be?”

      “That is a good question and perhaps one I should have asked before paying her a twenty-five-thousand-dollar retainer.”

      “You think?” Kayla asked with heavy sarcasm.

      Andreas frowned at her. “It is not as if I asked her nothing.”

      “Oh, I’m sure.” Kayla started ticking off on her fingers. “Can you find me a bride who will fit these requirements? Will she be an asset to my business? She must be of a certain age and come from an acceptable background.”

      “You know I am not seeking to marry some wealthy socialite.”

      “That’s not what I meant by acceptable background. I know you well enough to know your list of background attributes ran more to the lines of came from a stable home so she knows what good parenting looks like for when you have children.” Which left Kayla out of the running right there. “Has an education, but isn’t a PhD because you’re enough of a chauvinist it would bother you if your wife was more educated than you.”

      “It doesn’t bother me that you are smarter than me.”

      “I’m smarter at computers, not more intelligent and we have the same number of years in our degrees. Do not tell me if I had a PhD in engineering it wouldn’t bother you.”

      “I would be proud of you. Do you wish to go back to school?”

      Sometimes Kayla did. She loved learning, but more because she thought maybe someday she’d like to teach at the adult level. She didn’t say that now, though. She just stared at him.

      “What?” he demanded.

      “My future plans aren’t your concern.”

      “I do not agree.”

      “Andreas, you’re going to be way too busy with your new venture capital firm to worry about what I do on the daily with my life.”

      “That is not true.”

      “You’re so stubborn.”

      He laughed. “Have you met yourself?”

      “Seriously, Andreas. You have this picture of how everything is going to be and you assume everyone is going to fall into it. That’s not the way the world always works.”

      “As you have proven. We are in New York.”

      “So you have reminded me.”

      “It is a fascinating city, but I had no plans to visit this week.”

      “Neither did I before you dropped your bomb.”

      “It was not my intention to explode your life.”

      “Just move yours forward. I know.”

      “In my defense, I believed I was moving both our lives forward.”

      “Because you are arrogant and believe you know what is best for other people.”

      “Are you trying to pick a fight with me?”

      “No. Just not letting you get away with anything. It’s what I do.”

      “It has been too long since we shared a meal like this.”

      “You’ve been busy the past couple of months.” She looked at him as the pieces started to fall into place. “Getting ready for the sale to Sebastian Hawk, right?”

      Andreas grimaced. “You make it sound like I was sneaking around. I did nothing in secret.”

      “Then why didn’t I know about it?”

      “Because neither did I advertise the fact.”

      Kayla just shook her head. “Sneaky.”

      “No.” His phone buzzed, indicating a text message of low priority, but then it chimed with Bradley’s tone and Andreas looked at the screen, his face taking on a thunderous appearance as he read.

      “What’s the matter?” Kayla asked.

      He looked up at her, his jaw set. “I’ll explain in a moment.” Then he dialed a number on his phone.

      The sound of a woman’s tones answering could be heard. If Kayla wasn’t mistaken it was Genevieve.

      Andreas barely listened for a second before saying, “You are fired.”

      Outraged squawks followed.

      “I do not care what you saw on some social feed. I do not answer to you for my time and I will not have my instructions ignored or questioned by those who work for me. I expect a breach-of-contract portion refund of my retainer. Our business dealings are at an end.”

      The woman was no longer yelling, clearly trying to cajole Andreas into changing his mind, but Kayla could have told her it was a waste of her breath. He had made up his mind before making the call. Whatever she’d done had pissed him off on a level that there was no coming back from.

      Not in Andreas’s world.

      “Goodbye, Genevieve.” He ended the call without any more words.

      Kayla stared at him. “What was that all about?”

      Andreas looked pained. “You sure you want to know?”

      With that look on his face? “Definitely.”

      “Genevieve wanted to come to New York