Her One Night Proposal

The perfect wedding date...

but at what cost?

She’s about to get way more than she bargained for...

Iris Collins needs a wedding date, fast. And the billionaire who saved her from a public shaming is the best candidate yet. She’ll invest in Zac Bisset’s yacht-racing team in exchange for four days in paradise. After all, Zac is adventurous, sexy...perfect for a straitlaced heiress to show off on her arm. Until they land in her bed. Now their real connection—and the backlash of a family scandal—threatens their perfect facade...

USA TODAY Bestselling Author Katherine Garbera

KATHERINE GARBERA is the USA TODAY bestselling author of more than ninety-five books. Her writing is known for its emotional punch and sizzling sensuality. She lives in the Midlands with the love of her life; her son, who recently graduated university; and a spoiled miniature dachshund. You can find her online at www.katherinegarbera.com and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Also by Katherine Garbera

Tycoon Cowboy’s Baby Surprise

The Tycoon’s Fiancée Deal

Craving His Best Friend’s Ex

One Night with His Ex

One Night, Two Secrets

One Night to Risk It All

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Her One Night Proposal

Katherine Garbera

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-0-008-90430-2

HER ONE NIGHT PROPOSAL

© 2020 Katherine Garbera

Published in Great Britain 2020

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

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For Rob, love of my life and my partner in crime.

I’m so glad to be sharing this journey with you.

I don’t know that I would have finished this book on

time without my afternoon sprints with Renee Ryan,

Cindy Kirk and Nancy Robards Thompson.

Thank you for inspiring me to stay on track and get my

word count every day.

Also, a special thank-you to my editor,

Charles Griemsman, for his insight and judicious

editing that makes my books shine!

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

Dedication

Acknowledgments

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

About the Publisher

One

Lunch with her family was always one of the highlights of Iris Collins’s week. It was a Wednesday afternoon tradition that had started when she and her twin sister, Thea, were home from boarding school and had followed them into adulthood. They always dined at the club in her father’s high-rise office building in the financial district of Boston. Hal Collins was the sole owner and proprietor of Collins Combined, a firm that focused on long-term investments in publicly traded companies.

Iris’s phone pinged just as she entered the lobby of the building. She pulled it out of the pocket of her sheath dress and glanced down at the screen to see it was from her so-called boyfriend. She put the phone back in her pocket as her sister came over to hug her.

“I knew you’d be early. I figured I’d get here first so we could chat before Mom and Dad get here,” Thea said. “We haven’t talked since your trip with Graham. How’d it go?”

“Okay,” Iris said.

“Just okay?”

Actually, less than okay if she were honest. During their Bermuda vacation, Graham had pushed her to be more adventurous in bed and that had ended badly. He’d gone down to the bar to drink all night while Iris had sat on the balcony alone listening to the waves. She was trying to keep things going with him until her college roommate’s wedding in ten days’ time. Graham was her plus one at all the events and she was a bridesmaid so it could get awkward if they broke up. She knew the bride, Adler Osborn, had planned for them to attend as a couple and the last thing that Iris wanted to do was add any extra stress for her friend.

Her phone pinged again, and her smart watch vibrated on her arm. She glanced down to see it was another message from Graham.

“Speak of the devil,” she said, pulling her phone out to read the text while Thea looked over her shoulder.

Listen, things aren’t working out between us, so I’m done with dating you. I hope you understand.

“Are you kidding me?” Thea said. “He’s breaking up with you over a text.”

Iris wished she could be surprised but was relieved instead. She quickly typed, Sure, I understand.

Great. Figured you’d get it.

“Get what?”

“Nothing,” Iris said to her sister. The last thing she wanted to do was talk about sex in the lobby of their father’s building. She was starting to wonder if she was the prude that Graham had labeled her...and did that matter to her?

Thea took her phone from her before she could stop her, typing in a quick message.

That’s okay I want more from life than you can offer.

“Thea. Give me back my phone.”

She saw the dancing dots that meant Graham was responding and her stomach felt tight. There was no way he was going to take that kind of insult without replying. That was just the kind of person he was.

That’s okay I want someone who’s not beige, boring and basic. Bye, bitch.

Thea reached for her phone, but Iris just held it away from her and texted back the thumbs-up emoji.

“Why did you do that?” Iris said to her sister. “He was my plus one. I’m going to have to deal with him not being there.”

“Who do you have to deal with?” their mother asked as she came up behind them and hugged them both. Always larger than life, Corinne Collins, known as Coco to her close friends and bridge group, was wearing Ralph Lauren.

“Graham. That guy I was dating.”

“He just broke up with her over text,” Thea added. “How rude.”

“Very rude. But not everyone pays attention to etiquette these days.”

“They don’t,” Iris said. “Where’s Dad?”

“He’s running late,” Mom said. “I warned him not to be too late or I’m taking you two on a shopping spree.”

They all laughed as it was a family joke between their parents from back in their early days when her father said time was money and her mom had said she agreed and liked to use her time to spend it.

As Iris followed her mom and her sister to the hostess stand at the entrance to the restaurant on the second floor, she was seething. How dare he say something so rude to her? Of course, she knew he thought she was boring...but basic? She was so not basic. She was Iris Collins, television lifestyle guru. Known for her trendsetting style and Instagram-worthy jet-setting.

She’d known he was douche bag when he’d suggested a three-way, but this was beyond.

Her mom saw a friend from her bridge club at the bar and went to chat with her, which meant that Thea and she were alone again.

“You need to bring someone so hot to the wedding. Show him who’s basic. I can’t believe he had the nerve to say that,” Thea said.

“Agree. But who? I don’t know anyone. I really don’t have time to cultivate a relationship in only ten days.”

“Let me think,” Thea said.

“It can’t be anyone I know,” Iris added. Graham knew most of the people she worked with.

“True. You should hire someone. Just be straightforward about it. Like a Julia Roberts movie. You can do that.”

“No,” Iris said.

“Why not?”

“Because it’s embarrassing, that’s why.”

“It’s not embarrassing. You could have a hot guy on your arm, and if you’re footing the bill, he has to behave the way you want him to,” Thea said. “I know some hot guys who might be interested.”

“Like who? You work at home with two cats,” Iris pointed out. Her sister ran a very successful blog about etiquette and deportment. There was a high demand for people who wanted to actually live the life in those swank Instagram photos they saw online, and Thea was in demand when it came to social events.

“I have friends,” Thea added.

“Thanks, Thea,” she said. “But I’ll sort this out. We don’t need to waste any more time on Graham.”

Their father arrived and they had a nice lunch. Iris had that feeling deep inside as she watched her parents holding hands under the table during coffee and dessert. That longing that she always felt. Was it too much to ask that she could find a partner? She wanted what they had but she seemed to attract men like Graham.

But for now, maybe Thea was right. She could find a hot guy to hire as her date for the wedding. It was only four days and three nights...

Zac Bisset hated being in Boston but there were times when real life intruded on his training schedule and he was forced to leave his yacht and deal with it. It didn’t matter that it was a perfectly nice June day. He was wearing a suit and loafers instead of a pair of swim trunks and bare feet. Being born into a family that had wealth, privilege and way too many constrictions had never suited Zac well. He’d found his escape on the sea, sailing. It was a passion he’d pursued through his college years. Then he’d joined an America’s Cup team from the UK and done that for the last few years, but he’d recently left the team to start his own bid.

Putting together an America’s Cup team was expensive. He could easily ask for and receive the money from his family’s company, Bisset Industries. But that money would come with too many strings. His father had been dying to get him to be more active on the board and the last thing Zac wanted was to answer to August Bisset. Or worse, his older brother Logan. He liked having the freedom to do his own thing.

But his options were limited. After the US-sponsored Oracle team won, Zac had craved creating his own team and putting together his own bid to win. He needed a big company to sponsor him or his own inheritance to make a successful run. Time was running out since they needed to already be training.

He left the meeting at the corporate offices of the large telecom company where he’d been discussing a sponsorship. When he got to the bar in the lobby and ordered a club soda, his phone pinged and then started buzzing as a slew of messages came in. The first was from his eldest brother, Darien, who was a politician and not in the family business; he wanted to meet up for drinks before their cousin’s wedding festivities kicked off. Then there was a message from the group chat he had with his teammates who were waiting for an update. The last was from his mom, saying she was on Nantucket at Gran’s place and urging him to come by early so they could have some mom-and-son time.

He rubbed the back of his neck, not interested in responding to any of them at the moment. Of course, his two favorite people in the family had reached out, which he appreciated. Logan and his dad wanted to boycott Adler’s wedding because she was marrying into the Williams family. They were the chief competitors of Bisset Industries; their business had been started by a man his father hated. So there was that.

Zac had no beef with the groom, so he’d volunteered to go to all the events. He liked a wedding party. With booze, pretty girls and lots of dancing, it was his kind of shindig. It was a destination wedding, so everyone was being put up at a luxury resort on Nantucket, the flagship of Williams Inc.’s newest venture. The groom and his family were slowly encroaching on every line of business the Bissets were in. But Zac’s youngest sibling and only sister, Mari, had been to a press party there a month ago and couldn’t stop singing the resort’s praises.

Which had done nothing to make Logan and his father happier about going. Family was trying at times and one of the reasons he preferred to stick to training for the America’s Cup.

He texted his teammates first. They had a group chat nicknamed the Windjammers. The team was pretty small at the moment, just Zac, Yancy McNeil and Dev Kellman. The three of them were in New England searching for sponsors and working on a new design for their yacht. The competition was won as much with skill on the seas as it was with the aerodynamic design of the craft.

No-go on the money. Got one more meeting before we are going to have to brainstorm more options.

Yancy was the first to respond.

Damn. I have some feelers out. Heard from a friend that she has someone who is looking for a long-term investment. I’ll text you the deets.

Dev quickly chimed in.

I don’t have any leads but I do have some margaritas ready to go once you both get back to the Blind Faith.

Zac wrapped up the chat with, Thanks. I’ll check out your lead, Yancy.

Yancy texted over the information as Zac signaled the waiter for a refill of his soda water. He glanced up, his breath catching in his throat as he saw the blond woman walking into the bar. She wore a formfitting dress with tiny sleeves that left her long arms bare. She was tan and fit, and she moved with confidence and purpose. Their eyes met and she stopped, her lips parting in a slight smile. Her eyes were blue like the seas around the southern island of New Zealand. Her mouth was...damn, all he could stare at now. Her upper lip was fuller than her bottom one and it seemed to him that she was very kissable. All he could think about was how her mouth would feel under his.

He stretched his legs under the table and looked away. Yeah, he’d been at sea for too long if his first thought when seeing a woman was kissing her. He needed to get himself under control before he was surrounded by family for a week.

He heard footsteps and looked up, expecting to see the waiter, but it was the woman. She smelled good up close like the summer blossoms in his mother’s garden at the house in the Hamptons. She had a direct kind of gaze that he liked. He wasn’t a timid man and he didn’t always know how to deal with people who were. Up close he could see that her hair wasn’t truly blond but darker shades of caramel were shot through it. It curled around her shoulders and he noticed how slim her neck was and the tiny necklace with a flower charm on it.

Iris was still thinking about her sister’s outrageous advice as she went to the bar across town after lunch. She glanced around the room; it was midafternoon, and she was meeting her “glam squad” to go over her prep for the wedding in Nantucket. The fact that Adler’s wedding was going to be televised and there would be lots of vloggers and online society gossip websites meant that she was going to have to be camera-ready at all times.

She’d built her own platform over the last five years, working her way up from an assistant to Leta Veerland to her having her own style television show. Leta had taken reality television by storm in the late 1990s and early 2000s, starting out by showcasing her sister Jaqs’ bridal designs. She had set a standard that many young video channel content creators tried to emulate, with her style and advice on creating the perfect personal habitat. Iris had learned from Leta that she had to always look the part when she walked out her door, even if she was only going to the grocery store. If one of her viewers saw her acting or looking in a way that contradicted her brand image, then she’d lose her believability.

Thea texted to say she’d found a guy who would be her date for the entire weekend for a thousand dollars. She tucked her phone away, not at all interested in some guy her sister found for her.

She glanced around and didn’t see her makeup artist, KT, and her stylist and personal assistant, Stephan, so she headed toward one of the tall tables in the back. She almost stumbled when she saw the hunky blond sitting in one of the large leather club chairs near the entrance. He had a clean-shaven, chiseled jaw. His hair was long and brushed the tops of his shoulders, but it was clean and lustrous and reminded her of a Viking...not the pillaging kind but the hot, yummy kind.

Make him an offer he can’t refuse.

Thea’s voice whispered through her head and she shook it to dispel her sister’s ridiculous idea. It absolutely wasn’t happening.

But now that Thea had planted the seed, Iris did sort of wonder if she could do it. She ran a multimillion-dollar business. She remembered something her mom had said when she had started to make real money as a social media influencer: don’t be afraid to pay people to do the things you need done.

Technically there was nothing wrong with showing up at a destination wedding without a date. But the wedding was going to be televised. She was getting ready to launch a domestic goddess–themed range of products and a book. Everyone from her management team to her own staff were looking at the numbers that said she was stagnating while her competition made advances. People like Scarlet O’Malley, the heiress and social media influencer, who was now married and expecting her first child. Iris’s peers—her competition—were moving on from single-girl-in-the-city to new-wife-and-mama and she was still stuck in...boring-and-basic land.

Ugh!

If she showed up with someone like the Viking on her arm, it would be a boost to her social image, and it would give her a man to pose with. She could even frame it as a business deal...

He glanced up and caught her staring and she smiled at him. He winked and smiled back. She walked over to him. She wished she’d paid more attention to that movie her mom had made them watch on girls’ night... Indecent Proposal. She needed to channel her best Robert Redford...or she could Pretty Woman him and be Richard Gere.

Confidence was key. She could be confident. Hadn’t she convinced her parents to let her start her own YouTube channel when she was fourteen?

“Hello,” she said. She’d charm the socks off him, she thought. Glancing down at his feet she saw he hadn’t worn socks with his loafers. Fate was giving her a sign that she wouldn’t mess this up.

“Hi. Want to join me?” he asked.

She glanced at her watch. She had about fifteen minutes until she’d have to call her team. And Thea’s idea was there, nagging at her...though really, if she was going to do this, she had to stop thinking of it as Thea’s idea.

“Sure, but only if you’ll allow me to buy you a drink,” she said.

“I’m never one to turn down a pretty lady,” he said, standing and holding out a chair for her to join him.

“You aren’t?” she asked.

“Not at all.”

“Have you ever regretted that?” she asked. This man seemed daring, just like the Viking she’d compared him too, but she knew that she might be seeing what she wanted to see and not the real man.

“Never. Sometimes it has turned out differently than I anticipated but that’s life, isn’t it?”

“Your life maybe. I’m pretty much always following a plan,” she said. She watched him, carefully trying to gauge his reaction. Was she seriously thinking about Thea’s outrageous suggestion?

Yes. She was.

“I’ve never been one to follow a plan,” he said.

“How does that work?”

“I go where the wind takes me,” he said.

“The wind?”

“I’m a sailor and compete in yacht races,” he said.

Hah, she thought. She’d known he was a Viking and instead of pillaging he was out there conquering the sea.

“Like the America’s Cup?” she asked. She really didn’t know that much about yachting.

“Exactly like that. I’m currently putting together a team and looking for investors for my bid in four years,” he said.

He needed investors...

“Why are you asking?” he asked.

She took a deep breath. If she was going to do this then she wasn’t going to find a better man than this guy. He looked good, he needed investors and she liked him. “I need a favor,” she said.

“And only a stranger will do?” he asked.

She noticed he had a pile of papers on the table in front of him and as she glanced down, she recognized it as a prospectus—the kind of document someone looking for investors would use to showcase their product. She quickly looked away as he sat back down and straightened the papers, turning them facedown on the table.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to read your stuff,” she said.

“No problem. But you mentioned you need a favor. I’m already intrigued. Please sit down and then you can tell me all about it,” he said.

She sat down, crossing her feet at her ankles and keeping her back straight. Her father had once said that posture was the first step to giving off the air of confidence. She swallowed and then took a deep breath. She had to be careful: sexual harassment went both ways and she didn’t want to come across like she was propositioning him.