The Billionaire's Homecoming Read online

  Kristen washed her hands and walked toward them. “Hi Brett.” She extended her hand and smiled. “It’s nice to see you again.” Kristen shot a look toward Jen who was again standing up straight.

  Brett nodded. “You too.”

  She glanced at Jen again. “You’re welcome to stay. There’s enough food. Mom and Dad should be here soon.”

  “We’ll stay for a little while. Do you need any help?” Jen answered.

  Kristen wanted to grill her sister. He saw it in the woman’s expression. Instead she nodded toward the fridge. “If you don’t mind, the peppers need to be washed and cut up.”

  Brett offered to help as well, but Kristen immediately turned him down. Since his cooking skills sucked, it was probably just as well. Instead he took a seat at the kitchen table and watched the two women. It was a bit like watching the odd couple work together. While Jen was tall with strawberry-blonde hair, her sister was just the opposite. If he had to make a guess, he’d say Kristen topped out at five feet, and she had light brown hair. He hadn’t met Dan, Jen’s brother-in-law, yet. Since Bella had such light hair, he assumed the guy must be a blond or something close to it.

  At the counter Kristen whispered something. Up until then, he’d heard all of the women’s conversation. Whatever she’d just said, he wasn’t meant to hear. In response, Jen shook her head and then walked back to the fridge. “Brett, do you want some lemonade?” She glanced back over at him.

  “No thanks.”

  Jen poured herself a glass and was about to put the glass pitcher away when a man walked in from outside.

  “Hey, Jen. Kristen said she invited you.” The man gave Jen a brief hug and grabbed the pitcher from her hand. “I’m glad you’re staying.” He looked in Brett’s direction and then back to Jen.

  “Dan, this is Brett.”

  He didn’t miss Jen’s brief pause before she said his name. She wasn’t sure how to label him. He’d have to clear that up later.

  “Brett, my brother-in-law, Dan.” She gestured toward the blond man. “And the best grill chef in the world.”

  “Keep giving me compliments like that and Bo can stay here anytime,” Dan said, before turning his attention in Brett’s direction. “Nice to meet you.” He set the lemonade back in the fridge and pulled out a beer. “Can I get you one?” Dan held up the bottle.

  Brett didn’t recognize the label, but he wasn’t picky. “Sounds good.”

  ***

  She looked out the kitchen window. Brett was sitting and talking with her family. Even Bo was with them. The dog had parked himself near Brett’s feet after Bella stopped feeding him pieces of her chicken.

  “Since you showed up with him this morning, I’m assuming last night went well,” Kristen said. She stood at the counter loading the dishes Jen rinsed into the dishwasher.

  Jen handed her sister another plate. “Very.”

  “What, no other details?”

  “Nope. But we do have plans for tonight too. There’s a town block party where he lives. We won’t be able to stay here much longer. And tomorrow we’re going to his cousin’s engagement party.”

  She swallowed at the thought of meeting his family. It’d been a long time since she met even a boyfriend’s parents, never mind his aunts and uncles. Actually, now that she thought about it, she’d never had a boyfriend introduce her to his extended family.

  Kristen added the last plate to the machine and closed the door. “Sounds like this relationship is at warp speed five.” Much like Jen, Kristen was a bit of sci-fi geek. “He looks pretty comfortable out there with Mom and Dad. With Dan and his parents too.”

  She nodded and watched him laugh at something Dad said. “He does. Bella has even warmed up to him.” Before lunch and even during, her niece had sat and studied him, her expression surprisingly serious for a ten-year-old. Now she sat between him and Dan with a smile on her face.

  “If you need us to take Bo again tonight, we will. Bella loves having him here. You know for her it’s the next best thing to having a dog of her own.”

  “Is Dan still making her wait until she’s eleven?” Jen understood her brother-in-law wanting to wait until Bella was old enough to handle the responsibility of having a pet. However, she thought Bella had watched Bo enough in the past year to prove she could handle it.

  “I think he’s starting to reconsider, but don’t tell Bella I said that. She’ll start hounding us even more.”

  “My lips are sealed,” Jen said. “If you don’t mind, maybe I will leave him here again. Brett told me to take him back with us, but it might be better if Bo stays here. He’s familiar with this house.”

  Kristen had started to uncover the brownies, but she paused. “You’re spending the night at his house?”

  She moved closer and peeked over her shoulder at the door. “I stayed there last night.” Jen kept her voice low even though there was no way anyone would overhear her.

  Her sister’s eyes grew big. “You are moving fast.” She looked out the window again. “Sometime this week we need to have a nice long chat without Bella or Dan around so you can fill me in on all the details.”

  Jen was closer to Kristen than anyone else in the world. “I’ll call you.” She tugged the plate closer and finished unwrapping the brownies. “We better get these desserts out there before the natives get restless and storm the castle. Brett’s sweet tooth is worse than Dan’s, if you can believe it.” She’d known Dan long enough to know he ate healthy most of the time and worked out on a regular basis. However, he did love to indulge in the sweet stuff.

  “No way. Not possible. If it weren’t for me, the only green in Dan’s diet would come from pistachio-flavored ice cream.” Kristen gathered up the ingredients for making s’mores as well as the tray of oatmeal cookies her mother-in-law had brought. “But if you’re right, Brett’s waistline doesn’t suffer because of it.”

  She’d noticed the same thing. “Tell me about it. Some things in life aren’t fair. I look at a cookie and gain a pound. You should’ve seen the dessert he polished off last night.”

  Kristen walked toward the door. “Some people are just lucky that way.”

  She’d always been envious of her sister because Kristen definitely fell into the lucky category. The woman could indulge in pizza and a beer every day and not gain an ounce. She on the other hand had to be conscious of what she ate. She never obsessed about it, but she definitely needed to keep in mind how many times a month she indulged in a bowl of ice cream. Some months it was easier than others. She’d worried that over the summer she’d given in to temptation one too many times. Brett didn’t seem to find anything wrong with her figure though, so maybe she’d been a little too critical of herself lately.

  Chapter Seven

  A woman dressed in black slacks and a white blouse answered the door and Phillip pasted on a smile. “Phillip Young. Mr. Smith is expecting me this afternoon.”

  “Yes, he mentioned you would be arriving,” the woman said, taking a step back so Phillip could enter the house. “He’s waiting in his office. Please follow me.”

  Phillip followed the woman through the two-story foyer and down a hallway. The moment Ted Smith had approached him about running his campaign, he’d done his homework. He knew the former lieutenant governor had gotten this home as well as the one in Vermont in the divorce. His ex-wife had gotten the home in the Hamptons and the one on Martha’s Vineyard. He didn’t know what the other houses looked like, but it didn’t appear as though Ted Smith had suffered following the messy and very public divorce. The event would be the biggest obstacle standing between his client and the open Senate seat in Washington.

  In front of him, the woman paused and knocked before opening the door. “Mr. Smith, your associate has arrived.” She stepped back so Phillip could enter the room.

  “Thank you, Lila,” Ted said.

  He left his spot behind his desk and met Phillip in the middle of the home office. “Nice to see you again. Have a seat.” He gestured
toward the small conference table in the room. “Can I get you anything to drink?”

  When it came to alcohol, Phillip favored whiskey, but he’d drink anything. From the research he’d done, the same could be said about Ted. “Whatever you’re having is fine.”

  While his new employer poured them drinks, Phillip set down his leather portfolio and laptop. The easy part had been getting the signatures necessary to get Ted on the ballot. If they had any hope of him winning first the primary and then the election, they had a lot of work to do. Especially considering whom he’d be up against in the primary.

  Damn Sherbrookes. Anyone else and Phillip was confident the man before him could win even with his less than stellar past. However, running against a member of the Sherbrooke family made the possibility far less likely. Not that it would stop him from trying. When it came to running campaigns, Phillip had a reputation to maintain. And nothing was going to stand in his way of getting his candidate elected. Not even a member of the Sherbrooke family.

  “Did you see the most recent polls?” Phillip asked once Ted sat down across from him.

  “No, not yet. I haven’t had a chance to check them.”

  That wasn’t the answer he wanted to hear. If Ted was going to win, he needed to dedicate himself to this campaign, and that meant eating, sleeping, and drinking politics every day no matter what until November.

  “As of this afternoon, the polls have Brett Sherbrooke ahead of you by ten points.” He’d seen candidates overcome such deficits on occasion, but he’d prefer a much small margin. “Hammond and Reed are tied as of now. Neither of them are our concern at this point, however.” After he helped Ted win the primary, he’d turn his attention to ruining the other party’s candidate.

  Ted sipped his drink as he mulled over the information. “All things considered, it’s better than I expected. I’ll be upfront with you. I thought I would have this race in the bag until I saw the Sherbrooke name.” He took another sip before setting the glass down. “Between you and me, I’m not sure we can compete. He’s got resources I don’t.”

  Phillip glanced around the home office. He didn’t have the man’s bank records, but if this house was any indication, he was doing quite well despite the monthly alimony and child support payments he had to both his ex-wife and his former mistress. Today he wasn’t here to discuss finances though. Those particulars he’d leave to Ted’s finance coordinator.

  “Sherbrooke might have an edge there, but he doesn’t have the experience you do. Many won’t care what his name is because he doesn’t have the same political knowledge you do.”

  Perhaps he was stretching the truth somewhat. While Brett Sherbrooke hadn’t held an office, he’d grown up around politicians. No one could spend that much time around politics and not learn a thing or two. Ted didn’t need to hear that, especially not today. The man who’d first approached him to run his campaign had been confident and ready to tackle anyone who stood in his way. The man across the table this afternoon was giving off a very different vibe.

  “It’s not the only thing he doesn’t have,” Ted said before downing the rest of his drink.

  The man’s personal life was worthy of a drama series, however they’d discussed it already. While not ideal, Ted wasn’t the first politician to have extramarital affairs surface. Ted also wasn’t the first to have a secret baby come to light while going through an ugly divorce. He hadn’t seemed overly concerned about any of it during their previous meetings. He did now.

  “Is there anything else I need to know?” Phillip asked. When it came to running a campaign, he needed to know everything short of when the man across the table used the bathroom.

  “My former personal assistant is pregnant. I found out last night. She’s due the end of November.”

  He’d met the former Miss Massachusetts Ted was currently dating. She’d been at the house during their first meeting. He didn’t think she could be six months pregnant. “Are you referring to Arianna?”

  Ted walked away and refilled his tumbler. “No, that would be too easy. Victoria worked as my personal assistant for four or five months.”

  The man’s personal life already resembled a bad reality show. They didn’t need a pregnant former employee to add to the mix. “She waited long enough to tell you. Are you sure the baby is yours?”

  Ted nodded. “As sure as I can be without a paternity test. The dates match up.” He rejoined Phillip at the table. “She claims she’s willing to keep the truth to herself as long as I agree to pay child support.”

  He’d seen too many people go back on such promises. If it did come out, they needed it to be after Ted won the Senate seat. “I recommend going along with whatever she wants. At least for now.” Phillip reached for his untouched drink.

  “It was my intention.”

  “And in the meantime, we need to try to dig up something we can use on Sherbrooke.” Phillip considered himself an expert in that area. He’d dug up enough skeletons on various political candidates to fill a cemetery. He’d only failed once, while working on Richardson’s presidential campaign in the last election.

  “I don’t see it happening. I’ve done my research too. Brett Sherbrooke has a reputation a Boy Scout would be jealous of. Add in his military background and family name and there’s nothing we can use against him.”

  Phillip agreed. While working on Richardson’s campaign he’d done everything he could to dig up something to use against then Senator Warren Sherbrooke. He’d even gotten intimately involved with Sherbrooke’s younger daughter, Sara. He’d come up empty-handed. He didn’t think they’d uncover anything useful now either, but he’d try.

  “Let me do some digging into his background. If he doesn’t have anything, then we just find something on someone close to him. A girlfriend perhaps.” He hadn’t heard Brett’s name linked to anyone, but it didn’t mean he wasn’t involved with a woman—or a man for that matter. “Unless you object, I have contacts who can help with this particular project and be discreet.”

  “I want that Senate seat. Do whatever you have to do,” Ted said.

  Chapter Eight

  She followed her dog outside and into Brett’s backyard so he could have one last potty break. As soon as Brett finished his phone call, they were heading over to the town common for the block party. Before leaving Kristen’s house, she’d considered leaving Bo there again for the night. Brett convinced her otherwise by pointing out it would be an extra stop she’d have to make at some point tomorrow. Bella had been disappointed but his argument made sense.

  Jen sat in the only chair outside and waited as Bo took his time sniffing every blade of grass and leaf in the yard. From her seat, she could just make out the music being played at the party. When they’d driven by the area earlier, she’d seen workers setting up the inflatable bouncy houses, and she’d spotted the grills already there. North Salem might be a small town, but it looked like they went all out on their community events. She could understand why Brett had picked this town when he moved back to New England.

  The door behind her opened, the sound catching Bo’s attention. The dog paused in his investigation and looked to see who had joined them. When he saw it was only Brett, he went back to his sniffing again, only pausing long enough to lift his leg on every other spot.

  “Sorry,” Brett said, his hand coming down on her bare shoulder. “Carl wanted to fill me in on the newest polling results.”

  Political polls were not always 100 percent accurate, but they often proved true. “And how do things look?”

  “They have me ahead of Ted Smith,” he said, sounding neither disappointed nor thrilled by the news.

  “Heck, even if I didn’t know you, I’d vote for you over him. I remember hearing about all the affairs he had when he was lieutenant governor and getting a divorce. There were stories about questionable business deals too.”

  “His personal life aside, he’s got the political experience I don’t.”

  Political experienc
e wasn’t the only thing to consider, in her opinion. “Experience or not, he’s still a scumbag. I don’t know why anyone would vote for him.”

  Brett laughed. “Don’t disagree with you there. The polls also have Gina Hammond and Vince Reed tied for their party’s nomination.”

  Gina Hammond, the name sounded familiar. Jen searched her brain for it. “Hammond, isn’t she from Vermont? I thought she ran for a Senate seat from there in a recent election.”

  “Was from Vermont. She lives in Cambridge now. I guess she thought she might have a better chance of winning in Massachusetts.”

  “Well that’s sleazy. Moving from one state to another just to run for a political office.”

  Finished with his business, Bo joined them on the patio. Crouching down, Brett scratched the dog behind the ears. “Isn’t that what I did?”

  Open mouth, insert foot. “It’s not the same. You didn’t run for a Senate seat in Virginia and then move here after you lost so you could run again. She did.”

  Brett shrugged. “What Gina did is all part of the game, whether we like it or not.” He stood up and held out his hand. “All set to head over?”

  They crossed Brett’s street and cut through the church parking to the horseshoe-shaped road that encircled the town common. People of all ages moved about the area and various scents filled the air. From here she could see the bouncy houses rocking as children jumped inside and a line of several others stood waiting their turn. A DJ was set up on the bandstand, cranking out hits. At the moment, he was playing a popular top forty hit she’d heard on the radio earlier in the week while getting a coffee. The one he’d played before though had been an oldie popular when her parents had been teens.

  “This is quite the event,” she said as they walked across the grass with no particular destination in mind. “I can’t believe they throw something like this once a month all summer.”

  “Sean told me the town is big into community togetherness.”