Who Wants to Marry a Billionaire? (3 page)

       Nina
stifled an incredulous, “Uh huh.” 

       Daniel
pressed something, and a hidden panel popped open to reveal a mini-bar with
crystal decanters and glasses.  “Anyway, I think there’s a way for me to help
you with your financial problem, and you’ll be able to help me out too.”

       Now Nina
was completely confused.  What did her problems have to do with Daniel being
set up by the tabloid press?

       Daniel
took out two crystal highball glasses from the mini-bar. “Have you ever heard
of a company called Eco-Resort Calderon? It was founded by a man named Arturo
Calderon.”

       Somewhere
in Nina’s head, a bell was going off.  “I don’t know the company, but the name
sounds familiar.”  Then it hit her, the giant report on her desk about the
Foundation projects in Central America.  “Wait, I think he’s one of the
Foundation partners in Central America—we have several projects in the mountain
villages of Panama, one for putting computers in classrooms, one for improving
rural health care—
that
Arturo Calderon?”

       As Daniel
splashed something amber and expensive looking into each glass, his hand shook,
and he spilled a little.  It was even worse than he knew, Daniel thought, the
man was not only a business genius, he was a saint—and a little too much like
Wilson DeVere.   “Well, I’m not acquainted with Calderon’s relationship to the
Foundation, but DeVere Industries has been trying to work out an acquisition
deal with him.  I…We want to bring Eco-Resort Calderon into the DeVere portfolio. 
It’s a perfect 21
^st
century business: green, sustainable…it provides
jobs to the local community.  And it’s a great alternative to slash and burn
agri-business in the rain forests.  He’s even worked out a way to cultivate
indigenous food crops as part of the resort’s holdings.  It’s brilliant—and
beautiful.”

       That was
all very nice, Nina thought, but she still didn’t have a clue why Daniel DeVere
had called a program coordinator up to the thirtieth floor to tell her about
DeVere Industries’ acquisition plans.   “Mr. De…Daniel, this is all really fascinating,
but I’m a little confused about why you’re telling me this.”

       Daniel
wandered back across the office to where Nina sat perched on the edge of the
sofa, looking as if she might flee at any moment.  His warm-up act wasn’t
working as well as he thought it would.   He knew he had to get her to relax a
little, if she was going to go along with the plan.   He handed Nina one of the
glasses in his hands.  Out of politeness, she took it with a murmured thank
you, but immediately set it carefully on a coaster on the coffee table.  She
looked up at him expectantly, and as she blinked, Daniel confirmed to himself
that she had the most amazing eyes he’d ever seen.

       “Mr.
Calderon is a bit old fashioned, Nina.  He’s a spiritual man—which I
respect—and he holds certain ethical and moral principles very dear.”   Daniel
took a sip of the seventy-year old cognac in his glass.  “And one of those
things is that he believes settling down to start a family is a sign of
maturity, and that it demonstrates that a man is concerned with creating a
legacy beyond his immediate needs and pleasures.”  He took another swig.  “He
doesn’t have much tolerance for what he perceives as…frivolousness.”

       Parts of
the story were starting to click together in Nina’s head.  “So the thing with
the clowns…so the incident in Cannes was bad enough, but when the paparazzi
snapped you looking like a fool right in his own country, it was a little
much?”  Nina’s hand went to her mouth.  Had she really just called a billionaire
a fool right to his face?  “I’m sorry…that was a poor choice of words.” 

       Daniel
looked a little sad, Nina thought, as he swished the cognac around in his
glass.  “It’s okay, I did act like a fool in Cannes.  And we need to feel like
we can be completely candid with one another.  The short end of it is that
Calderon killed the acquisition deal when the pictures came out, and he told me
I could forget about doing business with him until I was ready to behave like a
grown-up.  So I kind of blurted out something that I probably shouldn’t have.”

       Nina
furrowed her brow.  “What? What did you tell him?”

       Daniel
took another drink.  “I told him that I
did
have a serious girlfriend,
that an engagement would be announced soon, and that I was settling down.”

       “That’s
wonderful Daniel, congratulations.”     

       Turning
to look out the window, Daniel’s voice dropped to a hush.  “It’s…it’s kind of
white lie.”

       “Kind of
a white lie?  What do you mean?”

       “I don’t
have a serious girlfriend…and I’ve never had any thoughts of settling down. 
But it’s very, very important for me to make this acquisition happen.  I need
my father to trust me.  I need him to take me seriously.”

       “Or
what?”  Nina’s suspicious side suddenly reared up. 

       “Or
Daniel DeVere won’t be making any more trips to Cannes.  Good-bye French
Riviera, good-bye Wimbledon, Carnivale, Paris Fashion Week.  I’ll be chained to
a desk in Boston for the next five years.”

       Nina’s
sympathies suddenly went out the window.  Talk about first world problems!  All
day long she worked with projects that were about improving life in simple but
meaningful ways: providing clean water after a natural disaster, helping
elderly people get cataract surgery, improving pre-natal care in desperately
poor countries.  And he was worried that he might miss the next Hollywood
premiere?  He did need to grow up.  He was completely out of touch with
reality.  The money he spent playing the fool in Cannes would have been enough
to take care of all her problems
and
pay for two hundred cataract surgeries.  
She was going to be chained to a desk in Boston for the next
thirty-five
years, and lose everything she’d worked for in the interim too.

       Focusing
her attention on adjusting her cheap scarf, Nina tried to control the fury she
could feel rising in her voice.  “Mr. DeVere…
why
am I here?” 

       The
frostiness in Nina’s voice alarmed Daniel.  The panic started to rise; he could
feel one more deal going south.  He looked at Nina pleadingly and blurted out,
“Nina, will you be my wife?”

       Nina’s
eyes opened wide.  Clearly, Daniel DeVere was out of his mind.  “Will I be your
what?”

      
Daniel
hit his forehead with the butt of his hand.  Why did he always leap before he
looked?  “I don’t mean a
real
wife…like, like…”

       It was impossible
for Nina to keep her feelings tamped down any longer. “Oh, of course a girl
from Lowell, Mass would never be good enough to be a
DeVere
wife.  You’re
as nuts as the tabloids say you are—” Nina stood up to leave.  Daniel reached
out and grabbed Nina’s arm.  “Don’t you dare touch me or I will report you for
harassment!”  Daniel let go.

       “Please, Nina,
sit down.  None of this is coming out right.  I’m prepared to offer you very
generous financial terms for
playing
the part of my wife.” 

       Nina
plunked back down on the sofa.  “You want me to
pretend
to be your
wife?”

       Daniel
nodded his head up and down emphatically.  “But first you have to pretend to be
my girlfriend, and then my fiancé.  It’s going to be a whirlwind romance,
though.” 

       “Let me
get this right, there’s going to be…a fake marriage?”

       “It’s
going to have to look like the real thing, but it won’t be legal.” 

       Nina
nervously picked lint off her sweater to keep from looking at Daniel as her
mind raced.  “And how long do I have to keep up the charade?”

       “Oh, I
don’t know, six months, a year, no more than a year, certainly.  It’ll be like
a Britney Spears or Kim Kardashian marriage, slam, bam, thank you m’am.  And
then we’ll announce that we’re parting amicably, and request privacy at this
‘very sensitive time.’”

       “And you
get an eco-resort and the blessings of your father.”  Daniel nodded
enthusiastically.  “What do I get out of it?”  If he was going to be a brat
with a silver spoon, Nina thought, she could be a tough operator from a
blue-collar town. 

       “As a
kind of deposit, I’ll cover tuition and living for your siblings for the next
semester, and I’ll make this thing with the IRS go away.  If you help me pull
off the deal with Calderon, you’ll get a flat settlement of three million
dollars and Elsa will promote you to field director for the Foundation. You will
get a pay rise and the chance to travel and become even more immersed in the
regional programmes. Just what you have always wanted”

       “And
you’re serious about this?”

       “Serious
as a semi-finalist at Wimbledon.”

       Nina
stared at the glass of cognac on the table in front of her.  She picked it up
and knocked it back in one gulp.  “And what happens if the deal isn’t
successful?”

       “If
you’ve made a good faith effort, then two hundred thousand.  I may be a fool,
Nina, but I’m not a jerk.  As long as you try your best, I won’t screw you.”   He
immediately regretted his phrasing, “What I mean Nina, is that this is a
win-win for you.”

       “Daniel,
I don’t know…it’s a little much to take in.  What’s this going to do to my
professional credibility?  And why would Elsa agree to give me a promotion when
she won’t even give me a simple raise?  It seems…unethical as best, and
frankly, a little despicable.”

       “Don’t
worry about Elsa, she’s on my side.  Think of it as helping the greater good. 
DeVere Industries can take this eco-concept worldwide, and don’t you want to be
out in the field working with the projects firsthand instead of pushing around
all that dreary paperwork?  Take until Friday to think about it.  Meet me here
at noon.”  He took the last sip of his cognac. “By the way, it’s 5:30.   You
can go home now.”

Chapter Five

       It
started to rain as Nina waited at the Harvard station for her bus to take her
home.  The stairs to the subway were thick with Harvard and MIT students, teenage
kids, and other commuters, all who seemed to be without a care in the world as
they hurried this way and that.  People smiled and chatted as they opened
umbrellas, or dashed for cover as raindrops started to fall.  But to Nina, the
grey sky and falling rain seemed the perfect reflection of her feelings. 

       Her bus
finally chugged up, the door opening like the jaws of a magical beast ready to
swallow her.  A magical beast—that too seemed like an apt description, Nina
thought, for the choice now before her.  Would Daniel DeVere and his glittery
world help her slay her financial dragon, or would she just be eaten alive?  Was
keeping a home worth compromising her ethics?  She didn’t know.

       She took
one of the hard plastic seats, and tilted her head against the glass of the
window.  Three million dollars?  It was like a proposition out of a cheesy
movie or the prize for some crazy reality television show.  How hard would it
be?  And how much would she have to embarrass herself?  No one ever wins in
reality TV without first humiliating themselves, she thought. 

       The bus
spit her back out at the corner by her house, and with no umbrella, she found
herself soaked as she hauled herself up the stairs to her apartment.  
Suddenly, she realized that she felt very, very tired.  She’d think about it
tomorrow, she decided. 

       That
evening, all she wanted was to curl up with a bowl of popcorn and an old movie,
something light, and funny.  Maybe an old screwball comedy with a hero played
by someone like Clark Gable or William Powell.  She loved the dialogue in those
old movies, she thought, as she clicked over to the classic movie channel.  But
then it hit her, as she settled down, pulling an old quilt over her feet, screwball
comedies always involved someone wealthy, and someone smart and capable, but a
little down on their luck.  Her own life should be making her laugh her head
off.

       When Nina
woke the next morning, she felt bleary and hung over, but she knew one drink
hadn’t been enough to do that.  Her head was thumping, her throat was scratchy,
and then her nose started to stuff up.  Soon, she realized she was rapidly
progressing to a full-blown cold.  Not being the type to spread it to all of her
co-workers because she was too ‘noble’ to stay at home, she decided to call in
sick, and to let Elsa know that she could work on her laptop from home. 

       The voice
on the other end of the line was snappish, “Elsa Woodruff, DeVere Foundation.”

       “Elsa,
this is Nina.”  She coughed.  “I’ve woken up with a really bad head cold.”

       “Yes?”

       Nina
always felt tongue tied around the older woman.  “Well, in the interest of
office health, I thought I’d work from home today…if that’s okay.”

       “Fine. 
We don’t need any Typhoid Mary’s prancing around the office.  Just make sure to
get me the report on Central America by tomorrow morning.”

       “That
shouldn’t be a problem.”  Nina groaned silently.  She had planned to have the report
ready by the
end
of the next day.   

       “And
Nina, don’t think that just doing good work is all that’s required to keep a
job at the Foundation.  There are a thousand people just as qualified as you
lined up outside the door.”

        Nina’s
blood ran cold.  It seemed like some kind of veiled threat.  What was Elsa
suggesting?  “I’m sorry, is there something that I need to address?  If there’s
anything you want me to improve, I’ll do my best…”

       Elsa
interrupted her, “I’m just saying, that sometimes…certain things outside our
job description are required of us. Don’t ever forget that the team you are
playing on is
not
Team Alves - it’s Team DeVere.  Be a team player Nina,
and remember, there’s no “I” in team.”  The cliché made Nina’s stomach turn just
a little as Elsa pontificated.  “Think about the greater good.  It almost
always works to a person’s advantage, but selfish people, selfish people end up
on the street.”