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  Prequel

  The Scottish Billionaire

  M. S. Parker

  Belmonte Publishing, LLC

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2020 Belmonte Publishing LLC

  Published by Belmonte Publishing LLC

  Contents

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  The Scottish Billionaire Reading order

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Office romances by M. S. Parker

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  The Scottish Billionaire Reading order

  Thank you for reading the prequel to my new series, The Scottish Billionaire. I highly recommend reading the books in this order:

  Prequel – The Scottish Billionaire

  1. Off Limits (Available now)

  2. Breaking Rules (Coming May 26th)

  3. *Untitled (Coming June 9th)

  One

  Living in Seattle, Washington since July, I still didn’t miss the sunshine that had filled my world for years when my family moved from Scotland to California. Just like I’d never missed the sun when I’d gone back to Scotland for university. Perhaps that was why I’m now in Seattle, of all the cities on the West Coast that Da had suggested, to establish a second office in our business, MIRI – McCrae International Research Institute.

  I was only a kid when we left Scotland, but I’d always missed the country of my birth. Its beauty was only a part of it, though. Scotland, for me, would always be the place where my family had been complete. The place where I’d had my mother for the first eight years of my life.

  My maudlin thoughts of the past were interrupted by the ringing of my doorbell. I still had half a giant bowl of candy to give away, and most of the trick-or-treaters had already come and gone. Whatever was left by the end of the night would go to MIRI with me tomorrow morning. I expected a lot from my employees, but I also believed in having occasional fun perks. Halloween candy should qualify as fun.

  “Trick or treat!” Three kids on the other side of my door chorused the words they’d been saying all night.

  “Well done on the costumes, lads.” I smiled at a Superman, a cowboy, and what appeared to be a large turtle with a mask.

  “You talk funny,” the turtle said as he reached for chocolate.

  “Aye, lad, that I do.” I purposefully added more of my brogue simply to entertain them.

  I earned laughter as well as thanks, and I waved at them as they ran back to the people waiting in my driveway. Officially, trick or treating had ended twenty minutes ago, which meant those three were most likely the last I’d see tonight.

  I carried the bowl into my kitchen and poured the candy into a smaller container, then washed and dried the bowl before putting it away. Once I finished, I set off to check my windows and doors to ensure they were locked.

  My realtor had been surprised that I, as a bachelor, had wanted a spacious house rather than an apartment, but when I’d explained how large my immediate family was, she’d found me something perfect. Now, if any of my siblings wanted to visit, I had plenty of room to host them.

  And when they weren’t here, I could enjoy having all this space for myself. Being one of the oldest of a blended family of eighteen meant, despite the massive estate my parents owned, peace and quiet had been rare growing up. I loved my siblings, biological and otherwise, but I appreciated being able to stand in my kitchen, close my eyes, and hear only silence.

  Thoughts of my family were still on my mind when my phone rang. I reached for it automatically, even though the screen showed a number I didn’t recognize. Someone calling this late meant it was important.

  “Hello?”

  “Is this, um, Alex?” The voice belonged to a woman, but the hesitation told me she was most likely barely in her twenties.

  “With whom am I speaking?”

  “Oh, sorry, um, my name’s Keli Miller. I’m Ester Difranco’s roommate, and I was supposed to call an Alex McCrae for her.”

  “Alec,” I corrected automatically, used to most people getting it wrong. “Did Ester say how she knows me?”

  I placed the name easily, but I needed to know that this Keli Miller hadn’t simply taken Ester’s phone for a prank or was trying to find a news story or something else I couldn’t fathom at the moment. One could never be too careful. I’d learned that the hard way.

  “Hold on.”

  Sound became muffled, as if Keli had turned the phone against her shoulder while she talked to someone. The background noise made me think that they were at a party, which made sense if Keli was who she said she was.

  “Hello?” Keli seemed even more hesitant now.

  “I’m here.”

  “Her cousin is friends with your brother,” she said. “I didn’t get names because Ester’s pretty hammered, and that’s why I’m calling in the first place.”

  I cursed under my breath. College freshmen.

  “Look, Ester and I came to a party with some other girls from our dorm, and they left us here. Ester’s too drunk for me to feel comfortable just calling for a taxi or whatever. First week, she told me that if we were ever in a tight spot, you were who I was supposed to call.”

  My younger brother, Eoin, and his best friend, Leo, had enlisted in the army together and were currently serving their first tour overseas. When Leo heard I planned to move to Seattle, he’d asked me to keep an eye on his cousin, Ester, who was an incoming freshman at the University of Washington. With five younger sisters ranging from seventeen to thirteen, I knew all too well the sort of worry that came with being overprotective, so I’d agreed.

  I’d met Ester once when she had first moved in, making a point to introduce myself, but since then, she hadn’t called on me. Until now.

  “Where are you?” I asked as I headed for the door. I put on my shoes and picked up my keys and wallet while Keli gave me the address. I did a quick calculation in my head while I went to my car. “I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Will you both be safe until then?”

  “Yeah.” Keli blew out a shuddering breath. “We’re on the porch, and considering how much Ester just threw up, I’m pretty sure we’ll be left alone.”

  I picked up two garbage bags from the box in my garage and chose my ‘sensible’ car. If I ended up having to pay for cleaning, better this upholstery than what was in my other vehicles.

  Despite the multitude of costumed college students still out and about around campus, I was able to make good time and pulled up to the house in question seventeen and a half minutes after I’d gotten off the phone with Keli. Two women sat on the porch steps.

  I parked at the curb, not wanting to risk someone parking behind me in the short time it would take me to get these two young women into my car. The last thing I needed was to get into an altercation with some inebriated frat boy with something to prove.

  When I was only a dozen steps away, one of the young women raised her head. Ebony curls framed a pretty face, and teal-colored eyes regarded me warily. She tightened her arm around the brunette leaning heavily against her.

  “Keli Miller?” I held out my hands so she could see that they were empty. “I’m Alec McCrae. You called me.”

  Relief swept over her features. “Thank you for coming.” She gently shook Ester. “Hey, wake up. Alec’s here. He’s going to take us back to the dorm.”

  “He’s hot,” Ester mumbled. “But Leo says he’s off-limits.”

  Keli blushed, seemingly embarrassed for her friend. “Come on, Ester. You need to stand up.”

  “Don’t wanna.” Ester’s head rolled back, and she looked up at me from bleary eyes. “Hey you.”

  Keli rolled her eyes and got to her feet. She was taller than I’d realized. I was six-and-a-half feet tall and used to towering over most women, but this one was less than a foot shorter than me and had legs that went on for days. When she leaned over to pull Ester to her feet, I couldn’t help admiring her ass.

  I didn’t allow her body to turn me from my purpose for being here, though. Keli had her arm around Ester’s waist, and when I moved to the other side, I took Ester’s arm. Together, we walked Ester to the car and eased her into the back seat.

  “Let me buckle her in, and then I’ll sit up front.” Keli leaned across her friend, taking care to make sure she would be safe.

  “There are garbage bags on the floor, in case she’s sick.”

  “I’m pretty sure she’s already emptied everything in her stomach,” Keli said dryly.

  Not wanting to appear like some sort of creep hovering over a couple coeds, I got into the driver’s seat. A minute or so later, Keli settled next to me, buckling up before she looked at me.

  “Thank you for coming for us.”

  “You’re welcome,” I sai
d, starting the car. “You’re a good friend.”

  Keli shrugged, but I could see a pleased expression on her face, her cheeks pink. “I know I probably could have gotten a cab or car service, but I didn’t think I could manage to get her in and out of the car without putting us both at risk.”

  “You did the right thing,” I assured her. “A lot of good people exist in this world, but a single bad one is all you’d need when your attention is on something else.”

  “How long have you lived in Seattle?” she asked, shifting so that she was angled toward me. “I mean, that accent’s not exactly Pacific Northwest.”

  “I was born in Scotland but moved to California as a child. I came to Seattle in July.” I waited for Dorothy and a scarecrow to finish crossing the street before I made my turn.

  Keli’s face lit up. “Where at in California? I grew up in Monterey Bay.”

  The small talk continued until I reached their dorm. I walked them to their door, exchanging nods with the security guard sitting just inside the lobby both when I came in and when I left.

  Keli could more than handle getting Ester to bed, and I’d done as I’d been asked. Leo could sleep easier knowing that his cousin had a good roommate who would help keep her safe.

  Two

  Seattle was a large enough city that when the local colleges let out for break, there didn’t seem to be much of a population drop unless one was near the schools themselves. Until I went to the University of Washington to meet with a mathematics professor regarding a paper he had recently written, I hadn’t realized classes had ended for the semester.

  My meeting with Professor Mirax went well. He’d written a phenomenal new algorithm, and MIRI was interested in using it. Da had asked me to personally meet with the professor to show him how serious MIRI was about its work. Unsurprisingly, Da had been right. Mirax had been impressed and promised to come in after the holidays so we could discuss more concrete plans.

  When I stepped out of the mathematics building, the snow that had dusted everything earlier in the day was gone, washed away by the sort of freezing rain that turned everything to miserable slush. I ducked my head and hurried to my car, grateful that I’d taken the advice of my assistant, Tuesday Boswell, and put snow tires on my car.

  I was just getting ready to turn out of the parking lot when I noticed a familiar figure walking down the sidewalk, her dark curls whipped about in the wind. If it hadn’t been for Monterey Bay written on the bag she had over her shoulder, I wouldn’t have recognized her. Even though I didn’t actually know her, I couldn’t let her walk in this weather.

  I rolled down my window and shouted, “Keli!”

  She turned, a smile breaking across her face when she saw who was calling for her. “Hey, Alec.”

  “Would you like a ride? This is some shite weather.”

  Her expression lit up. “If you don’t mind.”

  “Not at all.” I rolled up my window and unlocked the passenger door. After she was in and buckled up, I turned the heater up several degrees. “Where can I take you?”

  “I was heading for the diner down the street. Shelly’s Place.”

  “I’ve seen it.” I turned the direction she’d been walking. “I’m surprised to see you here, with classes being done. Did you have a late final?”

  Keli brushed her hands over her hair, dislodging the half-frozen water that had clung to the strands. “No, my parents decided they were going on a cruise for Christmas, so I figured I’d just stay here. It’s why I’m going to Shelly’s Place for dinner. The dining hall’s food is…less than appetizing during the break between semesters.”

  I glanced at her. “Do you have any plans after dinner?”

  “Just a movie. Nothing special.” She shot me a shy smile. “You could join me if you want.”

  My eyebrows went up. I’d always had my fair share of female attention, but because most women knew who I was, they either tried to be coy and flirtatious or purely sexual.

  The fact that she wasn’t fawning all over me was refreshing, and it was a huge factor in my decision to counter with a proposal of my own.

  “Will you allow me to take you out for a better dinner than you can get at Shelly’s Diner? When we’re done, we can see if you still want me to join you for that movie.”

  Her cheeks turned pink. “I’m not sure I’d be able to pay–”

  I shook my head. “I never ask a lady to pay when I’ve asked her out.”

  She looked surprised but pleased at my response. I hadn’t used the word date intentionally and waited to see if she would use it. Whether or not she chose to label the meal would determine if I accepted her movie invitation, should she make it again.

  “Thank you.”

  Genuine appreciation. A good sign. “There’s a small restaurant not far from here that specializes in unique cuisine. The Phileas. It’s the sort of place that counts on word of mouth rather than normal advertising venues.”

  “Phileas?” She laughed. “As in the main character from Around the World in Eighty Days?”

  “You know Jules Verne?” Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I hadn’t met many young women who enjoyed classic science fiction unless they were literature or theater majors. Then again, I didn’t know Keli’s area of study.

  “My English teacher senior year gave a list of authors for us to choose from for our term paper. I chose Jules Verne.” She made a face. “The other choices were Hemingway, Faulkner, and Tolstoy. I’m pretty sure my teacher did it because he wanted us all to write about Verne but didn’t want to give us room to complain that he assigned us all the same subject.”

  I’d never been the type of person who’d been any good at small talk, but with Keli, I didn’t need to be. She moved easily from one topic to the next, but it never sounded like meaningless chatter. She just enjoyed talking, and I didn’t mind listening to her.

  Phileas was wonderful, as usual. I ordered my favorite strip steak and baked potato while Keli had a chicken and kale salad. Somehow, she managed to continue the conversation between dainty bites.

  As we finished our meal – including a decadent chocolate and strawberry cheesecake – I decided that if she invited me back to her dorm room, I’d agree and see where things led from there. She wasn’t throwing herself at me, but little signs of attraction were there. Touching my hand. Leaning in toward me. If I was reading her wrong, I’d thank her for the nice company and then go back home, but I didn’t think that would be the way the night ended.

  By the time we arrived back at her dorm, she hadn’t given me an invitation yet, so after I parked, I asked if she wanted me to walk her to her door.

  “No expectations,” I added.

  “What if I want you to come inside instead of just walking me to the door?” She touched my arm. “Join me for a movie? Maybe more…”

  I’d read her correctly. The little spark between us was clearly mutual.

  “I’d like that.”

  Between my own university experiences and occasionally visiting my siblings, I’d come to believe that all college dorm rooms were the same. Two beds or three, if there was a bunk bed. Two or three desks. Maybe a shared bathroom with the room next door. Keli’s was no exception.

  She and Ester had, however, added some things to give it a personal touch. Christmas lights ran from corner to corner on the ceiling, creating soft lighting that most people preferred over the harsh industrial lighting that most big buildings had. Both of the beds had colorful pillows and blankets, and the walls in front of the desks were covered with pictures. It wasn’t hard to spot which side was Ester’s and which was Keli’s. At least three or four of the pictures on the left side of the room had Leo in them.

  I processed all of this in only a few seconds, returning my attention to Keli as she offered to hang up my coat. At least with the weather as bad as it was, I didn’t need to feel awkward about taking off my dress shoes at the door. I always hated this part of spontaneity. The how far and how much and where were things going. I had reliable intuition when it came to business, and when women threw themselves at me, their intentions were clear enough.