I Married a Billionaire: The Prodigal Son (Contemporary Romance) Read Online Free Page A

trouble telling anyone else.”
    “Just me.”
    “Just you,” he agreed.
    “Well, don’t I feel special.”
    A few more moments of silence passed.
    “I was…I don’t know how old,” he said, and it took me a moment to realize he was actually coming up with an answer. “I know I was hardly tall enough to see out of the window in the living room. This was in - you know, our first place. When I was a kid.”
    “The trailer,” I supplied. Lindsey had told me, but this was the first time it had come up in conversation.
    “As you say.” He cleared his throat. “We could see into the neighbor’s bedroom window, very clearly. I remember - thinking back - I remember - every once in a while, my mother or my father would go over there and yell at them to close the god damn blinds but it never happened. If either of them caught me looking, they’d…” he stopped, and frowned. “They wouldn’t be too happy about it. But this time, I suppose they didn’t. Because I just remember standing there for what felt like ages, with my fingers up on the sill.
    “She was very tall, the woman next door. Very tall, and very…statuesque, I guess, is what you’d say. Anyway.”
    He took a deep breath.
    “She, you know, she undressed. As one does. But it was the first time I ever saw anything like that. And I remember it so clearly. Like it was yesterday.”
    “Fascinating,” I said. “I don’t know if it’ll really fit the tone of your biography, but…fascinating.”
    He folded his arms across his chair, leaning back on the sofa. “I don’t know why I didn’t want to tell you.”
    “You’re embarrassed,” I said. “But you shouldn’t be.”

    ***
    Excerpted from Daniel Thorne: A Life

    Daniel Thorne will be the first to tell you that no good idea comes without a price.
    It would come as a surprise to most people that the man who has consistently created some of the world’s most cutting-edge, technologically advanced handheld devices spent the first ten years of his life without so much as a video cassette recorder. Sitting in the living room of his parents’ trailer, eyes glued to the thirteen inch TV set with the rabbit ears on top, Daniel did something that many other children in his situation did: he dreamed of something better.
    But in his particular case, those dreams turned into a multi-national corporation whose devices became household names. It’s reasonable enough to wonder: what is it, exactly, that sets him apart from the crowd?
    I first met Daniel when he was poised on the brink of world fame. At the time, he struck me as stern and quiet. Somewhat aloof. I assumed he was like all great men: self-obsessed, convinced of his own greatness, and used to getting his way. The fact that he rarely spoke to his subordinates seemed to support my ideas about him.
    The truth of Daniel Thorne is somewhat different. Those who’ve had the privilege to speak to him at any length will tell you the same story; he is often surprisingly humble and self-effacing, and in general, he dislikes talking about his own accomplishments. When he avoids interactions with others, it’s not out of some sense of superiority. It’s simply because he is shy.
    At times, he makes it difficult to talk to him. Sometimes he will try to circumvent the facts, but he hates dishonesty, and so you will find yourself poking and prodding, asking and re-phrasing the same questions over and over again.
    But when a smile is coaxed out of him, it makes the whole experience worthwhile.
    When it was suggested to Daniel that now was the time to get an autobiography written, he was charmed by the idea. But once the process began, he started to realize what the trade-off was. If he wanted people to know his story, he would actually have to tell it. Warts, skeletons and all.
    As always, no good idea comes without a price.
    It was, of course, a delicate proposition. Daniel would need someone with whom he felt comfortable, which is no small feat for a man