Mending The Billionaire Movie Star (MacLachlan Brothers Romance Book 1) Read online

  Mending the Billionaire Movie Star

  A Clean Scottish Romance Book One

  Bree Livingston

  Edited by

  Christina Schrunk

  Mending the Billionaire Movie Star

  Copyright © 2017 by Bree Livingston

  Edited by Christina Schrunk

  https://www.facebook.com/christinaschrunk.editor

  Proofread by Krista R. Burdine

  https://www.facebook.com/iamgrammaresque

  Cover design by Victorine Lieske

  http://victorinelieske.com/

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

  Bree Livingston

  https://www.breelivingston.com

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  Mending the Billionaire Movie Star / Bree Livingston. -- 1st ed.

  ISBN: 9781073765300

  Contents

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  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

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Sneak Peek! Mending the Billionaire Scotsman Chapter 1

  Sneak Peek! Her Pretend Billionaire Boyfriend Chapter 1

  Also by Bree Livingston

  About the Author

  Thanks to those who pushed me to make this a great story.

  Julie

  Britney

  Shannon

  Deborah

  Christina

  I love you ladies. More than you’ll ever know or I’ll ever be able to express.

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  Chapter 1

  Penelope Cooper smiled as she opened the door of her beachfront home for her identical twin sister. In true theatrical form, Paige had called and demanded to come over to the house, excited about news that simply had to be told in person.

  Before her sister could even get through the door, Paige was jumping up and down, her wavy honey-blond hair bouncing around her arms. “I have the best surprise ever!”

  Penelope’s shoulders sagged. Fabulous. Most of the time, the hour-long drive from Pensacola was too much of a hassle for Paige to even bother visiting. If she was this excited, it was a scheme, and it most definitely involved Penelope, which meant nothing good would come from it.

  George, Penelope’s standard poodle, barked excitedly. She’d worked with him on manners lately, so at least all four of his paws stayed on the ground.

  “George,” Penelope said.

  He quieted and promptly sat at her feet.

  She returned her focus to Paige, who bounced into the house.

  “You remember how the Celebrity Proposal show was running a contest?” her sister asked as she whirled around.

  “Yes. I heard about it from some of my dog-grooming clients.”

  “I kinda sorta entered you.”

  Penelope’s breath caught in her throat, and she blinked. “What?”

  Paige was great at making Penelope miserable. Their history was pockmarked by Paige generously doing favors for her.

  “I. Entered. You.” Paige beamed with excitement. “And you won! The producer is going to be interviewing you.”

  “Why on earth would you do that?”

  “Angus MacLachlan is a drop-dead gorgeous billionaire.” A dreamy look settled on her face.

  “If you think he’s so great, why didn’t you sign yourself up? Why me?” Penelope knew why. Because Paige loved seeing her squirm.

  Paige shrugged. “He seems more your type. Tall, red hair, blue eyes.”

  Penelope leveled her gaze. “But Angus MacLachlan? Blech.” With a giant helping of nope sauce.

  Paige’s face fell. “Blech? What do you mean, ‘Blech’?”

  “I mean,” Penelope said firmly, “no thanks. He’s a jerk. Or at least that’s the face he puts out to the world. A filthy rich, pompous, Scottish jerk. He’s rude and nasty, and he’s been with more women than Hugh Hefner.” Spitting on photographers and verbally berating a female fan didn’t help his persona either.

  “Just because the papers say something doesn’t mean it’s true.” Paige stared her down.

  “You entered me into a contest I have no desire to be a part of. What makes you think I’ll go?” Penelope felt her ears getting hot.

  Paige walked to the kitchen, whistling as she twirled a piece of her hair. Penelope’s mouth went dry. Paige had impersonated her more than once, leaving her to pick up the pieces and make amends.

  “What did you do, Paige?”

  Paige chewed her bottom lip and wouldn’t meet her gaze.

  “Paige!”

  “I may have pretended to be you…and signed a contract stating you’d go.”

  Penelope braced her hands on the kitchen counter, her fingernails turning white from the pressure. “You impersonated me to sign it; now impersonate me again, and you go! I can’t be held to that contract when you signed it. Tell them the truth.”

  Paige’s jaw dropped. “I would be charged with fraud if I admitted that. You’d really let me go to jail? I thought a little all-expenses-paid trip would be fun. Look, the worst that could happen is you meet with the producers and they don’t like you. They probably won’t even let you be on the show. No harm, no foul. Right?”

  Penelope groaned. What a mess Paige had gotten her into. There was no good way out of it. She certainly couldn’t throw her sister under the bus, even though Paige was continually throwing her under without glancing back.

  “And who’s going to look after George? You?”

  “Why not me?” Paige bent down and rubbed George’s head, eliciting a happy bark. “We can hang for twelve weeks, can’t we, buddy?”

  George’s tail wagged so hard the air whooshed.

  Traitor. Penelope also wondered if he was agreeing with Paige.

  “I don’
t understand why you do this stuff.”

  “Because I’m worried about you. You go to work, come home, and never do anything fun. You’re thirty-two years old, Penny, but you act like you’re eighty.”

  Right, Paige was worried about her. Penelope rolled her eyes.

  “Don’t call me Penny.” Penelope pursed her lips. “I don’t act like I’m eighty. I act like I’m happy with my life the way it is. I enjoy being a dog groomer. I love coming home and finding things where I left them. Why can’t you let me be?”

  “Because I don’t think you’re as happy as you claim.” Paige leaned her hip against the counter.

  Penelope narrowed her eyes and glared at her sister. “I don’t have to go on dates all the time to be happy.”

  Paige clenched her jaw. “That’s not fair. Just because I like to go out and have fun doesn’t mean I’m a serial dater. It means I’m picky. I have a rating system.”

  Shaking her head, Penelope crossed her arms over her chest. “No, you aren’t picky. You’re impossible. I helped you come up with a system, and you’ve added to it since your breakup with Tyler.”

  “Don’t say that name!”

  “Tyler, Tyler, Tyler.”

  Paige growled. “Real mature. You know it was more than a breakup. You know what he did to me.” She switched from angry to weepy in a millisecond.

  Oh great. Now she was going to cry. Penelope dropped her arms and gathered her sister into a hug. “I’m sorry, Paige. I know it hurt.”

  Penelope couldn’t stand to see anyone hurting. It didn’t matter what they may have done to her. She couldn’t keep herself from wanting to soothe an ache, especially a heartache. She was beginning to wonder if it was a character flaw.

  “I want to see you find someone that will make you happy.” Paige sniffed.

  Yeah, right. “I don’t need someone to make me happy. I can be happy by myself. If I end up with someone, it will be because I love them and enjoy their company.”

  Paige softened, and her shoulders sagged. She stepped back and looked at Penelope with her eyebrows raised, a crease between them.

  “Oh no. No. Don’t you give me the sad eyes.”

  Paige stuck her bottom lip out.

  “And the lip too?”

  She batted her lashes.

  Penelope hung her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. Letting out an exasperated sigh, she lifted her gaze to Paige and said, “Fine. I’ll go. But only to save you from jail.”

  Paige’s face lit up, and she clapped like a performing seal. “Yay!”

  “They’ll take one look at me and send me home.”

  Paige sucked her teeth. “You don’t know that. You’re attractive, funny, intelligent―”

  Penelope rolled her eyes. “And completely uninterested in Angus MacLachlan.”

  “You say that now. Maybe he’s not a complete jerk. Maybe he’s a nice guy who got a bad rap.” Her sister shrugged.

  “Or maybe he’s exactly what he appears to be and is a giant jerk. He’s not going to like me.” She would make sure of that, even if she had to stop showering.

  Paige clasped her hands over Penelope’s. “Sis, just go with an open mind. You never know. What if he was hurt like me? What if he didn’t have anyone that loved him through it like you loved me? If it hadn’t been for you, I’d probably be―”

  “A bigger pain in my butt than you already are?”

  Her sister’s scowl answered Penelope’s grin.

  Then Paige returned her grin. “We’ll get you a great outfit for meeting the producers, and when they pick you, we’ll get an entire wardrobe. One without dog hair, snags or stains.”

  Shopping? Could the day get any worse? Penelope’s lip turned up in a half-curl.

  “Elvis called. He wants his lip curl back. Now, what are we going to do with your hair?” Paige grinned.

  Chapter 2

  “Angus, listen. Your image killed your career, chief. This is a chance to redeem yourself so you can get offers coming in again,” Finn said.

  Angus grunted. Finn was right, but he hated hearing the truth. The truth was always ugly and uncomfortable. And lately, Angus avoided anything that even remotely caused him discomfort. It wasn’t like he needed the work. He was a billionaire. He’d taken his movie earnings and invested well enough that he didn’t have to worry about anything. Only, he loved acting, and the thought of losing his career crushed him.

  “We’ve been mates since we were kids. Well before your big break, and well before you were a hit with the ladies. I remember the pure lanky, dorky Angus.”

  “Aye, well, you’re the only one.”

  Finn exhaled and joined Angus on the couch in the green room. “All these other people around you have ulterior motives. I don’t. That’s why you keep me around.”

  He kept him around because he was familiar. “Whatever.”

  “Just because I put up with your raging doesn’t mean I’ll take it from you. You know I’m right. You need to go to this meeting with a smile on your face and a better attitude. Fake it if you have to. Unless, of course, you’ve decided you’re done acting.”

  Angus glanced at Finn. “I love acting. I hate the business.”

  “No, you hate the agent who double-crossed you and broke your heart.”

  “And the difference is?”

  “Not everyone is going to do that. Stop assuming the whole world wants to use you for your fame and then drop you.”

  “Aren’t we supposed to be at a meeting?”

  Finn sighed. “Yeah, let’s get out there. Remember what I said. If you can’t be pleasant, use your gift and act it.”

  Outside the green room, the producer, Barbara Freeman, waited for Angus with a warm, toothy smile. “Angus,” she said and hugged him. Barb was his agent when he first arrived in Hollywood twenty years prior. She’d taken a chance on a scrawny nineteen-year-old kid from the highlands in Scotland, and through the years, she’d become like a mother to him.

  “It’s good to see you, Barb. How’s it going?”

  The room Barb fixed up for the casting call looked nearly identical to the green room he’d just left, only with a one-way glass so he could see the women without them seeing him. He’d negotiated with Barb to make sure he had a say in who was chosen to be on the show. But Barb insisted on having full control of the contest and who won, which allowed her to pick one of the contestants.

  Barb’s idea for the show was to only have four girls in the competition, the contest winner and three who applied to be on the show. She hoped it would allow for a more intimate setting and would be a better way to show the public that Angus had truly changed. That left Angus with the control of picking three girls from the casting call.

  It was also Barb’s idea to keep them through the whole show. Eliminating someone once a week didn’t seem to jive with trying to fix his image. Plus, the idea of teary-eyed, broken-hearted women didn’t sit well with him. Granted, he was pretty sure there’d be a flap when he didn’t propose, but if there was no connection, he couldn’t help that, right? They didn’t have to know he had no intention of making any sort of an attempt to find love.

  “We have some beautiful girls. Bright, interesting, and interested in you.” She winked.

  He gave her a blank stare. “That helps.”

  “Are you staying back here the entire time to listen to the interviews?”

  Finn nodded. “Yes, he is.”

  Angus threw Finn a quick glare.

  Barb continued. “Oh, I forgot to mention that Clara will be joining us as well.”

  Angus flinched inwardly, like a whip hit him. He could feel the color draining from his face. “No, that wasn’t what we agreed to, Barb. I don’t want her here.” Clara Brighton. He hated even hearing her name.

  “We didn’t have a choice. She threatened to sue if she was cut out of it.”

  Signing a five-year contract with her was the worst mistake he’d ever made. He’d trusted her and signed it without looking it over.
It wasn’t a standard contract, and now he was stuck with her for another two years.

  Angus looked at Finn and silently pleaded with him.

  “Do they have to be in the same room?” Finn asked.

  Barb’s smile faded. “Well, you don’t have to be, but according to the contract you have with her, she’s allowed to sit in on any meetings you have.”

  “You’d think she’d be happy with the twenty percent she doesn’t have to work for,” Finn said.

  Angus jammed his hands into the pockets of his jeans as he stalked to an upholstered chair and flopped down. “Let it go, Finn.”

  “You’re never going to be free of that woman. Why does she want to be involved with a stupid reality show anyway?” Finn asked.

  “I’m sorry,” Barb said.

  “I’ll be fine. Just start the interviews,” Angus said. Part of him wanted to bolt from the room at the very thought of breathing the same air as Clara, but he had no choice in the matter.

  Finn took a seat next to Angus. “When’s she supposed to be here?”

  “How about now?” Clara asked from the doorway.

  Angus glanced at her. Still beautiful. Still sultry. Still evil. Clara’s glossy black hair grazed her shoulders as she strolled into the room. She’d cut it since the last time he saw her.