Christmas with the Billionaire ; A Tiara for Christmas Read online

  CHRISTMAS WITH THE BILLIONAIRE

  Despite her family’s billions, Samira Ansah is climbing the corporate ladder on her own. She needs to buy a lucrative property owned by bestselling author Emerson Lance Miller. The sexy recluse isn’t selling, but when he assumes she’s his new assistant, Samira plays along to get closer. There’s nothing fake about the sizzling attraction between these two opposites. But revealing the truth could close the book on their future...

  A TIARA FOR CHRISTMAS

  Kimber Reyes has been good all year—and she’s ready to be a little naughty. Back in Southwood, Georgia, to help her aunt with a beauty pageant, she’s reconnecting with former bad boy Dario Crowne. Her other mission: track down the mysterious designer of beautiful pageant tiaras. Dario is guarding secrets—and his heart. But unless he reveals both, the perfect Christmas gift might slip through his fingers...

  Niobia Bryant

  and

  Carolyn Hector

  Christmas with the Billionaire

  &

  A Tiara for Christmas

  Table of Contents

  Christmas with the Billionaire by Niobia Bryant

  A Tiara for Christmas by Carolyn Hector

  Excerpt from His Christmas Gift by Janice Sims

  Christmas with the Billionaire

  Niobia Bryant

  “I need an assistant for the weekends only. Your main priority would be typing my handwritten book,” he said, turning to stride across the room to stand next to the lit fireplace.

  “You write by hand?” she asked, unable to hide her amazement and forgetting the reason for her visit.

  “Yes,” he said, his voice deep.

  “And you’ve finished your new book in the Mayhem series?” she asked.

  “So, you’re familiar with my books?” he asked, his attention locked on the crackling fire.

  Samira wished she could see his face. She felt almost like he was hiding it from her intentionally. “Yes,” she finally answered. “My favorite is Vengeance.”

  He grunted.

  She eyed him. There was something so powerful but still sad about his stance. The way he moved. The way his stare was downcast. She was surprised at how strongly she needed to know what gave him such a demeanor. It, plus the dark interior of the home and neglected exterior, was all so mysterious—maybe even more so than one of his novels.

  The man was an enigma. How could someone so abrupt and insolent write with such emotion and rhythm that she was forever transformed by his words? The two did not match.

  Niobia Bryant is the award-winning and national bestselling author of more than thirty works of romance and commercial mainstream fiction. She has twice won the RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Award for African American/Multicultural Romance. Her books have appeared in Ebony, Essence, the New York Post, The Star-Ledger, The Dallas Morning News and many other national publications.

  “I am a writer, born and bred. I can’t even fathom what else I would do besides creating stories and telling tales. When it comes to my writing I dabble in many genres, my ideas are unlimited and the ink in my pen is infinite.” —Niobia Bryant

  Books by Niobia Bryant

  Harlequin Kimani Romance

  A Billionaire Affair

  Tempting the Billionaire

  The Billionaire’s Baby

  Christmas with the Billionaire

  Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.

  As always, for my mama, my guardian angel, Letha “Bird” Bryant.

  Dear Reader,

  Welcome to the last Passion Grove romance. This is bittersweet. I’m happy to tell the fiery love story of Lance and Samira—especially with its slight take on the Beauty and the Beast theme—but it’s hard to leave the little town behind. I will cherish the memories of four ardent love stories: Alek and Alessandra, Chance and Ngozi, Naim and Marisa and now Lance and Samira. And don’t forget the secondary romance of Roje and LuLu woven throughout the series.

  So I hope you’ll enjoy following the romantic journey of Lance, the reclusive author with more grumpiness than grins, and Samira, the billionaire heiress who wants love, career and a vibrant social life.

  It’s a story you don’t want to miss. I promise.

  N.

  www.NiobiaBryant.com

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Epilogue

  Chapter 1

  “It is end of day, Samira.”

  Life is all about balance.

  Samira Ansah believed in that mantra and was determined to achieve it. So, when her virtual assistant gave her its daily reminder, she allowed herself just a few more moments at her desk looking over a report from one of the brand associates that she supervised as the growth strategist for the Ansah-Dalmount Group. Ambitious, she loved her work for the billion-dollar conglomerate, particularly since her late father, Kwame Ansah, had been one of its founders. She was determined to be equally successful in work, play and love. Balance.

  She exited the document and then logged out of the ADG network before she rose from her desk to walk to her slender lone window in the corner. New York’s autumn skies were darkening, the lights across the metropolitan area illuminating the windows of towering buildings, the streetlights and headlights of the many cars moving at a slow pace in the congested traffic below. She found it exhilarating. Of all the places she’d lived and all the places she’d seen as she’d traveled around the world, New York was one of her faves, because the vibe was hard to match.

  Samira turned from the window of her modest office, tucking her jet-black, nearly waist-length hair behind her ear before she pulled on her lined trench coat. After retrieving her black leather Fendi purse and a Dolce & Gabbana garment bag from the hook on the back of the door, she left her office without a look back.

  The large office the three members on her team shared was already empty. She was always the first to arrive and last to leave by design. The heels of her designer shoes clicked against the marble floors as she took long strides, made easy by her tall height. She reached the wood-paneled elevator before the reception desk, turning to look around.

  The corporation operated around the globe, including in Milan and London, but New York was its headquarters. ADG owned the twenty-five-story building but leased out all but the top four floors, with the co-CEOs occupying the extravagant two offices on the top floor with their own private elevators. The majority of the small glass-enclosed offices were empty as the time neared seven. It was on this twenty-second floor where the lion’s share of ADG employees were housed. The worker bees. Those driven by pure hunger to succeed. Many who wanted not just a paycheck but to climb the ranks of the company and lay claim to one of the executive offices on the upper floors that came with larger space, better views and priceless executive assistants.

  Samira wanted that as well.

  Although she was an heir to the Ansah fortune, which made her wealthy, Samira’s ambition was to help run the billion-dollar conglomerate. Business was in her blood. Her grandfather, Ebo Ansah, began a financial services firm in Ghana in the 1950s that grew significantly in the mid-1960s, providing a very respectable living for his wife, Kessie, and their fo
ur children. His eldest son—her father, Kwame—grew up under the tutelage of his father and was anxious for his opportunity to enter the family business. They expanded the financial services offered to their loyal clients and grew their business. Life was good, and with the Ansah men working together doggedly, it became even better. Upon Ebo’s passing in the early 1980s, Kwame took over the running of the business, aggressively acquiring smaller banks and insurance and investment firms to catapult himself to wealth and prominence. When the opportunity arose in 1987 to join forces with Frances Dalmount, a business competitor from England, he accepted with the intent to use their combined resources to take on other business ventures. The Ansah-Dalmount Group was formed, eventually becoming one of the most successful conglomerates in the world with its business umbrella covering financial services, oil, hotel/resorts/casinos, telecommunications and, most recently, shipping.

  Samira was just a teenager when her beloved father was killed in a plane crash. She was a daddy’s girl and took his death hard. The years had passed, but her pain and regret lingered. As she entered college and majored in finance, she was determined to help cement her father’s legacy by working alongside her two older brothers, Alek and Naim. Alek was the heir to the proverbial throne, and her brother Naim, who was just as qualified to lead, had worked his way up the ladder from the marketing department to become president of the telecommunications arm.

  She was determined to have similar success.

  Already, she’d overcome the usual gender hurdles. She’d slain Alek’s outdated misgivings about women in business—whether they could measure up or stick to the job in the same way men did—and she’d been inspired by the tenacity and work ethic of his wife, Alessandra. And it had been her sister-in-law who gave her the shot her brother had not.

  “I want to work for the firm my grandfather created from nothing and my father helped shape into a billion-dollar corporation. I want in at ADG.”

  Samira remembered the moment when she’d stiffened her spine, notched her chin and presented her résumé to Alessandra with more confidence than she actually felt. She was thankful for the brilliant businesswoman who had become her sister-in-law. Like Alessandra, she wanted to be one of the rare women of color to become a top executive and to create opportunities for others like her, wanting the corporate glass ceiling shattered once and for all. Lately, she had been pondering starting a blog to help other women who aspired to enter corporate America by highlighting women in business and offering career and education advice.

  Ding.

  She turned as the wood-paneled door to the elevator opened and stepped inside the lift, pressing the button for the penthouse. The ride was smooth and quick. Within minutes she was striding off the elevator and past the empty reception area to the wide marbled hall leading to Alessandra’s suite of offices. The automated glass door leading into the outer office opened upon her approach.

  “Good evening, Ms. Ansah. Go right in,” Alessandra’s executive assistant, Unger Rawlings, said.

  Samira gave the tall and slender man a soft smile as she continued past his desk to enter the spacious office taking up almost half of the entire floor of the building. The nearly 360-degree view of Manhattan through the floor-to-ceiling windows was spectacular. The open floor plan was breathtakingly beautiful and sleek at over three thousand square feet, with twenty-foot ceilings with skylights, a private spa bath, a small kitchen, an exercise room, a lounge area with a grand fireplace, a library and an outdoor terrace.

  Over the years since she claimed her spot as co-CEO of ADG, Alessandra had made the space that once belonged to Samira’s father her own.

  “Hello, Ms. CEO.”

  Alessandra paused in sliding folders inside her red leather briefcase and offered her a warm smile. “Hello. Date night?” she asked.

  “Yes,” she said, coming to a stop before her desk. “Thanks for letting me use your bathroom. I’m meeting someone for dinner and would rather not make a trip home to change.”

  “Someone?” Alessandra asked, tucking her sleek bob-cut hair behind her ear, the diamond of her extravagant wedding ring sparkling brilliantly with the gesture.

  “Norman. Stockbroker. Tall. Gorgeous. Funny,” she supplied, her eyes sparkling as she held up crossed fingers.

  To date, Samira had been unlucky in love, and she wanted to change that. She was single and happily dating after her college boyfriend ended things because he no longer wanted to be in a relationship. Samira was of the school of thought that what was not meant to be shouldn’t be forced, and she took the breakup in stride, determined not to give up on love. For her, happily-ever-after meant falling in love, starting a family and thriving in business. She wanted it all.

  The last of the shelves of books lining the wall swung open, and her brother Alek walked in from the long, windowless concrete hallway that ran along the back wall of the boardroom and connected his office to that of his wife. He smiled at them both, looking very GQ in his tailored suit and polished handmade shoes. He moved to Alessandra’s side, setting his own briefcase on the desk before sliding his arm around her body and pressing a kiss to her temple.

  Samira stroked the garment bag tucked over her arm as she eyed two successful business magnates running a billion-dollar business and their family together with both brilliance and love.

  Alek’s eyes dipped down to the garment bag and tote she carried. “What are you up to tonight?” he asked, his British accent acquired from their London upbringing still as present as her own.

  “Minding the business that pays me, big brother,” she quipped, giving him a playful wink.

  “Funny. I thought I paid you,” he returned as his wife looked on at their spirited sibling jibing.

  Samira chuckled. “For my work. Not my business.”

  “Touché,” Alek said, inclining his head.

  “I’m having dinner at Daniel,” she supplied as she turned on her heels to move toward Alessandra’s private en suite bathroom.

  “On East Sixty-Fifth?”

  Samira nodded.

  “Order the foie gras–stuffed quail. It’s really good.”

  “Will do,” she said as the frosted automated door to the spa-like bathroom opened as she neared.

  “We’re headed out. Be safe,” Alessandra called out behind her.

  “I will, and tell Aliyah that Aunt Mira will see her this weekend,” she said, rushing into the bathroom for fear of being late.

  Not the best impression on a first date.

  Quickly she undressed and twisted her hair up under a shower cap, oblivious to the elegant surroundings as she started the water and stepped beneath the rain showerhead.

  “That feels good,” she said to herself, wishing she had more time to enjoy the spray of the water against her skin.

  Twenty minutes later, with her makeup freshened up and her body smelling of her favorite Hermès 24 Fauborg perfume of ylang-ylang, orange blossoms, jasmine and iris, Samira made her way out of the office and toward the elevator. She felt decadent in a satin-trimmed lace dress with corset boning that clung to her curves and revealed just enough of her skin to tempt and tantalize.

  And later, as she finally entered the elegant Upper East Side eatery and was led to the bar, she smiled as Norman rose from the stool and presented her a white cosmopolitan with an orchid in an oversize sphere of ice.

  “You remembered,” she said, accepting the drink and the warm kiss he pressed to her cheek.

  “Most definitely,” Norman assured her.

  She’d mentioned the delicious drink in passing when they first decided where to have their dinner date.

  Nice touch.

  She slid onto the stool he held out for her, taking a sip of her drink before setting it and her clutch atop the bar in front of a backlit wall filled with shelves of liquors. “So, tell me more about yourself, Norman,” she said, crossing her lo
ng legs and drawing his eye.

  They’d met through an online dating app. Samira was not only an employee on the rise at ADG but also one of the heirs to the family fortune. Being a billionaire heiress made her cautious about whom she chose to have in her life, and the app allowed access to a wide dating pool while still keeping a good chunk of her life—and her wealth—to herself. The last thing she was looking for was fake love fostered by a desire for a billionaire lifestyle. The money she received via her share of the family trust and her shares in ADG made her career more of a passion than a necessity.

  As he talked of his life, Samira listened intently, sizing him up and finding he might very well fit in her life. He was smart, well-spoken, attractive and groomed. She was surrounded by power couples: Alek and Alessandra; her brother’s best friend, Chance, a self-made tech billionaire and his wife, Ngozi, a powerful attorney; and her other brother, Naim, and his wife, Marisa, also an heir to the wealthy Dalmount family, who was creating her own destiny through her own chocolate business. Power and passion.

  Each woman was a wife, mother and shrewd businesswoman.

  I can have it all, too.

  I will have it all.

  * * *

  Emerson Lance Millner’s daily ritual was set in stone, and he liked it that way.

  With a soft grunt, he awakened. He reached for his iPhone and checked the time, already knowing it was somewhere around 3:00 a.m., as it always was when he rose. Setting the phone back down on the nightstand, cloaked by the darkness of the early-morning hours, Lance moved his frame to sit up on the edge of the king-size bed. He forced himself not to think of just how empty the large bed was even with his over-six-foot height and broad build.

  His grief was the norm for him as well.

  He rubbed his eyes with his hands before stretching his arms high above his head and then rising to his feet. He waved his hand over the base of the lamp to softly illuminate his master bedroom. Nude, he strode across the polished hardwood floors to enter the walk-in closet/dressing room and continued through to the rustic-styled bathroom. He reached inside the tiled glass-enclosed shower to turn the water on to steaming hot before brushing his teeth at the double sink, avoiding his reflection in the copper-framed mirror that accentuated the wood walls.