His Contracted Bride

I was supposed to save a building.

I never expected to marry the billionaire who owned it.

Gideon Calder is everything I should avoid.

Powerful. Controlled. Impossible to intimidate.

The kind of man who can solve almost any problem with money, influence, or a carefully written contract.

So when he asks me to become his wife for one year, I know exactly what I should say.

No.

But Gideon is fighting to save the historic Calder House Hotel from a family takeover, and the only way to secure the deciding shares is through a marriage clause buried in an old family trust.

He needs a wife.

I need the hotel protected.

And unfortunately for both of us, we already know each other far too well.

Our agreement is simple.

Separate rooms.

Separate finances.

No interference in my business.

No expectations beyond what is written on the page.

And absolutely no falling in love.

I make sure of that myself, redlining every clause until Gideon understands one thing clearly:

He may be a billionaire, but he does not own me.

Then I move into his house.

And suddenly, the man behind the reputation becomes harder to ignore.

He remembers how I take my coffee.

He notices when I am exhausted before I say a word.

He listens when I challenge him.

He protects without demanding gratitude.

And when the walls finally come down, I discover something far more dangerous than attraction.

Gideon Calder knows exactly how to make me feel chosen.

The problem is that our marriage has an expiration date.

And when the contract finally gives me everything I asked for, my freedom, my career, my life untouched, I am forced to face the one question I never planned for.

What if leaving is no longer what I want?

Because Gideon may have married me for convenience.

But somewhere between the signatures, the stolen kisses, the late-night confessions, and every rule we broke together...

I stopped feeling like his contracted bride.

I started feeling like his wife.

The contract was supposed to protect us from falling in love.

Instead, it became the first thing we had to break.