A Wise Investment: Arranged Marriage Romance Read online

  Table of Contents

  Untitled

  Untitled

  A Wise Investment

  Dorthy

  Bear

  Dorthy

  Bear

  Dorthy

  Bear

  Dorthy

  Bear

  Dorthy

  Bear

  Dorthy

  Bear

  Dorthy

  Bear

  Dorthy

  Bear

  Dorthy

  Bear

  Dorthy

  Untitled

  Also by Rocklyn Ryder:

  Untitled

  Untitled

  About Rocklyn:

  A Wise Investment

  Arranged Marriage Romance

  Rocklyn Ryder

  Magpie Press

  Copyright © 2017 Rocklyn Ryder

  All rights reserved worldwide

  No part of this book may be reproduced, uploaded to the Internet, or copied without permission from the author. The author respectfully asks that you please support artistic expression and help promote anti-piracy efforts by purchasing a copy of this book at the authorized online outlets.

  This is a work of fiction intended for mature audiences only. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to events, locales, business establishments, or actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is purely coincidental.

  All sexual activities depicted occur between consenting characters 18 years or older who are not blood related.

  Sign up for Rocklyn's newsletter to keep track of everything she's got going on.

  ROCKLYN RYDER's NEWSLETTER

  A Wise Investment

  An Arranged Marriage Romance

  by

  Rocklyn Ryder

  Dorthy

  "What the fuck do you mean, you met somebody else?"

  I know I'm yelling but I just can't find it in me to give a rat's ass at this point. Of course the chicken shit bastard hangs up on me. When I call him back he lets it go to voicemail. Twice.

  Despite what Andrew just said, I am not "batshit crazy--" well maybe I am. Right now. Because what woman wouldn't be a little irritated to have her boyfriend break up with her on the phone when it's obvious that his new girlfriend is sitting right next to him?

  I sure as hell wasn't "batshit crazy" before he started cheating on me. I wasn't "batshit crazy" until he started hiding his phone from me and keeping it locked down with a password and lying to me about being out of town for work.

  Trying to crush my phone in my hand is the only thing keeping me from throwing it out the third story window of my apartment.

  Maybe I'll break down and cry about it later but right now I'm mad as a hornet and since Andrew isn't man enough to give me the chance to air my grievances I need someone who will listen to me, no matter how crazy I get.

  Strike that.

  I am not crazy.

  "OK, Doe, but you guys were together for what? Six months? It's not like you were planning a wedding or anything."

  My sister is not my first choice for a sympathetic ear, but she is the only person in my contact list that would drive over here, rum in hand, and sit at the table while I bitch. She has to, I did it for her more than once before she found her knight in shining armor.

  "Most people start talking about marriage around the six month mark, Anne," I point out.

  I've been pacing and yelling for the last 3 hours. The rum and pineapple juice that she's been keeping me supplied with is starting to kick in, combined with 3 hours of yelling and cursing, I'm starting to wear down.

  "But were you guys talking about marriage?" Anne asks.

  She's my only sister, but she's 12 years older than me. Which means she treats me more like one of her girls most of the time. That can be frustrating.

  "I might have mentioned it to him," I hate it when she's all wise like this. I also know when it's time to just shut up and sit down, so I do. "I'm not getting any younger, sis," I remind her, "I'm way past the days when I was willing to just ride out a relationship and see where it goes. I told him when we started dating that I was looking for something serious that was going to have a future."

  Anne nods sagely from across my dining room table, "And what did he say about that?"

  I slump in my chair, "He said he was willing to consider it."

  "Consider it?" Anne raises an eyebrow and I totally know what she's thinking.

  "What? It's a start."

  "Dorthy, I know how bad you want to find someone--"

  Oh brother, here we go again.

  "--but you can't push a man into marriage before he even has a chance to know if he wants a second date. You're still young, just relax and let it happen in it's own time."

  "Easy for you to say," I tell her, trying not to pout like the jealous little sister that I am, "you got your happy ever after. You have four perfect children and a man who has worshiped you since the day he met you."

  Anne leans back with a heavy sigh, "Yeah, but I went through hell to get here. If I'd known what I know now when I was your age, I'd have been so much better off."

  My sister knows what she's talking about. She got pregnant her senior year of high school and married the father right away. It didn't last long and she was divorced with 2 children before she was 21. She spent most of my teen years going through a series of short lived relationships in a desperate search to find a husband and a father for her girls. She got married again when she was 25 and had my nephew, and then found herself divorced again just a few years later.

  She didn't meet Ben till she was 32, after going back to college for her degree and finally worrying about taking care of herself and the kids on her own, without anyone's help.

  It happened for her just the way she's telling me to wait for for myself.

  I appreciate her advice, I really do. I get where she's coming from but we've always been such different people. Maybe it has to do with our age difference, or maybe it's just something in our DNA, but I've always been much closer to her girls than to Anne.

  Unfortunately, my nieces aren't available. They're off at college, Jasmine is graduating in the spring and Rebecca is a sophomore. A few more months and they'd be the ones sitting around my kitchen table with me instead of their mom, but in a clench, I'll take what's available. Even if my sister sucks at telling me what I want to hear, I'm grateful for her advice.

  "Anne," I begin, "you know I appreciate your advice, but you had kids young, you were already half way there when Ben came along. I'm working on a deadline here."

  She just doesn't understand.

  In Anne's eyes, I have the chance to make up for the living she lost out on. I'm 28 and still have years ahead of me to find a husband and start a family. Anne thinks I should be out with girlfriends, partying, experiencing life, traveling-- all those things she didn't get to do in her 20s.

  By the time Anne's satisfied that she's done her sisterly duty and gotten me calmed down and some sense talked into me, it's after 10. I have work in the morning and she's got a family to get home to.

  I try not to let that eat at me as I walk her down to her car.

  "Look, Doe, all I'm saying is maybe ease up for awhile. Concentrate on doing you. It'll happen when it's meant to happen, you can't force it."

  I hug my sister and thank her for the emergency rum and vent session, but I'm so relieved when she finally drives away.

  She means well, but she's never understood things from my point of view. Maybe I'd see things her way if roles were reversed, but then again, if roles were rev
ersed, I'd already have what I'm looking for.

  Bear

  Everything is falling into place perfectly. The house was finished 6 months ago and this morning I got the call from Raven that all she needed next was the list of people I want on my team to help her narrow down the matches.

  I've already got my sister on board, now all I have to do is get my boss and his wife to agree.

  I bring the Cessna down on the runway and barely wait for the plane to come to a stop before I'm out and jogging back to the office. If I'm lucky, I can catch Rogue before he heads home for the day.

  "Hey, where's the fire?" Joe yells at me as I pass him out where he's working on his plane. Not much goes on around here, I have to make sure to let Joe know there's not actually a fire or he'll be on my heels. It's gonna be awkward enough explaining things to the boss without Joe's wisecracking ass giving me shit about my plan at the same time.

  I wave a hand at him to let him know it's nothing important, "Just gotta catch Rogue before he leaves," I holler at the older man before he can follow me into the office.

  The door to the office is closed when I enter the building that serves as airport lounge, mechanic shop, and office for the entire operation. I knock and get a "come in" from behind the door, so I figure the man must be on the phone with his lady.

  Rogue met Melissa about 5 years ago now when she spent a summer holed up in the shack that serves as a summer rental cabin at Wolf Ridge. Lucky fucking bastard that he is, he took over the stop for the summer and ended up with a wife at the end of the season.

  Now they're waiting on their third kid, which is due in about 2 more months.

  Boss always gets fidgety when he's got a baby on the way. The first time around Joe and I almost walked out on him. He had us both working over time, pushing our planes and our bodies to the limits because he didn't want to leave Mel alone for more than 2 minutes.

  We finally talked him into hiring another pilot and then we banished the boss from his own business so we could get some peace around this place.

  We're thinking about doing it again soon. The closer Mel gets to her due date, the crazier Rogue gets. He's too protective of her, worried about every move she makes, and calling her 20 times a damn day.

  I've lived up here my whole life and never seen a man get so freaked out about having a pregnant woman at home. I swear, that ain't gonna be me.

  "Hey man," I grab the cap off my head and wad it up nervously in my hand as I gesture toward a chair, silently asking if it's cool if I sit and talk for a minute.

  Rogue looks surprised, and then a little worried, but he nods and waves at the chair, "yeah, yeah, yeah, come on in."

  His expression goes a little dark and a lot more worried as he watches me shut the door to his office before I grab a seat.

  "What's up, man?" He wants to know as he nods toward the closed door, "Everything cool?"

  My heart's racing like I ran all the way back from my last stop. I've known I was going to go through with this since the money came in, contacted Raven as soon as they started working on the house, been in the planning stages ever since. I just ain't talked to the people that I knew I wanted to help with the final decision making.

  Maybe that's cuz I feel like a fucking loser for not being able to find a woman the old fashioned way like Joe and Rogue managed to. Maybe it's cuz I'm nervous as shit about letting someone else pick a wife out for me. Or maybe I don't wanna hear about what a damn fool I'm being-- with my heart or my money-- and I'm worried they're not gonna help me out.

  My sister is great, but she doesn't know me like my buddies do. Rogue's got a good head on his shoulders and where his good sense stops, Mel will pick up the slack.

  I trust this guy and his woman more than I trust my own judgment. I'm just worried he's gonna think I'm a damn fool for going this route.

  "I need a favor, man," I twist the camo ball cap in my hands. No point in pussyfooting around, that's never been my MO and it ain't Rogue's either. It's the reason we work so well together. That and we both got flyin' in our blood.

  "Sure man, anything. Shoot," Rogue leans back in his desk chair and props his feet up on his desk with his arms behind his head. He's giving me the casual act, but he's still looking at me like he's worried about what he's agreeing to.

  "Well, you know the house is done now," I launch in. I've practiced my pitch a thousand times and now that I'm really here, none of the words comin' out of my mouth are anything like what I'd planned on saying.

  Rogue nods.

  "You know it ain't decorated or nothin'," I lower my eyes to the mangled cap in my lap, "Thought about hiring somebody from the city or maybe the L48 to come up and help me out with that part, you know?"

  "Sounds smart-- unless you just want to do the whole thing up in Mossy Oak?" Rogue jokes, but there's a question behind his words like he's antsy to know the real reason I'm talking.

  I grunt out a laugh. Yeah. That's about what the place would look like if I did it myself. I'd just pick out a bunch of shit from the outfitter's catalog and all 3,000 square feet would end up in camo and blaze orange between the fucking antlers.

  Which is why I ain't gonna touch one square inch of the place until I know who I'll be sharing it with.

  "Well, thing is, man," I look up at him and I hate that I can feel the fucking puppy dog look on my damn face, with my desperation leaking through like I'm about to beg but, "what the place really needs is a woman's touch."

  Rogue's eyebrows lift and so does his mood. A smile stretches across his face, "You're place isn't the only thing that needs a woman touch," he jokes easily.

  He's damn right too. I been looking all over this fucking state for a woman to make my own for the last 7 years and she doesn't fucking exist.

  I don't have Rogue's luck or his looks. The locals have all known me since I was a kid and the girls all thought they were too damn smart to get stuck with me before I had my money. Once they got wind of my inheritance and started sniffing around, I was too damn smart to get stuck with any of them.

  But the gals that move up here or come around for vacation ain't interested. I'm too big, too wild, too Alaska for them. Guys like my boss have all the luck.

  I guess I could shave the beard, put on some of them trendy clothes, and try to come off a little softer around the edges but fuck that.

  Yeah, it's true, I want a woman. I want a woman that's just mine, with my ring on her finger and my baby in her belly just like every other guy I know up here, but I'm not about to change who I am for it.

  I need a woman who can handle me for who I am...and who can handle where I live. Cuz Alaska's home and I ain't leavin' it for no one.

  It's a short laugh I answer with, he's right, the house ain't the only thing that needs a woman's touch, but what I'm signing up for is more than just that, and I need Rogue's help.

  "Well, that's what I'm here about," I look up at the man and I must look pretty damn sober cuz he drops his feet on the floor and sits up to hear me out,"Thing is, Rogue, I've had my eye on this website for a few years now, but I couldn't afford it till just here lately, you know?"

  Rogue sets his elbows on the desk in front of him and rest his chin on his fists with a serious look.

  "This lady calls herself a 'marriage broker'," I reach into my pocket and pull out the folded up piece of paper with Raven's email that I printed out earlier and hand it to him, "she's some sort of shaman or witch or some shit, from what people say about her..."

  I pause while I watch him read through the email.

  Rogue's eyebrows knit up together and his frown slowly deepens till he finally looks up at me, "A match maker?" He asks. He sound skeptical as all hell. "You serious about this shit?" He looks back at the paper and then up at me again, "You doin' the mail order bride thing, man?"

  I can't shake my head hard enough, "Nope. Nope, nope. Rogue, dude," I point at the printed paper, indicating he needs to read it more thoroughly, "It's not a mail order bride outfit, this chi
ck is legit. She ain't just a match maker either, man," I swallow hard, this is where shit gets real, "she organizes arranged marriages."

  Silence fills the office and Rogue and I just stare at each other for a long minute while I let that sink in to his brain.

  When he doesn't say anything I figure it's up to me to just keep talking, "It's a done deal, Rogue. I hired her months ago. She's at the point where she needs me to put her in touch with the people I trust most to pick out a wife for me..."

  Rogue's still starin' at me, not even blinking.

  "That's you and Mel, man."

  Rogue's head starts a slow, back and forth motion as he leans back in his chair again. He lets out a long sigh and looks back at the letter I printed out, "I don't know, man," he starts in and I can hear what's coming next before he gets into it, "picking out a wife for someone else?"

  He looks up at me like I just asked him if I could have a kidney. Actually, I think he'd be relieved if all I wanted was one of his kidneys.

  "You know the baby's due any day now--"

  I can't help but laugh at him, "Dude, the baby's due in 8 weeks. Mel's barely in her third trimester. Relax the worried daddy routine already. Sasha's repping for the family on this, so you and Mel are only part of the process. All you gotta do is contact Raven and she'll walk you through the rest of the process. You guys don't even have to leave home for this man, you can do all video calls and shit."

  "You're serious about this?" Rogue finally seems to be getting it.

  I nod, "Told you man, it's a done deal. Already paid her and everything. You and Mel are my first choice for this, you got something real solid between you and that's what I'm looking for too. I trust you guys on this."

  The man behind the desk whistles long and low as he scans the paper again, "Shit man. I knew you were lookin' but this is a big step." He looks up at me again, "You know you're skipping a big part of the process here, jumping right into the middle. You sure getting married is your end game? You're not just looking for a bed warmer? Marriage is a big deal, man. All in, kinda big deal. You're still young, you sure you're not jumping the gun here?"