Loving The Billionaire (The Sherbrookes of Newport) by Christina Tetreault

Chapter 1
     
    February, 1978
    Glad to be someplace warm, Ruth closed the apartment door behind her.
    “I’m making hot chocolate, want some?” Helen, Ruth’s longtime friend and roommate, well roommate for another few days anyway, grabbed a mug from the cabinet and scooped some cocoa powder into it.
    “Sounds great.” Ruth pulled off her heavy winter jacket, sending snow to the floor. “It’s freezing outside.”
    “Tell me about it.” Helen pulled out another mug. “I saved The Star Report for you. If you don’t want it, just toss it.”
    Ruth grabbed the magazine off the counter. She didn’t read it often, but Helen was a diehard fan. She had been ever since the weekly publication started two years ago. “Thanks. After the day I had some fluff sounds great.”
    “Rough day for you, too?”
    “The ER was a mad house today.” In fact, she couldn’t recall the last time so many patients had not only been treated but also admitted. Some of them had come in with the usual aliments, but several had come in as a result of a multi-car accident on that staple of New England winters, black ice. With a little luck, the hospital would not see a repeat performance tomorrow.
    “I hope it stops snowing soon. Mom and I are working on the wedding favors tonight.” Helen remained at the stove, keeping an eye on the milk.
    “It’s just about done snowing now, and most of the roads are clear.” Ruth sat and kept Helen company. “Still can’t believe you and Will are getting married this weekend.” Not only couldn’t she believe it, but she had to admit she was a tiny bit jealous. She’d dated a fair amount in high school and college, but she’d never felt the same kind of love toward any of her boyfriends that Helen and Will shared.
    Okay, maybe that wasn’t entirely true. Not that it mattered. Ruth glanced down at the cover of the popular magazine she held. Warren Sherbrooke smiled up at her. On cue, her heart gave a little lurch. Stupid organ . Ruth opened the magazine so she no longer had Warren’s face staring up at her.
    She’d known Warren since she was sixteen years old and could still remember the first time she met him. Warren and his younger brother Mark had pulled into the parking lot of her parents’ convenience store in his brand new Ferrari, a car she later learned Warren had received as a sixteenth birthday present. Warren and Mark had been on their way to Cliff House, the family’s Newport mansion, and had stopped in for soda, something Warren insisted his grandmother wouldn’t allow in her kitchen. The minute the two handsome young men walked in the store, all eyes had turned on them. Everyone in the country recognized the Sherbrookes. Heck, everyone in the world recognized the Sherbrookes. Not only was the entire family gorgeous, but they were also the wealthiest family in America.
    She’d watched Warren and Mark that afternoon too, but not for the same reason the other teenage girls did. While those girls had stared and batted their eyelashes at them hoping to be noticed, she’d watched and waited for them to pull out the superiority card—something most of the wealthy socialites who lived and visited Newport did. When Warren and his brother played that card, she planned to put them both in their place.
    Ruth didn’t get the opportunity that afternoon or any afternoon for that matter. Both Warren and his brother were polite and unassuming. They paid for their sodas and left.
    Throughout the months of May and June, Warren came in several more times. Each time he acted like any other customer. Sometimes when he stopped in he’d strike up a conversation with her, but otherwise he kept to himself.
    One July night that all changed.
    Her parents had caved and let her start dating that spring. The first boy to ask her out had been Blake Monroe. A year older than her, they shared many of the same friends. By June they were a steady couple spending all their free time together. On numerous