"So I'm going to start now. I was wrong not to mention anything to you about the Arts and Business Council deal. I put you in a position where that scumbag Thornton could make you feel cheap. And I'm sorry for that."

"Ritchie – "

He held up his hand. "I've been wrong about a few other things, too. I was wrong to treat every gang member I prosecuted like they were all the same, not to take the time to consider whether, for a few of them, there was a better solution than locking them up for the maximum sentence. I was wrong about your brother Tito."

She gave a short laugh. "No, I was wrong. I love my brother, but I've been blind for years to the fact that Tito made choices that led to prison. I went to see him yesterday, and he told me he's taken responsibility for his mistakes. And he has nobody to blame but himself."

"Well, I went to see him this morning, and I think he deserves another chance."

"You went to see Tito? Why?"

"I didn't give him the chance eight years ago that I'd want someone to give my own brother, my own son, if he ended up on the wrong path." He lowered his voice, looked her in the eye. "I didn't give Tito the chance I'd want someone to give Joey."

Ritchie paused. "But I'm giving him that chance now."

"What do you mean?"

"He's eligible for a work release program if he has a job right here in Miami. Tito's willing to give it a shot, and I've offered him a job at my firm, working on client intake. It's not much, but it gives him a chance to stay here in Miami, maybe even go back to school, get a degree."

"You did that for me?"

"I thought I was doing it for you, for us, so we could be together. But I realized a few moments ago that I'm doing it because it's what's right. And it would be the right thing to do even if I'd never met you.

"Now, before you start yelling at me for jumping into this without talking it over with you first, I just want to say – "

Maria flew across the room and into his arms, laughing and crying at the same time. "I don't know how I can stay mad at you Ritchie Perez when everything you go about doing in the wrong way turns out to be exactly right."

"Well, there's one thing I want to do in the right way, starting now." He got down on one knee in front of her and pulled a jeweler's box out of his pocket. "I had this with me Saturday night, but things didn't turn out the way I expected."

"Ritchie, I – "

"Don't say anything yet. Maria, I'm hardheaded, opinionated, and stubborn. When I see something that needs fixed, I don't spend time talking about it, I just do it. I see a lot of things in black and white that maybe I should take a closer look at. I have a lot of faults, and nobody could point them out better than you.

"But in my whole life, I have never met a woman that mattered the way you do. I've never met another person I loved so much that being apart from them was like not breathing. When you said you couldn't be with someone who controlled things without discussing it first, I decided I'd have to change the way I do things."

"And your idea of changing the way you do things was to go see Tito and –"

"Okay, so change isn't easy, but I promise I'll try harder. And I need you to help me see that life isn't always black and white. That people can change. I need you because I love you, and I can't imagine my life without you and Joey in it. You are my pearl of great value, the love of my life. Maria, please, marry me."

He opened the small box, lifted out the sparkling ring, a vintage pearl ring surrounded by diamonds, in a setting that had withstood the test of time.

"Say yes!" Joey yelled from the staircase.

Maria looked into Ritchie's eyes, and suddenly, all the mistakes he'd made just pushing ahead and making decisions didn't seem so much like an attempt to control her. It was his way of trying to make her happy. And since she knew she was just as stubborn as he was, well, it seemed clear that both of them had met their match.

"I'll marry you, Ritchie, because as aggravating and frustrating as you make me feel sometimes, I can't imagine my life–and Joey's – without you in it. I love you, Ritchie. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. So, yes, I'll marry you."

Ritchie slipped the ring onto her finger, stood up, pressed her against him, and kissed her.

"It's about time!" Joey yelled as he flew down the steps and threw his arms around both of them.

Ritchie looked around the cluttered room. "Come on," he said. "Let's go out and get some dinner. Maybe stay in a hotel tonight until I can get a cleaning crew in here to put this place back together."

"Wait, I thought I was grounded," Joey said.

"Oh, you're grounded, kid," Maria said. "Starting tomorrow. Tonight, we celebrate."

* * *

Epilogue

Maria watched as Ritchie and Tito carried not one but two giant turkey platters in from the kitchen, setting up carving stations at both ends of the formal dining room. The table was already overflowing with every holiday dish imaginable. A year ago, she would never have believed it was possible that her brother and the man who put him in prison would be laughing and joking and sharing a meal together on Thanksgiving, surrounded by friends and family.

Ritchie's mom had caved to the pressure and brought the celebration to Ritchie and Maria's house, recognizing that there was no way to fit more than thirty people around her own dining room table. And she'd probably felt she owed them one, after nixing their plans for a simple wedding in Bimini in favor of a formal wedding at St. Theresa's and a huge reception. Maria had never been prouder than when Tito walked her down the aisle. And never happier than she was today, having all their family and friends together for Thanksgiving.

Even in Ritchie and Maria's expansive dining room, they'd had to spill over into the living room with a foldout table. But Maria had been more than happy to let Mama G rule the kitchen. Particularly since, at five months pregnant, she still had the occasional bout of morning sickness.

Olivia and Joey walked in just as everyone was getting ready to sit down to dinner.

"It's about time," Maria said, as JD and the various nieces and nephews swarmed Joey.

"Sorry," Olivia said. "You wouldn't believe how many people were there."

Maria had been surprised when Joey offered to help serve the noon Thanksgiving dinner at St. Theresa's. It hadn't been all that long ago that she'd had to practically drag him kicking and screaming every Wednesday night to volunteer feeding the homeless. The fact that he now not only went willingly, but that it was his own idea just showed how far he had come in the past year.

"Olivia," Maria said, "I saved you a seat right here in front of the tofu turkey. Joey, don't you dare turn on the Xbox, we're about to sit down to eat!"

After Joey's month of being grounded was over, Ritchie had replaced all the electronics that had been stolen or destroyed. Now, in the evenings, Maria and Richie would often relax by the pool, listening to the sounds of loud video games and shouting boys coming from the family room. Maria remembered how not so very long ago, she'd envisioned just such a scene – but it had been in her cramped apartment, and she'd been a single mom trying to raise Joey on her own.

Everyone sat down and held hands, connecting the two tables, as Ritchie's dad gave the blessing.

Maria was finishing her art degree right here in Miami, and would be graduating soon. Tito had settled in at Ritchie's firm and was fast becoming one of their most valuable employees. He'd taken over the lease on Maria's apartment, and had enrolled in a program at a local community college, taking evening classes and working on a degree in psychology that he hoped would help him realize his new dream – establishing a nonprofit diversion program for at-risk juvenile offenders. Ritchie and his partners had already committed to a significant financial contribution to help get the program off the ground.

Maria's work with the downtown condo developer had been such a success that the Arts and Business Council had recommended her for additional projects, and her first showing at Vivienne's had received promising reviews. Ever since they'd found out she was pregnant, Ritchie had been almost obsessively pampering her. Vivienne wasn't any better, and she'd had to beg her to go ahead with the showing rather than postpone it until after her due date. Maria expected that she'd have a lot less time on her hands – and a lot less sleep – once the baby was born.

Vivienne smiled at her from across the table. "What are you thinking, darling?"

"Just how happy I am to be here with all of you, sharing Thanksgiving together."

"Well, cheers to that," Sam said, raising his glass, while deftly keeping it from being grabbed and spilled by Sophia, who would be turning two in just a few months, and was in her usual spot, perched on her Dad's lap.

"Let's hope this is the beginning of a long tradition of spending the holidays together," Ritchie added.

The only one who was missing was Jonathon, who'd decided to take advantage of the slow-down in work at the office over Thanksgiving to take his sailboat on a jaunt through the Caribbean.

Later that evening, when dinner was over and everyone had gone home, Ritchie stretched out on the wide chaise beside her, and they both looked out at the sunset.

"Who would have believed such a stubborn, independent, opinionated woman would ever fall in love with me?" he asked, as he gently kissed the side of her neck and rested his hand over her swollen belly.

Maria laughed. "Probably anyone who would have believed such a stubborn, hardheaded, opinionated man would fall in love with me."

She leaned her head against his shoulder and sighed. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

Music:  Beyoncé – Love on Top

Author's Note:

I hope you enjoyed The Millionaire's Convenient Arrangement!  I loved writing it and sharing it with you.  And I appreciate so much all the views and comments and votes! 

If you are interested in reading Sam and Camilla's story - The Millionaire's Unexpected Proposal -  it's available at Amazon or wherever eBooks are sold. https://www.amazon.com/Millionaires-Unexpected-Proposal-Miami-Lawyers-ebook/dp/B00UG12SRG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1540228007&sr=8-1&keywords=Jane+Peden

There are also links on my website:  www.janepeden.com

New Book Announcement:

If you like reading about the exciting city of Miami, and would like to read a slow burn sexy secret romance in an elite law firm, please check out my brand new story, releasing now on Radish -- Crush and Burn. I'm writing this one as I go, which is kind of scary, and there are live chats once a week (on Mondays) so readers can tell me what they think and where they would like the story to go. Please check it out! Exclusive to Radish.

Summary

I was the top of my class. Yale Law School. I had my pick of any job, any law firm, any city. New York. Chicago. LA. Paris.

I chose Miami.

It's because of him. Bo Grant. The sharpest lawyer I've ever met, running an elite law firm with a reputation for winning every case. From the moment I met him I knew he could teach me everything.

I want to work for him almost as much as I want to sleep with him.

But what does he want from me?

* * * 

Also, here on Wattpad, if you like secret babies and millionaire lawyers and wouldn't mind a road trip through the wine regions of Italy, then check out The Millionaire's Secret Baby

Summary

Twin sisters, switched identities, and a secret baby . . . What could go wrong?

"What if we just changed places . . . "

Stephanie Morgan's dreams are finally about to come true. She's only a few months away from graduating with a law degree from Yale, headed for an all-expense paid summer in Paris, and a career at a top international law firm. Nothing can stop her now, right?

Wrong. Her crazy Thanksgiving weekend fling with her law school nemesis Michael Wellington is about to derail everything. Because Stephanie just discovered she's pregnant.

Mike is everything she's not. Rich. Cultured. Groomed for success from the day he was born. With a powerful family whose wealth and influence go back generations. And an arrogance that makes him the last person she'd want to spend her life with.

Stephanie grew up on peanut butter sandwiches and microwave cups of macaroni and cheese, small dingy apartments and greedy landlords who raised the rent and you had to move out in the middle of the night and live in your car until you found someplace new. She studied and saved, won scholarships and took out loans, and dreamed of a career that would give her the chance to travel the world.

Taking on a demanding international law job as a single mom with a newborn baby in tow will never work. She decides to turn down the job, give up her dream.

Until her twin sister - who wants nothing more than to have a baby of her own - comes up with the craziest plan ever . . .

It's the perfect plan. Or at least it was until six years later when a tragic accident turns Stephanie's world upside down. Suddenly she's a full-time mommy to her five-year-old "niece" Maddie, and the quiet little job she left her high-powered career for so she could be there for Maddie puts her face-to-face with the one man she hoped she'd never see again. A man who has no idea Stephanie's "niece" is actually his own daughter.

* * * 

And again, thank you so much for reading! 

 xoxoxoxox 

-Jane