THE BILLIONAIRE’S WEDDING
GEOFFREY KNIGHT
GAY ROMANTIC COMEDY
RELEASE DATE: 08.18.18
BLURB
Italy’s Amalfi Coast, overlooking the sparkling Mediterranean Sea, is the dream location for the perfect wedding, and billionaire Calvin Croft is determined to pull out all the stops to make his marriage to Matt Darcy a day that nobody will forget.
But before Matt and Cal can walk down the aisle and say ‘I do’, someone uninvited turns up out of the blue… and turns Cal’s life completely upside-down.
Will Matt ever get to marry the man of his dreams? Will Cal be able to come to terms with his past and get on with his future? Or will an unwelcome guest put their romance on the rocks forever?
You’re invited to the wedding of the year as Matt, Cal, Mrs. Mulroney, Mr. Banks, Tilly and Angus return for more hilarious antics, swooning romance and a surprise that none of them will see coming!
** Sequel to The Billionaire’s Boyfriend
Everyone Deserves Wedding Bells
Last year I wrote the first in my ‘My Billionaire’ series of gay romantic-comedies, ‘The Billionaire’s Boyfriend’. I loved writing it so much that I wanted to immediately follow it up with the sequel, ‘The Billionaire’s Wedding’. Like the first book, I wanted to try to create something that was laugh-out-loud funny. But then something happened that stalled the book for almost six months.
That something was the plebiscite that the Australian government held to decide whether gay marriage should be made legal in Australia or not.
In a nutshell, the plebiscite was a voluntary postal vote. A simple question was sent out to all eligible Australian voters asking whether the marriage act should be changed to include same-sex couples. You ticked the YES box if you supported gay marriage, and NO if you were against gay marriage. The campaign ran for three months before the results of the vote were announced.
And so began what felt like the fight of our lives.
Both sides of the campaign threw themselves into a bitter, heated battle to defend their views and beliefs. The gay community and our supporters went head-to-head with religious factions and the far right in one of the most vicious, brutal, divisive debates this country has ever seen.
It was impossible not to get involved when your right to something so basic as legal marriage – to wed the person you love – is being decided and judged by not only every conservative in the country, but also by every redneck and religious fanatic who were suddenly given a platform to speak their mind and call you and your sexual orientation anything they liked.
Calling someone out for being a homophobe in this debate was suddenly labelled a bullying tactic, an attempt to deny someone their democratic right to voice their opinion, no matter how discriminatory and abusive that opinion was.
For three months, tempers raged, lies were told, people were bashed and lives were threatened.
Whenever I went online to try to stand up for my right to marriage, I was abused by people whose thought processes I simply could not fathom, just as they could not fathom mine.
I was told by complete strangers that I should be put to death, that I would rot in hell, that I should be sent to an island fenced with barbed wire. I was told I was a freak, that my sexuality was a mental disorder and several people actually accused me of having a child so that I could sodomise her.
Needless to say, during those three months, the last thing I felt like doing was writing a romantic comedy about gay marriage.
To say that the plebiscite took its toll on me emotionally and psychologically is an understatement. Even as I write this I’m fighting off tears.
Thankfully this hard-fought battle ended in victory for our camp.
Over 6o% of eligible Australians embraced the idea of marriage equality and a few weeks later the politicians finally did their job and made same-sex marriage legal.
It wasn’t until months later that I found the humor and heart inside me that I needed to deliver the second book in the ‘My Billionaire’ series, a story about love and marriage and that some things are worth fighting for.
I am proud to be a gay man, and nobody will ever take that pride away from me… nor will they ever stop me telling stories of the love and happiness that two gay people can share when they’re lucky enough to find love.
For who could ever deny someone else the right to love?
I hope you enjoy The Billionaire’s Wedding. It comes from a place of hope and happiness inside me.
I hope it makes you smile. I hope it makes you laugh out loud. You might even shed a tear of happiness or two.
Thank you Love Bytes for having me stop by today. Here’s a little excerpt
“Buon giorno, Signor Croft. I trust you slept like an angel!”
The unexpected morning greeting came from the door of our suite and woke me with a start. I propped myself up on my elbows on the bed, stark naked with the sheets tossed aside, just in time to see Sergio enter the suite’s bedroom carrying a tray with a pot of coffee and three coffee cups.
The moment he saw me he almost dropped his tray.
The moment I saw him I grabbed for the sheets and tried to desperately cover my morning salute.
“Sergio!” I squeaked.
“Signor Darcy!” he exclaimed, although I’m not entirely sure who else he was expecting to see other than me or Cal. “I did not mean to take you by surprise.”
“What do you expect when you walk straight into someone’s bedroom first thing in the morning? Wait… do you have your own key?”
“Of course, I am the wedding planner. There are plans to approve, papers to sign, accounts to pay. I need access to Signor Croft day and night.”
I looked around and saw that the door to the master bathroom was closed. If Cal was in there taking a shower the door would be open. Cal always showered with the door open. “Well, as you can see,” I said to Sergio, gesturing to the closed bathroom door,
“Signor Croft is clearly indisposed at the moment.”
Although he tried to hide it, the unmistakable hint of a smile lit up Sergio’s face.
“Perhaps he is preparing for a shower. Undoubtedly, he is naked in there. That does not bother me, we are all adults here. I should let him know that I am here.”
“It might not bother you, but it might bother him.”
“Nonsense. I shall take his coffee in to him and let him know today’s schedule of events.”
“No! I’m pretty sure Signor Croft is busy in the bathroom with events of another kind.
If you catch my drift.”
“Aaaah,” Sergio said, finally cottoning on. “He is taking a telephone call from nature.”
“If you want to put it that way, then yes, I’m sure that’s what he’s doing.”
Sergio gave a shrug. “I can still go in. I’m sure it smells like lemon drops and lollypops in there.”
“He’s not a unicorn. Trust me, I know exactly what it smells like in there.”
Sergio ignored me and inhaled deeply as though smelling a perfume-scented breeze.
There was no point hiding the look of ‘What-the-fuck’ on my face. “Can we please change the subject?”
At that moment the main door to the suite opened again.
“Two large cappuccinos made the true Italian way… with extra chocolate sprinkles for my sweet-toothed American sweetheart,” came Cal’s voice as he entered the bedroom with two take-away coffee cups in his hands. “Sergio! Buon giorno. What are you doing in here?”
Geoffrey Knight is the author of more than 30 gay fiction novels, novellas and short stories, ranging in genre from gay adventure, gay romance, gay suspense and gay comedies. He is the recipient of two Rainbow Awards including Best Mystery Winner and Best Overall Gay Fiction Runner-up. His work has been featured in several anthologies including Best Gay Erotica 2013, and he appeared as Guest of Honor at the inaugural Rainbow Con in Florida, 2014.
Geoffrey has worked in advertising, politics and journalism, but nothing is as fun as telling stories. He lives with his partner, their baby daughter, two dogs and two cats in a rambling old house in North Queensland, Australia, where the paint is fraying and life is good.
Congrats on the new book! Thank you for the excerpt!
Thanks so much HB!