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The Escort Collection #4

Escorting the Groom

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TO HAVE AND TO HOLD…
Ruthless technology billionaire Lucas Ford has run out of time. The rules of his trust make it clear: be married by thirty-five and stay married for one year. Otherwise, bye-bye inheritance—and the family fortune will be inherited by his sister, who might very well blow it on Botox and funding her sorority alma mater.

FOR BETTER AND FOR WORSE…
Struggling escort Blake Maxwell has a choice: accept Lucas's offer to marry him in exchange for a million dollars or keep working as an escort until she can scrape enough money together to quit the business for good. This is the chance she's been waiting for—to take care of her ailing mother and leave her own backstabbing sister behind…

TO LOVE, HONOR, AND OBEY…
Both Blake and Lucas are forced to make the best of a bad situation. As their enemies fight to take them down, they have to work together to meet their goal: stay married for one year and persuade everyone that it's real so the terms of the trust can't be contested.

But keeping things real complicates matters even further.

Blake can't afford to have feelings for her brooding client. She needs to take the money and run to protect her seriously wounded heart. On the other hand, Lucas can't afford to lose the one woman he's ever really fallen for…the woman he never expected to steal his heart.

TILL DEATH DO US PART…
But they have to survive their respective demons, their attraction to each other, and their enemies first!

310 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 7, 2016

625 people are currently reading
735 people want to read

About the author

Leigh James

45 books513 followers
USA Today and Amazon Top-10 Bestselling Author Leigh James is currently sitting on a white-sand beach, watching the sunset, dreaming up her next billionaire. Get ready, he's going to be a HOT one!

Just kidding! Leigh is actually freezing her butt off in Maine, USA, where she lives with her awesome husband, their great kids, and her BFF Choco the chocolate lab. But she promises that billionaire is REALLY going to be something!

Her books have been translated into German, French, Italian, and Portuguese. Leigh also writes Young Adult Paranormal Romance as Leigh Walker. Her smash-hit series Vampire Royals was previously optioned by Netflix.

Sign up to get new release notifications at: http://www.leighjamesauthor.com/subsc...!

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5 stars
642 (44%)
4 stars
482 (33%)
3 stars
240 (16%)
2 stars
61 (4%)
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14 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
Profile Image for Dora Koutsoukou .
2,248 reviews718 followers
February 18, 2020
3,5 💖💖💖🌟s❣️❣️❣️

Such an enjoyable and lighthearted romance read!
It might have been predictable and cliched, but it was well written and the perfect read for me to loosen up.
Profile Image for Mindy Lou's Book Review.
3,001 reviews798 followers
September 6, 2016
Lucas Ford needs to get married ASAP! The terms of his trust states he must be married by the age of 35 in order to inherite half the trust left to him and his sister. If he doesn't, his sister gets all of the trust. Lucas is turning 35 in three weeks and he realizes he's running out of time. He calls up his cousin to find out the name of the escort service he used. (That would be James and Audrey from book 1 of the escort series.) Lucas calls up AccomoDating and hires Blake Maxwell to be his wife for a year. Will Lucas fall in love with his escort like James did? Or can he stay the detached CEO everyone believes he is?

I absolutely love Leigh James' Escort Series! They may be unrealistic but they are definately fun and entertaining stories! I love the Billionaire stories that have them falling in love with the average woman who's barely making ends meet. Then there's always the money grubbing relative that wants to steal a piece of their pie that keep these stories entertaining. I loved both Lucas and Blakes characters. Leigh James writes the best MC's. They are always down to earth and mature. I don't think I have any complaints on any of the MC's she has written about. Book 4 is definately one of my favorites out of the series.

ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Profile Image for Candice.
831 reviews2 followers
September 8, 2016
I love this book just as much as I loved the first book in this series. Now I know I haven't read the second or third book but that's ok. This book is very light hearted and upbeat. Really grasps your attention with a good story and holds it. Loving this author
Profile Image for Natalia.
1,178 reviews94 followers
March 4, 2018
Same old same old...

Basically pretty woman story!!
Profile Image for Marissa Chavez.
1,373 reviews4 followers
March 15, 2024
I just love this series! Blake and Lucas had me from the very beginning! You knew it was going to more than just a deal. They had something special. I’m so glad that Blake and Lucas never gave up on each other. They were definitely meant to be! ❤️❤️❤️
3 reviews
April 25, 2021
Loved it!!

The first Leigh James one I've read and was hooked. The sex parts were steamy yet tasteful. I cried, I smiled, I laughed. Absolutely brilliant. Now onto the Billionaire.....
Profile Image for Carmen Tourney.
17 reviews12 followers
November 3, 2021
This is the third book in her Escort series that I've read. The other two - Escorting the Billionaire and Escorting the Player. I had enjoyed all three immensely but one thing that pissed me off to no end and makes me think that inspite of how much I otherwise liked them that the author is a hack was part of all three books.

Not the fact that the plot of all are similar. No it's the fact that in every single book she introduces a character of a freeloading, blackmailing piece of garbage family member. A freeloading, blackmailing piece of garbage family member that -always- gets rewarded for being a worthless sack of shit.

If she was determined to introduce these kind of characters into her books and she were a better author she would have found a way to foil them which not only would have avoided taking away from the happy endings but wouldn't have taken the easy way out of buying them all off which is an awful moral or takeaway to the stories.

Not only is it an awful moral or takeaway but it's lazy writing. Giving each books villain a comeuppance and one unique to each story would have been less easy and more satisfying. It literally takes absolutely no talent to write major subplots where the piece of trash wins out. Surely a writer who makes other wise enjoyable stories could do better.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
7 reviews
December 20, 2023
A Newer, Better “Pretty Woman”

When I first saw an ad for “Pretty Woman”, the Richard Gere/Julia Roberts movie about a prostitute charming a rich man into falling in love with her, I thought nobody would ever want to see it or like it. I was wrong. It became a huge hit and made Julia Roberts a star! To me, however, it was a modern, sanitized Cinderella story with the curmudgeonly hotel manager as the poor girl’s fairy godfather. I liked it more than I thought I would—a testament to the skill of the movie’s production staff and its talented cast.
Escorting the Groom, Leigh James’s first novel in The Escort Collection, has a similar premise, but the billionaire in this case, Lucas Ford, contacts the AccommoDating escort agency to “buy” the services of a stand-in “wife” so he can marry before age 35 and fulfill the terms of his grandparents’ trust, getting his half to give to those in need and preventing his selfish sister from getting the full amount to spend on lip fillers and manicures. The madam selects Blake as the escort for the job.
Blake, living in a rundown apartment in low-income “Southie”, agrees as soon as she hears that the “groom” will pay his “bride” a million dollars upon consent to the deal and another million in one year, after which they’ll be free to divorce and he’ll still get his share of the trust. The madam lets her take whatever clothing she wants to use during her yearlong “marriage”, and she heads to her new, lavish life.
The first hurdle: convince his family that they’re a real couple. His mother, who nurtured his philanthropic streak, died and was rapidly replaced by a much younger woman—his son’s ex-girlfriend. His younger sister is not only extravagant but also suspicious of the sudden appearance of a “fiancée” three weeks prior to Lucas’s 35th birthday. And both of them have spent the entire ride to the restaurant preparing for the inquisition they know is coming. What a fun family dinner!
The wedding, which was moved up from a month away to a week away, takes place in Vegas, where three of Blake’s fellow escorts, a.k.a. “bridesmaids”, party with Lucas’s best man, a senator who spars with a Libertarian escort and ends up staggering down the aisle, while she vomits into some bushes during the ceremony. A wedding to remember!
As Blake and Lucas spend time together on their tropical “honeymoon” (a barracuda makes a memorable cameo), they admit their relationship is growing from business/pretend to emotion/real, and they fight their feelings ineffectively. Meanwhile, Blake’s sister Chelsea (a mooch who makes Lucas’s sister look like an ascetic saint) has found out that her older sister has married a billionaire and swoops in to grab what she can. In the soap opera of Blake’s life, Chelsea stole her sister’s fiancé a month before their wedding and divorced him, demanding alimony because he *asked* her to get pregnant and quit working to stay home with the kids. She quit her job as soon as he asked; therefore it’s *his* fault that she has no income to pay for the luxuries she “needs”. Since she’s already maxed out the credit card her soft-touch mom gave her, she demands that Blake give her enough money to move to New York for acting classes and, ultimately, a gig as The Bachelorette. Girl’s got goals!
Having been refused point-blank by her unfair sister, Chelsea shows up at Lucas’s office and offers to make bankrolling her way to NYC worth his while (two sisters instead of one!). He refuses and i instead offers a one-time payment, making her sign a contract stating that she accepts the money and will not ask for any more at any time, nor will she contact the press, which she threatened to do if her “hooker” sister didn’t give her what she asked for. Blake sees Chelsea strutting through the lobby of Lucas’s office building and thinks he’s been pulled into her sister’s orbit. She thinks her job is done, so she hides her broken heart and heads back to Southie to cry on her mom’s shoulder—and be amazed by her mom’s take of being repaid in full by Chelsea before her younger child packed up and left for NYC!
Lucas, unable to find Blake and upset over a phone call from his ex-girlfriend/stepmother suggesting a “reunion”, gets his loyal chauffeur to send incriminating photos of her to his father. Then he hunts down Blake at her subpar home and whisks her away to his third house, in Maine. There they clear the air, and he proposes to her for real. A happy ending at last!
As with the Julia Roberts movie, I enjoyed my experience with Escorting the Groom more than I expected! I’m not sure how I’d enjoy an entire series of prostitutes and gigolos finding happy endings, but this one was a fun way to spend the day—and I read the entire book in a day, so it was an absorbing read. I recommend it to readers who are willing to suspend their disbelief and let themselves just read for fun!
Profile Image for Booklover Judy Lynn.
1,642 reviews30 followers
August 1, 2024
#Billionaire #Escort #MarriageofConvenience
Written in first person from an alternating dual POV, this can be read as a standalone and ends with a HEA.
Lucas is a hard billionaire who needs a wife before his 35th birthday to inherit his trust. Blake is a young woman who has had a bit of a rough life who is trying to make a future while taking care of her mother. A paid marriage of convenience settles both problems.
Like other books in this series, this was a fun and easy read. It is somewhat predictable. There are similarities between the books. There always seems to be a dysfunctional family member out for money. That said, I knew what I would get, and this book delivered it. The characters are both beautiful physically. Lucas has tons of money to make problems go away and life easier. They share a sizzling attraction that leads to loads of steamy scenes. They both have dysfunctional families that karma comes to visit.
Entertaining, spicy, and fun, this was the book I needed at this moment.
Profile Image for C Schmidt.
222 reviews1 follower
August 21, 2025
This is the story of Blake and Lucas. Blake is a gorgeous blonde escort at AccommoDating Escort Service and Lucas is a grumpy, controlling billionaire venture capitalist used to getting his way. Unfortunately for Lucas, he has three weeks to get married before he turns 35 and loses his inheritance. He doesn’t even want to date let alone get married, but he either marries or loses a fortune to his $1,000 a bottle Champaign lunch sister. So he turns to Accommodating Escort Service and Blake is selected. She is offered $1 million to marry Lucas for one year.

This was a decent book… plot line was grumpy billionaire who is a loner with a horrible family, meets beautiful escort trying to make enough money to help her ill mother. Pretty predictable storyline but the writing was solid… the characters were solid and the book kept my interest which is hard to do at times.

Overall enjoyment: 3.5/5⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Spice level: 2.5/5 🌶️ 🌶️
Darkness: ❤️
Angst level: 3.5/5 ❤️‍🩹
Plot: 4/5 🗺️. Think Pretty Woman
Writing: 5/5 🖊️
Ending: HEA
POV: 👫🏻 {Dual}
Profile Image for Doris Stewart.
136 reviews4 followers
February 10, 2022
"TO HAVE AND TO HOLD…
Ruthless technology billionaire Lucas Ford has run out of time. The rules of his trust make it clear: be married by thirty-five and stay married for one year. Otherwise, bye-bye inheritance—and the family fortune will be inherited by his sister, who might very well blow it on Botox and funding her sorority alma mater.

FOR BETTER AND FOR WORSE…
Struggling escort Blake Maxwell has a choice: accept Lucas's offer to marry him in exchange for a million dollars or keep working as an escort until she can scrape enough money together to quit the business for good. This is the chance she's been waiting for—to take care of her ailing mother and leave her own backstabbing sister behind…"
Profile Image for Lauren.
1,438 reviews5 followers
January 9, 2022
Best one but only because we finally have a man smart enough to deal with the bitchy woman threatening to reveal all.
But everything else was the same as the other books in this series. Though I found it ridiculous that Lucas waited to 3 weeks before his birthday to hire a fiancee. Way to make it obvious that it isn't real.
And I'm glad he didnt find the fish. That would be cruel to kill it just because, just to mount it on your wall.
Profile Image for Robbyn.
31 reviews
October 1, 2022
Sort of Boring

Leigh James isn’t an author your want to read in succession. Her characters, voice, and description are pretty one note and start to blend. Still, when all her characters are basically all the same in just slightly (barely noticeable) different situations, these two manage to fall flat. Their slight difference is they have slightly less personality than her already cookie cutter characters. You can skip this one. You won’t miss anything.
Profile Image for Kadi.
142 reviews1 follower
June 21, 2024
DNF 20%

I had a hard time believing the billionaire character. He was nervous all the time and talked like a young tradesman, not like the polished professional you'd expect. It just didn't fit.

And don't get me started on the characters' chemistry. Or lack thereof. They had all the spark of a damp squib. I saw this book on someone's recommendation list, but honestly, it just didn't do it for me.
Profile Image for Soni❤.
249 reviews4 followers
October 2, 2018
Quite possibly the best book in the series. I found it very easy to read and very entertaining. The last couple of books in the series fell a bit flat for me, but here the author did a great job of grabbing and keeping my attention.
Profile Image for Susanna Moss.
180 reviews
November 4, 2021
Although predictable, a huge improvement from the previous two in the series and on par with the first one in the series. The author really needs to switch up the storylines because they were too damn similar! The vocabulary also needs to be improved.
Profile Image for Staci McIntyre.
620 reviews3 followers
December 30, 2021
If you're looking for a light hearted, fun, predictable fast romance read then look no further! This series is absolutely unrealistic but they're just so fun and easy to read. This may have been my favorite in the series because I just loved Lucas and Blake.
Profile Image for Lit Shit Podcast.
946 reviews7 followers
December 30, 2021
If you're looking for a light hearted, fun, predictable fast romance read then look no further! This series is absolutely unrealistic but they're just so fun and easy to read. This may have been my favorite in the series because I just loved Lucas and Blake.

Staci McIntyre
Profile Image for Tonya Hardin.
99 reviews
March 17, 2022
I loved it!! I like how it connected to the earlier books. I like how it’s more close to a reality situations. I feel it can relate to most people! Not as sexually described as the first but it shows how sex is not the main part of a relationship. But a great bonus!!
Profile Image for Brittany Gaits.
15 reviews2 followers
April 12, 2022
It took me a little longer to fall in love with Lucas than some of Leigh James' other billionaires, but once I got on board I really enjoyed this book. Blake was actually one of my favorite girls in the Escort Series so far! Steamy bedroom scenes are abso-freakin-lutely fantastic!
942 reviews7 followers
March 30, 2020
This Lucas and Blake story

Lucas needed a bride and Blake was the woman for this role but in the end he ended up loving her
Profile Image for Jenny.
124 reviews4 followers
April 1, 2021
Second half seemed rushed and under developed.
Profile Image for Joan Wells.
419 reviews10 followers
May 4, 2021
Book #4 of the awesome Escort Collection !!! Loved them all ... definitely looking forward to starting the Billionaire Collection.
156 reviews
July 15, 2021
Sweet

This is my first book by this author. I just loved everything the plot,characters. It was an easy read just wish it was longer. Now imoffto read another in this series. Enjoy
Profile Image for Chelsea.
221 reviews29 followers
August 16, 2021
Fun, quick read. Pretty predictable but not a bad book
Profile Image for Tricia Toney.
967 reviews8 followers
September 24, 2021
Lucas and Blake have an unconventional love story, but this book is sweet and fluffy. This was an enjoyable read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews

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