Deceived (7 page)

She took a deep breath. “Do me a favor? Don’t apologize to me anymore.” She peeked at him over her shoulder. He stiffened before nodding.

“I should be going. Work in the morning.”

She’d heard that often enough. She trailed him into the den area and watched him shrug into his jacket. He seemed to have withdrawn into himself and she couldn’t think of a thing to do or say to bring him back. She opened the door for him.

“Call me,” he said, his voice ripe with significance, his gaze steady as it held hers.

Janelle locked up behind him. She scooped her purse and its contents off the floor and placed it on her coffee table. She unraveled her hair so that it fell about her shoulders and toed off her shoes. Digging her toes into the plush carpeting, she sighed. Reaching behind her, she undid the zip of her skirt and shimmied out of it.

She’d gone through her nightly ritual of brushing her teeth and washing her face and was curled in bed with a fashion mag when she heard her cell ring from the den. Groaning, she pushed aside the covers and slid out of bed. She answered without checking the caller ID to keep the call from going to voice mail. “Hello?”

“Are you fucking him?” Jerome rasped.

Janelle frowned. “What?”

“Answer me. Are you fucking him now?”

“No, but if I was, it would be exactly what you deserve!”

“Don’t say that, Janelle. I was only supposed to be that once.”

She scoffed. “And what type of relationship did you think we were going to have after? One where either of us was free to scratch an inch anytime someone attractive came by?”

“Of course not. This was a one-shot deal.”

“Hm. And if Aidan sold the business and you got a new boss, would you be willing to solidify your position again with
my
body?”

“No.”

“I don’t believe you. You did it once. Why not again?”

“Quit being stupid and stow the innocent act. You wanted him as much as he wanted you.” His frustration was palpable.

“I can’t change that,” she replied, her voice tight with anger, “but I can control my actions. I would have never done anything about it.” It infuriated her that he seemed to getting angry with her when he had no right. And while she might have been gratified to hear him grovel and beg to get her back, she wasn’t going to listen to him call her names and try to justify his behavior. “Good-bye, Jerome. Don’t call me anymore.”

Chapter Seven

Janelle smiled and thanked their last customer of the day, a woman in her early twenties shopping for her first professional wardrobe. Dionne flipped the open sign and locked the door behind the woman’s retreating back. She stretched her arms over her head. “I’m
exhausted
. I had a nightmare last night I was being chased by a doll. That’s what I get for watching
Twilight Zone
before bed. I was supposed to meet a guy for drinks tonight, but I’m thinking of canceling.”

“You never know. He might be the one,” Janelle teased. “How’d you meet him?”

“I ran into him getting my morning coffee.”

“You can leave now if you want to go home and change.”

“Are you saying I’m not glorious as I am?” Placing her hands on her curvy hips, she struck a pose. She’d worn her hair s
traight today so that it fell over one eye. Her rust blouse and floral skirt accentuated her honeyed skin. She’d refreshed her makeup after lunch and it was still perfect.

“You look—” There was a loud banging on the glass that caused them both to turn. A small, light-skinned old lady with a large pink hat had her face and hands pressed against the door. Janelle gave an involuntary jump.

“Who’s that?”

Janelle groaned. “It’s Jerome’s mother, Glenda.”

“Run out the back. She may not have seen you.”

“No, might as well see what she wants. She’s almost seventy, and she rarely leaves her house except for church. If she’s here, it’s important to her.”

“Okay, then I’ll head out back.”

Janelle waited until Dionne had disappeared into the back with a wave before opening the door to Mrs. Wilson. “Hello, ma’am. We’re closed, but if you tell me what you’re looking for, I’d be delighted to—”

Mrs. Wilson bustled past her. “Janelle, please, we both know I’m not here to shop.” She clutched her oversized bag to her bosom as her eyes bored into Janelle. She was dressed smartly in a pastel-pink suit that matched her hat. Her shiny pumps with the two-inch heels elevated her height so that the top of her head reached Janelle’s shoulders. “I’m here to talk to you about Jerome. What’s going on with the two of you?”

No sense in prevaricating. “We broke up,” she stated simply.

“That much is clear. I don’t understand why. Jerome is heartbroken. He says you left him for another man because he lost his job. I told him you weren’t the type of girl who would be so shallow. Tell me I’m not mistaken.”

Sighing, Janelle rolled her eyes and shook her head. How could she have dated Jerome so long and not seen what kind of man he was? Maybe it was because they hadn’t actually spent much quality time together. “I’m not seeing anyone else. Jerome and I broke up because of his actions. Out of respect for you, I won’t tell you what he did.”

She harrumphed and opened her purse. Rambling around through the contents, she came out with a plastic-wrapped mint. “Do you want one?”

“No, ma’am.”

“If my Jerome cheated on you, he’s very sorry. You didn’t see him, Janelle. He’s a mess without you.”

She hated to disappoint such a nice old lady, but she wasn’t going to be dragged back into a relationship with Jerome. “Breaks are most difficult at the start. He’ll be fine.”

With shaking, wrinkled hands, Glenda twisted the wrapper of her mint before popping it into her mouth. “You underestimate how much my boy cares about you.”

Janelle smiled. “See, even you can’t say it. He ‘cares’ about me, but he doesn’t
love
me. He sees me as a respectable and pretty woman to have on his arm. An
asset
. But not a love.”

“I only know what I saw and I know that he’s never felt this way about another woman. Nobody’s perfect, Janelle. Give him another chance.” When Janelle started to shake her head, Glenda held up her hand. “Don’t answer me now. Jerome will call you in a few days so that the two of you can talk things out.”

“There’s no need for him to call me. It’s over.”

“You won’t even consider forgiving him?”

“I’m sorry. No.” The older woman’s shoulders slumped. Janelle hugged her. She’d had dinner at Mrs. Wilson’s home half a dozen times. Jerome was a mama’s boy. Even when he neglected her, she knew that he made a point of spending time for his mother. “Did Jerome ask you to do this?”

“Well, he said you wouldn’t listen to reason and that maybe I could help.” She heaved a great sigh. “Not that it did much good. But don’t you count my boy out. He’s very determined to win you back.”

Janelle released a sigh of her own. “He’d be better served if he spent his time finding another job.”

“If that’s what it’ll take to have you at his side, consider it done.”

“No, it isn’t. I never cared about his job. I did admire his drive and his passion for his career. I just didn’t know it ran so deep.”

* * * *

The only sound in his office was the
tick, tick, tick
of the pen he held with his thumb as he whacked it against his other fingers. His screensaver had kicked in five minutes ago and still Aidan stared out into space. Three weeks had passed since he last saw Janelle and she hadn’t contacted him. She
had
to know something by now. So why hadn’t she called?

He should be concentrating on the contract his hotels were competing to win with a science fiction fan club. Each year they held conferences in major cities. It was a big contract and would be a boon to his business. And usually it was the sort of thing that had his undivided attention.

Instead, all he could think of was whether or not Janelle had taken Jerome back. He knew she loved him. Her loyalty to him had been hard to shake. Even after what had happened between them, her first thoughts had been of whether Jerome might have walked in on them making love and been hurt.

And she’d turned him down yet again, saying it was too soon. He took that to mean that she still had feelings for that bastard. How she could was a mystery to him. The weasel had gone through with his threat of suing for wrongful termination, but that didn’t concern him. Jerome’s work would speak for itself. Aidan was confident his attorneys could squash the lawsuit without breaking a sweat.

He couldn’t forget their night together and how she had given herself to him with such abandon. Then reality crashed in and he remembered that she’d thought he was Jerome the entire time. He wanted to hold her in his arms, look into her eyes as he made love to her, and hear her call
his
name as she climaxed.

Common sense told him that he was going to have to wait for her if he wanted more than a passing acquaintance. Patience wasn’t his strong suit. He was more of a take-charge, seize-the-day type of guy. Holding himself back from calling her or visiting her was killing him.

The office phone rang, bringing him back to the present. He glanced down. It was Margaret calling from her desk. “Yes, Margaret?”

“There’s a young lady here to see you. Her name is Ms. Avery.”

Aidan’s hand tightened around the receiver. “Send her in.” He stood and adjusted his jacket. When Janelle came in, she looked as lovely as ever, her long hair worn in a braid down her back. She wore a deep burgundy jacket with a high, ruffled collar and a cinched in waist that emphasized her slender figure. Paired with a matching pencil skirt, she was both sexy and professional. It was a power suit for women and he was positive she’d designed it herself.

He greeted her with a handshake and a swift kiss to her cheek. “You’re looking beautiful as always.”

“Thank you.”

He led her to a seat and then resumed his position behind his desk. “It’s good to see you.” He coughed and held in a groan as she crossed long legs, giving him a glimpse of the chocolate silk of her inner thighs as her skirt rose above her knees. “How have you been?”

She wet full, glossy lips. “Fine. How about you?”

“Well. A bit anxious to hear from you.”

Janelle’s hands twisted in her lap and her large eyes grew moist. “We’re having a baby,” she whispered.

The sight of her tears nearly undid him, squashing his burgeoning excitement. Was she that unhappy about having his baby? He yanked out a couple of tissues from the box he kept on the corner of his desk and rounded the furniture, stopping when he crouched at her side. “Don’t cry.”

Her lower lip quivered a bit as she accepted the proffered tissues. “I’m sorry. I’m not going to cry. It’s the hormones. I tear up at everything. Have you ever noticed how sad commercials are?”

His eyes widened. “Um, no.” He glanced at his watch. “Listen, let me take you to dinner and we can discuss our options.”

“I’m not getting an abortion. It’s my baby, too, and this may not have been planned, but I want it.”

Aidan inhaled sharply. He was relieved that she wanted the baby, but disappointed that she would think that he’d want her to end the pregnancy. He reminded himself that she didn’t know him that well and that she probably hadn’t performed an Internet search on him as he’d done on her. “I would have never asked you to do that.”

Her brow wrinkled. “You said options.”

“Yes, but abortion isn’t one of them.” He stood and assisted her to her feet. “Come along. We can eat at my place. My housekeeper usually makes enough food for an army.”

* * * *

Janelle stared the great heaping plate of pasta Aidan placed before her. There was no way she’d be able to eat all of it. He sat across from her. They were seated at the small breakfast area adjacent to his kitchen rather than the large dining table he’d used during his house warming party.

Twirling noodles on her fork, she watched him beneath lowered lashes. She wondered what kind of options Aidan intended to propose. “So what did you—”

“Did you—” They’d begun talking at the same time. They stopped simultaneously. “Please, you go first,” Aidan said.

“I was going to ask about your options.”

“Oh.” He lifted his wine glass and sipped. “Well, there is the obvious, that we could share custody.”

“Yes.” She could have breathed a sigh of relief. She’d had two fears when confronting him with the pregnancy. One was that he wouldn’t want to have the baby and would try to force her to have an abortion so that she didn’t prove to be a drain on his finances. The other was that he would want complete custody so that he wasn’t saddled with her, a woman from which he’d only wanted a quick tumble.

“But if we do it that way, then we commit ourselves to a lifetime of dividing holidays, with the possibility of the occasional shared one.”

She stroked a finger over her frosted glass of tea. “That’s generally how it works.”

“I was raised by two parents. How about you?”

“Yes.”

“I want that for our child.”

“So what do you suggest?” She sipped her tea. It was satisfyingly sweet, just as she liked it.

“Marry me.”

Tea dribbled out of her slack mouth. She grabbed her napkin and dried her chin. “What?”

“Hear me out. It could be a platonic arrangement. We’d live together, raise our son or daughter together—”

She held up a hand to halt him. “So your idea is a loveless marriage?”

His gold eyes burned into hers. “I didn’t say that. Over time, I believe we could develop a friendship and perhaps more.”

“Aidan, that’s too much of a sacrifice to ask.” For him and for her.

“Think about it, Janelle. This would be for our child.”

“Children grow up in one-parent households everyday—”

“But ours doesn’t have to. If we can give our child a two-parent household, why shouldn’t we?” He emptied his glass and came around to crouch at her side. He curved a protective hand over her abdomen. “You live in a one-bedroom apartment. If you moved in here, there would be room for a nursery. And there’s a backyard for him or her to play in. I’ll be a good husband to you and a good father to our child. Of course, we’ll sign papers to protect your investments and mine. If at any time you decide you want out, you’ll be free to go.”