Enraptured (16 page)

As the weeks wore on, I ended up relying on Zoe more and more. My tummy was expanding as my twins grew, which made my back ache and I tired more easily as a result. Drew had splurged on another shopping spree for maternity clothes, insisting that Zoe come along with us to assist me. While he was careful not to flirt, he was a charming, dreamy alpha male as he courted his two ladies around town like he was king of the world. We never had to wait for anything, and there was never an issue of cost or availability. If Drew Fullerton wanted something, Drew Fullerton got it. It cut a powerfully sexy image.

I never saw Zoe return any interest, not like she did with Alex. Since she often joined Jonathan and me at the offices, Zoe and Alex bumped into each other regularly. I could tell by the flush in her cheeks and her hidden smile that his attention was far more exciting than a rack full of clothes or a ride in a stretch limousine.

Drew could tell it, too, which was why he was pulling out all the stops to demonstrate how much of a god he already was. Each week Elise would twist the knife a little more, reminding me that the competition between them meant more than any marriage. All Alex had to do was return one iota of Zoe’s interest and Drew would pull out all the stops to change her mind and prove, once again, he was the better man.

At the present, Alex was content to let Zoe’s obvious enchantment slide. Instead he was working closely with a new hire at FEI, one Martina Delgado. She was a stunning Hispanic beauty with cascading ebony hair and big amber eyes that shone with intelligence.

I suspected that she was thrust into Alex’s path by Drew as a diversion. The fact that she was tasked with teaching both Alex and Jonathan Spanish only validated my suspicions, showing me that Drew hadn’t given up the idea of shipping Alex off to Mexico.

It was yet another calculated move along the chess board.

I had hoped the months that had passed would soften their competition, but Drew was feeling more and more threatened by Alex’s presence at the office. It wasn’t just the business, although Alex’s refusal to accept Drew’s assignments and decisions in blind faith didn’t go over particularly well. It wasn’t just me, though Drew watched every single interaction between us. It seemed that at every turn, Alex was no longer settling for
supporting cast. He wanted to costar in this particular drama, with equal footing.

He didn’t respond to
Martina any more than he responded to Zoe. Drew kept lobbing shots his direction, but he simply refused to play. He dodged every distraction and stayed right on task.

It was decidedly un-Alex-like.

And I could always tell when it was getting to Drew. He reached for the whiskey bottle more and more, passing out on his sofa in his study on more than one occasion.

“I didn’t want to disturb you by coming to bed,” he’d dismiss.

In fact, the bigger my stomach grew, the less likely he was to “disturb” me at all. He filled our days until we were both too exhausted to do anything more than collapse into a deep sleep every night. As his wife, I was required to make appearances with him at parties, hobnobbing with the top one percent on a weekly basis.

Troy and Sloane were regular guests, and Drew had invited them to stay in our home late April while they were in town on a fundraising drive. I wasn’t especially looking forward to it, as they weren’t my favorite people. But Sloane greeted me like I was a long lost relative the minute she walked in the door.

Harrison had a dirty martini ready for her, as well as a whiskey neat for Troy, and they joined us in the living room. “You look fabulous, darling,” she purred as she inspected me head to toe. “But two babies, I just can’t picture it. I hope you get good drugs out of the deal.”

Drew chuckled. “Rachel is strong enough to have them without any drugs at all.”

“I don’t know about that,” I muttered.

Dinner was served and we all headed to the formal dining room. Sloane linked her arm with mine. “So do you like our gift, dear?”

“Your gift?” I repeated.

“Zoe,” she said. “When Drew told us about the twins, and the problems you had been having with the pregnancy, Troy pulled a few
strings and hand-picked her personally.”

This was all news to me. “Oh, he did?”

“Of course. He’s known Drew long enough to know what he’s looking for. All except for you, of course. But you’re not the hired help anymore, are you, dear?”

She chuckled at her own joke but I wasn’t all that amused. I stayed mostly quiet during dinner. Troy picked up on my mood immediately. “Are you not feeling well, Rachel?” he asked with feigned concern he’d mastered from decades in politics.

“A little tired,” I admitted.

“She gets tired quite a bit,” Drew explained. If I didn’t know better, I would have said he sounded disappointed.

“Bringing a baby into the world is hard work,” Troy mused. “Bringing two is more a miraculous feat.” He toasted me with his glass. “We won’t feel at all insulted if you need to excuse yourself, Rachel. The important work you are doing within your body trumps small talk.”

Finally I agreed with him.

I ended up retiring early, but Drew didn’t stumble into bed until after four o’clock in the morning.

The next day we all drove together to an art gallery in Mid-Wilshire, a neighborhood in central L.A. known for its culture and diversity. The gallery was Images of Light, a three-story modern architectural wonder run by a curvaceous
redhead named Caitlin Delaney. Her assistant, Jeffrey Steele, was openly gay, which I could tell put Troy off at once. Jeffrey was not at all fazed by his reaction. In fact he looked rather amused.

I immediately knew that I liked him.

I was equally impressed with the catering staff. It was multicultural, with Spanish siblings and beautiful blonde women from my neck of the woods. I could detect their Texas twang immediately, though I knew they were from an area closer to the gulf and closer to Houston.

“You nailed it,” the woman named Lissette beamed.

I ended up hanging with the staff while Drew, Troy and Sloane mixed it up with the other high-profile guests.

My new friends were the one that helped me to Caitlin’s office when the shrimp cocktail I selected began to rebel. Caitlin was a mother herself, and saw the signs of trouble immediately. “You’re a saint,” I muttered as she eased me down onto the leather sofa in her stark white office.

She chuckled. “I wouldn’t go that far.” She reached for a soft fleece throw. “How far along are you?”

“Five months today,” I said as I tried to get into a comfortable position. “I’m having twins.”

She was immediately empathetic. “You stay up here as long as you like,” she said with a smile. “I’ll send your husband and friends along when they’re ready.”

“Thanks, Caitlin,” I said as I laid my head back and rested my eyes.

A full hour had passed before I opened them again. Sloane was knocking gently on the slightly opened door. “Rachel, darling? Are you in here?”

I scooted back up into a seated position. “I’m here.”

“Are you all right?” she asked as she walked over to the sofa, perching on the edge.

I nodded. “The shrimp cocktail didn’t agree with me. I’m better now.”

She nursed yet another martini. “You know, darling, you’d feel a lot more rested if you’d let Zoe take over any unnecessary chores and tasks.”

“I don’t seem to have a choice,” I muttered. “She’s always there shooing me away from everything I need to do.”

“That’s her job,” she insisted with a slur. “And that’s what they’re good for. They take the burden off of you, in doing so proving they are worth their weight in gold. I don’t know where I would be without my Maria. Anything that I find I don’t want to do, I delegate to her and all my problems are solved. It keeps me happy. It keeps Troy happy. It keeps our marriage together.”

My brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

She laughed. “Don’t play coy, Rachel. You have to know how things work. You’ve been on the other end of the paycheck.”

“I’m sorry but I don’t. What exactly are you implying?”

She exhaled deeply as she sat next to me on the sofa. “You wouldn’t be so exhausted if you allowed Zoe take care of the things that you can’t. You are a mother-to-be. You have much bigger priorities than warming up Drew’s bed. Take this time to take care of you. Believe me, by the time those babies are born he’ll be tired of her and ready to come crawling back like every other man.”

“Are you saying I should let Drew cheat?”

“What’s it cheating you, really? You’re in no state to have sex. You’re busy doing what a woman’s body is meant to do, and who wants to make love to a mother in full bloom? Let someone else be his playmate for a while. As long as you have the ring on your finger, you’re golden.”

“My best friend said the same thing,” I muttered.

“Wise woman,” Sloane agreed.

“Don’t tell her that.” I paused. “Is that the real reason Troy hired her?”

“He hired her to meet whatever need that needed to be met. I think you’ll find she’s open to it. Most of them are. Sweet, young girl flattered by the attention of a powerful man? She’ll do anything. Just like the rest of us,” she grinned as she threw back the last of her drink. “Let’s get you home and in bed. Drew and the others can come whenever they’re ready.”

For some reason, Sloane had assigned herself a very untraditional fairy godmother for the duration of her stay. She took care of me like I was her friend, though we rarely spoke unless Drew and Troy had gotten together. But the fact was that I was tired, and the solitude of my room felt a lot more welcoming than sex talk with Sloane De Havilland.

Drew staggered in around three-thirty in the morning, and smelled like whiskey as he collapsed, half-naked, onto the bed. “You missed a great party,” he murmured as he spread out on his back. “We raised quite a bit of money.”

“Congratulations on your success,” I mumbled. “Sorry if I left you in a lurch.”

He shrugged. “Troy and Zoe were there,” he said absently. I wondered what he was thinking behind those hooded, cloudy eyes.

“Still, that’s not your wife,” I pointed out.

His eyes met mine. “Very true,” he agreed. He pulled me down for a hot kiss, but then turned his back toward me as he settled down to sleep.

Tired as I was, I couldn’t sleep at all. I ended up giving up entirely and headed downstairs by daybreak. When I saw Troy reading a paper at the kitchen table in his robe, I nearly turned back. But he called to me.

“There you are,” he said with a slick smile. “I was hoping to spend some time alone with you this visit. Please. Sit down.”

I grabbed some juice from the fridge before I joined him.

“You look positively resplendent,” he said. “A more womanly creature I would be hard pressed to find.”

“Seems like you found one just fine.
Sloane tells me that you are responsible for hiring Zoe.”

“My friend had a need and I met that need. That’s what friends do,” he added with a wink.

“Good friends, anyway,” I remarked, off-hand. “Did you hire her to sleep with him, Troy?”

He paused a bit, taken aback by the direct quest
ion. “I’m sure that is no concern of mine. I just thought it would help to have someone around to take the burden off of you.”

“Like making love to my husband,” I filled in.

His eyes narrowed. “Are you accusing me of something, Rachel?”

“No, of course not,” I murmured. “You just provided the temptation. It’s up to Drew to act on it.”

Troy chuckled softly. “My dear, I think the one with the problem is you. But you should know that insecurity is an unattractive quality in a woman. You’re the wife. It’s up to you to set these rules for yourself.”

“And what if I told you one of my new rules is that Zoe
is out of here, that I neither need nor want her ‘help’?”

He chuckled a little louder.
“That’s certainly your choice. And I can make that happen for you tomorrow with a simple phone call if that is what you truly want. The question is… what are you willing to do for me?”

I balked immediately.
“What do you mean?”

“Tit for tat, darling.
Quid pro quo. I’m willing to do everything in my power to make you feel secure and happy. But how far are you willing to go for me?”

I clasped my robe just a little tighter. “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”

“Don’t worry,” he assured. “I’m not attracted to pregnant women. No, what I want from you is far simpler. I want you to convince Alex to go to Mexico.”

I shook my head. “He won’t go.”

Troy’s eyes drilled into me as he leaned closer. “He will if you tell him. I’ve seen the way he looks at you, Rachel. You could tell him to walk through fire and he likely would. All I need is for him to get the hell out of Drew’s business.”

“
FEI is his business, too,” I pointed out with a scowl. “And besides, isn’t the ranch in Mexico business-related?”

“Of course,” he answered far too easily. “But it gets him out of our hair for a while so we can actually get things done without hearing from the Morality Police.”