For You I Do (25 page)

Chapter 29

The following afternoon, her lawyer’s words made the bottom fall out of her stomach.

If Collin insisted on a paternity test and the test proved he was the father of the child, he did have rights. The lawyer’s advice was that they work out some kind of visitation agreement.

Bianca slammed down the phone. The last thing she wanted was to share her child with someone like Collin Clark.
How in
the world had she ever thought she was in love with him?

She leaned back in her chair and placed a protective hand on her stomach. She wasn’t going to share her baby with him. The only man she wanted to be the father of her child was her husband. London.

She felt the baby move and a smile curled her lips. Her baby knew who her daddy was. London had taken her yesterday to shop for nursery furniture. As they looked at cribs, a couple of residents of Sheraton Beach stopped to congratulate them. The pride on London’s face was priceless. The rest of the evening was spent lying on the couch together trying to come up with baby names.

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All Collin cared about was the money. After giving it further thought, she picked up the phone and called him on his cell phone.

He answered with a chuckle. “I see you’ve finally come to your senses.”

“Let’s meet tomorrow and talk.”

“I’d be delighted to.”

He was still laughing as she hung up.

Chapter 30

Diamere signed on all the spots indicated on the contract, then handed it across the table with a big grin. “Man, it’s definitely great doing business with you.”

“Absolutely,” London said as he took the contract, folded it and put it in his breast pocket.

“Now just keep making us money.”

“Most definitely,” London replied with confidence.

Diamere had kept a twenty percent interest in the restaurant.

The prime location with the correct management was going to be a gold mine.

London reached for his burger with a smile on his lips.

“Bianca said you bought a couple of nightclubs.”

“Yep. Nice, classy spots. The price was too good to pass up.

The owner went to prison for real estate fraud and the family was desperate to sell to cover his legal expenses,” Diamere said between bites. “I’ve been waiting three years for this day to come. My clubs are gonna be off the hook.”

“I’ll have to drive up and check them out.” London bit into his burger and he and Diamere talked while they ate. The food
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wasn’t bad, he had to admit. Diamere had suggested meeting at the Beaumont Hotel, since he had driven down for the night.

London was more than happy to meet him and share lunch because afterwards he planned to stop by the hotel flower shop and pick up two dozen roses for his wife before going to her office and surprising her. The plan was to convince her to play hooky for the rest of the afternoon and spend the next several hours at home wrapped in his arms.

“So, can I ask, how’s married life?” Diamere asked, breaking into London’s thoughts. He’d been so busy planning the rest of the afternoon, he had honestly forgotten that Diamere was still sitting across from him.

“Good… Bianca definitely makes me happy.”

Diamere grinned and looked pleased. “I’m happy for the both of you, really I am. Aunt Jessica should be quite pleased she’s gotten all her children married off. Jabarie and Brenna are expecting baby number three, Jace and Sheyna have a little boy, Jaden and Danica’s baby is right around the corner and now Bianca’s expecting. Aunt Jessica is going to have plenty of little ones running around that big old house of hers. I would pay a thousand bucks to see one of them break something.”

While chewing on a fry, London chuckled. His mother-in-law could be a little high strung at times, but she was a totally different woman with her grandchildren.

“What about you? When are you going to settle down and start a family?”

Diamere scowled. “Nah, not me. Last time I tried that I got burned—badly.” While they finished eating, Diamere told London about his girlfriend claiming to be pregnant with his twins. He married her only to find out the babies weren’t his. Instead, they belonged to a married man she was still involved with.

“Man, shit happens. Don’t give up. There’s someone out there for everyone.”

Diamere gave him a long, hard stare. “There was someone.

A schoolteacher named Kelly. Kelly Saunders. But I broke it off when Rachel told me she was pregnant. Last I heard, Kelly was married and living in Texas.”

He reached for his beer. “The only women I need now is my
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nightclubs—Ja’net, Diamond and Hadley.” They chuckled then finished their food and said their goodbyes. London made plans to stop by the restaurant in a week, so he could meet the staff and start transitioning things.

While Diamere, who insisted on paying the bill, waited for his change, London headed across the marble floor of the lobby to the flower shop. He placed the order and while the clerk put together a beautiful arrangement, he pushed his hands in his pocket and stared off toward the fountain at the center of lobby.

He noticed Bianca standing near the revolving door with her hand pressed against her stomach. He felt the feeling in his gut. In less than four months a little Brown would be coming into the world.

He was tempted to walk across the lobby and scoop her up in his arms, but it would ruin the surprise. Hopefully, Bianca wouldn’t run into Diamere on his way back up to his room.

“Would you like me to add a little baby’s breath?”

He tore his eyes away from his beautiful wife long enough to say, “Yes, that would be great, and one single white rose.”

“Ooooh! Mr. Brown you are so romantic. Ms. Bianca is lucky to have you.”

He noticed the envy in the woman’s face before she went back to work.

No. I’m the lucky one,
he thought as he returned his attention to Bianca and watched the direction of her eyes as a man who looked familiar came toward her.

As soon as he grinned, London recognized him—Collin.

What the hell was he doing here?

He moved forward ready, to confront the dude and froze in his tracks when Collin strolled up beside Bianca and pressed his lips to her cheek. She rewarded him with a smile, then they walked to the front desk with his hand resting comfortably on the small of her back.

London stood there, clenching his fist while he watched. The desk clerk handed Collin a key and he and Bianca headed past the corporation elevators to the set at the far left that led to the twenty-three floors of guestrooms.

Bianca leaned in and whispered something close to Collin’s
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ear that made him smile. London stood and watched as the two of them boarded the elevator with the door closing behind them.

London was stunned beyond words. His wife was having an affair with her baby’s daddy.

Chapter 31

Bianca waited until they were inside the penthouse suite before she reared back and slapped Collin hard across the face. “Don’t you ever put your mouth on me again!”

He chuckled as he raised a hand to his cheek. “My bad. I thought maybe I’d have one for old times’ sake.”

“We have no ‘old times’ to reminisce about.”

She was so angry that it took everything she had to contain herself while they were in the lobby. To keep her staff from over-hearing, she had whispered close to his ear that he was a creep.

“Wow!” he began as he moved around the room, taking in the rich-grain woods and fine upscale furnishings in royal blue and beige. “This is really nice. I knew your hotels were fabulous, but I didn’t think they were this fine.” A look of smug self-satisfaction crossed his face. “I feel like I stepped into royalty.” He flopped down onto the couch and spread his arms along the tops of the cushions. Grinning like a man with a secret.

She rolled her eyes.

Folding his arms across his chest, he turned his head and faced her. “You said you wanted to talk. So let’s talk.”

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“I want to know what it’s going to take for you to get out of my life once and for all.”

He chuckled and the sound was starting to grate on her nerves.

“Bianca, I don’t see that happening for at least the next eighteen years. That’s my baby you’re carrying.”

“Listen, I am married to London and he is ready to adopt this baby and raise her or him as his own.”

He gave her a long look. “I thought you knew me better than that. There is no way I would give up the rights of my child.”

“Why not? You’ve got another woman.”

“Yes, but that doesn’t have anything to do with my unborn child.” His lips curled upward. “Face it, Bianca, I’m going to be around for a long time.”

She glared over at him. “I’ll get a lawyer and fight you.”

“Go for it. Any good lawyer will tell you that you can’t deny me my parental rights.”

“Then it will be a long fight.”

“Sure, and in the meantime I’ll let the whole world know I am the real father of your child. You know how much you hate scandal. Mommie Dearest will have a fit.”

Bastard. He was determined to blackmail her.

“By the way, thanks for the room. I’ll be needing it until Sunday. I’m sure Daddy won’t mind me charging everything to my room.” He rose, strolled over to the bar, removed a bottle of liquor and popped it open.

There was a long pause before Bianca reached into her purse and removed her checkbook. “Okay, Collin. How much is this going to cost me?”

His lips curled upward. “Now that’s more like it.”

Chapter 32

Bianca returned home well after six o’clock. After Collin had laughed in her face at her offer, she left the hotel and drove around for a couple of hours, trying to decide what to do next. Collin was going to cause her a lot of trouble if she didn’t let him see the baby.

She pulled the car into the garage beside London’s SUV and released a heavy sigh. He was home early today. Bianca turned off the car and sat there for the longest time, trying to decide what to do next.
Should I tell my husband?
she wondered.

After weighing the pros and cons, Bianca decided it wasn’t a good idea to mention Collin’s demands just yet, until she knew for sure how she was going to handle the situation. There had to be a way to put this to rest. Collin was the baby’s father, and as far as her lawyer was concerned, he had a right to be a part of her unborn child’s life.

She moved inside the house through the laundry room, removed her heels and left them beside the door. She then padded inside the kitchen and stopped in her tracks.

“Hey, baby.”

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London removed a casserole dish from the oven, placed it on the stove then swung around. “Hey, you’re late,” he said, then studied her intensely with his eyes.

“Yes, I had a late meeting this afternoon,” she mumbled, quickly moving across the tile floor and kissing her husband on his cheek. “I see that you cooked.”

“I figured you’d probably be hungry.”

“I am, sweetheart.” She gave him another kiss then released him. “Let me go and change, and I’ll be right back.”

When she came back, she was dressed in stretch pants and a comfortable T-shirt. She stepped into the kitchen. London had already set the kitchen table.

“Mmm, that looks good,” she said and took a seat. “How did everything go with my cousin?”

“Great. I’ll be meeting with him again next week.”

She smiled. “Excellent.”

As they ate, they discussed the plans they had for the restaurant. Afterwards, they moved into the living room. It wasn’t until then that she realized how distant and distracted London seemed.

“Sweetheart, is something wrong?”

“I’ve been thinking, and I think this is a mistake.”

“What’s a mistake?”

London’s eyes grew cold as he looked at her on the other end of the couch. “Us, going into business together. Creating this family image.”

Her stomach began to turn. “What brought this on?”

He rose and paced the length of the room. “I’ve been thinking,” he said. “We need to remember that our marriage is a temporary business arrangement and nothing more. We have less than a year left together and we need to remember that at that point we’ll be going separate ways. I think we need to keep reminding ourselves that our marriage isn’t real.”

Her heart sank. “That’s not what you said the other day.”

A hard, furious look came into his eyes. “Can’t a man change his mind?”

She swallowed. “I see.”

“I think it’s better this way.” London rose and headed out of
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the room, then stopped but didn’t bother to turn around. “I’m going out. Don’t wait up.”

He went to his room. A few moments later she heard the garage door open, and he pulled out of the driveway and was gone.

Chapter 33

London held up his empty glass and signaled for the barmaid to bring him another rum and coke. She nodded her head in acknowledgment, then reached inside the cooler, retrieved a bottle of beer and lowered it on the counter in front of a customer at the other end of the bar.

While he waited, he allowed his gaze to travel around Spanky’s, a sports bar that was the happening place on a Wednesday night in Sheraton Beach. A professional basketball game was playing on the big screen, and the Lakers were leading by seven points, but the playoffs were the last thing on his mind. No matter how much he tried to push it aside, he could not seem to get Bianca and Collin out of his mind.

Every emotion he could think of was running through his heart.

Anger, jealousy and love led the race. As far as he was concerned, Bianca was his wife and the child she was carrying was his.

A fresh drink was put on the bar in front of him. He thanked the barmaid, then tossed it back, finishing it in two swallows.

“Give me another,” he ordered as he slammed the glass on the counter.