In The Arms of a Donovan: A Sexy BBW Billionaire Family Series Romance (The Donovans Book 13) (24 page)

“That’s good, because I love the whole package,” he told her smiling for what seemed like the first time in weeks.

“I love you, Brandon,” she said softly, biting on her bottom lip before continuing. “I think I loved you from the moment you walked barefoot on the beach with me. And to be honest, you weren’t the only one thinking of a reason to end our relationship. I kept telling myself it would be so much easier, if I just kept reminding myself that I didn’t want to be hurt again.”

“I’ll do everything in my power not to hurt you and I damn sure am not going to let anyone else hurt you,” he vowed.

“Do you really think we can make this work? Considering who my family is?” she asked.

Brandon dug into his pocket and pulled out the box he’d been worried about presenting since he’d purchased it last night. He opened it slowly and then looked to her face to gauge her reaction.

“I think we’ll make it work for a very long time,” he said. “Because I love you with every piece of my heart, Amber. I’ve loved you since the first moment I laid eyes on your feet.”

She chuckled then, the tears that had been welling up in her eyes dropping quickly onto her cheeks.

“I don’t know what to say,” she whispered.

“Say that I’ve totally impressed you,” he continued. “Say that you’ll love me forever despite the fact that I talk too much and will definitely say the wrong thing sometimes. Say that you can’t wait for us to build our lives together.”

She stepped to him this time, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him close. She hugged him so tightly that Brandon was sure she was going to tell him to pack up all the things he’d done to impress her and get the hell out of his house. Instead, she pulled back slightly and cupped his face the way he’d done hers a few moments ago. She kissed his lips once and then twice, before sighing.

“Oh Brandon, I love you so much. But what I really think would be the best thing for me to say right now is,” she paused and licked her bottom lip before smiling.

“I’m pregnant.”

Brandon blinked. He opened his mouth to say something, but then snapped it shut again.

Taking another breath and looking into her eyes, he recalled each time they’d made love unprotected. His hands had begun to shake, his entire body was trembling for that matter as joy and shock spread through him fiercely.

“Did you say you’re pregnant?” he asked. “As in you and I will be having a baby in nine months.”

Amber nodded. Then as if she just remembered it, she took the ring box from his hand.

“I’m pregnant, but I want to be married before the baby comes so we should start planning the wedding now. I’d like to be married in Chicago with my family, but then, I can move to Houston with you since that’s where you work and your father needs you.”

She talked while she removed the ring from the box, putting it onto her ring finger and then holding up her left hand so that the three karat diamond could sparkle in the candlelight.

“Ah, um, okay,” Brandon finally managed to mutter. “Okay, that’s what we’ll do.” He took Amber’s hand, kissing the ring and then kissing her.

“We’re going to have a baby,” he whispered over her lips.

“Yes, we are,” Amber replied. “And since we’re also going to get married, I think it’s only fitting that we find Essie a companion too.”

“Dogs don’t fall in love,” Brandon told her.

Amber shook her head. “You’re wrong baby. There’s someone out there for everyone and you…you are the one for me.”

Brandon smiled down at her. “And you are the one for me. You complete me and I cannot wait to spend the rest of my life wrapped in the arms of a Donovan…in the arms of Mrs. Amber Elaine Donovan.”

Epilogue

She liked the smell. A part of her knew she wasn’t supposed to, but she did. It was sort of soothing as she inhaled once again, exhaling slowly as every part of her body absorbed the intoxicating aroma. Tingles slipped down her spine until her body shivered in response.

With quick motions she turned the next knob and the next, until they all were in the highest power position. It was neat, she thought with a tilt of her head, the way each of the black covered control knobs were turned at the exact angle. She liked things that way, perfectly neat and just…perfect.

What she and Henry had was perfect. Until they messed it up.

His brothers, she thought while rubbing her hands along the oven handle, had messed things up too.

They were always meddling. Telling Henry what he should and shouldn’t do.

“She’s a gold digger.” That’s what Bernard had said to Henry one day. She remembered because she was in Henry’s bedroom, where he’d told her to hide until his brother had left. “She has a plan to use you for your name and your money, man. Get a clue!”

He’d been wrong, and then again, Bernard Donovan had also been right.

Roslyn did have a plan, one which would show them all that she wasn’t a woman to be fucked with.

She yanked the oven door open then, switched the center control knob until it was slanted on the same angle as the others. Having already doused the pilot light, she inhaled once again at the sweet smell of gas. Her eyes watered, but that’s what they were supposed to do when her heart was breaking into a million pieces inside.

He’d done this to her, Roslyn thought, letting the tears roll slowly down her face. He was jealous and vengeful and he wasn’t going to stop until he’d destroyed everything. The family that Roslyn had wanted with Henry, the child they shared.

The DNA results are in. Bernard Donovan is my father.

She recalled the last text she’d received from Dane. Bernard, the brother that most times looked like he was frowning, his personality as gruff and disdainful as his features could be. Yet, that night in the hotel at the airport, he’d smiled at her. He’d touched her and whispered all the sordid things he wanted to do in her ear. His big dark-skinned hands had moved over her and she’d reacted, because bodies sometimes did things their minds didn’t tell them to do.

That’s what happened in Miami. She’d shot the detective, Anthony Lucas.

Roslyn shook her head and moved away from the stove. Clasping her hands together she cracked her knuckles and rolled her neck on her shoulders.

He wasn’t supposed to die. She hadn’t really meant to kill him.

It was Henry’s fault. She’d asked him to come, for him to give her the money, but that had never been what this was about. She didn’t want the money without the man. Henry hadn’t come. He’d stayed in Las Vegas with his perfect wife and their perfect children, in that perfect mansion.

Hers! It was all supposed to be hers!

She ran across the room then, grabbing a knife from its stand and turned as if there were someone there to thrust it into. Nobody.

Roslyn turned again, looking, her hand gripping the handle of knife, as she waited. Then she laughed. Of course there was no one there. They were all out, at church. That made her laugh even harder. They went to church to pray for the lies and the pain they’d caused. Albert would lower his head and continue to whisper, “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” Dane wasn’t his son.

Darla had tried to tell her that, but it was hard to hear as the bitch had gasped for her last breaths. Again, Roslyn’s brain hadn’t told her foot to slam on the gas and ram that rental truck into the back of Darla’s car. Her body had acted all on its own. She smiled again, covering her mouth this time because she didn’t want anyone to hear her giggling. That car accident tore Albert apart. He’d known all along it had been her that killed his wife. Just as that younger brother, the one in Miami, had known she’d killed his little police friend. Those slick ass brothers had known everything all along, but they’d kept their mouths shut.

Well, it was too late for that now.

The secret was out.

Dane was Bernard Donovan’s son.

Bernard!

Not Henry’s.

She let her head fall back and screamed until her body vibrated with the sound. Then she was moving. Going through the house slashing whatever she could with that knife. Pictures, couches, books, mattresses. If it was in front of her she cut it, she broke glass, kicked furniture, and ripped clothes to shreds, all the while crying for what should have been. What could have been her life if those meddling Donovan brothers had never stuck their noses in her business.

She hated them, each and every person with the last name Donovan. She hated them all!

It didn’t matter now. None of it did as Roslyn ran out of the house. She turned back, looking at the palatial estate, a slow smile spreading over her face. None of it mattered anymore.

Finally dropping the knife, Roslyn dug into her pocket and pulled out the paper she’d scribbled the access code to the alarm system on. That had come in handy. She’d picked the lock and walked right into the million dollar home, punching in the code as if she belonged there. Which technically, she did. Balling that paper up, she dropped it to the ground and then reached into her other pocket again. There was a lighter and a pack of matches. Her fingers shook as she held the lighter in one hand, matches in the other. Then she laughed once more, adding a little happy dance this time as her fingers moved eagerly over each item.

She’d broken the kitchen windows. They were too big and let in too much light. Roslyn didn’t like the light very much. It lied to her all the time. Showing her things that weren’t true, that shouldn’t be happening. No, she did not like the light at all. What she did like and what she hadn’t had the opportunity to enjoy in a long time was the quick and potent glint of fire.

Moving her thumb over the top of the lighter she waited to see the first glimmer of fire. When she was younger the sight of fire had set butterflies to dancing in her stomach. As she’d grown older it had taken on a more erotic appeal. That feeling had almost been matched by the time she’d watched the blood dripping from Detective Lucas’s body onto the concrete. Darla’s head bled profusely after the crash. Roslyn’s tongue tingled as she remembered tasting the gooey substance out of curiosity. Death had given her a quick and undeniable high, one she’d never been able to achieve by any of those pills she’d convinced some quack doctors to give her. They had no idea what they were doing, what she needed.

It was this, Roslyn thought as she flicked that lighter again, praying for that spark to appear. She couldn’t rely on her mind. That was screwed up as her family had so politely told her years ago. No, the only thing that ever acted correctly, was her body. See, her thumb flicked over that lighter once more and this time…bingo!

The spark was lit. Roslyn smiled with glee. Licking her lips anxiously she touched the flame from the lighter to the red tipped matches and watched as more color and life exploded before her eyes. Then she was moving, running back towards the house and tossing both the lighter and the matches through the window. With child-like excitement she ran away from the house then, her heart thumping loudly in her chest. Her body moved, legs carrying her fast and far and when that loud boom came, she shivered with pleasure, before dropping to the ground. On her knees Roslyn continued to laugh until she looked over her shoulder and saw the thick cloud of smoke where the house used to be. Then she cried, for every day that Henry had denied her, every second that they could have been together happily in that house.

When her phone rang Roslyn cursed.

“What?” she snapped hastily.

“I’ve got her,” Jaydon said.

Roslyn’s sorrow cleared instantly and her posture straightened as she spoke clearly. “Good. She knows where her cousin is. I want Brynne Donovan and Bailey is going to take me to her, or she can just die like the rest of them.”

***

Continue to the next page to see an updated Donovan Family Tree

The Donovan Family

1
st
Generation

Elias & Gertrude Donovan
– Children: Rowan (m. Adeline) and Charleston (m. Cora)

Rowan & Adeline Donovan
– Children: Isaiah (m. Dorethea), Aaron [d] (m. Sondra), Abraham (never married) and Bridgette a.k.a. Birdie (never married)

Charleston & Cora Donovan
– Children: Cephus (m. MingLee), Joanna (m. Johnathan Bowers), Katherine (m. Myles Denton), Della (m. Robert Sats)

2
nd
Generation

Isaiah & Dorethea Donovan
– Children: Albert (m. Darla[d]), Henry (m. Beverly), Bernard (m. Jocelyn), Everette (m. Alma), Reginald (m. Carolyn) and Bruce (m. Janean)

Aaron [d] & Sondra
– Child: Gabriel (m. Maxine)

Abraham Donovan
– Child: Margo (m. Klevon Whitfield)

Birdie Donovan
– No Children

3
rd
Generation

Albert & Darla
– Children: Brock (m. Noelle), Brandon (m. Amber) and Bailey

Henry & Beverly
– Children: Lincoln (m. Jade), Trenton (m. Tia) and Adam (m. Camille)

Bernard & Mary Lee
– Child: Keysa (m. Ian)

Bernard & Jocelyn
– Child: Brynne

Everette & Alma
– Children: Maxwell (m. Deena) and Benjamin (m. Victoria)

Reginald & Carolyn
– Children: Savian (m. Jenise), Parker (Adriana), and Regan (Gavin)

Bruce & Janean
– Children: Dion (m. Lyra) and Sean (m. Tate)

Gabriel & Maxine
– Children: Roark, Ridgely and Suri

Margo & Klevon
– Children: (triplets) Alexis, Adonna and Amelia

**Key: m = married; [d] = deceased