Redemption Rains (16 page)

“You are a strong, independent,
beautiful woman who has proven that she can do anything she puts
her mind to.” This just made Elizabeth cry even harder.

“Now Elizabeth, your mother and I have
been talking and we think that you should go spend some time on the
island. You will be alone and you’ll be able to get some fresh air
without anyone bothering you. I have already cleared this with
Randall and he said that they are not expecting anyone at the
island until spring, so you can take as long as you
like.”

It didn’t take Elizabeth long to
decide on what she should do. She packed in a mad rush, kissed her
mother and Edward goodbye, and flew to the island. The first month
had been very hard, trying to sort through her feelings and
emotions. She did a lot of walking on the beach trying to convince
her heart that she should be thankful she was alive and get over
this, but she still felt lost.

During her second month on the island
Elizabeth had received a package from her mother and Edward
containing magazines, newspapers and a few of her favorite treats.
She had not seen a newspaper or magazine since she had arrived and
was excited to see what was going on in the world. She sat on the
couch in one of the living rooms in the villa and dug into the box.
After an hour, she had come across a newspaper, dated a month
prior. When she opened to the third page and saw a picture of Devin
her heart froze. He was standing with Gloria Mason outside a
restaurant. She read the caption below the photo.

“Beautiful model Gloria Mason has
snagged herself a real life hero in Detective Devin
Kane.”

Elizabeth skimmed the gossip column
with blurred eyes. The writer listed Devin’s achievements topping
them off with the arrest of Servano. Elizabeth looked at the photo
of Devin and “the goddess”. He had his arm around her perfectly
petite waste and they were both smiling into the camera. Elizabeth
had crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it across the room.
She vowed at that moment to forget Devin Kane and move on with her
life.

Two weeks later her worst suspicions
had come true. She had not been feeling well. After a long bout
with one of the worst migraines she had ever experienced, Elizabeth
decided to make a quick trip to the mainland and see a doctor.
After the examination she had sat in his office waiting for him to
give her a prescription. When the doctor entered with her chart he
seemed a little uncomfortable.

Miss Windsor, I cannot give you the
prescription you have requested,” he avoided her eyes and played
with a piece of paper on his desk.

“But why?" she questioned. “I have
taken it before.” Elizabeth looked at the doctor through pain
filled eyes.

“It appears that you are pregnant,
Miss Windsor, and this medication should not be taken in your
condition,” he looked at her then expectantly.

“Pregnant? Are you sure?”

“There is no doubt about
it.”

“It can’t be,” she whispered her
shock.

Elizabeth had left the office in a
daze. She was going to have Devin’s baby. They had not once thought
about using protection and now she was pregnant. She would have a
constant reminder of Devin forever.

At first she was frightened; afraid of
what Edward and her mother might think of her; afraid that she
would not be a good mother; afraid that she was not strong enough
to handle having a baby. When she finally broke down and told her
mother and Edward, she was surprised at their reaction. Margery had
cried over the telephone to her for half an hour about how she was
so happy she was going to be a Grandmother, she didn’t look like a
grandmother though, did she? Margery’s question made Elizabeth
laugh and feel a little more normal in her decision to keep the
baby. Edward was very constrained the first few minutes she spoke
with him.

“Are you going to tell Mr. Kane the
unexpected news?” Edward’s question had thrown her totally off
guard. Not once had she mentioned who the father was or even when
it had happened, but Edward was able to see through her.

“I’m not sure yet, Edward. I think
that I need a little more time to figure things out for
myself.”

“I don’t want you out there on that
island too long by yourself Elizabeth. Your mother and I will fly
down there next week to get you.”

Elizabeth panicked. Next week was too
soon.

“I am fine, and I have a doctor I am
seeing on the mainland. There is really no need for me to rush back
just yet. I want to stay here a little longer, by myself. Please
Edward, allow me this?”

He could not refuse her plea, but said
that he would not leave her out there for more than two weeks. A
sigh of relief escaped her lips, she had hoped for a month but she
knew that Edward would not allow this.

So now her two weeks were almost over,
Edward and Margery were expected to arrive tomorrow. Elizabeth laid
her hand on her stomach. At almost three and a half months, she had
finally started to form a hard belly. Her hair was brighter and she
knew that her skin glowed, but other than those things she did not
look different. She was able to hide her tummy with loose fitting
clothes. She released a soft sigh and decided to make her way down
to the beach.

She was still battling with whether to
tell Devin about the baby. It would be the right thing to do, but
she knew that she would not be able to bear it. She really could
not imagine how he would react, the unknown frightened her. She
wondered along the beach, stopping now and then to let the waves
lap over her feet. She watched the sun sink into the ocean, feeling
the cool breeze on her face; only one more day before she would
have to return to her life and the real world.

Elizabeth turned to head back up the
path leading to the villa, picking her way along the rocky surface.
Her bare foot hit a sharp rock, causing her to stumble and cry out.
Her arm was taken in a strong grip and she raised her head in
fright.

“Devin!” he was standing so close to
her she could feel the warmth from his body. She looked at him
unable to control her eyes as they traveled over him. He was
wearing a dark suit with a maroon tie and this struck her as odd,
she had never seen him so formal before. Maybe she was dreaming or
hallucinating.

“Have you hurt yourself?” concern was
etched on his face and filled his deep voice. Elizabeth shook her
head slightly and snapped her mouth shut as the image of the photo
she had seen of him and Gloria Mason flashed before her eyes. He
had been dressed similar then as he was now. Without thinking,
Elizabeth looked behind him to see if the goddess was somehow
attached to him now. Her eyes narrowed as her gaze returned to his
face. What game was he playing now? She jerked her arm free and
took a tiny step back from him.

“Detective Kane, what a surprise,” her
voice was frosty. “What brings you here? More bad guys on the
loose?” she searched his face for some trace of reaction to her
question but found none. His eyes were shuttered and his mouth was
turned down at the corners as if he found disapproval in
her.

“Edward told me where you were,” his
response shocked and frightened her. Had Edward said something to
him about the baby? Is that why he was here, looking at her with
such disappointment in his eyes?

“You spoke with my step
father?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I needed to see you and had been
unsuccessful in tracking you down.”

“And so you asked my step father who
was too happy to please the great detective it seems.”

“No, as matter of fact, he was not in
any hurry to release your whereabouts to me.” Devin shoved his
hands in his pockets and leaned back on his heels. “But I can be
pretty convincing when I want something.”

Elizabeth shivered at the innuendo;
her mind tortured her with images of him holding her, making love
to her. Her weakness was very frustrating and she could not let him
see it. She fought for control over her emotions.

“How exactly did you convince Edward
to tell you where I was?”

“Easy, I told him the
truth.”

“And what was that?”

“That for some reason I could not stop
thinking about his step daughter,” his voice had grown husky and
Elizabeth shivered in response. She knew it was not true, what
Devin had said.

“I can’t believe Edward would believe
that lie. He is not stupid.”

Devin’s body stiffened and she saw him
clench his jaw.

“It was not a lie,” blue eyes flashed
anger as he spoke through his teeth. He was doing very well at
controlling his anger, but Elizabeth knew that it would not last
long. Hoping to make him mad enough to turn around and leave the
way he had come before she gave into her need for him, she trudged
on in her verbal abuse.

“Not a lie, my foot. You have made it
very plain what your feelings are for me from the very first day.
Why am I now supposed to believe that you can’t stop thinking about
me?”

Devin mumbled an oath as he reached
out and grabbed her arms, pulling her up against his hard body.
Before she could open her mouth to protest, he captured her lips in
a searing kiss. She felt the heat flow through her body as he
devoured her mouth. He wrapped her in his strong arms and massaged
her neck where he had buried his hand in her hair. He tugged on her
hair lightly causing her head to tilt back and her mouth to open
wide allowing his tongue to enter and taste her.

Elizabeth groaned and pressed her body
closer to Devin, trying to quench this thirst she had for him. His
hand rested on her waist and then slowly moved higher making
contact with the swell of her breast. His fingers traced the
outline of her breast softly, teasing her nipple until it hardened,
causing Elizabeth to moan louder. Devin released her mouth and
raised his head to look into her burning eyes.

“I have wanted to do that ever since I
saw you get on that damn elevator with that viper Lindsey,” his
eyes were black and his breathing was ragged. “I need to know, did
he touch you?”

The question shocked her, leaving her
speechless.

“Beth, tell me. Did he touch you?”
jealousy burned in his eyes. “Did you let him kiss you and touch
you when you were with him?” he looked at her with such pain in his
blue eyes that Elizabeth felt her heart surge with hope. Maybe he
did care for her, but she still was not sure.

“No,” she spoke softly and ducked her
head. “It was all an act on his part to get me away from you. In
truth, he thought I was disgusting.”

“He was slime, Beth,” he lifted her
chin to look into her eyes. “And he was wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that you drive me crazy. I
have not been able to think about anything but you. When I found
out you had left and no one told me where you were
hiding...”

“I am not hiding...”

“I almost went mad. I think that I
nearly scarred your mother to death when I went there. Luckily
Edward pulled me into his office and explained a few things to me
and I calmed down a little.”

“What did Edward explain to you?” fear
was back in her voice.

“He explained that you had a shock and
needed to sort out your feelings. I took that explanation for a
while but after about two months of this I got a little impatient
with him and threatened to break every bone in his body if he did
not tell me where you were.”

“Devin! How could you do that! Edward
loves me and was only doing what I had requested. I don’t
understand you,” Elizabeth stepped out of his embrace, suddenly
needing a little more space between them so she could think
clearly. “I don’t understand what you are saying. I saw that photo
of you and Gloria Mason in the paper a month ago. I know that you
were with her so why are you here telling me these lies?” tears
filled her eyes as she looked at him.

He ran his hands through his thick
dark hair in frustration. He cursed for a good minute before he
gained control and looked at her again.

“Gloria is nothing to me. She was a
friend of my wife’s.”

“Who thinks she should fill that
role,” the spiteful words were out of her mouth before she could
stop them.

“She will never fill that position.
Gloria Mason is a cold, heartless, spoilt bitch who is out of our
lives forever.”

This statement caught Elizabeth off
guard.

“I hate to sound like a tape recorder
Devin,” Elizabeth said. “But I am confused. There is no “our
lives”. We despise each other. We can’t spend more than five
minutes together without ripping each other to shreds. And now you
tell me that you can’t stop thinking of me?” She shook her head,
trying to clear the fog.

“It is my fault. I pushed your
buttons, hoping that I could make you angry enough to stay away
from me in that hotel. But then I found that I couldn’t quit
looking at you without wanting to touch you. I felt like a complete
bastard seducing you, but I thought that you felt something for
me.” Elizabeth lifted her head in shock but before she could utter
a word he continued.