“And from what I understand, you also helped him. I thought the cigarettes and cigars would do him in long ago,” Kyle said.
Kimara smiled. “I convinced him to stop smoking.”
Kyle turned away from the window and came to stand before Kimara “I bet that hadn’t been easy?”
She shrugged. “It was well worth the effort. He was the grandfather I never had. He was there so many times when I needed someone. I loved him and will miss him.”
Kyle sighed deeply. “Even with all of our differences, I loved him too. He was the only family I had. I never wanted to disappoint him.” With the words he’d just spoken, Kyle suddenly realized at that moment that he would do anything and everything to fulfill his grandfather’s last wish-- even marry. He owed him that much, and more.
There were no longer any ulterior motives for him wanting to do so. He wouldn’t do it for any advantages to himself, he would do it because he knew more than anything how much his grandfather wanted the Garwood line to continue. And unless he married and had a child, it would come to an end with him. “So, what do you want to do about the conditions of his will?”
“Nothing.”
Kyle raised a brow. “Shouldn’t we at least discuss them?” he asked.
“For what reason? I have no intentions of marrying you.”
“I think you should at least think about it. When I first heard what Granddad wanted us to do, I was furious. He knew how I felt about ever getting married. However, now he’s left me no choice.”
“For the money?”
“No, it has nothing to do with the money. I’m a pretty wealthy man without my grandfather’s money. The only reason I’ll even consider getting married is that now I realize just how much continuing the Garwood line meant to him for him to pull something like this. And whether you like it or not, you’re the woman he wants to have the Garwood heir.”
Kimara’s eyes smoldered with anger. “I won’t do it!”
“Hey, look, don’t get angry with me. I didn’t name you in the will, he did. But I think you’ll do just what he wants, Kimara. You’ll do it for the same reason I’ll do it. Even though we’re madder than hell at him right now for doing what he did, we both loved him, and he knew it.”
Kyle drew in a deep breath. “Don’t you see? Granddad went to his grave believing that he would get just what he wanted. And do you know why?”
Not waiting for Kimara to reply, Kyle continued. “Because he knew that the two of us would never deny him anything. He knew that no matter how we felt about each other or how crazy the plan was that he concocted, we would go through with it because we loved him. He died believing in our love for him.”
The truth of Kyle’s words rang in Kimara’s ears. Deep down she knew he was right. She had spent enough time with Poppa Garwood to know how much continuing the Garwood line meant to him. And although his relationship with Kyle hadn’t been at its best over the years, he’d known Kyle loved him.
“Think of Granddad, Kimara, and you’ll realize there’s only one thing for us to do.”
“I need to think about this, Kyle, and I can’t think straight now.”
“Kimara . . .” he began. “Let’s just--”
“No. I have to think this through. Give me a few days. I’ll call you.”
“Think of Granddad,” Kyle repeated when she turned to leave.
After Kimara walked out of the office, closing the door behind her, Kyle drew in a ragged, nettled breath, angry with himself. The last thing he’d wanted was to show his vulnerability to any woman. He’d wanted to bottle up inside of him all the memories and pain of his strained relationship with his grandfather. He hadn’t wanted to ever share them with anyone.
But he had shared them with Kimara.
And she had understood. No, he thought further to himself, she had more than understood. She had offered him an explanation for his grandfather’s behavior the past eight years. Without realizing it, she’d made the ability to get through his grandfather’s death easier for him. Somehow she’d known he was suffering and had shared his pain, mainly because they both felt the same loss. Kyle Garwood III had touched both their lives. Death was supposed to be final. Permanent. But somehow his grandfather had found a way to call the shots even from the grave.
Kyle leaned against the desk under the weight of both anger and grief. After a brief moment he shrugged his wide shoulders as if to ease the tension in them. Kimara had said she needed to think and that she would be contacting him.
There was nothing left for him to do now but wait for her call.
• • •
After leaving Mason’s office, it didn’t take Kimara long to drive the short distance to the building where the office of the Golden Flame Catering Service was located. She was determined for the time being to put Kyle out of her mind.
There were several messages on her desk when she arrived. All of them were regarding the Valentine’s Day charity ball that the Golden Flame would be catering and her company, Stafford Publishing, would be sponsoring. With the holiday season now behind her, she needed to resume making plans for the ball that would be held next month.
This would be the third year that Stafford Publishing sponsored the event, with all the proceeds going to the United Negro College Fund. It was the only time she publicly took over her position as president of Stafford Publishing Company. This year she wanted to make the event more special than before. And to assure that goal, she had formed a special committee consisting of several members of Stafford Publishing’s management team to work with her.
As in the past, a number of celebrities had agreed to participate, some of them coming from as far away as California. She’d already received firm commitments back from Halle Berry, Spike, Justin Timberlake and Denzel, just to name a few. But still, there were others she hadn’t gotten a response from-- like Sterling Hamilton. At present he was the number one black actor in the country, and after the blockbuster success of his last four movies, he was also the latest heartthrob. She didn’t want to think what a giant boost his presence would make at the affair. This year’s ball would be different in a number of ways, she thought. It would be the first time in three years that Poppa Garwood would not be her escort.
Kimara sat down in the chair at her desk and pensively glanced around the room. Her gaze focused on a painting on the wall. It was a piece of black art featuring a mother and child. Poppa Garwood had given it to her the day she opened her office.
Slowly, she pushed herself away from her desk, walked over to the window, and stood staring out. As much as she didn’t want to, she couldn’t help but think about Kyle. She’d seen him from a distance at the funeral service. Even then she’d wanted to go to him and put her arms around him to share his grief and his pain.
She had watched him sit stiffly erect and withdrawn through the service, totally separated from the people around him. The deep emotions she’d felt for him that day had touched her so deeply that for a while she had doubted her ability to get through the service. But somehow she’d found the strength to do so. And today, while closed in Mason’s office with Kyle, she had not expected the feelings she had experienced as an impressionable sixteen-year-old to plague her again.
But they had.
Ten years ago suddenly seemed like yesterday. Each time she had met his eyes -those eyes that belonged to the man who had haunted her fantasies since childhood- she couldn’t help but wonder if she had indeed gotten completely over him, as she had thought. There was no doubt in her mind that she was still attracted to him. Her body’s strange reaction whenever she was near him was a surefire indication. There was no way she could ever think of him as just another man. To her he would always be more.
Feelings for him had been instilled in her from an early age. They were feelings that should have lost most of their momentum over the years, but now upon seeing him again, those same feelings were trying to resurface -- deep emotions that she didn’t want to ever feel again. Unknowing
ly, he had hurt her deeply before, and had basically ruined her for any other man. At sixteen she had gotten her heart broken. That was something she could not and would not forget. And knowing how she felt, the best thing to do would be to avoid Kyle at all cost. But deep down in her heart she knew she couldn’t do that.
Today he’d struck her where she was most vulnerable when he had said, “Think of Granddad.”
She was indeed thinking about Poppa Garwood and the conditions he had placed in his will. She wanted to feel anger and resentment over his underhandedness and for being so manipulating, but she couldn’t. The reason she couldn’t was that she knew that in Poppa Garwood’s own special way, he’d sent out a clear message to her of just how much she meant to him, and just how much he thought of her to want her to bring his great-grandchild into the world. She tossed her head, feeling she was fighting a losing battle in trying to make the most difficult decision of her life. She knew in her heart that she would willingly give to Poppa Garwood in death what he’d been denied in life. What Kyle had said was true. She could never deny Poppa Garwood anything.
She couldn’t let the complex and bewildering feelings she was experiencing for Kyle interfere with what she had to do. It wasn’t about her or Kyle, but about fulfilling a special man’s last dream. It was about giving him what he’d wanted most -- future generations of Garwoods. It was the least she could do for the man who had always been there for her.
Kimara turned from the window and went back to her desk.
The sound of soft music drifted through the restaurant. Kyle gazed over the candlelight to the woman sitting across the table from him. When Kimara had contacted him that morning requesting to meet with him, he had jumped at the opportunity to ask her out to dinner. At first, she’d been reluctant, and then had agreed.
Tonight, he thought she looked even more beautiful than the other two recent times he’d seen her. The outfit she had on, a sleek sea-foam-colored silk dress, enhanced the lush curves of her body. And her creamy brown skin seemed to glow in the candlelight. Her silky head of layered chestnut hair brushed against her cheeks and touched her shoulders. Every single thing about her screamed sensuality. There was no doubt in Kyle’s mind that any man who possessed a lick of sense would want to take her to bed and keep her there until he’d gotten his fill-- which would never happen, because he would always want more.
The thought of her giving birth to his child sent fierce stirrings of arousal through him. He wondered if she was presently involved with anyone. According to the information he’d been able to squeeze out of Mason as well as a few other reliable sources, although Kimara dated occasionally, there was no serious man in her life.
Kyle’s fingers tightened around the long-stemmed glass he held in his hand. He’d promised himself before picking her up for dinner that he wouldn’t let her beauty go to his head. He had let his guard down around her once, but wouldn’t do so again.
Deep in thought, Kimara didn’t pay attention to the food before her. Instead, she was wondering what changes her decision would make in her life? What changes would it make in Kyle’s? She put her fork down and looked up at him. To her discomfort, he had been watching her.
She cleared her throat. “I’ve decided to marry you, Kyle.”
He continued to hold her gaze. “What made you change your mind?”
“I think you already know the answer to that. In fact, you stated it so eloquently in Mason’s office. I could never deny Poppa Garwood anything. A great-grandchild is something he wanted, and it’s now up to us to make sure he has one. I just hate that you didn’t settle down and give him one before he died.”
Kyle’s gaze hardened. “My grandfather knew my position on marriage, and I wasn’t about to go out and marry someone just to please him. My parents had a beautiful and meaningful marriage, and so did my grandparents. The one thing I apparently didn’t inherit from the Garwood men was their ability to choose a good woman. My mother and grandmother were caring, devoted, trustworthy women. Instead, I fell in love with someone who had the morals of Jezebel.”
“There are good women out there, Kyle. Maybe you weren’t looking hard enough.”
His eyes narrowed. “I haven’t been looking at all because it was never my intent to marry. I don’t want any woman getting foolish ideas about me being struck with an arrow from Cupid’s bow, because it won’t happen. I won’t entrust my love with another woman again.”
Kimara wondered if his words had been meant as a warning to her. “She really did a number on you, didn’t she?”
He lifted a dark brow. “Who?”
“The woman you were engaged to marry.”
His chuckle was chilling. “Let’s just say that if anything, she taught me a very valuable lesson; only fools fall in love.” He picked up his fork to resume eating. “I assume you do like children.”
Kimara also picked up her fork, understanding completely that conversation pertaining to Kyle’s engagement was over. “Yes, very much so. I’ve always intended to marry one day and have at least two or three. I’d just never given any thought to having one so soon.”
Kyle nodded. “Are you familiar with the terms of my grandfather’s will?”
“Yes, I met with Mason again today, and he went over them with me.”
“Then you know Granddad was pretty specific about a number of things.”
Kimara fingered the rim of her wineglass. “Yes.”
“We’re to be married within sixty days of his death, and you’re to be pregnant within six months of our wedding day. So, the way I see it, six months is the longest we’ll have to spend together, even less if you conceive right way. However, the will stipulated that we’re to still be married the day the child is born.”
Kimara’s hands were trembling slightly when she picked up her wineglass to take a sip. The thought of sleeping with Kyle was too much to think about. “Kyle, have you given thought to another option we can use . . . for me to become pregnant? We’ll still be married, but there wouldn’t have to be any actual physical contact between us.”
Kyle’s brow rose. “I assume you’re referring to artificial insemination?”
“Yes.”
“A procedure like that is out of the question. I’d never agree to it. There’s only one way I intend to get you pregnant, Kimara, and that’s the old-fashioned way.”
He leaned back as far as his comfortable chair permitted and looked intently at her. “We need to have a clear understanding up front. If we decide to marry, we’ll sleep together. Once you have conceived, I’ll be out of your life. You’ll be free to file for divorce right after the child is born, and I’ll give you custody. Is that agreeable to you?”
“Yes,” Kimara answered.
Kyle straightened back up in his seat. “By the way, how’s your cycle? Is it pretty regular?”
Kimara nearly choked on her wine, totally embarrassed by the question Kyle asked. He had inquired about the workings of her body as comfortably as if he’d been inquiring about the weather. “You have no right to ask about a thing like that. It’s none of your business.”
Kyle smiled. “I disagree, under the circumstances. Since you’ve agreed to marry me, I want to do whatever I have to do to stay within the allotted time. It will help matters if we could pinpoint a time of the month that you’ll be able to conceive, unless, however, you want to play it by ear and make love each and every single night until we finally--”
“All right, Kyle, I see your point.”
“I thought that you would.”
Kimara sighed. “I have a good guess but I’ll make an appointment to see my doctor this week to be accurate. I’m sure he’ll be able to provide me with the information you’re interested in.”
“Good. I want you to contact me as soon as you get it. We should try to plan our wedding and honeymoon around it. If things go as planned, you might be able to get pregnant during the two weeks of our honeymoon.”
“Two weeks?”
�
�Yes. Have you forgotten that’s another thing stipulated in my grandfather’s will? Our honeymoon is supposed to last two weeks.”
A frown covered Kimara’s features. Unfortunately, she had forgotten. “In that case, I’d like to put off any plans of marriage and a honeymoon until after Valentine’s Day.”
A bemused look settled on Kyle’s face. “Why?”
“Stafford Publishing is sponsoring a Valentine’s Day charity ball, and I’m too involved in that to get away. Each year I’m doubly involved since the Golden Flame is also providing catering service. I’d rather be here during that time and not--”
“Someplace in my arms, making a baby,” Kyle finished for her.
Kimara gave him a narrowed look. “I was going to say I’d rather be here than out of town during that time.”
“Same thing.” Kyle wiped his mouth with his napkin. “Valentine’s Day is more than a month from now. I see no reason why we can’t squeeze a wedding and a honeymoon in before then.”
“Why the rush, Kyle?” she snapped.
Kyle met her gaze, and for the life of him he didn’t have a reason to give her. He gave her the only reason he could think of. “We have only sixty days to marry, and a week of that has gone by already. If we wait until after Valentine’s Day, that will leave only two weeks. I don’t like being that close to any deadline.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way, but I can’t agree to anything before Valentine’s Day, Kyle. I have too much to do.”
“I’m sure you’re very familiar with the word delegate, so pass on some of your duties to others. You have a partner at the Golden Flame, and I’m sure she’s capable of handling things without you. As far as Stafford Publishing is concerned, everything’s probably on schedule. How much trouble can one little valentine party be?”
“For your information, Mr. Garwood, this is not just one little valentine party. Some people consider it one of Atlanta’s biggest social events of the year. Since it’s been a while since you’ve made Atlanta your home, I really don’t expect you to know that. All the proceeds for the ball will go to the United Negro College Fund. With the help of a number of celebrities, we’re ensuring the college future for a number of well-deserving black students who wouldn’t otherwise have a chance to go to college.”
CUPID'S BOW (MADARIS SERIES Book 2) Page 3