Island Fling to Forever
Page 17
Sancia laughed. ‘Ready? Querida, I’ve been ready for more than ten years. I was just waiting for your father to come to his senses and come after me.’
The fact that Sancia and Ernest had never actually got around to divorcing should have been a clue, Rosa thought. But at least it made things easier now—a vow renewal on the island was much more special than having to go to the mainland for a formal remarriage.
Anna held out her arms for her daughter, and Rosa handed her over, feeling a brief pang of emptiness as she did so.
It didn’t last long, though. She pressed a hand to her stomach, and remembered that wherever she roamed now, she did it with company. First Jude, and, soon, their child.
Looking down at the path at her feet to hide her smile, Rosa thought how much this would have terrified her a few years ago. Not now, though.
Now, it all seemed like the biggest adventure she’d chased yet.
‘Right, that’s the first signal,’ Anna said as the music changed. ‘Everyone ready?’
They’d agreed that they’d walk their mother down the aisle together. It just felt right, since they were entrusting her to their father again. They both had their own lives to live now—Anna and Leo on the island, and Rosa and Jude wherever the mood took them.
Leo appeared to take the baby from Anna, and reclaim his seat at the front. Then Sancia linked arms with both her daughters, and they prepared to walk down the aisle, just as Anna had nine months earlier, still barely showing, to marry Leo. Jude and Rosa had managed to avoid the big showy wedding so far, and Rosa wasn’t entirely looking forward to telling her mother that, technically, they were already married. She had a feeling that Sancia wouldn’t feel the quick register office service when they were passing through London on tour would really count.
But it counted to Rosa.
Right until the moment she said yes, she’d been half afraid she’d run—and she knew Jude had, too. But when it came down to it, she knew that their love was far more binding than any piece of paper or jewellery.
Really, what more could she give Jude than her heart, anyway? And he’d had that all along.
‘It’s so wonderful to have both my girls together on the island again,’ Sancia said, squeezing them close as they waited for that second change in the music, the one that told them it was time to start walking.
‘It is nice to all be together,’ Anna agreed. ‘Rosa, will you come again for longer, later in the summer?’
‘We’ll try,’ Rosa replied, as the music changed and Anna signalled for them to take their first steps. Rosa grinned as she saw Jude waiting with her father up ahead. ‘But come winter we’ll definitely be here for a few months,’ she said, not thinking.
‘Really?’ Sancia stopped walking, a pace before the aisle started, and Rosa realised that the middle of her vow renewal service might not have been quite the right time to tell her mother this news.
Oh, well. Timing had never been her strong suit. Or not blurting things out the moment she thought of them.
‘Why, Rosa?’ Anna had a small line between her eyebrows.
Rosa shrugged. ‘Well, I need you both to teach me everything you know about babies. And pretty fast.’
Sancia squealed, embracing her tightly, and Rosa saw her father rolling his eyes over her mother’s shoulder.
‘You made her smudge her make-up,’ Anna said, with a sigh. But Rosa knew from the grin on her face that her sister was happy for her.
‘Come on, Mama,’ she said, disentangling herself. ‘Dad’s waiting.’
‘Oh, he’s waited this long,’ Sancia said. ‘A few more moments won’t make a difference.’
‘Besides,’ Rosa agreed, smiling at Jude at the other end of the aisle, ‘the best things in life are worth waiting for.’
* * * * *
If you missed the previous story in the
WEDDING ISLAND duet, look out for
BABY SURPRISE FOR THE
SPANISH BILLIONAIRE
by Jessica Gilmore
And, if you enjoyed this story,
check out these other great reads
from Sophie Pembroke
NEWBORN UNDER THE CHRISTMAS TREE
PROPOSAL FOR THE WEDDING PLANNER
SLOW DANCE WITH THE BEST MAN
THE UNEXPECTED HOLIDAY GIFT
All available now!
Keep reading for an excerpt from CAPTIVATED BY THE BROODING BILLIONAIRE by Rebecca Winters.
Join Harlequin My Rewards today and earn a FREE ebook!
Click here to Join Harlequin My Rewards
http://www.harlequin.com/myrewards.html?mt=loyalty&cmpid=EBOOBPBPA201602010003
We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Romance.
You adore a feel-good story! Harlequin Romance offers uplifting escapes featuring real, relatable women and strong, deeply desirable men. Experience the intensity, anticipation and sheer rush of falling in love.
Enjoy four new stories from Harlequin Romance every month!
Connect with us on Harlequin.com for info on our new releases, access to exclusive offers, free online reads and much more!
Other ways to keep in touch:
Harlequin.com/newsletters
Facebook.com/HarlequinBooks
Twitter.com/HarlequinBooks
HarlequinBlog.com
Join Harlequin My Rewards and reward the book lover in you!
Earn points for every Harlequin print and ebook you buy, wherever and whenever you shop.
Turn your points into FREE BOOKS of your choice
OR
EXCLUSIVE GIFTS from your favorite authors or series.
Click here to join for FREE
Or visit us online to register at
www.HarlequinMyRewards.com
Harlequin My Rewards is a free program (no fees) without any commitments or obligations.
Captivated by the Brooding Billionaire
by Rebecca Winters
PROLOGUE
“NIGEL?”
A tap on the opened office door caused Abby Grant to look up from the desk. During this year’s summer and fall semesters at San José State University in California, she and Nigel, the visiting professor from Cambridge, England, had offices in the same literature department. They’d fallen in love and often worked side by side in one office or the other while they planned a spring wedding.
“Dr. Belmont is teaching his final class before Christmas break,” she said to the thirtyish brunette woman dressed in a suit. Maybe she was a student, but Abby didn’t recognize her. “He should be finished at noon. I’m Ms. Grant, one of the teachers in the department. Would you like to leave a message for him with me? I’ll make sure he gets it.”
“That won’t be necessary,” the woman said in a British accent as strong as Nigel’s. He’d let Abby know right away he spoke an “estuary” dialect. “I’m Lucy Belmont, Nigel’s wife. I need to speak to him in person, so I’ll wait in here until he returns.”
Abby blinked in surprise. “I’m afraid you’ve come to the wrong place. The Nigel Belmont who’s a visiting professor here doesn’t have a wife.”
A tight smile broke out on Lucy Belmont’s face. “Indeed he does and two children. They’re expecting a visit from him over Christmas. Here are some pictures taken last spring.”
The woman handed a packet to Abby, who opened it and saw Nigel in photo after photo with this woman and two children.
Abby took the packet with shaking hands. Was this some kind of a joke? Could this woman be a sister-in-law or even a sister Abby had never heard of? Or was she a woman who had some pathetic attachment to Nigel? None of this made sense. Abby and Nigel were planning their wedding!
Not wanting to get into anything unpleasant with Lucy until she’d talked to Nigel, Abby got up from the desk. “I had no idea. Of course, you’re welcom
e to stay here. He should be back in about fifteen minutes. If you’ll excuse me.”
With her heart racing, Abby left the room and hurried down the hallway to the stairs. The lecture theaters were one story below. She slipped inside the room of thirty plus students and sat down at the back while she waited for Nigel to finish up his lecture.
He was popular with the students and looked the part of the jaunty professor in his tweed jacket with his dark blond hair brushed back.
She knew he had spotted her, but he continued talking and finally excused his students so they could enjoy the holiday.
When the last one left the room, Nigel gathered up his briefcase and walked toward her, giving her a quick kiss on her lips. “To what do I owe this unexpected visit from my beautiful fiancée?”
Abby stared hard at him, not wanting to believe what she was thinking. “There’s a woman waiting for you in your office who says she’s your wife. She introduced herself as Lucy Belmont and showed me pictures of her with you and two children. Please tell me this is a joke.” Her throbbing voice reverberated in the room.
Nigel didn’t move a muscle, but the light faded from his eyes. The change was enough to tell her the other woman had been speaking the truth. Pain almost incapacitated her. She backed away from him. “So she is your wife!”
He shook his head. “Look, Abby. It’s a long story. We’ve been separated close to a year. The divorce will be final soon. You have to listen to me. I would have eventually told you, but—”
“What kind of a man are you?” she broke in on him, destroyed by his admission. “To think we’ve been together all this time and a whole other part of your life has been a huge secret—”
In a flash, the happy world Abby had inhabited had disintegrated.
You’ve been in love with a cunning, monstrous, devious cheat!
Abby had often heard the expression about blood draining from a person’s face. She knew that was happening to her now and feared she would be sick right in front of him. Besides betraying her and his spouse, how many other women had he deceived? Those poor children.
She took off the engagement ring and flung it at him before dashing out of the room to the hallway. The second she reached the restroom, she retched until nothing more came up.
When she was able to stand without holding on to the sink, she hurried upstairs to her own office for her purse and left the campus. In her pain she needed to talk to the people she trusted and loved. Instead of driving to her apartment near the campus, she headed for her parents’ home in San José.
* * *
Abby stayed with her parents for several days, after which she talked with Dr. Stewart, the head of her department, about her situation. Once she’d told Dr. Stewart the truth, Abby asked if she could have a leave of absence for the next semester.
To her great relief she was granted a leave and also offered an opportunity to do some research abroad in Europe until the summer. After experiencing a world of pain, nothing could have suited her better than to get away. Best of all, she was assured that Dr. Belmont would no longer be on the staff at San José State and would be teaching at a college back east. She would never have to see him again.
After Christmas, Abby flew to LA for a week’s worth of meetings to collaborate with two other women on the project before going overseas. Ginger Lawrence and Zoe Perkins, who both had similar literature backgrounds from Stanford and UCLA respectively, had also been hired. The three of them, close in age, bonded fast. The thought of going to Europe with the girls gave Abby something to look forward to and the courage to make some changes in her life. So, before returning to San José to pack and leave for Europe with them, Abby decided to get a makeover and visited a beauty salon.
The lady in charge told her to be seated. While Abby waited, she poured through some magazines. In a few minutes one of the hairdressers beckoned her over to the chair. Abby took the magazine with her.
“What can I do for you?”
“I’d like you to cut and style my hair like this!” She showed her the picture she liked most. It was a bouncy bob with graduated layers. Each curled layer ending somewhere between the chin and the shoulders. She wanted something in between.
“Are you sure? All this long gold hair cut off?” The hairdresser acted shocked, as if Abby had asked for something sinful. How funny. Why did this woman care what she wanted?
Three weeks ago Abby had cut Nigel Belmont out of her life so fast, he hadn’t seen it coming. After Christmas he’d tried to talk to her once on the phone and she’d told him to go to hell in so many words. She’d meant it and it had felt good!
Cutting her hair was her last act to separate herself from any semblance to the old Abby—she’d since vowed never to be duped by a man again.
The woman shook her head, but she did as Abby asked. An hour later she almost squealed in delight after looking in the mirror. Abby hardly recognized herself. Her apple-green eyes appeared larger and she thought she actually looked her age of twenty-six instead of the tired-looking thirty she’d seemed to be. She’d needed something simple and easy. That was the whole idea!
Abby paid the woman a nice tip. Before leaving the salon, she had to tiptoe over her long locks of silvery-blond hair but did it with no regrets.
Copyright © 2018 by Rebecca Winters
ISBN-13: 9781488089510
Island Fling to Forever
First North American publication 2018
Copyright © 2018 by Sophie Pembroke
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 22 Adelaide St. West, 40th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5H 4E3, Canada.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.
www.Harlequin.com