Danny moved forward and kissed her and said again, “In the jungles of Brazil.”
She sat rigid and erect in bed, “Please don’t play with me. You are being so cruel.”
“Don’t you know me?” And Sydney inspected his face. Her eyes narrowed.
“What are you talking about? Why should I know you? I’ve seen you only three times in my life and here I’m in bed with you when I should be with my husband.” Her angry face wore a frown and she turned her face and body away from Danny. “Nicholas, I’ve given up my whole life for just a moment of pleasure with you, and now you’re playing with me with a sick joke. You know my husband was lost in Brazil and here you are taunting me. I can’t take your sick jokes.”
Sydney jumped out of the bed and dashed for the shower. Danny chased and caught her before she entered. “I’m not trying to hurt you.” Sydney looked down at his hand holding her arm. She knew those hands, where had she seen them before? Danny reached for his eyes, put his head down, and took out his contacts.
“Why are you doing this? Did someone pay you to torment me this way? Did Jeremy do this?”
“Why would Jeremy want to torment you?”
“I don’t know, let me take a shower and get out of here. I see now that I’ve made a mistake… a mistake in which I may never be able to live down.”
Danny’s smile turned stoic and pensive. He had a calm serious look on his face and it became apparent that he might have been older than she first thought. Sydney continued looking, searching for signs of who this person is. She couldn’t understand why she couldn’t figure out where she had seen this man. The thought haunted her and her dreams were filled with nightmares each night since Danny died and since she met Nicholas.
When Sydney tried to dream of Danny to fill her lonely nights, she saw Danny’s face until Jeremy filled her life. Now every dream in the present is a dream with Nicholas’s face attached to it.
Only with the lovemaking she was able to conjure up Danny’s face when Nicholas was there seducing and making love to her. She would lay and imagined that she was looking into Danny’s eyes. Those heavenly lush green eyes. All she had to do was close her eyes and she could swear that when Nicholas engaged in oral sex with her that it was Danny. Was it his love making that overtook her soul and made her forget that she loved Danny, or was it that Danny was gone and she was so desperate to have his warm body that she would settle for a stranger?
Danny read her expression, “Is sleeping with your husband a mistake?”
“You aren’t my…” Sydney’s body turned and she glared at Danny. No one said a word. She looked at him, she raised her hand slowly and touched his skin, she held his hand, but the face stopped her from believing her senses. “You’re not…”
“I’m…I’m Danny.”
“No you’re…
Danny began to speak in his Scottish brogue; “Oh my luv’s like a red red rose that’s…”Sydney put her finger to his lips, and held her hand to her mouth.
“Oh my God! What have I done?”
“It’s not you that have done anything wrong, it’s me,” Danny admitted.
“What am I going to do? Why did you… let this go on so long? Weren’t you concerned about the children?”
“I knew you were a good mother and you would do the best for our children.”
“You don’t understand Danny, when I thought that you were dead, I died too. Why didn’t you say something? How long have you been in LA?” Tears welled in her eyes and then gushed down her cheeks. Danny’s warm lips caught the first tear. His hand wiped away the second stream of tears.
“I’ve been here over a year, maybe longer.”
“Look at you, what happened?” her hand moved to his face, his eyes, and her fingers crossed his lips. All the answers were not coming as fast as the questions she had stored for all the years he had disappeared out of her life. “Why didn’t you come back to me if you loved me?” Her head became dizzy. She realized that Danny and Nicholas were the same people. She always questioned herself for falling so blissfully stupid in love with Nicholas. There had to be a reason, and now she had discovered the answer.
Sydney collapsed on the bed. She had finally found Danny, but did she want to find him after heart ache and longing? Did she want to find him now that she had a child for Jeremy?
The secrets of her past discretion with Jeremy might put her marriage and life once more in jeopardy. She always wondered how she would behave if he had walked through the door. She dreamed of the moment and now the moment had come and she wasn’t ready. But she had to be ready.
“Oh Danny, my love, what am I going to do?” She said holding Danny’s face.
“You’re going to love me tonight the way you have never allowed yourself to love any man before. You’re going to forget all the years that have passed and come be my wife and my lover. I want to feel you and love you the way we did when we were married.”
“What am I going to do about Alan?”
“I’m going to tell him who I am and that I’m still legally married to you.”
“I don’t know, maybe I should tell him.”
“I don’t want you with that man again. I stood around as my wife married. I let that happened because I thought you would recognize me. I thought you knew me when you first saw my new face at my home. I knew that night when we made love, and you fell asleep, and kept screaming my name that you were tormented by my disappearance. Yet I had to work and raise some money and I did, but by then I got a call from Max, and Alan paid me to appear at his home. I didn’t know that it was an engagement party, and I didn’t believe you when you said you would marry him.”
“Kiss me Danny and never let me go.” A knock rang at the door. Sydney flinched and Danny held her tight.
“I’m here don’t be afraid. It’s probably that big mouth Steven who’s just checking for more gossip and drama.” Danny opened the door.
“What are you doing here, Nicholas?” Alan stood shocked because he expected to see Steven. Then he spied a figure in the shadows and Sydney walked from the shadow into the full spotlight from the signs flashing on the Las Vegas strip.
“Alan, I have something to tell you.”
“You don’t have to tell me anything. I leave to go to New York and you leave me a message telling me you are in Steven’s room and instead of Steven, I find you with this actor. What does he have that I don’t have Sydney?”
“You don’t understand, Alan…”
“I don’t need to understand, you have thrown me away for this young gigolo who has nothing. He’s just starting as an actor. I can give you the world.”
“I have the world.” Sydney walked and stood beside Danny and he took her hand.
“If that is what you want, prepared to lose a fortune behind this man.”
“I have stood here and listened to you belittle me and call me a gigolo and a boy.
You use to be a decent man and never had I known that you could be so crass, Mr. Brule.”
“ Wait…wait, I’ve heard that voice before. Alan stood silent then, “You’re that young man that came into my hotel in Brazil looking for a job. I see you had your face fixed and
now you are trying to steal my wife.”
“She’s not your wife, she belongs to me…She’s Mrs. McCloud. I’m not Nicholas, I’m
Danny McCloud. She has always been my wife and always will be. Now get out and leave us alone.” Danny opened the door and stood with his body braced against it.
Alan froze. One minute he was married and controlling a fortune and the next he was just
controlling a fortune. He looked around at Sydney. She met his gaze and he knew it was over.
Sydney blinded by her love forgot about all the money she handed over to Alan.
“Let’s get a plane to LA and stay at our home until we can sort everything out,” Danny said closing the door behind Alan.
“Do you want to leave to night?”
“I don’t have
any clothes.”
“I’ll buy you more. Let’s get the hell out of Alan’s hotel.”
* * *
Sydney and Danny left Las Vegas together with an angry Alan waiting and trying to control the rage and anger building inside. He paced the floor of his luxurious hotel suite, which had been financed with Sydney’s money.
Alan didn’t see how Sydney was rightly Danny’s wife. All he saw was what he desired and needed for his future successes. He pulled the phone to him and called the only person that he had ever trusted—his sister. She had always been his partner in crime and he had been hers. They had been through so much together that they knew how each other thought and felt.
“Nadia, I need your help. I’m in need of advice.”
“I was wondering when you would call.”
“I don’t know what to do. Danny came back from the dead. He…’
“I tried to tell you and you rushed out before I could say anything. You had to get back to that woman. Jeremy told me that his brother had returned and that he was the Nicholas Grant that you welcomed into your home and then stole that woman from you.
You always get yourself in trouble with women and then you wait until it’s unsolvable and then you want me to take care of you and the problem. The only thing I can say is to take all her money. She will have to deal with you or come back to you if she doesn’t want to be poor.”
“That’s sounds like it will work.”
“My only question is, will you want her back and what are you going to do with Danny?”
“Don’t worry. I know how to make people disappear.”
“Yes I know you do. We never did find my first husband.” A chuckle was heard through the phone from Nadia.
“What are you going to do with Jeremy?”
“I love Jeremy and I will never let him go. I don’t care if he wants Sydney, I will destroy any feelings she has for him. Leave that to me.”
“You don’t know what a horrible place I’m in since Danny returned. I hate Sydney for doing this to me. I hate her,” Alan said putting his head down.
“Control yourself Alan. Revenge is a dish best served cold.”
“I’ll find out where the two love birds have hidden. Jeremy will tell me. I’ll call you back.”
“Get some rest brother.”
“It’s hard Nadia, but I’ll try. I’ll try.” Alan placed the phone near his bed and lay across it with the assurance that Nadia will take care of the matter and slipped into sleep.
Chapter 11
Los Angeles
The limousine drove up the driveway to Danny’s home in the hills, and stopped at the door. He stepped out, and took Sydney’s hand. Leading her to the door, and then opening it he scoped her into her arms and placed her into the foyer. She smiled at him a simple smile and he knew that his life would be different.
“I’m so tired and exhausted that all I want to do is sleep,” Sydney said. They made their way into the master bedroom and both fell on the bed with their clothes on. It had been a long time since they had been together as Mr. and Mrs. McCloud. It had been months since he lay on another bed under the assume name of Nicholas Grant as he seduced Sydney and captivated her heart. Now all that was in the opening and they had to remake their lives. But it would not be tonight. Tonight was a time to fall in love again and sleep in each other’s arms.
The sun had fallen behind the mountains and the moon was now visible. It was a full moon and he had not seen a moon of that magnitude since he left Sydney to fly to Brazil. He opened his eyes and there it was and there lay his love. Danny moved around and prepared to shower. He didn’t know the time but suspected that it was about midnight. He pulled his silk sleeping bottoms out of his closet drawer and trotting to the shower, he heard the phone and ran to get it before Sydney woke.
“Where have you been Danny?”
“I thought you were in Las Vegas and then I hear from Nadia that you and Sydney ran away. I knew just where to look for you.”
“What is it Jeremy? Make it fast because I was just getting ready for a shower.”
“I don’t know how to tell you, but Alan is pissed and he…well to make this easy…he took all of Sydney’s money and invested it and now he claims she’s broke…Danny…Danny say something.”
“That is the best news I have heard in a long time. I’m glad. No, I’m the happiest man in the world.”
“You may be happy, but what about Sydney? She has become use to some of the finer things in life. How can she go back?”
“I don’t know. I’m not exactly broke.”
“Yeah but you never had her money.”
“ I never wanted that type of money.”
“What about the children? You know Nadia and I are doing pretty good now and I made loads of money on those paintings I sold of Sydney. I could give her…”
“You’re not going to give her one bloody cent of that money. Do you hear me?”
“I want to give it to her for the children.”
“No! I said.”
Sydney turned and asked, “Who are you talking to?”
“It’s Jeremy.”
“Oh! Hang up the phone Nicky… I mean Danny. I haven’t had time to get acquainted with my new lover.” She showed a wicked smile.
Sydney sprang from the bed and pranced around it and hung the phone up. She stood over Danny and put her arms around his back. He looked at her and stated, “I have a surprise for you. We’re leaving tomorrow for New York. We’re getting the children and we’re moving to Scotland. I bought a farm and the children will love it. It has animals. We can get the children tutors and we can get away from all the poison and ruthlessness that Alan will probably launch against me. We don’t have to see anyone for days if we don’t want to. We can lie in bed and make love until we make another baby. Does that sound good?”
“Everything sounds good until you mentioned babies. I think I have raised enough children alone for too long.”
“Well now, I’m around to do the rest,” he stated smiling that new and wonderful smile where his lips curled on one side. It occurred to Sydney that it was the smile that cloaked him, preventing her from figuring out just who he was. His teeth were different and his smile was slightly off. He smiled from the right of his mouth, which made him look dangerously sexy.
“What about money? You never wanted to take anything from me?”
“We can sell this house and the vintage cars. That will take care of a few years and when you get tired of me I can go back to work.”
“I’ll never get tired of you!” She held him tighter and kissed him as if she was meeting him for the first time. The heat and passion from the kiss clouded everything, then she caught hold of herself, “But what will happen if you can’t work?”
“Then we will be farmers and live off the land. Doesn’t that sound great?”
“Yeah, great!” Sydney said with a smile and a twinkle. “What will I do with the money I inherited?”
“You still have money left?”
“Yes. It’s a long story.”
“Give it away. Let’s pack and leave.” He was only concerned about getting his children and leaving New York. He had Max charter a jet in LA and they flew to New York.
* * *
Danny walked into his apartment with feelings of euphoria covering his mind and body. He was finally home, but not for long. As the door opened, the nanny ran to see who was entering the room.
“Oh Miss McCloud, little Jeremy was sick and I’ve been looking for you everywhere. He’s in the hospital.”
Panic hit Danny and Sydney.” There voices quivered. They looked at each other.
“Which hospital?” They said in unison.
“Ms. McCloud he is seriously ill. I’ve been trying to contact you all day and night, the only person I could get was Mr. Danny’s brother, and he flew out immediately. He and his wife are at the hospital now.
“Where is my baby?” Danny grabbed the nanny and shook her. She looked
at Sydney who was so nervous and shaking that she forgot that the nanny didn’t know that Danny was standing before her.
“He’s at Children’s Hospital.”
Sydney began to cry and blame herself for leaving and not calling. Never had she been that involved in a situation that she forgot to check on her children. They grabbed each other and headed out of the door and down the elevator and the doorman summoned a cab. They hopped in and it only took a few minutes to get there but it felt like a lifetime to both Sydney and Danny.
They jumped out and ran to the desk and after explaining to the nurse that they are baby Jeremy’s parents the nurse said, “The gentleman in his room says he’s the father.”
Sydney became lightheaded and could not breathe. She swayed to the left where Danny placed his hands on her shoulders to hold her up. He wondered why Jeremy would say such a thing, but he dismissed the thought. He figured that Jeremy was just trying to help because no one at this time had gotten wind that Danny McCloud was alive and living in New York—but not for long.
The corridor was long as they hurried to see Jeremy talking to the doctor.
“What’s this? he’s not the father I am.”
Jeremy turned to see the voice he would recognize in the dark. He glanced near Danny and Sydney barely stood clutching his hand as if she would die and he provided the only link to resurrection.
The doctor interrupted, “Just who is the father?”
Jeremy gazed at Sydney and Sydney’s eyes began to tear. One tear fell from her eye and landed on her cheek. That one tear begged Jeremy to keep the secret. Danny overcome by guilt of being out of his baby’s life for so long said, “I’m his father.”
“Well I thought your baby needed a transfusion and it’s a good thing that you’re here. He has a rare blood disorder because of the problems he had in birth. However, he is stabilized now and is out of danger. We didn’t have to give him any blood.”
Sydney and Jeremy stepped to the corner as Danny continued talking to the doctor. He had a lot of catching up to do.
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