“I will?” she asked, wide-eyed. “You want me to?”
“It’s for the best,” he said, touching her wrist.
Angel stared at the crumpled paper in her hand. Dior’s number must be written there and Derek willed her to pick up the phone.
“I have been wanting out of this arrangement since I fell in love with someone else,” he said. “I met her after you and I got engaged and told myself I couldn’t back out on you, but now that you’ve said you can’t become my wife, that clears the way for me to do what I want to do. Our marriage would ruin too many people’s lives…yours, Dior’s, mine and Erin’s. Call him.”
Angel paled and clutched the note then shook her head. “I don’t…” She rose, clasped her hands behind her back and smiled faintly. “Aunt Barbara was never justified in criticising Erin. You’re right. She’s doing well for herself.” Angel patted him on the back. “And now she’s getting a wonderful man. It’s an amazing coincidence, but I’m glad you told me about you and her.”
“Maybe it’s more than coincidence. It could be fate, Angel.”
She turned up her hands and shrugged. “Don’t let her get away, Derek, or you’ll have to live with regrets the rest of your life, the same as me.”
Chapter Eleven
Erin clenched the steering wheel of her car. “I have to confess to Angel that I’ve been having hot, passionate monkey sex with her groom,” she said aloud. “I can’t be her matron of honour with that guilt on my shoulders. There’s nothing honourable about what I’ve done, even though I didn’t know he was her fiancé. Derek did and she shouldn’t marry a louse, but if she wants to go through with the wedding, she’ll have to find someone else for an attendant. I can’t stand at the altar and watch the man I love marry someone else.”
They’d become engaged before Derek met Erin, which meant he’d been fucking her with abandon while planning to marry her cousin. No wonder he’d said he might be a one-night stand. He wasn’t free to enter a long-term commitment. Erin’s heart felt leaden. He’d treated her as shabbily as he had Angel, and she’d been so sure he loved her. Erin’s stomach was doing flip-flops. How could this happen? She loved him. If he was enough in love with Angel to marry her, how could he two-time her? Some men would do anything for a good lay, obviously.
Erin thought they’d had so much more than that. They’d had wonderful times together. Had. She dashed away an errant tear. It was over. She wouldn’t be seeing him any more except for the rehearsal and wedding. She didn’t see how she could possibly go through the misery of those two events.
She’d check in at the hotel today and give Angel a call and ask her to meet in the lobby. She couldn’t let her cousin enter into holy matrimony, not knowing what kind of man she was marrying. However, if Angel called off the wedding because of Derek’s affair, Erin would have that on her conscience. If she kept quiet, it was possible they’d have a happy life and Angel would never know. Derek might have salved his conscience thinking they hadn’t wed yet, but after the ceremony, it was possible he’d make a faithful husband.
So maybe Erin shouldn’t tell her. If Derek denied her story and told her Erin was lying, Angel would want to believe her beloved and therefore accuse Erin of making it up because she was jealous. Barbara O’Brien would be mortified that her daughter would do such a thing. It was such a muddle. Erin didn’t know whether what she planned was the correct move or not.
What would Derek think when he found out she was in the wedding party?
She was emotionally distraught by the time she checked in at the Palmer, the hotel Angel designated, and she had to get a grip before facing anyone. Holding her breath, she waited for an elevator. It was a lovely afternoon with the sun shining brightly, and an about-to-be married couple should be out doing something fun together, not hanging around the hotel where Erin might run into the groom. She bit back tears. Derek and she always had good times.
Thank heavens, the elevator was empty. When the door opened at the third floor, Erin stepped out and, staying close to the wall, slunk down the hall to Room 305 where she slid the card key in the lock. The green light came on and she pushed open the door.
“Is that you?”
She recognised Derek’s voice, of course, behind her, and when he clasped her shoulder and she felt the heat of his touch, her breasts began to swell, her nipples harden, and her clit tingled with that familiar rush of desire.
“Erin. You’re early.”
“You knew I was coming?” She turned around. God, he looked wonderful. So tall, so handsome, so sexy. “You need to go. Stay away from me. You’re marrying my cousin. Did you know that?” She backed inside the room and tried to close the door.
He blocked it with his body. “We have to talk.”
“I don’t want to talk to you,” she said. “Besides, what if Angel catches you in my room? Go away. Get out, Derek. You planned all along to marry her but you kept fucking me. How could you do that to either of us?”
He shut the door behind him and took her by the shoulders. “Erin, calm down. It’s a mess but I’m not going to marry Angel. There’s a lot I have to straighten out first, but please listen to me. I love you and it’s you I want to be my wife.”
Her mouth fell open. “Now you tell me? You can’t get out of this marriage. It’s too late. You’ll crush your fiancée and humiliate her. I can’t let you do that because of me. She deserves better. And so do I.”
“She knows. We talked. She came to me and said she couldn’t go through with the wedding. She loves another man named Dior.”
“Has everyone gone crazy?” Erin sank into an upholstered chair, her mind reeling. “Why did you do it, Derek? Why did you make me fall in love with you when you were engaged to someone else?”
“I didn’t mean to, but one look at you and I had to know you, touch you—”
A knock sounded on the door of the next room. “Derek?” a woman’s voice called. “Are you there? It’s Mother and Dad.”
“Damn. I completely forgot they were coming for the wedding. I have to go, Erin, but please give me a chance to straighten this out. I was trying to be a Samaritan but I made a mistake.”
“Wait. What do you mean? What good deed were you trying to do by marrying Angel?”
“I shouldn’t divulge this. No one else knows. So keep it a secret, Erin. Angel is having a baby.”
A baby… She pressed her hand to her chest, tears burning the backs of her eyes. Angel was carrying Derek’s baby. Erin couldn’t confess to Angel about her and Derek now. There was no more Erin-and-Derek. He’d finally said he loved her but he needed to marry someone else for the sake of his baby. Some Samaritan, he was.
Erin locked the door behind him and threw herself down on the bed. Derek couldn’t break up with Angel. She wouldn’t let him. It was over between them. He had to marry Angel after fathering her child.
*
Derek stood over Erin as she lay naked on satin sheets scattered with velvety red rose petals. She inhaled their sweet fragrance.
“American Beauty,” Derek said, smiling, and Erin wondered if he was talking about the roses or her. “How do you like our honeymoon bed?” He reached into a basket on the bedside table and scattered petals over her body.
Their soft touch heated her skin and intoxicated her with their scent. Derek appeared to be an Italian lord, wearing only a waistband with a sceptre in a sheath at his side. “I’ve waited so long for this,” he said huskily. “You in our marriage bed ready for me to deflower you, my little virgin.”
Erin smiled nervously. Her heart was pounding so furiously she thought it might jump out of her chest. His manhood was erect and inviting but she was frightened. Would the first time hurt? Would her blood stain the lace-trimmed ecru satin bedding with spots the colour of the roses?
“Are you ready, my darling wife?”
“I…I think so.”
“You must know so before we begin.” He unsheathed the sceptre and it shone i
n the light, a rod that looked much like his own shaft. With it, he touched one of her nipples and it immediately hardened, sending ripples through her body. He touched the other and it peaked and sent twice the waves of desire. Then Derek traced a slow path between them leaving a hot trail that made her tremble. He dipped the rod in her navel and she shuddered. Slowly, maddeningly, he trailed it down to her curly mound, then along her cleft until he brought it to rest on the entrance of her pussy. She held her breath. Her palms wet, her face flushed, she writhed with desire.
“Do you want me to stop?” he asked, smiling as he took it away.
Erin gasped in frustration and shook her head.
“Is this what you want?” he asked, parting the lips of her vulva with the staff and eased it inside her. She felt the push against a membrane and cried out, but the pain was slight compared to the pleasure of Derek sliding the rod in and out. In and out. And when she thought she was about to be sucked into some sort of oblivion, he cast the sceptre away and lay down on top of her. Inserting his manhood inside her, he lay still while he sucked first one breast and then the other. “Is this what you want?”
“Oh, yes. Yes. Yes, Derek.” She raised her hips to meet his thrusts and he clung to her so tightly, she was sure she’d have bruises. But it was all right. She was his to possess. They were man and wife, consummating their marriage.
Life was a bed of roses…
*
Had Angel called Dior? Derek wished he knew for certain. When she’d said Derek would live with regrets the same as her, she’d raised doubts in his mind. He shouldn’t worry since she was letting him off the hook, but nothing seemed to be going right. Erin had said he should go through with the wedding, and his mother and father had refused his invitation to have lunch with him.
Derek planned to discuss the cancellation of the ceremony over glasses of wine, but Dad had said they’d already eaten and his mom’s head hurt, so she wanted to take some aspirin and catch a nap. Dad was going to watch a ballgame on TV and Derek knew that meant he’d fall asleep too.
He wanted to continue his conversation with Erin, but did he dare sneak back to her room when his parents were staying across the hall from him? Edging open his door, Derek peeked out and saw his father’s back as he headed down the corridor with an ice bucket. Derek closed his door and leaned against it. Too risky.
Mom probably wanted cold water to take her pills, but sometimes she couldn’t sleep when she tried. So, if Dad dozed, she might come over. Derek ran his hand through his hair and plopped down on the bed. He had to set things right with Erin. He’d just have to phone instead of going over.
Moving to the chair Angel had vacated, he saw a crumpled paper in the wastebasket between it and the desk. Perturbed, he took it out and smoothed the wrinkles. Finding a phone number, he stiffened. Angel had thrown away Dior’s number. She didn’t plan to call him and didn’t want to take a chance on changing her mind. She’d dropped it in the trash here in Derek’s room so she wouldn’t be tempted to ring the man she loved.
Derek only hesitated a moment before picking up the receiver and dialling ‘9’ for an outside line. He had to do this. If Dior didn’t want to come back, he didn’t have to, but he had every right to know he was going to be a father. Angel wanted to tell him but she was too afraid of rejection.
“Hello. Dior, speaking.” The voice in Derek’s ear was smooth and well-modulated.
Music played in the background and Derek wondered where Dior was and whether he was alone. Did he love Angel or had he just been playing her? Either way, Derek had to go through with this.
After introducing himself he spilled the whole story…including the fact that his and Angel’s wedding hadn’t been called off yet.
Dior was apparently caught unaware because he didn’t say a word, except, ‘Thank you’ and ‘Please don’t tell Angel you talked to me’.
Derek was still staring at the phone when it pealed, and he thought it might be Dior calling to apologise for banging down the receiver. He had been quite abrupt and Derek couldn’t read his intentions.
The voice that greeted his ‘hello’ was a woman’s and sounded shrill. “Dior. This is Julia Fairchild. Walter and I are at Methodist Hospital. Angel collapsed and her father called 911. She was transported by ambulance and is now in ER, still waiting to be seen.
“I knew you’d want to be with her, so I called the hotel desk and had the clerk ring your room.”
“Collapsed? What do you mean?” Is she miscarrying?
“She just sank to the floor, unconscious. That’s all we know so far.”
“I’ll be right there,” Derek said.
Julia had called him ‘Dior’ again. And now, Derek was forced to play Dior’s role as Angel’s fiancé and the father of the baby she was possibly losing. Would this nightmare never end?
He scribbled a note to his parents and shoved it under the door of their room. He couldn’t just take off without letting them know where he was, and they were probably both snoozing. Looking at Erin’s door as he passed, he wondered what she was doing and wished he had time to try to explain further.
Sliding behind the wheel of his car, Derek tried to sort his thoughts and emotions. The baby that Angel was possibly losing was the one he had been going to ‘father’. It was scary thinking of such a young life being lost and he hoped it didn’t happen. How big was an unborn child with five months in the womb yet to go? He would never have an infant of his own and this one would be almost like his. If he hadn’t called Dior, the baby’s real daddy would never have known there was a foetus. If Derek hadn’t met Erin, he’d have gone through the wedding ceremony without misgivings. So many ‘ifs’.
Dior hadn’t called back to say what he planned to do. Would he show up in White Grove or stay in Florida, pretending not to know about Angel’s pregnancy? From the way he banged down the receiver, Derek bet on the latter. But he hoped Dior was just in shock and wanted to rush to the rescue.
Derek pulled into the hospital parking lot and found his way to ER. Julia and Walt were sitting there, holding hands. He joined them, feeling uncomfortable and unsure what to say.
“Any news?”
“Not yet, but a doctor is with her now,” Julia said.
“Angel doesn’t eat enough to keep a goldfish alive,” Walt said. “I told you we should insist she take in more food.”
“I understood she wanted to look svelte in her wedding dress,” her mother said, “and I didn’t think we should nag. But she was never heavy, was she, Dior?”
“Derek,” he corrected gently. “No, she was just right,” he added, aware of why she’d been afraid to eat. She didn’t want a baby bump, she’d told him, and he’d understood that too.
A door swung open and a man in scrubs appeared. “Are you Angel Fairchild’s family?” he asked.
Her mother gasped and her father put an arm around her.
“Yes,” Walt said. “This is her husband-to-be.” He nodded towards Derek. “Is she going to be okay?”
“She’ll be fine as soon as we pump some nutrition into her through an IV. Angel appears to have been starving herself. Does she have a history of anorexia?”
“Absolutely not,” Julia said, glaring at the young man in blue. “It’s just that she wanted to look beautiful in her wedding gown.”
“A lot of young women get that idea into their heads, but it’s foolish if they walk down the aisle feeling faint.” He turned to Derek. “She’d like to talk to you alone.”
As they walked down the hall together, the doctor spoke. “She might have miscarried or done damage to the baby, starving herself. I’ve given her a stern warning not to continue such behaviour.”
“I didn’t know she was undernourished,” Derek said as he followed the younger man to a curtained section of the large room where Angel lay, looking pale, hooked up to monitors and an IV.
“You do now, so be sure to do something about it. I’m Dr. Cavish, by the way.” He shook hands with Dere
k and patted Angel’s hand. “It looks as if you’ll be able to go home later today, Ms. Fairchild.”
“I’m sorry, Derek,” she said, bursting into tears when the doctor was gone. “I just didn’t want Mama to know. She’d be so disappointed in me.”
“Know what?” Julia Fairchild stood at the opening in the curtains.
“Mama!” Angel looked stricken.
“I told the doctor I’d waited long enough to see my little girl and I was coming back here, like it or not. You didn’t want me to know what, Angel?”
“Tell her, Derek.” She covered her face with her hands.
“Are you sure you want me to?” he asked.
“You’re pregnant,” Julia said. “Is that it? I was so afraid that might be the case.” She looked as stricken as Angel had. “Oh, honey, how could you? And you.” She shook a fist at Derek. “Messing up my girl’s life. A good man would have taken precautions.”
Clenching his jaw, Derek kept silent, but his gut churned with anger and frustration.
“Derek is a good man. I’m Janice Acampora, his mother, and I forbid you to talk to my son that way.”
“Mom.” Derek swung around to see her eyeing Julia. “What are you doing here?”
“I couldn’t sleep and when your father was leaving the room to get me a soda out of the machine, he found your note. Of course we were concerned about our future daughter-in-law.” She smiled at Angel. “Hello, dear.”
“Derek is a very good man. It’s not his fault that I’m having a baby,” Angel said between sobs.
“A baby?” Janice gasped. “It certainly isn’t his fault. Derek can’t father children.”
Looking up at him, his mother tucked a hand in the crook of his arm. “So what’s this all about? You know what the tests showed. Surely, you told her.”
He squeezed his mom’s hand and gave Angel a sheepish look. He hadn’t told her and perhaps he should have.
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