Brandon (Members From Money Book 19)

by Katie Dowe

  *****

  “What’s wrong?” blonde haired and blue eyed Marisa Whelps asked her fiancé as she saw the expression on his handsome face. They were having lunch at the salad place.

  “Nothing, darling.” He leaned forward and touched her silky white cheek tenderly. He fancied himself a little in love with her and their lovemaking was much more pleasing to her than it was to him. She had told him shyly that it was true: ‘Once you go black you can never go back.’ He was smug about his ability to pleasure women and knew he was going to have a willing slave in her. “Would you excuse me a minute? I see a client of mine that I have been trying to get a hold of for some time.”

  She nodded and dug into her salad not in the least suspicious.

  Wayne made his way swiftly to where she was sitting. “What are you doing here?” he asked her coldly as he slid into the seat opposite to her.

  Yanique looked up at him in surprise and felt her anger coming forth. “Excuse me?”

  “I was sitting and having a pleasant lunch with my fiancé when I noticed you. Are you trying to make things difficult for me?”

  Yanique pushed away the bowl of soup, her appetite disappearing as she looked at the handsome dark skinned man opposite her. “I am surprised that a big shot lawyer like you does not know that this is a free country and I am free to have lunch wherever I choose as long as I am able to afford it.” She looked over at the woman with her flowing blond hair and rosy complexion. “I would never dream of bursting her bubble and letting her know what a louse you are,” she added insolently.

  “You have decided to keep it?” he asked between his teeth feeling stung by her words.

  “I am keeping my baby if that is what you are referring to. Don’t worry, Wayne, this child will never know that you are his or her father. I will see to that.” She glanced at the large face watch on her slim wrist and got to her feet. “I am late for work.” She took out some money to pay her bill and left him sitting there. She was about to pass the table when she stopped suddenly. He almost had a heart attack as he saw her stop and say something to Marisa. He almost knocked his knees against the table in his haste to get to them.

  “Darling?” His voice was breathless as he came to the table.

  “I was just telling your fiancé how much I love the sweater she is wearing.” She looked at him with a sweet smile. “She told me it was a Romano’s and I told her unfortunately I cannot afford it.”

  “Wayne tells me you are a client of his,” the girl said as she reached for her fiancé’s hand.

  “He did?” She looked at Wayne and almost laughed out loud at the desperate expression on his face. “I am afraid he is way out of my league so we will not be doing business together as it is.” Without waiting for a response she walked out with her head held high!

  *****

  “Some champagne, Mr. Reynolds?” the stewardess asked him politely as she came to check on him for the third time in thirty minutes. He was flying to Texas to check on a radio station that he had taken control of just recently. The place needed revamping and he had members of the staff he was going to have to let go. He looked up at the attractive red head and shook his head. “Some coffee please.” She went swiftly to do his bidding and came back in no time with coffee and croissants. It was an early morning flight and his pilot had told him that they should be there in the next hour or so. He had left town without saying goodbye to his mother and sister and knew he was not going to hear the end of it. He would probably be spending Christmas with them. Suddenly his thoughts turned to Yanique Smith and he allowed his mind to wander as he pictured her exquisite face!

  Chapter 3

  “Mama, you do not have to go through so much trouble!” Yanique protested as her mother passed her the homemade chicken soup she had gone to prepare. She had closed up her place at her mother’s insistence and had come over to spend the holidays with her. The publishing house had been closed for season and the latest edition of the magazine had hit the stands, selling out in the first week. She had thumbed through the glossy pages and had looked at her name in black ink on the credit page and felt the glow of satisfaction. She had not told Gabby about her pregnancy yet and figured she would wait until she went back in January. Now she was going to relax and concentrate on what she was going to do in regards to the baby she was carrying. Her mother worked at the nursing home as a practical nurse and had told her that she would babysit when she could.

  “You need to eat,” Yvonne told her daughter quietly as she sat around the small dining table. She had two days off and would be spending it with her only child. “How are you?”

  “The nausea is not so bad now.” She wrinkled her nose as she broke the homemade raisin bread and took a bite. “I feel bad not telling Gabby about the pregnancy.”

  “You are afraid of losing your job.”

  “They cannot legally fire me because I am pregnant. But I should have told them that when they hired me.” Yanique broke off a piece of the bread and shredded it with her fingers. “I wanted to prove myself first so that they would hesitate before telling me to leave.” She tasted the soup and appreciated the taste of it. “I was such a fool, Mama,” she said sadly. “Did I tell you that I saw him in a restaurant a week ago?”

  “You mean the man who does not have the backbone to stand up to what is right?”

  Yanique laughed at that. “He was there with his fiancé.”

  “Poor girl,” she said with a shake of her head as she passed the salad to her daughter. “She has no idea what she is getting into.”

  “You are right,” Yanique said slowly. “He is marrying her because of who her father is.”

  “You will get through this the same way I did,” Yvonne told her firmly. “When your dad left, I thought I would not be able to make it by myself and after crying several nights I woke up to the fact that I had a child to take care of, an innocent who needed me so I had better get my act together and that is what I did. You are an educated woman with a future ahead of you so you are going to do better than me. And besides you have me to look out for you.”

  “Thanks, Mama,” Yanique told her huskily.

  “You are welcome, honey.”

  *****

  She was sitting on her single bed in the room she had stayed in when she was growing up later that night going through the stuff she had left there when she moved away to go and live in town. She blinked quickly as she sifted through the box of photos she had found in her closet. She picked up one that showed her and Shelly posing for the camera in their blue and white cheerleading outfits with their pom poms raised and their short skirts showing fit and toned legs. Yanique had been the captain of the cheerleading squad and had dated Aaron, the captain of the football team, until she had gone off to college and he had gotten a football scholarship that had taken him to the UK. Things had been so simple then! She had given him her virginity the night of the prom and had felt a piercing disappointment that it had not sent her into orbits of pleasure. She remembered sharing it with Shelly and her friend had laughed and said to her: “Honey, what did you expect? You are both virgins with no experience whatsoever!”

  She felt the tears coming fast and furious and she did nothing to stop them!

  *****

  “Brandon, I would like you to meet someone.” Leanne took his hand and led him over to the other side of the large room where the party was being held. He had just come in a few hours ago and barely had time to shower and change before he was faced with having to socialize with his mother’s friends and the people from his sister’s firm.

  “What are you doing?” Brandon asked as he allowed himself to be led.

  “She is a client of ours and she is into publishing so I figured you would have things in common. You are standing over in the corner of the room and we can spot your air of boredom from across the room.” Leanne linked her hand with his as she steered him to where she wanted him to go. “Lacey, meet my brother Brandon.”

  “Very nice to m
eet you,” the tall and attractive blonde woman said huskily as she extended a slim delicate hand. “I have read a lot about your publishing houses. I am hoping to catch even the crumbs from the readers you have accumulated.”

  “I will leave you two to get acquainted.” Leanne leaned forward and kissed her brother’s cheek before gliding away, her attention already caught by a co-worker who called out to her.

  “What is the name of your publishing house?” he asked politely as he signaled for the waiter to come over. He was not particularly interested but they shared like occupations so he supposed he had to keep the conversation going. He was restless and dissatisfied and he had no idea why.

  “Carter’s Publishing,” she told him with a swift smile. “I inherited it when my husband died three years ago.”

  Brandon had a feeling that she wanted him to know that she was available. “You publish books.”

  “We do mostly online fiction and we are doing quite well.”

  “So I have noticed.” He had thought idly about buying them out but had decided against it. He was not sure he wanted to break into the full length novel department.

  There was silence as Lacey tried to find a way to ask him out to lunch. She had been excited when she noticed him come into the room and had almost begged Leanne for an invitation to the party.

  “I would love to bounce some ideas off you,” she said softly. “Will you be in town for long?”

  Brandon’s blue eyes met hers and Lacey had the uncomfortable feeling that he had seen right through her. “For a couple of days.” He handed her a card with his cell number. “Give me a call tomorrow.” With a brief nod he left and went over to where his mother was standing with some of the wives of the members of the Elite Club. She looked at the glossy embossed card and smiled to herself. Lunch was certainly going to turn into something else!

  *****

  “It is the flu season, Ms. Smith, so it is to be expected,” Doctor Somerville told her sympathetically. “I cannot give you anything much because of the baby, but I advise you to go on home and make yourself some chicken soup and drink lots of liquid.”

  “I have to go back to work in two days,” she said miserably, her head feeling as if it was stuffed with cotton wool. It was the second day of January and the snow had been coming down steadily for the past two days.

  “You need to get some rest.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Your appointment is in two weeks’ time.”

  She nodded and got to her feet having to close her eyes to get her bearings before she slowly made her way outside. She pulled the jacket closer to her and hurried into her car, closing the door and resting her head on the wheel. She felt as sick as a dog but had no intention of calling and telling her mother who had gone back to work two days ago. She wished she had someone who would share everything that came with her pregnancy with her. She straightened up firmly and pushed the lever into drive, backing out of the driveway. She was not alone in this and even if she was she would just have to deal with it!

  *****

  “This is a pleasant surprise,” Leanne drawled as her brother made his way into her office. “You are certainly lingering in town. Do I smell romance?” she teased as he took his seat across from her and crossed his legs.

  “You are smelling frustration and annoyance,” he told her dryly. “Your client is persistent and not very subtle.”

  “I suspect she is looking to replace her husband,” Leanne said in amusement as she stared at her handsome and aloof brother. Their mother kept hoping that one of them would unbend and give her what she wanted most but it did not seem to be happening soon. “She is not half bad. Is she?”

  “You are wrapped up in your career and so am I. What makes you think I need someone?”

  “You are older than I am,” she pointed out.

  “I can be in my sixties and still manage to procreate,” he drawled in amusement.

  “Mean,” she muttered. “We are quite the pair, aren’t we?”

  “We are.” He settled back against the cushions. “I am not interested in her, Leanne, and I am going to let her know. Be prepared for her to drop you as a lawyer.”

  “She is not my client per se,” she said with a shrug. “And I am sure we will survive.”

  “Good.” He got to his feet. “I am heading to New York tomorrow, but I might be back by the end of the week.”

  “Will you be dropping by the house?” she asked him.

  He nodded. “That’s a distinct possibility.”

  Leanne watched him leave and leaned back in her chair. She frowned a little bit and her thoughts wandered. She had discovered that she had no interest in the male species when she was in high school and had tried to ignore it until she went to law school where she had met Claudia when they were both taking the same psychology course and had hit it off immediately. They had both gone on as friends for as long as they could until they had been studying late one Friday night and it had happened. They had started meeting in secret and sharing a love affair that had lasted the years they were in college. She had fallen in love with the lovely red head and had been brokenhearted when she had left and married a man who had grown up in her neighborhood. She had told Leanne tearfully that it was what was expected of her and she would always love her! She had not heard from her for years until recently when she had started calling her. She was supposed to meet her so that they could talk on the weekend but she was wondering if she should!

  *****

  Yanique blew her nose noisily as she rested her head back against the cushions. She had drunk some soup with noodles in it and taken vitamin C but somehow she felt worse. Her eyes were blurry and her ears felt as if they were on fire. Her mother had called and she had pretended that she was feeling a lot better. She received a call from Gabrielle as she was getting ready to go in to the bedroom.

  “My dear, you sound dreadful!” she exclaimed.

  “The flu,” she said unnecessarily.

  “Are you going to make it to work?” she asked anxiously.

  “I am working on it. I have my Vicks, my juice, and Vitamin C so I am confident that I will make it.”

  “Good. We have to work on putting out a thicker version of the magazine and I need your input!”

  *****

  “You look a little peaked. Are you sure you are okay?” Gabby asked as soon as she came in and took off her jacket.

  She felt a little weak and she had had to force herself to eat something for the sake of the baby but she was tired of the four walls of the house and wanted to bury herself into work. She had laid in bed and had become morbid throughout the entire time thinking about her best friend and the fact that she was having a baby without a dad!

  “I am on the mend.” She sniffed and headed for her desk. “Lay it on me.”

  Gabby took her at her word and dumped the hard copy as well as the mockup on the iPad telling her that she had a meeting with some publishers and would be out for the day. “Do what you can and leave early today,” the woman told her as she left.

  She was buried in the proofs when she heard a knock on the open door. “It is lunch time and I brought you a sandwich,” Lori, the cover designer who had tried to get her to go to lunch with her several times, told her as she poked her head in. “It is past one and I figured you would want to fill up on some fuel,” she said with a grin. She was a petite red head with numerous freckles on her homely face and light blue eyes which seemed to sparkle constantly. Yanique had shied away from friendship so far because of what had happened to her friend.

  “Thanks. I hope you brought a drink as well.”

  “Of course. Cherry cola. Are you a health nut?”

  “Not really,” Yanique said with a laugh as she took the package from her. “Turkey sandwich,” she said sniffing as the girl took a seat opposite her. “I think I can manage this.” She had eaten enough at her mother’s and knew that she would not get sick eating it.

  “I love the sweater you are
wearing. With your skin tone you can afford to wear anything,” Lori said with a sigh. “If I put on anything other than jewel colors I look like a washed out painting.”

  Yanique laughed at that and glanced at the thick blue sweater the girl had on. It was too big for her and enveloped her petite frame. Yanique almost opened her mouth to tell her to stay away from oversized clothing and closed it abruptly.

  “You are going to have to give me fashion advice,” she continued as if reading the other girl’s mind.

  “The bigger the clothes are the more bulky they look. You stay away from the oversized. The color is very good because it brings out the blue of your eyes and looks great against your skin but it is too big.” She said it casually as she looked at the girl.

  “Thanks,” Lori said looking down at her sweater. “How about we go shopping together one of these days?”

  Yanique hesitated briefly and then nodded. “I will let you know.”

  They chatted for a few more minutes with the woman telling her that she had been married for a few years and was now divorced. “The only regret I have is that I never had children,” she said sadly.

  “Would that have been wise seeing as you two broke up?” Yanique asked her curiously.

  Lori stared at her for a moment and then answered. “I would never have minded taking care of the child on my own. I am approaching forty years old now and my biological clock has been ticking insistently,” she said with a rueful laugh. “I hate living all by myself.”

  “I love it,” Yanique told her realizing that in several months she would be living with someone else who would completely depend on her and she felt a little scared.