by Katie Dowe
“You deserve some sort of happiness, Moira, and not give a damn what people say about you.”
“Easy for you to say. You are Peter Schulz the king of ‘I don’t care.’”
“It has served me well.”
“I never told you about her,” he continued, his blue eyes meeting hers.
“I figured you would one day. Is that day here?”
He nodded. “She called to find out if I am okay.”
“What did you say to her?”
“She thinks I am in a relationship with you.” His eyes searched hers. “I screwed up. I could feel myself falling for her and I could not take the chance of-“he broke off abruptly. I did not think I could love someone. I still don’t but ever since I drove her away I have not been happy. I feel this deep pit of loneliness that is not going anywhere. When she called me, I wanted to find out where she was and wrap her in my arms.”
“You need to go to her,” Moira urged him, feeling envy at that kind of love.
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“What are you going to say to the press?”
“I think you are right. I need to be true to myself and announce who I really am.”
“Are you sure?”
She shrugged elegantly. “I am scared of the backlash, but it is something I need to do.”
“I want you to do something for me,” Peter told her.
“Anything, darling.”
“I am going to give you directions to where she lives and I want you to talk to her for me.”
Moira lifted her brows in surprise. “Darling, why don’t you call her?”
“I told you I messed up pretty bad and she is not taking my calls. I need someone to intervene for me,” he told her ruefully.
Moira reached over and clasped his hands. “I am going to put you on a pedestal so tall that you are going to be dizzy from the height of it.”
“She already knows who I am,” Peter said with a laugh. “I just need an in. I need her to understand that I want to talk to her to make things straight.”
“You are in love with her.” Moira said it as a statement.
“I am.” He shook his head in wonder. “I have no idea how she did it, but she made me fall in love with her.”
Chapter 11
Leah heard the persistent knocking on the door and frowned in annoyance. She had been wallowing in a bout of self-pity and she hated being disturbed! After she had spoken to Peter, she had gone into the bathroom to take a shower and enjoy a good fifteen minutes of crying! She had gazed at herself in the mirror and grimaced at her puffy eyes and had gone straight to the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea. Maybe she should not have broken it off with Dan, maybe if she had tried harder it would have worked for them! Maybe she had given up too easily! She had reached too high! She had always been very confident because her father had grown her that way, but he was Peter Schulz, billionaire extraordinaire! A man who had lunch with the President of the United States and dinners with the princess. She was just a simple girl who had just attended community college. She had not been able to afford an Ivy League college and she had been fine with that, until now! Damn him for making her wish that she had more!
She pulled the robe around her tighter and went to get the door. She looked through the peephole and stepped back in shock! What was Moira Madden doing at her door?
Taking a deep breath, she opened the door with a set expression on her face. The woman was more gorgeous in person! Her skin was flawless and her hair was piled on top of her head. She had beautiful grey eyes that always looked like there lurked secrets in them. “May I help you?” Leah asked her coolly. She felt like a frump in her old robe and her hair in a messy knot on top of her head.
“May I come in?” Even the woman’s voice sounded sensual. No wonder Peter was seeing her.
“Why?”
Moira smiled in amusement at that. “I am guessing you are not a fan.”
“You are guessing right. Why are you here?”
“Do you think I can at least step over the threshold?”
“Not until you tell me what this is about.”
“I am here on behalf of Peter and if he had told me how feisty you are, I would probably not come, friend or not.”
Leah’s heart thumped at the word ‘friend.’ She stepped back and allowed the woman to come in and closed the door behind her. She gestured towards the living room. “If I knew I would be entertaining a celebrity, I would have cleaned up,” she said sarcastically.
“I come from a very poor background, darling, so your shabby chic is nothing to me,” she returned smoothly causing Leah to look at her in admiration.
“Would you like some coffee?”
“No thanks. I cannot stay long. I am flying to Mexico in a few hours I just wanted to do this for Peter.”
“Do what exactly?” Leah came into the room and sat opposite the celebrity, hardly believing that she was sitting in her living room!
“He wanted me to explain to you the nature of our relationship.”
Leah stiffened. “It’s none of my business.”
“I am afraid it is.” Moira smiled briefly. “We were helping each other out. You are going to read about it in the papers in a little bit, but I want you to know the truth in order for you to realize that Peter and I are just friends.” She paused and took a deep breath. “I am gay.”
Leah stared at her in shock. “I am sorry. What?”
“Don’t worry, I am not going to pounce on you suddenly.”
“No!” Leah waved her hand at that. “I am just in shock! You are painted as a-”
“A heterosexual woman.”
“For want of another term.”
“I found out a long time ago when I was in my teens that I liked women. My parents are Bible-thumping Christians and I grew up with the notion that being gay was an abomination and there was no way it was going to be tolerated. I would hear them talking every time something came on the news about the gay movement and they would always say that people who were like that should be hung and quartered. So I kept my mouth shut and I have kept it shut over the years.”
“You are gay?”
“I am, so you have nothing to worry about where Peter is concerned,” she said with an impish smile.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Leah said, avoiding her gaze.
“He is in love with you.” The statement had Leah’s eyes flying to hers.
“What?”
“He told me that he screwed things up because he had no idea what to do with what he feels for you. He is in love with you, darling.”
“And he sent you here to tell me that?” Leah did not dare believe her. “He could have told me himself.”
“You are not answering your phone.” She leaned forward with an intense look on her beautiful face. “Take the olive branch he is offering, Leah. I have no idea what went down between the two of you, but all I know from what he told me is that he loves you and I have to tell you that I felt pure and unadulterated envy when I saw that expression on Peter’s face. He has always been considered a hard man and that is for a reason. Call him, darling, and make things right.”
*******
She drove to his apartment after telling him that she wanted to see him. “You want me come over?” he had asked her softly.
“My apartment is not something you are not used to, Peter.”
“I don’t care about that.”
“I do.”
She rode the private elevator taking her to his apartment. She had deliberately not put on any makeup and had pulled back her hair into a ponytail. She was wearing faded denims and a bulky aquamarine sweater. He was leaning against the door waiting for her and her heart skidded as she stared at him. His black hair was tousled and he had on a white t-shirt that looked great against his tanned skin. Loose sweatpants hung low on his waist and she wanted to rush straight into his arms and stay there forever but she restrained herself.
“Peter.” Her voice was deliberately cool as she stood before him. She saw the quirk of his lips and knew that he was aware of what she was doing.
“Come on in.” He moved aside and she went past him into the warm living room. She turned around to face him.
“How are you feeling?” she asked him politely.
“I have been told I have a hard head,” he told her ruefully, rubbing his forehead. “I am fine. I have taken a few days off.”
She nodded and did not say anything else.
“Would you like something to drink?”
“No.” She shook her head.
“Please sit.” He indicated the sofa nearest to her and she took a seat. He sat opposite her and put his hands between his opened thighs. “I owe you an apology.”
“You do.”
He smiled at that. “I don’t know how to operate where you are concerned. Usually, I would enter into a relationship and know the rules. My heart would not be involved. I would just be in it for the sex and after that I am gone. I had decided long ago that I was not the type to enter long term. I will be thirty-one in April and I had decided that I needed an heir so I would look for someone suitable who would not interfere with my regular way of life and that was that. Then I met you.” He looked at her, his expression brooding. “I met you, and things changed and I had no idea what to do. When I kissed you…” His hands tightened and then released. “When I kissed you, it blew me away so much that I never knew what hit me! I started losing control where you were concerned and started craving you. It was different with you and I could not deal with that so I thought the best thing was to push you away. I was wrong.” He got up and came to kneel in front of her. His dark blue eyes were intense as he looked at her. “I fell in love with you without knowing how it happened.”
Leah blinked the moisture from her eyes and reached out a hand to touch his jaw. “What does that mean?” she whispered.
“It means that I do not want to be away from you. I want us to try this relationship thing.”
“I cannot accept that, Peter,” she told him gently.
“What?” He stared at her, frowning.
“This relationship thing as you put it is not going to work for me. I want nothing less than a total commitment.”
“You mean marriage?” he asked her.
She nodded her head.
“What if it does not work?”
“What if it does?” she asked, arching her brows at him. “I understand what you went through in your childhood, but you said you love me and I love you, Peter. There is no reason for it not to work.”
He took her hand and put it to his lips, kissing her palm. “I don’t want to lose you.”
“And you won’t.” She shivered at the touch of his lips. “What do you say? Are you ready to take the plunge?”
“Am I not the one to do the proposing?” he asked her teasingly.
“I am waiting.”
He took her hands between his large one. “Leah, Grant…” He paused and stared at her. “I don’t even know your middle name.”
“Alexandria.”
“Leah Alexandria Grant, would you do me the extreme honor of becoming my wife?” he asked her hoarsely.
“Peter Franz Schulz, it would be my pleasure.” She laughed at the look of inquiry on his face. “I read you up on the internet.”
“Thank you,” he told her solemnly.
“You are very welcome.”
******
“Billionaire airline mogul to marry former air stewardess Leah Grant! The two met while she was working for him on his private airline. One has to wonder as to what these powerful men find so attractive with these African American women who do not necessarily come from moneyed backgrounds. The nuptials are set for April 4th at the small Anglican chapel in town and the reception will be held at the Elite Club. It’s invitation only and Moira Madden, who has come out about the true state of her sexual preferences, will be in attendance as well as wives of the members of the club who inadvertently formed a clique all on their own!”
“Are you sure she is okay with you marrying me?” Leah asked her fiancé anxiously. It had been two weeks since she had gone to his apartment and he had declared his love for her. From that time, he refused to let her go back to her apartment. It was the first week and he had hired a wedding planner to take care of the arrangements. She had quit her job but had told him that she had no intention of staying home. He told her that for now she could be his personal flight attendant.
“She said that she is happy as long as I am.” He pulled her into his arms and rested his forehead on hers. He never ceased to be amazed at how tiny she was! “Even if she was not, I would not care. No one is going to come between us again.”
“She is your mother, Peter, and I want you to try and get along with her. She had lunch with me yesterday and said she wants us to get to know each other.”
“You are very forgiving,” he murmured as he tipped her chin up.
“I can afford to be. I am in love.”
“So am I.” He bent and kissed her lips slowly heating up her flesh. He lifted his head and looked down at her, his eyes smoldering. He had gone back to the office while she was busy with wedding plans. He had met her dad a week ago and they had hit it off. The sale had gone through for the manor where he had grown up and he did not feel the slightest regret about putting it up for sale. His mother had cut her trip short because he had called her and told her that he was getting married. He had given Leah an emerald engagement ring that she stared at whenever she was alone. She had met the other wives or at least some of them when they had invited her to have lunch at the club. Leesa and Kelly was in charge of seeing to the decorations there for the reception.
“I was thinking for our honeymoon that we fly to Germany,” he murmured.
Her eyes flew to his. “Are you sure?”
He shrugged a little. “I go there on business a few times.”
“I thought that was not a very good place for you because of the memories of your dad.”
He moved away from her and went to the mantel to look down into the fire. He had just come from the office and had just taken off his jacket. Each time she looked at him, each time she went out to dinner with him, she felt the tug of desire and something akin to awe that this powerful man was really in love with her! She did not follow him but waited for him to speak. “Franz Schultz was a very hard man. He was a man who went through a pretty rough time. I used to be resentful of his lack of love and the fact that he never showed that he cared, not once. But ever since I met you, I have been doing a lot of thinking. His parents lived a terrifying life and so did he and his brother. He made the decision to come to this country to try for a better life for them. He lost his brother during the trip because he was frail to begin with because he had been suffering from pneumonia. He blamed himself for that and from what I gathered, his parents blamed him as well. He tried to make it up to them by sending them money when he could but they never forgave him. The last move was to send for them to come here and get a better life but they died before he could do so. He lost everyone baby and that made him into the man he was. I am trying to understand that.”
She walked over to him and took his hands into hers. “You cannot change the past, but you can learn from it. We are going to rewrite history in your family by loving each other so much and showing love to our children when they come along. I love you so much, Peter!”
“Thank you,” he said thickly as he gathered her up in his arms. “Maybe somewhere tropical,” he murmured.
“Maybe,” she whispered back.
*****
Leah’s dress billowed out behind him as she reached for her dad’s hand to step from the limousine that had transported them to the chapel. The beautiful April morning with the smell of many flowers blooming was ripe on the air. Photographers snapped pictures rapidly as she
leaned in to kiss her dad on the cheek. Her dress was made of the purest silk and had a Victorian styled neck with a tapered waist. The skirt was straight with a billowing train. It was a Romano’s original of course and was made with her petite frame in mind. Daniel Grant, with a broad smile on his face, patted her hand on his arm as they made their way to the chapel. “Your mother would have been so proud,” he murmured.
“Thanks, Dad.” She looked at him in concern. “Are you okay?”
“I am ecstatic, baby girl,” he assured her.
Peter looked up as they came into the room and stepped on the long red carpet. She had chosen to carry a bouquet of tulips and a stem of red roses that he had given her. His eyes were bright as he looked at her coming towards him. He was wearing a dark blue suit with a rose in his lapel. His best man was Preston Sinclair, who owned the prestigious car company and was married to script writer Addison. The entire front rows were filled with the women who were married to wealthy white billionaires and were making it work. Leah was happy that she was one of them; they were a friendly and engaging group of women and she admired them a lot.
The ceremony went through swiftly and before long they were Mr. and Mrs. Peter Franz Schulz and heading to the club. He closed the partition and pulled her onto his lap. “I was thinking we should put off the honeymoon for a few days and decide where we are going to live.”
“I thought we were living at the apartment.” She looked up at him in surprise.
“If you notice that there are not a lot of clothes there.” She had taken off the veil she had worn and he admired the intricate coils of hair on top of her head. “I have never had a real home and I want one with you.”
Leah’s eyes misted at that. “So, we are going house hunting.”
“We don’t actually have to,” he told her in amusement. “I have a realtor on call. She already has some she wants to show us. She is dying to get her commission.”
“In what area?” She wrapped her hands around his neck.
“In the same area the manor is or if you want we could look elsewhere.”
“Right there is fine.” She bent and kissed his lips. “I love you, my husband.”
