Bianca chuckled again. She loved living vicariously through her best friend. Her voluptuous friend had curves everywhere it counted and a dynamic personality to match.
Men migrated to her and the twenty-six-year-old had a date penciled in for almost every weekend of the month. The problem was that as soon as Debra got home, she was deleting their number from her cell phone or blocking them from calling her house.
Bianca loved Debra, truly she did, but she didn’t think Debra was selective enough. She believed that if Debra picked and chose and got to know a little more about a man, other than his first name, she would save herself a lot of time and disappointment.
“I’ve about given up on men in Delaware,” Debra admitted with a discouraging sigh.
“Maybe it’s time for you to try Maryland,” Bianca suggested, then took another swallow.
“Been there, done that. I think I need to move to the West Coast.”
Her comment almost made Bianca choke. “Don’t you dare even think about moving away! Then who would I have to complain to?”
“Ha! You know I can’t go anywhere. My business is just taking off.”
Sinfully Delicious was Debra’s catering business. Debra had always been a fabulous cook, and her repeat clientele was definitely proof of that. She had barely been in business a year and already her calendar was booked more than six months in advance.
Bianca pushed away from the counter and moved back down the hall, then headed into her master bathroom and over to a large tub. “You’ll be rich before you know it.”
“I don’t know about that, but at least now I can afford to hire an assistant.”
“Oh, Debra! That’s great,” Bianca said as she turned on the water and poured in a capful of bubbles.
“Yeah, I should be fully staffed in time to cater your wedding reception.”
16
For You I Do
“Ooh, I can’t wait to see the look on my mother’s face,” she said, chuckling.
“Oh, yeah, especially when I prepare a pot of collard greens and ham hocks.”
They shared another laugh. If those dishes were on Bianca’s wedding reception menu, Jessica Beaumont would definitely have a heart attack for real.
“I’d better let you go. When are you taking lover boy to meet the family?”
“I told them at dinner that I was bringing him next week. But I lied. I’m waiting until the week before our wedding. He can meet all of them at once. You want to come?”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world. We’ll see if he passes the test. You know we have to assess.”
“Everything will be fine,” Bianca said with a chuckle. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
Bianca disconnected and put down the phone. Still wearing a smile, she slipped out of her dress and returned to her private bathroom, decorated beautifully with mauve and cream tile. She was dying to enjoy a hot, soothing bath and then get into her pajamas and curl up under the cool sateen sheets. Dinner with her family was usually full of surprises, but today was the first time in a long time that she had been the focus of attention.
I’m getting married.
It was still hard for her to believe that at twenty-five she was tying the knot, as the last of the Beaumont children to marry. Within a four-year period, even her die-hard bachelor brothers, Jace, Jabarie and Jaden, had all fallen in love and gotten married.
She climbed into the tub and leaned back on her inflated pillow, then closed her eyes and laid there for the longest time, just thinking about her reasons for keeping her marriage to Collin a secret.
They had met in a small coffee shop on the beach. The attraction had taken time but eventually she and Collin had spent almost every waking moment together. Collin made her laugh.
He was affectionate, considerate and great in bed. Most important, she loved him. Taking a deep breath, she sank lower in the tub and began imagining her life with Collin. The honeymoon.
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Buying a house together. Planning a life. After a while Bianca stopped feeling guilty. Considering the circumstances, her family was just going to have to find a way to get over it.
A half hour later, wrapped in a towel, she padded on bare feet back into her bedroom, picked up her phone and hit speed dial.
“Hey, sweetheart.”
Bianca took a seat on her thick cream comforter and smiled at the sound of Collin’s low husky voice. “Hey, yourself.”
“How did things go with your family?”
“About the way I expected. They flipped.”
Collin breathed heavily in the phone. “I should have been there with you.”
“I know, but you understand why I needed to do this alone.”
“Yes, but I need to meet them, Bianca.”
“Yes, and you will. I already told them I would be bringing you to dinner.”
He gave a sigh of relief. “Good. I can’t wait to meet them.”
“And they can’t wait to meet you,” she said. She could already see her mother sizing him up from across the table.
“How about I drive over tomorrow and we have dinner?”
he suggested.
“That sounds good to me.”
“Get some rest. I love you.”
Her lips curled upward. Everything was going to be okay. She could feel it. “I love you, too,” she finally said.
Bianca returned the phone to the cradle then got ready for bed.
“Everything is going to be all right,” she said. Falling back on the bed, Bianca wished she felt as confident as she sounded.
“Jaden, sweetheart, please come to bed.”
“I will in a minute,” he replied and continued to pace back and forth the length of their bedroom.
Danica laid down the romance novel she had been reading and watched her husband wear out her Berber carpet. “I’ll admit that your sister’s announcement caught us all by surprise, but Bianca is a grown woman.”
“I’m not saying she isn’t, but engaged? Come on, Danica. We haven’t even met this dude.”
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For You I Do
She shrugged and smiled lovingly at her husband. “Love happens like that some times.”
Jaden stopped abruptly and looked over at her lying across the bed. “I’m not buying it.”
The room rang with her soft laughter. “You don’t have a choice. Your sister is set on getting married whether the three of you like it or not. Besides, unless you’ve forgotten, we fell in love in less than a month.”
“That’s different.”
“What’s different about it?” she challenged and met Jaden’s intense stare. After several long seconds he scowled, then started pacing again.
“What do we know about this guy? We don’t even know who he is or where he comes from. He’s probably after her money.”
“Then again, maybe he truly loves her.”
“You’re not helping.”
She gave him a scolding look. “No, I’m not. Because you’re not being reasonable. Your sister is old enough to make her own decisions.”
Jaden shook his head. “You don’t know my sister the way I do. She has a habit of making bad choices, particularly when it comes to men.”
“But she’s a grown woman, and we all make mistakes until we finally find that perfect man.”
Danica rose from the bed and Jaden froze in his tracks when her robe fell in a pool around her feet. His eyes traveled up the length of her mile-long legs and he took a deep breath as his eyes took in the pale pink negligee with a slit in the front, displaying her swollen belly. As far as Jaden was concerned, at six months’
pregnant, Danica was sexier than ever. Slowly, she sashayed over to her husband and pressed her hand to his bare chest. Jaden immediately wrapped his arms around her waist.
Standing on her tiptoes, she kissed Jaden’s lips then leaned back and put her hand on his cheek. “Quit worrying so much. At least give the guy a chance.” She raised her m
outh to his again and gave him a searing kiss.
Jaden pushed thoughts of Bianca and her fiancé to the back of his mind. He would deal with that issue tomorrow. In the Angie Daniels
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meantime, he scooped Danica into his arms and carried her back to bed. The only thing he was concerned about was properly making love to his wife.
Chapter 3
London looked over the renovation plans for the new restaurant and smiled. It was finally coming true. Clarence’s Infamous Chicken and Fish House was finally expanding.
He scowled, then scolded himself for being so excited, because if his father hadn’t gotten sick none of this would be happening.
Rising from his chair, he walked into the kitchen and took a beer from the refrigerator, then stepped out onto the deck and stared out over the Atlantic Ocean.
Two years ago his father had suffered a stroke. London had been days away from reenlistment as a technical sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, but after six years decided it was time to come home. After weeks of prayer by London and his sisters, his father, who made a full recovery, decided it was time to enjoy the rest of his life and gladly handed over the family business to his only son. The first things London did were renovate the restaurant, expand the menu to include more down-home cooking and start catering events. In the last year, business had been so good that he and his father decided it was time to open a second restaurant. They found a prime piece of property in New Castle. The Angie Daniels
21
former Chinese restaurant had been out of business for almost three years, yet almost all the equipment inside was salvageable.
After adding a few improvements to the building and the decor, he would be opening for business in less than two months. My dream is finally coming true, he thought with a proud smile. He had dreamed about expanding the business since grade school.
Life definitely couldn’t get any better, or could it?
London took a moment to think about that question as he stared out at the night and brought the bottle to his lips. Last week he had had a long phone conversation with his father. As usual, Clarence B. Brown wanted to know when he would settle down and start a family.
London took another sip as his thoughts raced. If he had his way, he would die a bachelor. He took women out, had a good time and rarely gave them a second thought. While he took another swallow, he had to admit that that wasn’t entirely true.
There was one woman he had known for years who still made his pulse race.
Bianca Beaumont.
The petite beauty was breathtaking. Ever since he’d returned to Sheraton Beach and laid eyes on her as a grown-up, he couldn’t stop thinking about her. He remembered her standing beside her brother as he chatted with Jaden. Her short trendy haircut had been perfect for her small oval-shaped face. And when her eyes had fixed on him, the dark walnut coloring was so compelling he couldn’t help wondering what color they were when they glowed with passion. And then there was the fullness of her lips and the way they begged to be kissed. Countless nights he found himself thinking about the taste of her on his tongue and fantasizing about burying himself deep inside her welcoming warmth. Unfortunately, Bianca was his best friend’s sister, and bedding her was against the rules. Besides, considering the way her brothers acted when a man even looked in her direction, it just wasn’t worth the drama. Nevertheless, that didn’t stop him from looking.
They had grown up in the same town and even though they didn’t move in the same social circles, he hung out with her brother Jaden. Together they graduated high school and enlisted in the military.
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For You I Do
Since his return to Sheraton Beach two years ago, he’d run into Bianca off and on, but last year he had the pleasure of dancing with her at Jaden’s wedding. He definitely had not expected the rush of pleasure that hit him square in the middle when he had taken Bianca’s hand and led her out onto the dance floor. Just moments with her in his arms and London knew that was where she belonged forever. After that night, they had gone out on a couple of occasions, but their evenings had always ended with nothing more than brotherly kisses.
He sighed and wondered why he was even thinking about Bianca. Maybe because he hadn’t had a date in weeks. While sipping his beer, London tried to remember the last time he had been intimate with a woman, and after several moments decided it had been way too long. Managing the restaurant and trying to open a second one had kept him too busy for a personal life. At the age of thirty, he loved sex just as much as most men his age did, and would love to someday have a serious relationship with the right woman. But now the timing was wrong. Besides, finding a woman to take him seriously might not be easy. Unfortunately, he had developed a reputation as something of a playboy.
London scowled at the thought. He had never been one to play with a woman’s emotions. He made it a habit of letting anyone he became involved with know upfront where she stood with him. Yet few were taken on more than two dates.
Hearing the doorbell, London took a final swig then pushed off from the deck, dropped the bottle in the trash and strolled through the house. He swung the door open just as Jaden was about to ring the doorbell a second time.
“What took you so long?” he barked.
“Hello to you, too,” London said as Jaden stepped into his house without waiting for an invitation. “What brings you over?”
Without answering, Jaden moved into the kitchen, looked inside the refrigerator and retrieved a beer. London followed.
“Do I have to have a reason to drop by to see my boy?”
“On a Friday night at nine o’clock when you have a beautiful pregnant wife at home? Of course not.” London paused and leaned against the doorway. “I was just getting ready to change clothes and go check out this new club on Birch Drive.You want to hang?”
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23
Jaden paused, screwed off the top on the bottle then shook his head. “Nah.”
Laughing, London gave him a knowing smile. “I didn’t think so.”
Moving away from the refrigerator, Jaden walked over to the table and took a seat opposite his best friend. “Bianca’s getting married,” he announced without preamble.
London pushed away from the wall and barked, “What?”
louder than he’d intended. He felt as if he’d been sucker punched.
“Yep,” Jaden said after giving London a weird look. He then shrugged and took a long, thirsty swallow. “She announced it at dinner yesterday.”
He struggled to keep his voice steady. “Who’s the lucky man?”
Jaden shrugged again as he brought the bottle back to his lips.
“Some cat we have yet to meet,” he said, frowning.
London rubbed a hand across his head as he gave a strangled laugh. Again he tried to regain his composure. “She’s marrying a total stranger?” he asked and stepped farther into the room.
“It seems that way. She refuses to give us any information about him—except that he’s in the Air Force.”
London nodded and almost sympathized with her decision.
He knew Jabarie, Jace and Jaden well enough to understand Bianca’s need for secrecy. If Jaden had even thought for a moment anything more had been going on between him and Bianca other than friendship—not that there was—he would have acted like a plumb fool. Unfortunately for him, other than a few goodnight kisses, nothing more had happened.
While Jaden finished his beer, London moved over and straddled the chair across from him and listened while Jaden told him everything about Bianca’s announcement at dinner the night before. “Well, I guess congratulations are in order.” He didn’t know what else to say.
Jaden gave him a cutting look. “Over my dead body. I plan to find out whatever I can about the dude and put a stop to this madness.” The venom in his voice matched the expression on his face.
London was pleased to know that he wasn’t the only one unhappy about Bianca getti
ng married. “You think he’s after her money?” he asked after a long, intense pause.
24
For You I Do
“Maybe. She says it’s love, but I don’t buy it,” Jaden grumbled, then tilted the bottle again.
It bothered London to even think of Bianca being in love with another man. It was selfish of him, especially since he had no intention of marrying. He just didn’t like knowing that she was happy with someone else.
London tamped down the sizzle of jealousy. Bianca was nothing more than a friend to him. “You said he’s in the military?” he asked, then watched as Jaden took another sip of beer before putting the bottle down.
He nodded. “That’s what she said.”
“That should make it easier.”
Jaden gave him a sidelong glance. “You think you can find out who he is?”
Jaden knew London was a former security forces investiga-tor. He had ways of finding out things if he needed to know.
“I’ll watch her house for her fiancé or his vehicle, then talk to one of my guys at Dover Air Force Base and see what I can find out about him.”
“Yo, I’d appreciate whatever information you can find.”
London arched his brow. “I’m going to do better than that. If that cat ever got a speeding ticket, I’ll know about it before the week is over.”
Chapter 4
“You sure you like it?”
Bianca looked up at her fiancé and smiled, warmed by the uncertainty that registered in Collin’s liquid-brown eyes. He was always trying to go out of his way to please her. It was one of the qualities she loved most about him. Although, recently it was starting to get on her nerves.
“It’s beautiful, really,” she said reassuringly, then looked down at the two-carat solitaire surrounded by baguettes. The ring wouldn’t have been her first choice, and she would have preferred if he had taken her along to pick it out, but she wasn’t complaining. Gazing down her finger once more, she sucked in a deep, shaky breath.
She was now officially engaged to Collin Clark.
“I’m glad.” He leaned across the seat of his car and pressed his lips to hers. Bianca closed her eyes and, as the kiss deepened, she waited for the fireworks, the wild flutter in her chest.
For You I Do Page 2
