The Ultimate Romance Box (6 Bestselling Romance Novels)

by Eckhart, Lorhainne

  Miguel stood stunned. He felt Nick stiffen behind him.

  “Who are you?” Considering his profession, he liked to think that logic and deduction shaped the way he thought. It must be the drinks he’d consumed, because all logic had fled, leaving him dumbfounded and feeling stupid. This woman was a complete stranger. He had no idea why she stood in his hallway, playing with his niece and nephew.

  “You really are an idiot, aren’t you? I’m Charly who else would I be?”

  She shook her head, seemingly blown away by his lack of knowledge.

  “You…are…Charlie? You’re not a man?”

  “Not since my sex change.” She saw the shock on both men’s faces and began to chortle in her raspy voice. “I’m kidding. I’m a girl. Not proud of it, but then again, I had no choice. It’s the way the good Lord made me.”

  Nick stepped from behind his friend blocking the way, and reached for her hand. “And I for one am glad he did—make you a girl that is. May I say, he did an outstanding job.”

  Charly, clearly bewildered, watched as the handsome man took her hand while he bent over to kiss her cheek. “Are you for real?”

  Miguel brushed him aside before another word could be said, and he cradled both her cheeks as he kissed first one side and then the other, and then the first once more. Astonished, Charly just stood with her mouth open.

  “Charlie, mi Amor, I’m Miguel, Sheri’s husband. I can’t tell you how pleased I am that we’ve finally met.”

  Charly seemed stunned as he beamed at her. Her eyes widened and he watched as she caught her breath before a smile finally lit up her pretty face. He asked, “Where were you going?”

  “Where? What?”

  “You’re obviously going somewhere with Rafael and Carrie-Anne?” Miguel leaned down and caressed both faces of the twins who’d been clamoring for his attention since they first spied him in the hallway. “Dadada” rose in volume until he gave them his attention.

  First a grimace and then a head shake seemed to clear the cobwebs from Charly. “Sheri has coerced me into taking Rafael and Carrie-Anne to some party so your mother can show them off like little trained monkeys.” Her smile took the sting out of her words.

  Her silly face towards the babies made them snicker and react by making similar faces. “In case you’re interested, your wife is adding a box of tissues to her suitcase, heading for the airport and will be on the plane for the states tonight.” With her finger in front of her mouth, she added. “Not that I said anything. I’m not a squealer. I just thought you might be interested.”

  He knew she watched closely to see his reaction.

  “She won’t be going anywhere, I promise you.”

  Satisfaction appeared as he let her see his determination.

  “By the way, I sent you a wonderfully happy, glowing girl and you’ve managed to change her into a pale skinny likeness. If you don’t do something to bring the glow back, you’ll have screwed up the best thing that ever happened to you. And, another thing, and this is important so listen closely; Sheri doesn’t lie and never on purpose. You remember that.”

  “But of course. And Charlie, thank you.” He watched his message being received and her nod let him know she understood. “Now Nick will escort you and the babies to the party, where he will do everything in his power to make you comfortable. Won’t you my friend?”

  “You have my word.” The two men stared at each other, one with a warning and the other with mutual understanding. A threat had been issued and accepted. Hands off!

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Miguel’s feet hardly touched the floor as he floated down the hallway. As soon as he got out of range of the others, he sprang up and punched his fists in the air. God, he felt great! Charly was a pretty little señorita. Not a man, or a threat, just a friend. Exactly the way Sheri had always treated her. He held his hands against his knees and leaned over. Blood had rushed to his head making him a bit woozy.

  He had to think. When did he first decide that Charly had male equipment and threatened his chances with Sheri? He couldn’t remember a time he hadn’t thought that way. Specifically, he remembered a good-looking man running up the stairs at her apartment at the same time she’d expected Charly to come to her rescue. It was that person who had haunted him. Now he prayed that once he explained the mix-up to Sheri, she’d forgive him for his recent treatment. Give him another chance to be the husband and father he yearned to be. God, please!

  He’d promise never to be jealous again. His trust had taken a beating from Margarita, he knew that, but still, he had no excuse for not trusting his wife. No wonder she always seemed to be holding back, she must have been picking up on his sensitive crap. Poor girl! He’d given her such grief lately.

  First, he rubbed his hands back and forth on the legs of his designer slacks and then scraped them through his hair. He took a deep breath and straightened his shoulders. No matter what it took, groveling, whining even bribing, he would do it. Anything to keep her and the twins here in Chile and in his life. God knew, without them, he’d be a rotting empty shell of a sad, lonely man.

  The door to their suite stood open. He didn’t see her in their living room area. The place had been tidied as usual, Sheri being a neatnik. Her jacket lay over the arm of the leather sofa with her laptop carrier and purse nearby. Noises could be heard from the bedroom, so he slunk towards that doorway. Movement to his left had him glance in the mirror to see her whereabouts.

  She sat on one of the two easy chairs in the room that matched the gold bedcovers and drapes. From her posture, it looked as if she’d collapsed, as if her body couldn’t hold itself up any longer. Her legs were splayed open and her arms were wrapped around her head, a picture of total despair. Worse yet were the animal noises coming from inside her.

  All of a sudden, she stiffened and looked up. How she knew he stood there, behind his barrier, he’d never know, but she looked straight towards where he lingered.

  * * *

  Somehow, Sheri knew he’d come. Almost as if she’d been waiting for him, for her final disgrace. She’d lingered rather than leave for the airport to make a clean getaway. It was time to pay the piper, admit her disgusting behavior, and make it easier for him to get on with his life. She mopped her face with the handful of crumpled damp tissues, hoping to clean away most of the tears.

  “Miguel, I’m glad you got here in time. Now I can tell you in words what took me so long to write. She pointed at the letters she’d prepared for Charly to take with her to the party. Seeing them made her remember her friend. “Where’s Charly and—?”

  “They’ve left with Nick. Do not worry; he’ll take them to the party.”

  “Oh, good. I promised your mother that she could show off her grandbabies to the family tonight, and I’d never want to disappoint her.”

  “Only me.”

  Her puzzled expression made him explain. “You won’t upset my mother, but you’d leave me a broken man? It doesn’t seem fair, mi amor.”

  As Sheri stared in to his eyes, Miguel worshipping gaze astounded her. “Wh- what’s happened? What are you saying? I don’t understand.” She shot to her feet, and waved her hands as if brushing away the beginnings of new hope.

  “You’re leaving me.” The silky texture heard in his words added a stronger emphasis than a scream. “You’d break my heart?”

  She rushed towards him, her hands out in front, entreating. “You don’t understand Miguel. I’m not taking the twins. I’m leaving them here with you. I couldn’t take them away when I know how much they mean to you—how much you love them.”

  He grasped her hands in his and pulled her towards him, ignoring her resistance. But she held firm. Before he could wrap his arms around her, she pushed her hands against his chest, and stopped him in his tracks.

  He gave up and instead, he brushed his palm against the side of her face, his fingers gently rubbing at the puffiness around her eyes. “For the first time since I’ve known you, your eyes are b
lack. And full of pain. You would leave your beautiful babies with me? You must care for me a lot.”

  “It’s not that, Miguel. I have something to tell you and… No do not stop me. Not this time.” She moved back from his hands and shoved them away when they tried to follow her. “Let me tell you. I’m ashamed about not admitting this to you for so long that it’s made me sick…sick of myself and the hypocrisy.”

  “It cannot be that bad, Sheri. Just tell me, and then we can move on.”

  “Okay, but don’t interrupt. A few days after we were married, you might remember that I had an appointment with Philip Knowles, Felipe’s partner at the fertility clinic.” Her hands never stopped opening and closing, clenching and unclenching. Bile rose in her throat and had to be swallowed. Knowing he’d be disgusted with her almost made her stop. Almost. Except she couldn’t live another day hoarding the secret that she knew would bring the man she loved such joy.

  He nodded, closed his lips firmly and then gently clasped her hands in his.

  Sheri shut her eyes and took a huge lungful of air. In seconds, the words poured out. “That day Philip explained to me that there had been a horrible mix-up in the samples of semen they’d used to impregnate me. A new, incompetent assistant had mixed up the test tubes and the sperm they used wasn’t Felipe’s.”

  “That cannot be. The twins are Rivera babies. Rafael is the spitting image of—”

  “Miguel, they had destroyed Felipe’s deposit instead of yours. They used your sperm. Rafael and Carrie-Anne are your babies, your blood, and they are true Riveras.”

  His face lost all color as he dropped her hands, stumbled backwards and collapsed on the bed. He stared at her; his wide grey eyes darkened to black and full of shock. Thoughts clearly flashed across his features as he processed the information she’d just shared. She could see when the truth finally dawned, when happiness flooded away any possible resentment.

  “I’m their Papá? Me? I have children?” Gray eyes swimming in tears searched her face for confirmation.

  “Yes, my darling. They are yours—yours and mine.” She knelt in front of him, between his knees. The emotion on his face, the joy made her smile. “You’re happy. I’m so glad.”

  Laser-like, his stare didn’t waver. “You’ve told me this, even though you know for certain now that I’d never give them up?”

  “Yes. Even then. I’d already decided that I couldn’t take them away from you. I guess it’ll be me making trips back and forth to stay in their lives, and I accept that, can live with it, as long as they’re happy.”

  His fingers threaded through her hair and then played with the wisps around her face. He seemed to ponder before he spoke. “You’re a wonderful mother, Sheri. Rafael and Carrie-Anne love you, and without you near they would be very unhappy. You know, I had a premonition that tonight you would be leaving me. I rushed to tell you that you have my blessings. You’ve been so miserable lately that I can’t make you stay where you don’t want to stay, or live with a man you can’t love. So, if you have to leave, then as long as you let me provide for their care, they may return with you.

  “Are you crazy? I’m not leaving you because I don’t love you. I’m leaving because you still love Margarita.”

  “What?! It’s you who are loco, querida. I hate that bitch. It was the happiest day in my life when I appeared at her trial and knew my testimony put her away for a good long time.”

  “Wait. Hold it.” Flummoxed, Sheri sat back on her heels. Thoughts rampaged through her mind and none settled long enough for her to snatch. Nothing made sense. If he didn’t still care for Margarita, why had he turned away from her and their bedroom?

  Despair had been eating away at him for weeks, originating from the day of their wedding. To the point where she’d been willing to do anything to make him smile again. She looked up and watched different expressions fight each other for dominance on his face. Then bewildered, she watched as embarrassment took over, he blushed, his cheeks reddened and he looked everywhere but at her.

  Finally he spoke. “I thought Charly was a man, and that you loved him. Every time you talked together, you said things that drove me crazy. Sweet, loving things, and they ate away at me until I couldn’t stand it anymore. Then the day of our second wedding ceremony, Mamacita gave me hell for not making sure Charlie would be here to celebrate with you. She gave me your laptop and made me promise to write Charlie and apologize for not making special arrangements to bring her over. When I opened the last e-mail she’d sent to you, there was a message from you still attached. A message that clearly said that you couldn’t stand lying to me anymore and that you needed help to get away.”

  “Oh, Miguel. You didn’t you look at the date on the e-mail. I wrote that to Charly right after I arrived here…within the first few hours. We hadn’t even made love yet. Charly’s always so busy she just grabs any old e-mail and answers it without caring if it was the last one or not. It drives me crazy, but she’s my best friend and I love her dearly.” Sheri didn’t know what more to say.

  “Darling girl, at no time did anyone in my presence refer to Charly as a she, a her, a woman. What else was I to think with a name like that?”

  “But, Miguel? I must have. Not at any time was I aware that you believed her to be a man.”

  “Because silly ass that I am, I didn’t stick around long enough for you to talk about her. I suppose I was too jealous.”

  “So, it was the e-mail I wrote that made you change, stopped you from coming to me?”

  “You’re smiling. I can see you. So don’t think your fingers are hiding it.”

  He reached up to pull her hands away from where they’d tried to cover her chuckles “I’m an idiot, I know that now, loco, dumber than concrete. Just think of it? All this time wasted and all the pain… But the thought that you loved another kept stopping me from coming to you.”

  “Except for one night.”

  “Yes. And I’m not proud of myself for what I did that night. I had determined that sooner or later Charly would arrive and take you away and if so, you wouldn’t be taking the babies. I mean, I could barely stand the thought of living without you in my life, but to give you all up couldn’t be borne.” He sighed and leaned back against the headboard. “So I came to bring you the adoption papers, thinking I could trick you into signing. I knew if you didn’t have the notarized signature of the legal father; the authorities in customs would never let you take the babies from the country. Therefore, I could control you and keep you here.”

  “Except you didn’t make me sign them and you had the option. I’d have done anything for you after the way you made love to me, anything.”

  “Maybe. But, how could I take advantage? You seemed to be weaker and less confrontational than usual, and I suspected you missed Charly and used me as a stand-in.” He reached again for her face and caressed her cheeks, running his fingers over her lips, back and forth, gently until she opened them. “My baser instincts took over that night and I used you roughly. I hated myself for treating you that way.”

  She kissed his searching fingers and put her hands over his to keep them near. “You took me to heaven that night. I had decided that if you weren’t going to make a move, I would. I’d go to the guest house and lay siege to your body any way I could. So I dressed to seduce and got myself in such a state of readiness, that one kiss from you and I lit up. You made me happy to be a woman that night.”

  “And sad to be mine.”

  “Yes.”

  “Sorry doesn’t say how bad I feel for the way I behaved. Doesn’t come close to telling you how disgusted I am at myself for not just talking things over with you, admitting my jealousy. We could have swept this whole mess clean with one good conversation.”

  “It’s partly my fault also. Charly kept telling me to just sit you down and explain that I didn’t know the sperm they’d used was yours until after we were married. In time, I figured out the reason you’d forced me into that ceremony was because you felt y
ou had to bring the twins to Chile for your mother’s sake. But I couldn’t let you know the truth about your paternity because I was frightened that you’d take them away. Back then, you were pretty unapproachable. I felt like a - a leaf fighting against a tornado.” She laid her head over his knee and sighed. “How could two seemingly educated, modern people mess up so badly?”

  Miguel leaned over her and hugged her tiny frame. “I don’t know.” He became still and speaking in a low voice that had her straining to hear, he said. “Don’t ever leave me. There’s no meaning to anything without you.”

  The swelling tenderness that swept over her took her by surprise. She’d had similar feelings for the twins, but had always thought it was the emotional tie between mother and child. Never before had she experienced such a deep attachment with an adult. His spirit seeped inside of her, twined around her heart and settled.

  “The thought of leaving you proved to be the hardest thing I’ve ever imagined. Now that I know you want me, I’m afraid you’ll have me around forever.” She looked into his eyes so he could read her truth.

  “That suits me just fine.” Luminosity lit the grey in his eyes to where Sheri felt like she could sink into their unending depths.

  Soon, his kisses rained over Sheri’s face confusing her. There’s more I have to tell him, more…

  “Come, Querida, we have some making up to do.” He lifted her in his arms and lowered her gently to stand in front of him. He kissed her deeply, his tongue sweeping inside her mouth and playfully engaging hers. All the while his hands worked at undoing her clothing, piece by piece.

  She helped by twisting and turning to give him better access to buttons and zippers. At the same time, she pulled off his jacket and started to unbutton his shirt. Once his chest became naked, she forgot what she’d been doing. The silky black hair decorating his muscles drew her like a magnet. She loved running her fingers through the soft strands, and when he arced toward her hands like a contended cat, she knew by his moans that this pleased her lover.