She concentrated on whisking the marinade, then placed it on a shelf in the refrigerator. Removing a platter with two cleaned and filleted trout, she lightly salted them, added freshly ground pepper, wrapped two slices of bacon around each fish and tucked bay leaves inside the fold close to the skin of the fish.
Sheldon entered the kitchen as Renee was putting the finishing touches on the meal.
Renee took several steps, stopping inches from the man whom she had fallen in love with and rested her head over his heart. It was pounding a runaway rhythm. “Talk to me, Sheldon.”
Reaching out and pulling her to his body, he rocked her gently. “I love you, Renee. I love you, yet I’m afraid of losing you.”
Tilting her chin, she saw pain in his eyes before he shuttered his gaze. “Why on earth would you lose me?” she whispered. “I plan to be around for a long time.”
He released her shoulders, cradling her face between his hands. “I want you in my life not for a few months or for a few years, but for always. I know I can be a good father to your baby, but I doubt whether I can be a good husband to you.”
“Why, Sheldon?”
Lowering his head, he pressed his mouth to her ear, telling Renee about Julia, her illness and his selfish pursuit to make horse-racing history.
“I saw her grow weaker and weaker, but whenever I asked if she was all right she reassured me she was okay. And like a fool I believed her.”
“It’s not as if you didn’t ask her, darling. She just chose not to tell you the truth.”
“I should’ve insisted.”
Renee shook her head. “That wouldn’t have changed a thing. Not when you live with someone who chooses to conceal the truth.”
Sheldon pulled himself from his past and back to the present. Not when you live with someone who chooses to conceal the truth.
Julia had deceived him, and Donald had deceived Renee. The difference was Julia was gone and Renee was here. He should ask her to marry him and claim her child as his own.
But could he risk it?
“Yes,” he said softly.
Renee stared at Sheldon. “Yes, what?”
He blinked as if coming out of a trance. “Do you love me, Renee?”
A flicker of apprehension coursed through her. Was Sheldon losing his mind? “What’s going on with you?”
“Do you love me, Renee Wilson?” He’d enunciated each word as if she were hard of hearing.
Her lids fluttered wildly, keeping time with her runaway pulse. “Yes, I do, Sheldon Blackstone. I do love you.”
“Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?” She hesitated. “Yes or no, Renee?”
“Yes.”
“And will you also permit me the honor to be a father to your daughter?”
As their gazes met, Renee felt a shock run through her. Sheldon was offering her what she had wanted all of her life: a man she could love and trust, a man who would protect her and her baby.
She bit down on her lower lip to still its trembling. “Yes, Sheldon.” A delicious shudder heated her body when he dipped his head and kissed her. “Will this arrangement be strictly business?” she whispered against his mouth.
Lines fanned out around his incredible eyes. “Oh, it will be business, all right. I want to marry you before the end of year, turn one of the upstairs bedrooms into a nursery, then when Virginia, Sonya or Hannah Blackstone is at least six months old we’re going to go on a belated honeymoon to somewhere exotic and make mad, passionate love to each other.”
Giggling and snuggling as close as her belly would allow her, Renee curved her arms under his shoulders. “We don’t have to go away to make mad, passionate love to each other.”
Sheldon placed a hand over her middle. “Just once I’d like to make love to you without our daughter coming between us.”
“Three months, then another six weeks. It’s not that far off.”
“You’re right. I think I’m going to like having a daughter.”
“I’m sure she’s going to love having you for her father.”
His hands moving up and down her back in a soothing motion, Sheldon rested his chin on the top of Renee’s head. “I’m going to tell you now that I’m going to spoil her, Renee.”
“That’s okay as long as she doesn’t become a brat.”
“Let’s have dinner, then we’ll call Jeremy and Ryan and let them in on our good news. After that we’ll call your folks.”
“I think I’d like to have a Christmas Eve wedding.”
“And you will, princess. You can have any and everything you want.”
Renee knew there was something special about Sheldon Blackstone the instant she stepped out of her car to find him staring down at her. So special that she fell in love with him despite her vow never to trust another man.
Christmas Eve
White damask tablecloths, delicate china, crystal stemware, sterling silver, beeswax tapers in sterling holders and large pine wreaths decorated with white satin bows and white rosebuds at Blackstone Farms’ dining hall set the stage for the nuptials between Renee Anna Wilson and Sheldon James Blackstone.
Rumors were circulating throughout Virginia’s horse country that there was to be a wedding at Blackstone Farms, and for the first time in farm history no one deigned to confirm or deny the rumor.
Sheldon had selected Jeremy as his best man, Ryan and Sean as his groomsmen. Renee had asked her brother to give her away, her sister-in-law had agreed to be her maid-of-honor and Kelly and Tricia were her bridesmaids.
The farms’ employees began filing into the dining hall at seven forty-five, sitting at assigned tables. A string quartet played Mozart concertos, then at exactly eight o’clock, the lights dimmed. Jeremy and Sheldon, dressed in formalwear, entered the dining hall. An eerie hush fell over the room as groomsmen with burgundy silk ties and bridesmaids in floor-length matching gowns followed the procession.
The distinctive strains of the wedding march began and Renee, clinging to her brother’s arm, concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other as she made her way over the white carpet leading to where Sheldon waited in front of the stained-glass window. Her dress, an off-white, long-sleeved satin gown with an empire waist, was designed to artfully camouflage her swollen belly. She looked at her mother and smiled.
Edward Wilson tightened his hold on his sister’s hand. “We’re almost there, Rennie.”
Edward had contacted Donald Rush after Renee informed him that she was marrying Sheldon, and told him that his sister had married. Donald offered his best wishes for her happiness, then abruptly hung up. The telephone call had closed the door on Renee and Donald’s past.
Renee let out a soft gasp as she felt a strong kick. Her baby had awakened in time to celebrate her parents’ wedding. She focused her attention on the Reverend Jimmy Merrell, who waited to perform his first wedding as the farm’s resident minister.
After midnight, when Renee lay in the warmth of her husband’s embrace, she recalled her wedding and the reception dinner that followed. The resident chefs had outdone themselves with a reception that included passed hors d’oeuvres, seafood, carving and Asian stations. A seated dinner menu offered soup, salad, blue lump crab cakes and entrées of rib-eye steak and free-range chicken breast.
Shifting to her right side, she placed her left hand over her husband’s chest, the light from a table lamp glinting off the precious stones in her wedding band.
Sheldon squeezed the tiny hand, whispering a silent prayer of thanksgiving for his wife and the child kicking in her womb. He had been given a second chance to be a good husband. This time he was certain he would get it right.
“Do you want to know something, Sheldon?”
“What, darling?”
“I just realized how lucky I am.”
“Why?”
“I get to have a sleepover with my best friend every single night.”
Chuckling softly, Sheldon kissed her forehead. “Merry Christmas, princess.”
Renee kissed his shoulder. “Merry Christmas, my love.”
This Christmas they would celebrate as husband and wife.
The next one would be as husband, wife, mother and father.
Epilogue
Eighteen months later
The photographer checked his light meter, then changed the lens on his camera.
“Renee, please move closer to your husband. Jeremy, you’re going to have to hold two of your daughters.”
The Blackstones had gathered in Renee and Sheldon’s living room for a formal family photo session. In only a year and a half the family had increased by five.
Renee had given birth to a daughter whom she’d named Virginia.
Tricia and Jeremy had become the parents of identical triplet daughters who were feminine miniatures of their father.
Ryan and Kelly had welcomed their third child, a son, who was named for his grandfather, Sheldon James Blackstone the second.
Virginia squirmed to free herself from Renee’s arms. “Poppa.”
Sheldon reached over and took his daughter, bouncing her on his knee. The chubby little girl had become his pride and joy from the moment she came into the world, crying at the top of her tiny lungs. He’d kissed her, cut the umbilical cord and had claimed her as his own within seconds of her birth. Virginia may have looked like her mother, but there was no doubt she was his daughter.
“Let’s do this now,” Sheldon ordered the photographer.
The man held up a hand. “One, two, three. Hold it.” A flash of light went off, startling the children. They’d barely recovered when another flash followed. This time they laughed, trying to catch the tiny white circles floating in front of their eyes.
The photographer got off one more shot, capturing the lively smiles and bright-eyed stares of the next generation of Virginia Blackstones.
* * * * *
A YOUNGER MAN
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Epilogue
Chapter One
“Do you need help?”
Veronica Johnson-Hamlin stared at the large man sitting astride a motorcycle. He removed a black shiny helmet, tucking it under one arm. “No, thanks. I’ve already called road service.” Raising her right hand, she showed him her cellular telephone.
“How long have you been waiting?”
“Not too long.”
“How long is not too long?”
She glanced at her watch. “About twenty minutes.”
Kumi shook his head. “That’s a long time to be stranded here.”
His protective instincts had surfaced without warning. She was a lone female, stuck along a stretch of road that was not heavily trafficked, in an expensive vehicle.
Swinging a denim-covered leg over the bike, he pushed it off the road, propping it against a tree. Looping the strap of his helmet over one of the handlebars, he made his way around to the back of the Lexus SUV, peering into the cargo area before returning to the driver’s side again.
“Do you have a jack and a spare?”
Vertical lines appeared between Veronica’s large clear brown eyes. “I told you that I’ve called for road service.”
Kumi moved closer, staring directly at her for the first time. He hadn’t realized he was holding his breath until he felt tightness in his chest. The woman staring back at him had the most delicately feminine features he’d ever seen. A slender face claimed a pair of high cheekbones that afforded her an exotic appearance. Her slanting eyes, a light brown with flecks of amber-gold, were clear—clear enough for him to see his own reflection in their mysterious depths, and they were the perfect foil for her flawless umber-brown skin. Her nose was short, the bridge straight, the nostrils flaring slightly as she pressed her full, generously curved lips together. He wasn’t able to discern the color or texture of the hair concealed under a navy blue cotton bandana. His gaze slipped lower to a white man-tailored shirt she’d tucked into a pair of jeans.
“Do you have any perishable items in the back?” he asked, gesturing with his thumb.
Veronica’s eyelids fluttered. There was no doubt some of her frozen purchases had begun defrosting when she’d turned off the engine. She forced a smile. “They should keep until the service station sends someone.”
Kumi rested his hand on the door. “Look, miss, I’m just trying to help you. You’re stuck here in a very expensive truck. I’d hate to read about someone coming along and jacking you for your ride. And you’d be lucky if they only took your vehicle.”
She registered his warning as she studied his face—feature by feature. His black hair was cropped close to his scalp, and she suspected the stubble covering his perfectly shaped head was new growth from what recently had been a shaved dark brown pate. He had a strong face with prominent cheekbones, a bold nose and a lush full mouth. She couldn’t see his eyes behind his mirrored sunglasses, but she still felt their intense heat. He was tall, no doubt several inches above six feet, and built like a professional athlete. She estimated that he was somewhere in his midthirties. Her gaze lowered to his powerful arms. There was a small tattoo on the left bicep, but she couldn’t quite make out the design.
“What’s it going to be, miss? Do you want to wait here by yourself, or do you want me to fix your flat?”
Veronica took another glance at her watch. It was at least half an hour since she’d dialed the number to her automobile club. Reaching over, she removed the key.
“I have a spare and a jack in the cargo area.”
Kumi took the key from her outstretched fingers. By the time he’d rounded the truck and opened the rear door, she’d stepped out and stood alongside the Harley.
He glanced over at her, silently admiring the way her jeans clung to her curvy waist and hips. She wasn’t tall, but then she couldn’t be called short, either. There was a mature lushness about her body that epitomized her femininity. His sensitive nose caught a whiff of the perfume on her body and clothing and a muscle quivered in his jaw. The fragrance was perfect for her, reminding him of an overripe lush peach bursting with thick, sweet juice.
Moving several bags, he found the jack and spare tire. He bounced the tire on the asphalt, making certain it was inflated. Working quickly, Kumi removed the flat, replacing it with the spare. His biceps bulged under his suntanned skin as he tightened lug nuts. It had taken him less than fifteen minutes to change the tire and store the flat behind the front seats.
“I suggest you get this one repaired as soon as possible, because it’s not safe to ride around without a spare.”
Veronica nodded at the same time she reached into the front pocket of her jeans. She withdrew two twenties. “Thank you for your help.”
He stared at the money as if it were a venomous reptile. “I don’t want that.”
“It’s the least I can do,” she countered.
Turning on his heel, Kumi walked over to his bike and swung a leg over it. “I didn’t help you because I expected to be paid.”
A flush swept over her face. “If you won’t take any money, then how can I repay you?”
Behind his sunglasses, his gaze moved leisurely over her body
. He smiled for the first time and displayed large, straight and startling white teeth. “How about a home-cooked meal?”
Veronica’s jaw dropped at the same time her eyes narrowed. “What?”
His smile widened. “I’ve been out of the country for ten years, and what I’ve missed most is a home-cooked Southern meal.”
She arched dark eyebrows. “What if I can’t cook?”
It was his turn to lift his eyebrows. “You sure bought a lot of food for someone who can’t cook.”
She smiled, her eyes crinkling attractively. Veronica didn’t know why, but there was something quite charming about the young man sitting on the Harley. He had gone out of his way to help her. If he hadn’t come along, she still would be waiting for road service.
He angled his head. “Well?”
“Well what?” The two words were layered with a thread of annoyance.
“Are you going to fix that meal?”
What Veronica wanted to do was jump in her truck, drive away and leave him sitting on his bike watching her taillights.
“What do you want?”
His gaze shifted to her Georgia license plate. “Surprise me, Miss Georgia Peach.”
“What if I met you at a restaurant?”
Kumi wagged a finger. “No fair. I want home-cooked.”
Her temper flared without warning. “If you think I’m going to invite you—a stranger to my home—then you’re crazy.”
Folding massive arms over a broad chest, he glared at her behind the lenses of his sunglasses. “What do you think I’m going to do to you? Rape you? If I was going to assault you I would’ve done that already.”
Heat stole into her cheeks. “Don’t put words in my mouth! I didn’t say anything about rape.”
“Speaking of mouths—I still want a home-cooked meal.”
Folding her hands on her hips, Veronica glared back at him. “Do you ride around looking for hapless women to rescue in exchange for food?”
The Blackstone Promise Page 13
