“It’s really none of your business.” Samantha put the toy down and turned to walk away.
“Let me guess.” Vanessa blocked her exit, leaving Samantha between a bookcase full of baby paraphernalia and a venomous snake. “Before Blake’s birthday?”
Easy guess. Not that it mattered. “Are you so envious, Vanessa? So jaded that Blake didn’t marry you?”
Vanessa tossed her head back with a laugh. “Oh, please. That manipulating bastard. It’s easier to see his true nature when you’re not close to him. Too bad you didn’t notice before,” Vanessa let her voice drift off as her eyes settled to Samantha’s stomach.
Sam placed a hand over her waist as if protecting her child from the woman’s stare.
“Blake is one of the most caring people I’ve known.”
“Blake cares only for himself. I wonder though, did he ask you to have his baby, or did he ‘accidently’ forget to cover up one night?” Vanessa used her fingers in air quotes.
Their conversation was toppling off weird and plunging toward bizarre. “I don’t have time for you, Vanessa. If you’ll excuse me.”
Samantha edged away but Vanessa grasped onto her arm.
“My God, you really have no idea, do you?”
Sam tugged her arm, but the other woman didn’t let go. A strange wave of panic hit her. Much like the feeling a dog must get before an earthquake happens, everything in Samantha went silent.
“You know Blake needs an heir for his inheritance, don’t you?”
What?
Vanessa’s smile lifted high on her face and her hand drifted back to her side. “Poor girl. How did he do it I wonder? Did he hide your pills? Or poke holes in the condoms?”
Sam’s jaw started to ache. She held so tight to her control she felt the muscles in her neck ready to snap. What the hell was Vanessa talking about?
Then the words of Parker returned to her ears. I see you’ve secured all your father’s requests.
Not giving Vanessa anything more, Samantha turned on her heel and fled the store.
The furnace heat of New York plastered her hair to her head as she put distance between herself and the viper.
Blake needs an heir for his inheritance. The words echoed inside her brain. Could they be true? If they were, it made sense as to why Blake was so accepting of the one thing Samantha knew he didn’t want from his temporary marriage. No wonder he hadn’t flipped a fuse when she’d announced her pregnancy. Hadn’t so much as shrugged a shoulder. Had he even been surprised?
No, she didn’t think so now that she thought about it.
It wasn’t as if he needed more promises to her because of the baby. Not really.
He’d offered to be a good dad, be there for the baby anyway.
Refusing to let emotion completely control her mind, Samantha hailed a cab and worked her way uptown to the condominium Blake owned on the east coast.
She’d visited there twice now, both on trips back and forth to Europe. It was just after noon when she made her way into the cool air of the guarded door of the building.
Keeping her sunglasses on and avoiding any looks of concern, Samantha waved at the doorman and made it to the bank of elevators.
Unlike their Malibu home, here there weren’t maids or cooks to contend with.
Tossing the forgotten bags on the sofa, Samantha turned on the laptop in the extra room Blake used as an office. She needed to find a few facts out before confronting Blake about what Vanessa had said.
The birth rate of people using condoms had bugged her from the beginning. Responsible men like Blake used condoms their entire adult lives and managed to avoid the title of Daddy. So what had changed? Why with her?
As her fingers clicked away on the keyboard, she pulled up several health and wellness sites about condoms, their use, their effectiveness. It wasn’t until she found a website titled, why do condoms fail, that she held any hope to find anything useful.
Typical information was spouted off. Breaking condoms, but that hadn’t happened. Not that Samantha had noticed in any event. There was a discussion of women interviewed who ended up in the two percent category. On several occasions they confessed to improper use, breaks, expired latex.
Even then, she and Blake had had sex for only a month before she found herself pregnant. It was as if they hadn’t used any protection at all.
How could a man ensure a woman’s pregnancy?
Even in the heat of desire, they’d been responsible.
Samantha pushed away from the desk and worked her way into their bedroom. They’d used the room en route to their reception, so it stood to reason that the box of condoms they’d pulled from would still be in the bedside table.
It was.
Samantha glanced at the expiration date, which was still several months out. The box was nearly empty. She took the box into the bathroom and pulled one of the foil packets out. Careful not to cause any damage, she opened the packet and removed the contents. It didn’t look damaged.
On instinct, she pressed its edges to the faucet on the sink and turned on the water. At first, nothing happened.
But as she turned off the water, and watched the tip of the condom, a small drop started to leak from the tip.
Samantha’s heart fell deep inside her chest as she watched a steady drip, drip, drip of leaking fluid exit the condom.
Her lip trembled and her hands started to shake. The rubber dropped to the sink and Samantha removed another one. The same thing happened.
Unable to believe her eyes, or what her mind was screaming, Samantha removed yet a third condom from the package, and returned to the room. She turned off the overhead lights, placed the foiled packet over a single bulb from a lamp, and turned it on.
A single miniscule beam of light fled the plastic like a beacon.
In all their honesty, all their talk of being open, Blake had executed his need for an heir and manipulated her into thinking it was no more than an accident.
Everything inside her screamed. How could she have been so naive? So gullible? Tears streamed down her face as she cleaned up the condoms, tucking them into the far side of the trash to go unnoticed.
She pocketed one condom in her purse and left two more in the box by the bedside.
There was nothing Samantha hated more than to be used as a pawn for another person’s needs.
How could the man she’d fallen in love with do this to her?
How was she going to survive without him?
****
“Samantha’s pregnant,” Blake told Jeff in the privacy of the lawyer’s office.
“So the tabloids spoke the truth for once.” Jeff waved a royalty rag under his nose and tossed it on the desk.
Blake hadn’t seen the coverage, but only glanced at the telling title. “Duke to Daddy” topped the page.
“I just thought you should hear it from me instead of assuming anything. Things should go smoothly after my birthday next year.”
“I’ll ask Parker’s man to send the necessary papers the week of your birth, and we’ll have everything hammered out in a few short weeks after.” Jeff sat back and smiled. “I can’t believe you did it.”
“Did what?” Blake placed a ankle over his knee as they spoke.
“Talked her into getting pregnant. What did you offer? Ten more million?”
Blake’s skin crawled with Jeff’s words. “It wasn’t like that. Fate simply lent a hand.”
“Really?”
“Accidental pregnancies happen all the time.”
“So the women badgering my clients for child support say. In my experience, accidents are made.”
Blake supposed he saw that comment coming. “You forget that I’m the one benefiting from this baby, even more than Samantha. I’m positive she’s done nothing unsavory.”
Jeff leaned forward in his chair. “You’re sure?”
“Positive.”
Jeff’s hand reached over the table. “My congratulations.”
Afte
r shaking the man’s hand, he went on to more pressing matters. “About the cameras in Samantha’s home, did we find anything?”
Jeff opened a few papers on his desk and spread them out. “As you know, Vanessa confronted Samantha, but when we followed her we didn’t see her return or come in contact with any private investigator. Our own PI snapped a few pictures, but the men and women she’s with here all pan out to be business men like yourself or professionals like me.”
Blake noticed the familiar image of Vanessa, dark sunglasses and porcelain features as she sipped coffee or spoke on her phone. One image caught in his mind as more than familiar. Vanessa spoke to a woman he’d seen before, but couldn’t quite place. “Do you know who this is?”
“A law student… or was it legal secretary?” Jeff asked himself. “Secretary I believe.”
Blake’s mind shifted over the rest of the photos.
Only the one struck him as strange.
“We think the clean up man with the cameras was paid to ditch them. He never led us anywhere but to a trashcan. We can’t find anything linking Parker or your cousin to the States. It’s like a huge dead end, or dump as they say.”
Blake supposed it didn’t matter at this point, but he still wanted to nail whoever invaded Samantha’s privacy.
“Keep working on it.” Some might think a lawyer was used only for legal representation, but in his life, help begot help. And Jeff knew people who could keep a watchful eye on anyone and anything.
“I will.”
Blake grasped onto the picture of Vanessa and the secretary. Until he could name the woman in the photo, he’d keep looking at it.
****
There was no greater impact than seeing a set of bags packed and on a doorstep to know a problem was erupting. Or at least Samantha hoped.
Blake had lied to her. Instead of coming to her with a problem they could have possibly found a solution for, he’d manipulated the situation to produce an outcome to suit his needs. Memories of her father’s arrest, of the feelings Dan provoked with his deceit surfaced.
Blake knew her secrets, her insecurities, and played on them to get what he needed.
Yes, together they’d embarked on this deal with the devil. Marry to suit the needs of a dead man and both leave in the end richer. But that had changed as their attraction grew, as a child had been conceived.
Samantha grasped her belly that had just started to stretch beyond the limits of her jeans. She held in her hand a glass of wine she’d only sipped once. Stomaching more wasn’t an option. For as much as she wanted to hurt Blake, she wanted nothing to do with harming her child.
Damn him. Damn him for making her love him, trust him, and then blowing that all to hell.
The key in the lock twisted and Samantha set her gaze on the bags sitting by the door and lifted the glass of wine in her hand. Perhaps she should have been an actress. Blake had certainly missed his calling.
Two steps into the room and out of the corner of her eye, she noted Blake’s hesitation. “Samantha?”
She’d thought of what to say all afternoon. The image of her running, not saying a thing to his face and leaving him with the knowledge that she’d simply left held some merit. But in the end, she couldn’t leave without a final word of disapproval.
“When were you going to tell me?” she said as he inched into the room as if walking around a minefield full of bombs ready to explode.
“Tell you what?”
“You spent time at your lawyer’s today; surely you spoke of the will.”
Blake held still.
Samantha slowly moved her head in his direction but she took a considerable amount of time before leveling her eyes to his. When she did, she noted how he glanced between the wine glass in her hand to her face. Even now, she thought, he considered their child before her. For effect, she brought the beverage to her lips, pretended to drink, and then lowered the glass.
“What’s going on, Samantha?” His gaze shot to the bags she’d packed so she could make a somewhat graceful exit.
“I thought we were going to be honest with each other. What happened to that, Blake?”
“Sam, what are you talking about?”
Unable to sit, she stood and placed the wine on the table, nearly spilling it. To Blake, she probably looked as if she’d been drinking too much. Just as well, she thought. “Your father’s will. What did it really say? Or did you think I’d never find out?”
Blake’s eyes grew wide, his lips fell in a tight line.
His expression said all she needed to know.
Guilt… maybe a little remorse. But for what? Remorse over being caught in a lie?
“I didn’t think it was important.”
“You didn’t think telling me your father mandated an heir was important for me to know?”
Blake shut his eyes, accepting her words.
And that said everything.
Killing the tears before they had a chance to fall, Samantha squared her shoulders and stormed toward her duke. “Honesty was what defined us. But you couldn’t trust me with that, could you?”
Blake opened his eyes and watched her approach. “I didn’t want to burden you with details.”
Her jaw dropped in a sarcastic laugh. “Burden me? God, you actually believe yourself. You’re no better than your father. You tell everyone around you how it’s going to be, force your ways on others, and they fall into step.”
He reached out, but Samantha sidestepped away from his hands. “Don’t touch me. Those days are over.”
“Samantha, please, I know this seems—“
“I know this is, Blake. You lied to me about your father’s will.”
“I found out about the second condition after we were married.”
Her stomach twisted. This stress couldn’t be good for the baby. She forced a big breath of air into her lungs and blew it out slowly. “That may be, but it didn’t stop you from making sure you’d win in the end, did it?”
Blake shook his head. “What are you saying? We both knew the risks when we slept together.”
“Don’t you dare. Come clean, Blake. I’ve had men bigger than you shove deceit in my face for a lot longer. I might have let my emotions get the better of me for the last several months, but I’m not a complete pushover.” She waited for his confession. His plea for her forgiveness for reducing himself to poking holes in condoms to get what he wanted.
Instead, she received a blank look.
Without another word, Samantha walked over to her bags.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m leaving. Or did the bags confuse you?”
“Jesus, Samantha, we can work this out. I should have told you about the codicil.”
“You should have told me. I would have given you everything, Blake.” Her heart broke into a thousand pieces as the next words left her mouth. “All you had to do was ask.”
Samantha turned around and walked out of Blake’s life.
She half expected him to rush after her. But then that was the romantic in her, the part of her that believed she meant something to him other than the broodmare she’d become. It didn’t matter if she left. Blake would still have his heir.
And she’d have a lifetime of regrets.
Chapter Thirteen
She walked out. Dammit, she left him with no more than one simple omission on his part.
Women are emotional creatures. Pregnant women more than most. She needed time to blow off some steam. He understood that, but she’d come back.
Yet as the minutes rolled into an hour and the one hour into two, Blake knew his omission weighed on his wife a lot more than he could imagine.
When his phone rang an hour later, he jumped to answer it.
“Samantha?”
“It’s Jeff. Sorry, I can call back if you’re expecting another call.”
The last person he needed to speak with was his lawyer. Blake swirled the triple malt scotch around in his glass before tilting the amber liq
uid back in his throat. “What is it?”
“Are you okay? You sound like shit.”
“Thanks.”
“Okay, not in the mood for chit-chat. Just thought you’d like to know that my PI saw Vanessa corner Samantha in a department store today. According to him, Vanessa seemed a little aggressive, but instead of leaving angry, Samantha left upset.”
Vanessa?
“Did your guy hear the conversation?”
“No. He doesn’t get that close. Is everything okay?”
Blake’s mind ticked. Vanessa must have known about the will… but how. So that’s how Sam found out about the will.
Then the image of the woman in the picture swam in his eyes. “Fuck… the woman…”
“What?”
“In the picture with Vanessa… Leona… no, Neo… Naomi. Naomi something. Works as a fucking secretary for Parker and Parker.” Blake slapped a hand to his forehead. “Vanessa knows the legal secretary for Parker, Jeff.”
“Your ex knows the right hand to your father’s lawyer?”
“Which means Vanessa knew all along about my father’s will.” No wonder the woman was so willing to be a duchess.
“You think she was behind the cameras in Samantha’s apartment?”
“I’d bet good money on it.”
“So what did she say to your wife?”
“Enough to make her leave.” No use sugar coating the situation. It wasn’t as if Jeff wouldn’t be one of the first to know if there were legal trouble.
“Left? What do you mean?”
“Never mind. I’ll get in touch in a few days. In the meantime, draft a letter to Parker dictating that a breach in confidentiality might render anything from his office null and void.” Dammit. He was a tyrant. No better than his dead father. Even now, in the midst of losing his wife, his child, he thought about the eventual end.
“On second thought, do nothing. No, wait… I need you to do something else.”
Blake spelled out his wishes, leaving no doubt what he wanted to happen.
An hour later, Blake found himself in front of his computer. He’d opened his browser expecting to see if Samantha had used it to find a flight to California.
Wife by Wednesday Page 16
