In The Arms of a Donovan: A Sexy BBW Billionaire Family Series Romance (The Donovans Book 13)

by A. C. Arthur

  “He wanted me to know who he was right up front, telling me his name was Dane Donovan in the very first line of his responding email. He says his father is one of you.”

  Trent’s gaze moved around the room. He turned to look at Albert, who was situated behind him, then he looked to the other end of the table where Bernard and then, his father, were standing.

  There were gasps and curses, looks of shock, and heads shaking. Bruce tried to take it all in, then he simply closed his eyes. In two sentences his nephew had taken a load off his shoulders that had rested there for far too long. There was a child, born to a woman who was not married to one of the Senior Donovans. And now that child was here to tell them that he should not be forgotten.

  “You have got to be kidding me,” Regan spoke up next. “This is all about this guy thinking he’s a Donovan.”

  “Is it true?” Savian asked, his voice laced with that icy edge that only he possessed.

  He’d asked the question of his father and Reginald had at first nodded his head.

  “Yes, this young man believes he is a Donovan,” Reggie replied.

  “If he believes it there must be a reason,” Dion said.

  “So which one of you has another child?” Linc asked as he looked directly at his father. “On the screen last night the baby’s name was Donovan Henry. Is he your son, dad?”

  The room was eerily quiet now as the Senior Donovans looked from one to the other. Henry did not speak. Beverly, lifted a hand to her shoulder and waited until her husband clasped it. There it was, the Donovan loyalty. Bruce wondered if it would survive.

  “There was a woman that I was involved with while in college,” Henry finally spoke up. “Her name is Roslyn Ausby.”

  Sean cursed.

  Parker shook his head. “Roslyn Ausby is Dane Donovan’s mother. So you got her pregnant and then what, you walked away Uncle Henry?”

  “That’s not exactly what happened,” Henry started to say.

  “Then for the love of all that’s holy, will one of you please enlighten us?” Savian said before cursing.

  “You will remain respectful, Savian,” Carolyn said to her son. “We’re all adults here and I expect everyone in this room to act accordingly. You want to know the story, then be quiet and let them tell it.”

  Savian fumed. His wife didn’t reach for his hand the way that Beverly had with Henry, she only stared down to the end of the table, waiting to hear what would come next. They all did.

  “Roslyn and I broke up before graduation,” Henry continued. “Then we were together again just before my wedding.”

  “You bastard,” Linc said. “You got another woman pregnant, what days, weeks, before marrying my mother?”

  Henry met his son’s gaze and held it. He was sorry, but he wasn’t weak. “I made a mistake. We all make mistakes.”

  “Some mistakes we shouldn’t make, dad,” Adam said. “‘If you love your woman, you cherish her. You respect and uplift her.’ That’s what you told me when I was sixteen years old. It’s what you told all of us.”

  Henry nodded as his youngest child spoke. “It’s the truth.”

  “Is it really?” Trent asked. “How much more of this truth do you need to tell us?”

  Henry cleared his throat. “I was wrong for being with Roslyn before my wedding. That is for my wife and I to work through. As for the other…for this child…I don’t know if I’m the father.”

  “How could you not know?” Trent asked.

  Tia turned in her seat now, rubbing a hand over her husband’s arm. He looked down at her but did not speak. When Trent’s gaze returned to his father it was full of heat and accusation.

  “He doesn’t know because he’s not the only one that slept with her,” Bernard said.

  “What? Wait a minute,” Parker said, shaking his head. The smile on his face was normal, but there was steel in his gray/green eyes. He was definitely not happy. “You’re about to tell us that more than one of you slept with the same woman? What kind of bullshit is that?”

  “Parker!” Carolyn admonished.

  “Let them be,” Reginald told his wife. “They have a right to be angry.”

  “But they do not have a right to be disrespectful. We’re still the elders in this room,” Beverly added.

  “Did you sleep with this woman too, dad?” Keysa asked quietly. She was holding her husband Ian’s hand, but looked directly at her father.

  Bernard, like his brother Henry, did not falter. “I’m not proud of that fact. I was drunk and she was wearing a disguise and it just happened.”

  “It just happened,” Brynne said and then chuckled. “How does something like that just happen? You get drunk and fall between your brother’s ex-girlfriend’s legs.”

  “Brynne, there’s no need to be crude,” Jocelyn, Brynne’s mother admonished.

  “This entire situation is crude and unbelievable. Do you know how long I’ve had the words ‘Donovan legacy’, ‘Donovan integrity’, and ‘Donovan loyalty’ drilled into my head? Now I get to sit here and find out that it all means nothing. Just a bunch of words repeated by a bunch of lying old men!” Brynne yelled before storming out of the room.

  “That’s not all,” Al spoke up then.

  “Sonofabitch!” Brandon cursed.

  The Senior wives looked to each other, realizing now that there was no way they could hope for a normal discussion in this instance. Their children were adults now and they were angry adults. There was nothing any of them could do about that at this point.

  Al stood, wiping a hand down his face. “Darla rushed me to the hospital that night and almost fainted when they told her they’d found traces of some Rohypnol in my blood and urine.”

  “Are you about to tell us that this woman raped you?” Bailey asked from where she sat beside him.

  “Unbelievable!” Brandon shouted again. “You all are a bunch of hypocritical bastards not only for what you did back then, but for keeping all of this from us.”

  “So was it just the three of you?” Dion asked. “Or did all of you get a piece of her?”

  Janean leaned over and smacked her son’s face. “You will not! I don’t care how angry you are, you just will not speak that way!”

  Everette spoke up at that point. “It was just the three older brothers, but we all knew. We all decided to keep it a secret when that Ausby woman made the claim about one of them fathering her baby.”

  “You all decided?” Max asked. “How could you all decide to turn your back on an innocent child? At the very least you could have taken a blood test.”

  “She was a tramp!” Bernard insisted. “Why should we be knuckled under by a slut who didn’t know who she was sleeping with from one day to the next?”

  “Because she wasn’t a stupid tramp,” Trent said. “She knew she was sleeping with a Donovan man. Three of them to be exact.”

  “So it was a set-up,” Jenise said.

  Tia was already nodding. “It had to be.”

  “What did you give her to keep quiet all this time?” Bailey asked. “Why is he coming after us now? What do they want if he’s a grown man, it can’t be child support.”

  “We paid her,” Bruce spoke up. “One time, we gave her five hundred thousand dollars.”

  The tension could be cut with a razor in the room.

  “You paid her half a million dollars when you didn’t even know if this kid belonged to either of you?” Sean asked. “Why? If she’s as promiscuous as you all say, anyone could have been the father.”

  “We couldn’t risk her going to the press,” Everette replied. “Regardless of who turned out to be the father, the Donovan name would have been dragged through the mud before paternity was established. We couldn’t risk that.”

  Ben was shaking his head. He’d been quiet all this time, but Bruce knew his nephew was reacting to everything he’d heard. Ben was a defense attorney, so this probably was not the strangest thing he’d ever heard. It was the first time he’d heard somethi
ng of this magnitude from his family.

  “She set you up, then she blackmailed you. And let me guess, you thought it was only going to be once. But it wasn’t, was it? She tried to shake you down again, didn’t she?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Henry said. “None of these details matter now. What’s most important is how we plan to deal with this from this point on.”

  “I plan to find Dane Donovan and beat some sense into him,” Trent stated coolly.

  “No!” Henry yelled. “You will not go anywhere near him.”

  All eyes fell on Henry once more. They were thinking Dane was his son. Bruce knew this because he’d thought it on more than one occasion.

  “With all due respect, dad,” Trent said the last word with as much sarcasm as Bruce suspected the rest of the children could have at this moment. “You don’t get to call the shots on this one. We know that Jaydon drove off in a truck with this guy, so he’s probably the one behind those pictures of Parker and Adriana going out. If Jaydon killed Giovanni, then she’s the cause of Savian being arrested for murder. That little video last night, it ruined not only Savian’s wedding, but Christmas for all of us. Yeah, I’m beating his ass for all of the above.”

  “And then what?” Bernard asked. “What happens after you beat him to a pulp? He’s done his homework, Trent. He knows this family. Each and every one of us. And if he knows anything about you he’s going to be expecting you to do exactly what you’re planning.”

  “Good,” Trent said. “I like a head on fight instead of this sneaking around bullshit!”

  “She wants something,” Al said. “Money again. She sent us a letter just before the family reunion. Roslyn wants us to pay her again.”

  “Absolutely not,” Jocelyn said. She looked to the other Senior wives for their agreement and received it as each of them nodded slowly. “She got one check out us, she won’t get another one.”

  “She’s right,” Beverly said. “Trent, you find Dane and get him to agree to a DNA test. Each of you will get tested as well.”

  Beverly looked at Al, then to Bernard and then turned to face her husband.

  “What if she goes to the press?” Brock asked. “Isn’t that what all this secrecy was about in the first place? What if when you order this guy to give up his DNA he tells his mother and she decides its time to spill the beans? Are you still afraid of that happening?”

  “We’re not afraid of anything, son,” Everette told him. “We were trying to protect our family, our legacy.”

  Regan stood. “Well, you’ve done a bang up job of that, don’t you think?”

  She moved quickly out of the room, Gavin right behind her.

  Reginald’s gaze followed Gavin out and Bruce knew that he was thinking of Gavin’s father, Tony Lucas, and the way he’d died. They hadn’t told the children that part of the secret, nor had they told about what Al suspected had really happened to Darla.

  “You make your own plan,” Trent said with a shake of his head. “Since you seem to think you’re good at it. As for me, I’ll handle this my way.”

  Linc reached for Jade’s hand as Tia moved to stand beside Trent. Adam followed his brothers and helped Camille out of her seat.

  “We’re going to protect our families now,” Linc told his father directly.

  They left and Bruce watched as his sons gave him and his brothers disappointed glares before leaving with their wives as well. Couple by couple the other younger Donovans left, until only the Seniors and their wives remained.

  “That didn’t go well,” Reginald said.

  “It’s not finished,” Al added.

  “No,” Beverly said before standing and looking at her husband. “It’s not.”

  Chapter 2

  April

  Somewhere on the Atlantic Ocean

  She had pretty feet.

  That’s the first thing Brandon noticed about her as he walked along the pool deck of the luxury ship. It was the second day on the seven night cruise TJB Global Investments was hosting for its executives. A huge change from the normal mountain cabin retreats they’d attended years before to help boost morale and celebrate the accomplishments of the year. Brandon welcomed this trip like a breath of fresh air.

  The last six months had been a very trying time for Brandon. On the work front, he was busier than ever. As the Director of Compliance at TJB Global, he was in charge of ensuring all hedge funds managed by TJB complied with the ever changing standards in the investment industry. Whether dealing with their clients or with banks that were restrained by the Volker Rule, Brandon’s job was to stay on top of any and all changes and to forecast the company’s liabilities before they actually cost them money. He was also in charge of creating policy that would guide the fund managers in effectively and legally representing their various clients. Since their clients were mainly institutions and individuals with significant assets, this could be a very delicate process, one which Brandon was proud to say, he was very good at it.

  On the personal front, Brandon was dealing with an even heavier load. Not only had he, his siblings and his cousins learned that their fathers had conspired to lie to all of them for years, but two months prior, Brandon found out that his father’s health was failing. His mother, Darla, died when he was twelve years old and while Brandon felt blessed to have had his father longer, he wasn’t ready to lose him just yet. Even though at present, Brandon, nor his twin sister Bailey, and his older brother Brock, were speaking to Albert Donovan.

  So not only was this cruise perfect timing, the sight of long bare golden honey toned legs, crossed at the ankles with cotton candy polished toes was enough to make him smile. Something Brandon was certain he hadn’t done in far too long.

  There was plenty of noise going on around him as kids ran back and forth to parents already planted in their lounge chairs and some tropical type music played from the inconspicuous speakers. The sun was shining brightly, even though it was almost six o’clock in the evening. He’d had a meeting at three and they’d just wrapped up about twenty minutes ago. The rest of the night was his, as their host and director of employee affairs, Courtney Billings, said with a huge smile. She was really working the morale angle of this trip. It was a shame though that no one was really paying attention to her little meetings and the cheers of “good job” and “well done” she and her staff were singing via PowerPoint presentations with their financial statistics and client testimonials. An all-expenses paid seven night cruise to the Caribbean, in addition to the Christmas bonus they’d all received, had said it well enough.

  Brandon had hours to stand here and watch this woman as she tilted the large floppy brim of her black hat and then let her arms fall to the handles of the lounge chair. More of that golden skin was on display. From the curve of her shoulders, down her arms, to the tops of her thick thighs and pretty feet. He clenched his fingers, released and clenched them once more as the desire to rub his palms along what he suspected would be smooth delectable skin, threatened to overtake him.

  He slipped his hands into his pockets as he continued to stare down at her, then hurriedly pulled them out when his dick twitched and he almost made a move to touch it. With a shake of his head Brandon had to smile, then he chuckled to himself in an attempt to laugh it off. When was the last time he’d been hit by a punch of lust so quick and so potently? He had no idea and he wasn’t about to act on it. This was a business cruise and he did not know this woman. Sure, he’d just seen her pursed, cute little lips coated in red, and he’d wanted to kiss them. Her eyes were covered by large dark-framed glasses, but he wanted to look into them as he touched her arms, her legs, her breasts. With another shake of his head Brandon thought of how pitiful he was and remained thankful that none of his cousins or his brother were there to see him make a fool of himself over this woman.

  That was precisely what he set out to do the moment he took that first step toward her. Sure, there were several reasons why he shouldn’t bother approaching her, ones he’d been te
lling himself since he was sixteen years old, to be exact. ‘You’re not her type.’ ‘She’s just going to laugh at you.’ ‘If she doesn’t laugh it’s because she knows you’re rich, not because she doesn’t think you’re a big goofy geek.’

  Those warnings had prevented Brandon from approaching at least fifty girls from high school and through college. Until finally, he’d decided to just go for what he wanted, regardless of the consequences. If she turned him down, so be it. He’d move on to the next one. If she didn’t turn him down, hot damn, he’d also move on to whatever came next. So that now, at thirty-three-years-old he could not lay claim to being just like the other dark, dangerous and desirable Donovans that were his cousins, but he could live up to the genuinely nice guy that he worked hard to become.

  “Hello,” he said once he was standing just about a foot away from the end of the lounge chair she was sitting in. And yes, he’d chanced another look at her feet, while he was that close. Still pretty. A huge checkmark in his book.

  “Hello,” was her immediate response.

  “Care to go for a swim?”

  So, as original “come on” lines went, this wasn’t going to hit any homeruns, of that Brandon was positive. Still, it seemed like the most reasonable thing to say other than, ‘would you like to come back to my room so I can rub my hands all over your body?’ Somehow he was certain that wouldn’t go over too well.

  “No thanks,” she replied, just as quickly as she had before.

  “Then we can talk instead,” he said with a quick shrug.

  As if the ‘make-out’ gods were shining down on him, the woman who had been sitting in the chair right next to the woman with the pretty feet, got up. Brandon immediately made himself comfortable, staring straight ahead just as she was doing. Acting aloof, he thought with an inward smile. His sister did that with perfection. Only, if a person thought Bailey was acting like she was ignoring them, she probably really was.