by Carmen Green
The woman glanced in his direction. “Yes, for a short while. He fancied himself in love with me and I loved him, too. In fact, I cared for him too much to let him sacrifice his life for me. We got engaged, but after a few weeks I came to my senses and broke off the engagement. That was about six months ago. I returned his ring, but he sold it and used the money to pay off the balance we had owing on the gym and to purchase some additional land the school needed.”
When neither Tristan nor Danielle said anything, Catherine’s smile brightened. “I’ve probably bored you to tears and you’ve yet to tell me why you’re here.”
There was a brief moment of silence, then it was Danielle who spoke in a soft voice. “Chris was going through Marc’s things and found a receipt for the ring and traced it to here. I wanted to come and meet you, to finally get a chance to meet the one woman Marc undoubtedly loved.”
* * *
Alex dabbed at her eyes. “I think you did the right thing, Danielle, by not telling Catherine Hodges everything there was to know about Marc. It really wouldn’t have served any purpose.”
“I agree,” Renée said, her eyes misty, as well. “I can’t believe what Marc did for that school. For once in his life he was thinking about someone other than himself.”
Danielle nodded. As soon as she and Tristan had set foot on the Marc III, she’d gotten Alex and Renée together for a short meeting, while Tristan told the guys what they’d discovered.
Renée reached out and took Danielle’s hand. “Did handling things the way you did bring you closure, Danielle? Alex and I worry that you’re still not going to move on with your life.”
Danielle nodded. “Yes, it brought me closure. I am happy for Catherine Hodges, and I hate to say this, but I’m grateful that she met Marc and he was able to do so much for her and the school. I don’t know what kind of relationship they had, but from the way she spoke about him, it was easy to see she cared a lot for him. She even admitted to being the one to break off the engagement because she felt Marc would make too much of a sacrifice to marry her.”
After a brief pause it was Alex who asked, “So now that you’ve found closure, what will you do with your life?”
“Continue to love Tristan.” At the looks of surprise on Alex’s and Renée’s faces, she smiled. “Yes, I’ve finally realized just how much I love him, and he has admitted to being in love with me. I hate to say it, but the two of you were right. There was more than friendship between me and Tristan, but I just couldn’t see it. It took us spending time together, him being there for me when I needed him most, for me to realize just what a special man he is.”
She glanced around before leaning in closer to them. “And I haven’t told Tristan yet, since I just found out last night, but…I’m pregnant.”
Both Alex and Renée let out whoops of joy. “Oh, Danielle, we are so happy for you!” Alex and Renée said simultaneously as they rushed from their seats to hug her.
“When will you tell Tristan?” Alex asked.
A huge smile covered Danielle’s face. “Tonight. So don’t either of you be surprised if we don’t join you guys on deck for breakfast in the morning.”
* * *
Later that night, after they’d taken a shower together and made love, Danielle was wrapped in the warmth of Tristan’s arms. The night was perfect.
“What did Alex and Renée think about the way you handled things with Catherine Hodges?” Tristan asked her.
Danielle looked at him. “They agreed it was for the best. There was no need to tell Catherine our thoughts on the type of man Marc was, or to fill her in on all his bad deeds. The Marc Foster she knew and loved was a totally different man from the one we knew. He was unselfish and giving. I truly believe he loved her.”
“So now have you found closure, Danielle?”
She shifted positions in the cabin bed and smiled at him. “Yes, but from all this I found so much more. I found a man who loves me and I love back.”
She paused a moment and then said, “From the first, you were there with me, Tris, to hold my hand, wipe my tears and be by side. You let me know that no matter what I had to go through, I was never alone. I appreciate that. You have been so free in your giving, so unselfish in your love.”
“I’ll give you anything that’s in my power to give, Dani,” Tristan said softly, reaching out and touching her cheeks and noticing the wetness there. He cupped her face and brushed a kiss across her lips. “Why are you crying, sweetheart?”
She reached out and touched the hand he held to her face. “I’m crying because you, the man I love, my very best friend, will be wearing another title in about nine months. You will be the father of our baby.”
Tristan went still. He stared deep into her eyes and then a smile touched his lips. “Are you saying that you’re pregnant?”
Danielle laughed. “Yes, father-to-be. That’s exactly what I’m saying. You made my dream come true, Tris. You gave me the one thing that I wanted in life. I love you.”
“And I love you,” he said, pulling her into his arms and holding her tight. “And now I’m asking you to give me yet another title, one that I will wear just as proudly as the others. Your husband.”
He pulled back and gazed into her face. “Will you marry me, Danielle? Will you spend the rest of your life with me?”
Danielle smiled as tears glistened in her eyes. “Yes! I would be honored to be the one you call wife.”
She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, putting everything she felt and more into that kiss, knowing this was the start of the rest of their lives together.
EPILOGUE
Alex and Renée shared tears of happiness as they watched Danielle and Tristan exchange their wedding vows. It was a beautiful September day in Port St. Lucie, and it seemed the entire town was present at the Forest Grove Baptist Church for the occasion.
“I just knew it would end this way for all three of us,” Alex said happily. “I just knew it.”
Renée glanced over at her. “And how did you know?”
“Because I felt it. Marc’s dying was not in vain. I may have lost a husband—or someone I thought was my husband—but I gained a lot more in return. I got you and Danielle for life.”
Renée laughed. “Yes, for life.”
Their attention was pulled back to the wedding when a cheer went up. The pastor had just pronounced Tristan and Danielle husband and wife.
A few minutes later, after Tristan picked up his bride to carry her out of the church, Alex and Renée were joined by their husbands.
“We tried to tell Danielle that Tristan was in love with her,” Alex said matter-of-factly. “But she refused to believe us.”
Renée smiled. “It just wasn’t time for her to believe us, Alex.” She glanced at her husband. “A woman will eventually know when she is in love and is loved.”
Alex smiled and looked at Hunter, feeling the very essence of Renée’s words when she looked into her husband’s eyes.
“Now that the three of you are married,” Chris said, “what’s next?”
Both Alex and Renée leaned up and whispered to their husbands at the same time. “Babies.”
It took Hunter and Chris a minute to realize that announcements had just been made. Overjoyed, they swept the women they loved into their arms.
* * *
Later that night as they spent their honeymoon on the cruise ship they had boarded a few hours after their wedding, Tristan pulled his wife, the mother of his child, into his arms. Come spring, he and Danielle would have a little one to love. They had decided if it was a boy, they would name him Paul, and if it was a girl, she would be called Paulette.
“I love you, sweetheart,” he whispered to her.
“And I love you back.”
She did and she would make sure that for the rest of his life he would know it.
She thought about how beautiful their day had been, how wonderfully everything had gone, and knew she wouldn’t ha
ve done anything differently. Alex had offered the use of the Marc III for the wedding, but Danielle knew there was no way she would cheat all the good people of Port St. Lucie of being witness to an Adams and Timmons match-up.
Besides, a lot of her modeling friends had come, and she’d been elevated to celebrity status all over again.
“What are you thinking about, sweetheart?” Tristan asked.
“About how happy I am.” She looked at him. “And are you happy?”
He chuckled. “If I was any happier I’d probably burst at the seams.”
“Well, I guess now is a good time to tell you, since I’m sure Hunter and Chris know by now.”
Tristan lifted a brow. “Know what?”
“Come spring, they will become fathers, too.”
The smile that covered Tristan’s face was priceless. “No kidding?”
“No kidding. So I’m sure the three of you will have a lot of stories to swap this time next year.”
“Yeah, and I’m looking forward to it.”
“So am I, Mr. Adams. So am I.”
And then she pulled his mouth down to hers for another kiss. Just one of many they would share over their lifetime.
* * * * *
Don’t miss New York Times bestselling author
Brenda Jackson’s new book in the Forged of Steele series, Seduced by a Steele, where a notorious heartbreaker meets his match…
CHAPTER ONE
Mercury Steele glanced over at his mother, sitting across the breakfast table. Eden Tyson Steele, you just had to love her.
He’d just told her how awful the past few days had been for him. Not only had he lost a client but also one of his prized antique cars had been stolen. She had the audacity to say there must be a reason for the streak of bad luck he’d had lately. Of course, she couldn’t resist blaming it on his womanizing ways.
“That’s awful about your car getting stolen, Mercury. What did the police say about it?” his father asked with concern.
He appreciated his father’s empathy, but then Drew Steele had passed his love for antique cars on to his six sons. He’d passed something else on to them, as well. Namely, his testosterone-driven genes.
In Drew’s younger days he’d been quite the ladies’ man. His reputation as a philanderer had been so bad that he’d been run out of Charlotte by a bunch of women out for blood—namely Drew’s. He had fled from North Carolina, where most of the Steele family lived, and made his way to Phoenix. That’s where he’d eventually met and fallen in love with Mercury’s mother.
Eden Tyson Steele, a green-eyed beauty and former international model, whose face had graced the covers of such magazines as Vogue, Cosmo and Elle, had practically snatched Drew’s heart right out of his chest. Proving miracles could happen.
For the longest, it seemed their six die-hard bachelor sons had inherited Drew’s philandering genes when their womanizing reputation rivaled that of their father’s. They’d become known as the Bad News Steeles. Four of Mercury’s brothers had now married, leaving only two brothers still single: Mercury and Gannon.
He couldn’t speak for Gannon, but Mercury intended to be a bachelor for life.
Their brother Galen was the oldest of the six and had gotten married first. At thirty-eight he’d made millions as a video-game creator. Tyson was thirty-seven, the most recent to marry, and was a gifted surgeon. Eli, at thirty-six, was a prominent attorney in town and had been the second to marry. Jonas, who was thirty-five and the third to marry, owned a marketing business. Mercury was thirty-four and was a well-known sports agent; and Gannon, who had recently turned thirty-three, had become CEO of the family’s million-dollar trucking firm when Drew had retired.
“They will be on the lookout for it, Dad, but I was told not to get my hopes up about getting it back. More than likely it will be dismantled for parts. Knowing that hurts more than anything. That particular car was my favorite.”
Drew nodded sympathetically and Mercury appreciated his father’s understanding of just how upset he still was about it, even if his mother did not. He glanced at his watch. “I need to get going if I intend to make that appointment. A possible new client.”
Getting up from the table, he leaned over and placed a kiss on his mother’s cheek. “Thanks for breakfast, Mom. You’re still my number-one girl.” He then glanced over at his father. “I’ll talk to you later, Dad.”
Ten minutes later he was headed toward his office in the Steele Building. A few years ago, his attorney brother Eli had purchased a twenty-story high-rise in downtown Phoenix. Eli’s wife, Stacey, owned the gift shop on the ground floor. Their brother Jonas’s marketing company, Ideas of Steele, was housed on the fifth floor and Galen leased the entire second and third floors as a downtown campus for his wife’s etiquette schools. Mercury and his brother Tyson jointly leased the tenth floor. Although Tyson was the physician in the family, he’d leased the space as a gift to his wife Hunter for her architecture company.
Sharing office space with Hunter worked out great. Mercury liked Hunter and for now they shared an administrative assistant, Pauline Martin. The older woman was perfect and had to be the most efficient woman Mercury had ever met. She knew how to handle him, his clients and his appointments.
The moment he merged into traffic on the interstate that would take him downtown, he blinked. Three cars ahead of him was his car. His stolen car. He would recognize his 1969 royal blue Camaro anywhere. Hell, they hadn’t even bothered changing the license plates.
Moving into the other lane, he tried getting as close as he could. Finally, he was two cars behind. When the driver changed lanes, he did likewise. When the car exited off the interstate, he followed but now he was three cars behind. He pressed the call-assist button on his car’s dash. Within seconds a voice came on through the car’s speaker. “Yes, Mr. Steele, how can we help you today?”
“Connect me with the Phoenix Police Department.”
“Yes, Mr. Steele.”
He nodded, appreciating hands-free technology. Moments later the connection was made. “Phoenix Police Department. May I help you?”
“My car, the one that was stolen two nights ago that you guys haven’t been able to find, is three cars ahead of me. I’m tailing them as we speak.”
“Your name, sir?”
“Mercury Steele.”
“What is your location?”
“Currently, I’m in the Norcross District, at the intersection of Adams and Monroe. If the driver makes a stop, then I will, too.”
“Sir, you are advised not to tail anyone or take matters into your own hands. Police in the area have been summoned.”
Like hell he wouldn’t tail the person who’d had the nerve to steal his car, he thought, disconnecting the call.
Mercury saw the driver making a right turn ahead and he quickly put on the brakes when the car ahead of him got caught by a traffic light.
“Damn!” He hoped he didn’t lose the thief. It seemed to take forever for the traffic light to change and then he turned right at the intersection. Glancing around he saw he was on a busy street, one that led to the Apperson Mall.
* * *
Sloan Donahue didn’t have time to go back home and change her blouse and there was no way she could wear one bearing coffee stains to her job interview. That meant she needed to dash into this clothing store and buy a new blouse and then swap it out in the dressing room with the one she was currently wearing.
She was excited. For the very first time she would be interviewing for a job without her parents’ help or interference. She’d left Cincinnati, Ohio, a week ago when her parents tried forcing her into an arranged marriage, saying that in their social circles it was their duty to ensure her future and her fortune. She’d refused. Luckily, her parents’ predictions that she couldn’t make it on her own and would be returning home in less than forty-eight hours didn’t happen. She wouldn’t go back if they still expected her to marry Harold Cunningham. And she knew they would.
&
nbsp; Sloan didn’t care one iota that marrying Harold would be a financial marriage made in heaven. It was her life and future they were dealing with. She didn’t love Harold any more than he loved her. For the past six months he’d wined and dined her, romanced her like a good suitor was supposed to. For a short while, she’d almost convinced herself maybe he was falling in love with her and that she could possibly fall in love with him.
Then she’d discovered he was having an affair. She’d received the text message he’d intended to send another woman. When she confronted Harold about it, he didn’t deny anything. He admitted to being in love with the woman, but said he would do his “duty” and marry Sloan. However, he wanted her to know that married or not, he intended for the woman he loved to forever be a part of his life. In other words, he would have a mistress if he and Sloan got married.
When she told her parents to call off the wedding and the reason for doing so, they felt Harold marrying her and keeping his piece on the side shouldn’t matter. She should consider the boost the marriage would play in her financial future and suck it up. They’d given her an ultimatum to marry Harold or else. She told them she would take the or else.
She needed time away from her family and wanting to get as far away from Cincinnati as she could, Sloan had looked up an old college roommate who invited her to come to Phoenix. But then Priscilla had unexpectedly had to leave the day after Sloan arrived. Priscilla’s boyfriend had finally asked her to marry him and had sent her an airline ticket to Spain.
The good thing was that the rent was paid up and Priscilla told Sloan she was welcome to stay in the house for the remainder of the month. That meant getting a job to have funds to cover the rent for next month. For the past few days she’d studied interview videos on the internet and felt she was ready.
As she rushed into the store she glanced back at her car. Her car. It wasn’t the Tesla sports car she’d left behind in Cincinnati, but a car that was probably older than she was. But it ran okay, and she’d only paid three hundred for it. It was hers and that was what mattered.
