Sweet Deception

Chapter 4

It was a picture-perfect day in late June when two ushers opened the French doors and Dr. Dwight Eaton escorted his daughter over a pink runner monogrammed in green with the couple’s initials. Light and dark pink rose petals littering the runner had been placed there by the bride’s nieces wearing pink-and-green dresses and headbands with green button mums and pink nerines, the colors representing Belinda’s sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha.

The one hundred and twenty guests, welcomed with champagne and caviar into a Bucks County château built on a rise that overlooked the Delaware River, stood as the intro to the Wedding March filled the room where the ceremony was to take place. The restored castle and all of the estate’s thirty-two rooms were filled with out-of-town guests and those who didn’t want to make the hour-long drive back to Philadelphia after a night of frivolity.

Zabrina felt her heart lurch when she saw Belinda. Her childhood friend and sorority sister was ravishing in an ivory Chantilly lace empire gown with a floral appliqué-and-satin bodice. Embroidered petals flowed around the sweeping hem and train of the ethereal garment. She’d forgone a veil in lieu of tiny white rosebuds pinned into the elegant chignon on the nape of her long, graceful neck.

At that moment Zabrina was reliving her past—she should have walked down the aisle on her father’s arm as Myles waited to make her his wife. Blinking back tears, she stared at his distinctive profile as he stood on Griffin Rice’s right.

She noticed changes she hadn’t been able to discern the week before. His face was thinner, there were flecks of gray in his close-cropped hair and there was a stubborn set to his lean jaw that made him appear as if he’d been carved from a piece of smooth, dark mahogany. Her gaze dropped to his left hand. She smiled. He wasn’t wearing a ring.

Zabrina had searched her memory for days until she matched the face of the woman clinging to Myles’s arm with a name. The woman was Judge Stacey Greer-Monroe.

She smiled when the rich, deep voice of the black-robed judge punctuated the silence. Griffin Rice, devastatingly handsome in formal attire, stared directly into the eyes of his bride as he repeated his vows. There was a twitter of laughter when the judge pronounced them husband and wife and Griffin pumped his fist in the air. It was over. Belinda was now Mrs. Belinda Rice.

The wedding party proceeded along the carpet to the reception. Zabrina didn’t notice Belinda, Griffin, Keith Ennis, Chandra or Denise Eaton. Her gaze was fixed on Myles as he came closer and closer, and then their eyes met and fused. His eyes grew wider as a wry smile parted his firm lips.

The smile, Myles and his powerful presence were there. Then they vanished as he moved past her. Emerging from her trance, she followed the crowd as the hotel staff ushered everyone down a wide tunnel that led outside where an enormous tent had been erected. Belinda and Griffin stood in a receiving line, greeting family members and friends who’d come to witness and celebrate their special day.

Belinda’s eyebrows shot up when she saw her friend. Zabrina had cut her hair in a style that drew one’s attention to her luminous eyes. Raven-black waves were brushed off her face. The style would’ve been too severe for some with less delicate features. She was stunning in a silk chiffon off-the-shoulder black dress that hugged her upper body, nipping her slender waist with a wide silk sash before flaring around her knees. Stilettos added several inches to her impressive five-foot-seven-inch height.

“You look incredible,” Belinda gushed.

“Thank you. And you’re an amazing bride, Lindy.”

Zabrina stole a glance at Griffin Rice as he leaned down to whisper something in the ear of an elderly woman who giggled like a teenage girl. She’d thought him breathtakingly handsome when she was a teenager, and her opinion hadn’t changed. His deep-set dark eyes and cleft chin had most women lusting after him. But Griffin had always seemed totally oblivious to their attention. It was apparent he’d been waiting for his brother’s sister-in-law.

Griffin turned his attention to Zabrina. She looked nothing like the young woman he remembered. “Thank you for coming.” Leaning forward, he pressed a light kiss to her cheek.

“Thank you for inviting me.” Zabrina knew she couldn’t hold up the receiving line. “I’ll be in touch with you guys after you come back from your honeymoon.” When she’d married Thomas Cooper he’d made certain to isolate her from everyone in her past.

“Your name, miss?” asked a hotel staffer as she stood in front of a table stacked with butler boxes.

“Zabrina Cooper.”

He handed her a box. “Your table number and menu are in the box, Ms. Cooper.”

In lieu of a guest card, each guest was given a personalized butler box with a leaf-colored letterpressed menu and table number. The pink-and-green color scheme was repeated in the pastel-toned chiffon on the ceiling of the tent, table linens and carpet. The lights from strategically placed chandeliers provided a soft glow as the afternoon sun cast shadows over the elegantly dressed guests as they found their way to their respective tables.

Waiters were positioned at each table to pull out chairs and assist everyone as they sat on pink-cushioned bamboo-gilded chairs. And because Zabrina had returned her response card for one, she was seated at a table with other single guests. She offered a smile to the two men flanking her. The one on her right extended his hand.

“Bailey Mercer.”

She stared at the young man with flaming red hair and blue-green eyes, then took his hand. It was soft and moist. As discreetly as she could without offending him, she withdrew her hand. “It’s nice meeting you, Bailey. I’m Zabrina.”

He draped an arm over the back of her chair. “Are you a guest of the bride or the groom?”

“The bride,” she said.

“Are you a teacher?”

“No. I’m a nurse.” Zabrina realized he just wanted to make polite conversation. “Are you a guest of the bride or groom?” she asked.

“Griffin and I were college roommates.”

“Are you also an attorney?”

Bailey leaned closer. “I’m a forensic criminologist.”

Suddenly her curiosity was piqued. “Who do you work for?”

“I’m stationed in Quantico.”

“You work for the Bureau?” she asked. The FBI was the only law-enforcement agency that she knew of in Quantico, Virginia.

Bailey nodded. “I’m going to the bar to get something to drink. Would you like me to bring you something?”

Zabrina smiled. He’d segued from one topic to another without pausing to take a breath. “Yes, please.”

“What would you like?”

“I’ll have a cosmopolitan.”

Music from speakers mounted overhead filled the tent as guests filed in and sat at their assigned tables. Bailey returned with Zabrina’s cocktail and a glass filled with an amber liquid. Smiling, they touched glasses.

Myles returned from posing for photographs with the wedding party to find Zabrina smiling and talking to a man with strawberry-blond hair. Sitting at the bridal table afforded him an unobscured view of everything and everyone in the large tent.

There was something in the way she angled her head while staring up at the man through her lashes that reminded him of how she’d look at him just before he’d make love to her. It was a come-hither look that he hadn’t been able to resist.

What Myles hadn’t been able to understand was how he and Zabrina were able to communicate without words. It could be a single glance, a slight lifting of an eyebrow, a shrug of a shoulder or a smile. It was as if they were able to communicate telepathically, reading each other’s thoughts. Right now he knew she would be shocked if she saw the lust in his eyes. The spell was broken when a waiter took his dinner and beverage request.

“I almost didn’t recognize Zabrina,” said Griffin Rice.

Myles gave his brother-in-law a sidelong glance. “She has changed.” And he wanted to tell Griffin the change was for the better. When he’d caught a glimpse of Zabrina the week before he’d thought her lovely, but tonight she was breathtakingly stunning.

Griffin’s gaze met and fused with Myles’s. “She’d dropped out of sight for years. Rumors were circulating that she and Cooper had divorced. But when reporters asked him about his wife he claimed she preferred keeping a low profile.”

Myles’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Who’s the guy with her?”

“Bailey Mercer. We were college roomies.”

The smile that softened Myles’s mouth crept up to his eyes. It was apparent Zabrina had come to the wedding unescorted. He’d planned to ask her to dance with him and nothing more, since he hadn’t wanted to act inappropriately if she had come with a date. Now that he knew she was alone things had changed. Myles had waited ten years for an explanation for Zabrina’s deception and he intended to get an answer before the night ended.

The waiter brought drinks for those at the bridal party table, followed by other waitstaff carrying trays laden with platters of curried scallop canapés, walnut and endive salad and mushroom rolls. Dozens of lighted votives in green glasses flickered like stars when the chandeliers were dimmed, creating a soft, soothingly romantic atmosphere.

Myles ate without actually tasting the food on his plate. He was too engrossed in the woman sitting close enough for him to see her expressions, but not close enough to hear her smoky voice. He wondered if Griffin’s former college roommate was as enthralled with her as he’d been. What he did do was drink more than he normally would at a social function. It didn’t matter, because he wasn’t driving back to Philadelphia. He’d reserved a suite at the hotel.

And, he refused to fantasize that his sister’s wedding was his and Zabrina’s. He and Zabrina had planned their wedding, honeymoon and life together, but all the plans had come to naught two weeks before the ceremony when his fiancée called to tell him she was in love with another man and she couldn’t marry him.

Myles still remembered her passion whenever they shared a bed, and wondered whether she’d screamed Thomas Cooper’s name in the throes of passion. Zabrina had always had an intense distaste for politicians. Yet she’d married one. And what about her claim that she’d wanted to wait two years before starting a family? She’d wasted no time in giving Cooper a child.

The music playing throughout the dinner ended when a live band took over, playing softly as toasts to the bride and groom were made.

Dwight Eaton wiped away tears as he smiled at his daughter. There was no doubt he was thinking of his eldest daughter whom he’d buried eight months earlier. Myles toasted the newlyweds, providing a lighter moment when he reminded everyone that Griffin Rice was so intent on joining the family that he’d become his brother-in-law for the second time.

A hush descended over the assembly as they watched Griffin ease Belinda to her feet, escort her to the dance floor and dance with her to the Berlin classic “Take My Breath Away.” It was their first dance as husband and wife.

Myles finally got to twirl his sister around the dance floor after she’d shared a dance with their father. “Does Griffin know he is a lucky man?” he asked, executing a fancy dance step.

Belinda lifted the skirt of her gown to avoid stepping on the hem. She gave Myles a demure smile. “I’d like to believe that I’m lucky that Griffin didn’t marry some other woman, leaving me pining for him for the rest of my life.”

Myles recalled the conversation he’d had with Stacey. She’d waited for him to come around and think of her as more than a friend, and when it hadn’t happened she’d opted to marry someone else. He was certain his sister would’ve done the same.

“You’re too much of a realist to spend your life dreaming of the impossible.”

Belinda smiled at Myles. “What about you and Brina?”

A slight frown furrowed his forehead. “What about us?”

“You still have feelings for her, don’t you?”

“Of course I have feelings for her, Lindy. After all, I did promise to marry the woman.”

“What about now, Myles?”

“What about it?” he said, answering her question with one of his own.

Belinda gasped softly when Myles swung her around and around. Her brother had always been a very good dancer, and it appeared that he hadn’t lost his skill. She wasn’t certain whether his dancing prowess came from years of martial arts training or from a natural grace and style that turned heads whenever he entered a room. Although he’d earned a black belt in tae kwon do, he intensely disliked competition.

Belinda leaned closer, pressing her mouth to his ear. “You haven’t taken your eyes off her all night.”

Myles’s expression did not change. “Is that why you invited her, Lindy? Did you decide to become a matchmaker after I’d agreed to be Griffin’s best man? Don’t you think she hurt our family enough when she waited until two weeks before we were to be married to tell me that she was in love with someone else? Then, a week later she marries Thomas Cooper.”

“I didn’t invite her to spite you, Myles. It was only a couple of months ago that I ran into Brina for the first time in almost ten years. When she confessed that she hated Thomas Cooper as much as she loved you, I knew something wasn’t quite right.”

A sardonic smile spread across his face. “So, she lied twice. Once when she told me that she was in love with another man, and again when she tells you that she hated her husband.”

Belinda shook her head. “It’s all too confusing. When I asked her why she’d married Thomas, she said she couldn’t tell me. She mentioned something about swearing that she’d never tell anyone.”

“Swore to whom?”

“That I don’t know, Myles.”

The song ended and Myles led Belinda back to her seat beside her husband. He’d heard enough. He needed answers. He wanted answers and he intended to get them.

His gaze searched the crowded dance floor for Zabrina, but she was nowhere in sight. She was missing and so was Griffin’s college roommate. There was no doubt they were together. Wending his way across the tent, Myles stepped out into the warm night air.

Chairs and love seats were set up on the verdant lawn for those wishing to get away from the frivolity to sit, talk quietly and/or relax. Dozens of lanterns were suspended from stanchions surrounding the magnificent estate. He saw Zabrina with her red-haired dining partner sitting together on a love seat. She’d rested her head on his shoulder while he massaged her back.

Taking long strides, Myles approached the couple. “Is she all right?”

Bailey Mercer glanced up to find the groom’s best man looming over him like an avenging angel. “Zabrina said she needed some air.”

Myles hunkered down and placed the back of his hand against her moist cheek. “Brina, darling, are you all right?” The endearment had slipped out as if ten years had morphed into a nanosecond.

Zabrina heard the familiar voice from her past, and she tried smiling but the pounding in her temples intensified. “I don’t know.”

“What did she eat or drink?” Myles asked Bailey.

“She didn’t eat much, but she did have three cocktails.”

Effortlessly, Myles lifted Zabrina off the love seat, while coming to a standing position. “She can’t drink.”

Bailey stood up. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“She usually can’t have more than one drink or she’ll wind up with a headache.”

“I’ll take care of her,” Bailey offered.

Myles glared at the man. “Walk away.”

A flush suffused Bailey’s face, the color increasing to match his hairline. He moved closer. “I said I’ll take care of her.”

Myles angled his head. “Don’t get in my face,” he warned through clenched teeth. “Look, man,” he said, his tone softer, calmer. “Just walk away while you can.” That said, he turned on his heels and carried Zabrina past the tent and into the hotel. He slipped in through a side entrance and took a staircase to the third floor. When he set Zabrina on her feet to search for his room’s cardkey, she dropped her evening purse, spilling its contents.

“Muh—my things,” Zabrina slurred.

“Don’t worry about them, Brina. I’ll pick them up after I get you inside.”

Zabrina swallowed back a rush of bile. She felt sick, sicker than she had in a very long time. Her first experience with drinking alcohol had become a lasting one. But it was apparent she’d forgotten. She hadn’t known what possessed her to have a third cosmopolitan. What she should’ve done was stop after the first one. But she’d wanted to forget that the past ten years hadn’t existed. She wanted to blot them out by drinking until she passed out. She hadn’t passed out, but she did have an excruciating headache.

Myles had always teased her, calling her a very cheap date. Her colleagues couldn’t understand why she opted to drink club soda with a twist during their employee gatherings. Some had asked whether she was a recovering alcoholic, but she reassured them that she did drink, just always sparingly.

She closed her eyes as her dulled senses took over. Being cradled against Myles’s broad chest brought back a rush of memories that made Zabrina want to weep. He’d always been there for her, had promised to love, protect and take care of her. He no longer loved her, yet he was still looking after her.

Myles walked through the entry, the living/dining area and into the bedroom. He placed Zabrina on the king-size bed, removed her shoes and covered her with a lightweight blanket. “I’ll be right back.”

He returned to the hall to gather up the jeweled compact, the tube of lipstick and a set of car keys that had fallen out of her bag. He pocketed the keys. Zabrina was in no shape to get behind the wheel of a car, even if just to drive it out of the parking lot. A cold chill swept over him when he thought of her trying to drive back to Philly under the circumstances. Either she would kill herself or someone else.

Closing the door, he slipped the security lock into place and returned to the bedroom. Zabrina hadn’t moved. She lay on her back, eyes closed and her chest rising and falling in a slow, even rhythm. He smiled. She’d fallen asleep.

Myles reached up and undid his silk tie. Undressing, he placed his clothes on the padded bench at the foot of the bed. Clad in only a pair of boxer briefs, he retreated to the bathroom to shower and brush his teeth.

Zabrina was still asleep when Myles reentered the bedroom. She lay on her right side, her head resting on her hands and her legs pulled up into a fetal position. A smile tilted the corners of his mouth when he stared down at her. She was so incredibly beautiful and so very cunning. When he’d asked Zabrina to marry him he never would’ve thought she would deceive him, especially not with another man.

Reaching over, he turned off the bedside lamp. The light from the sconce outside the bathroom provided enough illumination to make out the slight figure on the bed. Sitting on the mattress, Myles studied the woman whom he’d never forgotten. He’d once admitted to Belinda that he had two passions—Zabrina Mixon and the law. Despite her deception, his feelings hadn’t changed. Nothing had changed. Zabrina was still his passion.

Slowly, methodically, he undressed her. She stirred briefly before settling back to sleep. Waiting for her breathing to resume a measured cadence, he anchored a hand under her hips, easing her dress down her bare legs. Myles didn’t know why, but he felt like a voyeur when he stared at Zabrina’s half-naked body. She hadn’t worn a bra under the dress. He recalled her preference for sleeping nude, but decided not to remove her bikini panties.

She moaned softly when he eased her between the sheets. He waited a full minute, then shrugged off his robe and slipped into bed beside her. It was as if nothing had changed. Pressing his chest to her back, he rested an arm over her waist, pulling her closer. The angry words Myles had rehearsed so many times he could recite them backward he’d erased from memory. He buried his face in her hair and inhaled the lingering floral fragrance of her shampoo.

“Myles?”

He froze when Zabrina whispered his name. “Yes, baby?”

“I…I…I’m sorry,” she slurred.

There came a beat. “So am I,” Myles whispered. “So am I, Brina,” he repeated.

Myles wasn’t certain what she was apologizing for, but he knew why he was sorry. He was sorry they hadn’t gone through with their plan to marry, sorry that her son wasn’t his and sorry it had taken almost a decade for him to get the opportunity to confront her about her deception.

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