A Perfect Bride For Christmas (13 page)

What she really needed was a good dose of chocolate.

The image of a voodoo priestess in the throes of religious ecstasy blurred. She gripped the sleeve of her flannel pajamas with her hand to wipe the tears streaming down her face. How dare Alex send her a letter like that and expect her to take it on the chin?

Good old Zoe. Everyone’s doormat. Well, he didn’t know the new Zoe.

She wished she had a voodoo doll. One dressed

in a swanky gray suit, with Alex’s face plastered on the front—along with a bazillion pins to stick into it.

He deserved every bit of pain she could give him. A prick for a prick.

Yesterday, he’d cut her off in the middle of her righteous fury. It didn’t matter that he’d tried to call back several times. The minute the caller ID popped up on her phone, she disconnected. She couldn’t talk to him until she got herself under control. Zoe Bennett was a strong woman, not some shrilling

hag, or a hysterical, sobbing screamer.

Her nose started to run.

If her nose ran, her eyes were puffy. It was a

good thing she kept tissues all over the house for the 99

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kids. She grabbed one up to give her nose a good blow.

Darn it, the first day she’d had away from the

business, as well as the kids, and Alex had ruined that as well. All she could think about were voodoo curses and chocolate.

Alex planned to pirate her children away.

She’d bet more than one buccaneer suffered

under a voodoo curse. Zoe grew antsy sitting alone in the big house and thinking about Alex. Maybe she could find something in the Yellow Pages under

‘hexes’.

Probably not. She could find a hit man sooner

than she could locate a local voodoo priestess. She’d check on EBay. EBay had everything under the sun for sale.

Zoe pulled another tissue from the box on the

end table to dab at her eyes.

The craving for chocolate grew stronger.

All the old insecurities reared their ugly heads.

She heard the old tapes, or nowadays, it would be MP3s playing in her head.
She was worthless. She
didn’t deserve anything nice. What man would want
her? Who would love her?

Intellectually, she knew they were empty words.

Still, the need to feed her demons urged her towards the kitchen. She threw the pillow back on the couch and stuffed the damp tissue into the pocket of her blue flannel pajamas. The clock might read past noon, but it was easier to sulk in comfy pajamas.

She’d needed time by herself, time to figure out her next step. Alex’s demand for the DNA test hurt.

It didn’t matter that she’d tried to deny his

paternity—she didn’t want him involved with the girls’ lives. At least not on his terms. They belonged to her. It was her choice when she told them about their father.

She pulled the tissue out from her pocket and

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wiped her nose.

Logically, she knew she couldn’t have it both

ways, but her heart wanted things to go back the way they were, before Alex came back into her life.

Maybe she should’ve stayed in St. Louis. It had been home for over four years. But Kansas City was in her blood. Zoe had known the risks, but she didn’t want to deal with them. Not yet.

Her brain felt tighter than a knot with someone pulling on both ends of the string. A headache

thumped at the front of her skull, the kind of

headache only a chocolate chip cookie could cure.

The now-soggy tissue ended up in the trash.

Cherri took the girls out on a day trip to the

grand opening of a ‘build-a-toy’ store at their local shopping mall. Cabin fever set in hard with the bad weather. The girls were bouncing off walls until it she had a choice of
either brave the roads or stuff them in a closet and throw away the key. Zoe knew she’d never do anything so heinous but at times, she felt tempted. One child getting into trouble was disastrous, three disintegrated into chaos.

Everyone cheered when the street crews finally

had things cleared enough to save everyone’s sanity.

Guilt filled her for a split second as she got out the stepstool. The ghost of the old Zoe whispered in her ear: One cookie couldn’t hurt. Could it?

She reached into the cabinet, behind the canned goods where she’d stashed the bag of cookies from Cherri and the girls.

Her hand stopped.

This was so stupid. She let a man drive her to

her drug of choice. Again.

Her front doorbell rang at the same time she

reached for the cookies again. Great timing on the part of the Powers That Be. She closed the cabinet door and jumped off the stepstool. The doorbell rang again.

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“I’m coming.” She tried to keep the impatience

out of her voice, but she really wanted the cookie.

Alex stood on the doorstep, looking as delicious as the longed for cookie. Today, he seemed so

different. Funny, she couldn’t remember ever seeing him in jeans before. Denim molded his long legs in ways that made the flutter in her heart head

southward and land smack dab between her legs.

She licked her lips, remembering the taste of him, the feel of his lips as they worked her mouth in ways that still made her toes curl. The kiss in her store had fueled erotic dreams for the next couple of nights. It wasn’t often a woman got to sample so much sin in one little kiss.

She squirmed in embarrassment, tinged with

anger. No one had the right to look so sexy when she was so mad at him.

The cold wind ruffled Alex’s dark hair into a

delightful mess. He hadn’t shaved. A shadowy

dusting of whiskers graced his jaw. The white

sweater and tan bomber jacket gave him a rakish quality, much like the pirates in the documentary, but a modern day pirate. All he needed was an eye patch.

Zoe stayed frozen in place until Alex gave her a thousand watt smile, as if nothing were wrong.

His grin sparked the fuse on the powder keg of

her heart.

She gave the door a hefty shove to slam it into his handsome dimpled face. Maybe he’d need an eye patch after all.
Yo ho ho
. She’d have to change the suit on the voodoo doll to jeans and a leather jacket, along with a black eye.

“Wait, wait,” Alex yelped as he shouldered his

way into the living room. He rubbed at his arm

where it took the brunt of the heavy wooden door’s impact. “What is
wrong
with you?”

Here she stood, in flannel pajamas, gray wool

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socks, not to mention a red nose, and he had the nerve to ask what was wrong? “I think you’ve got it backward. You’re the one with the problem. Go

away, now isn’t a good time. I’m watching television, the History Channel to be exact, so leave. Pirates, voodoo and all that.”

“I tried calling several times, but it went

straight to voice mail.”

“I know. I don’t want to talk to you.”

“You’re the one who contacted me in the first

place. Where do you get off calling me a son of a bitch? Why? What do you
want
?”

“A couple of long nasty pins to stick in your

eyes.”

“Huh?” He stepped back, looking perplexed and

a little pissed.

Zoe waved her hands in an erasing motion.

“Sorry, I’m just fantasizing.”

“I prefer my fantasies to be a little friendlier.”

“No doubt,” she snapped before catching the rest of the verbal vomit she came close to spewing.

“Look.” Alex rubbed his nose. “I’m sorry if I

seemed a bit abrupt when you called, but I was

waiting for my mother to come out of surgery.”

The news deflated Zoe’s anger down to a puff of displeasure. “Is she okay?” She’d been ready to rip him a new one, and Amelia had been hospitalized.

“Yes, she broke her ankle and will be out of

commission for several weeks.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” She pulled in a deep

breath, then let it out. “I called you about the letter I received yesterday.”

“I never sent you a letter.”

“Liar.” Anger swelled in her chest again,

pressing down on her heart, squeezing her lungs until it became difficult to breathe. She went to a table against the wall and opened the drawer. Her hands shook as she took out the letter she received 103

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from the courier. Zoe held it out to him. “Look familiar?”

Alex slipped the letter from the envelope. His

face took on the look she’d grown familiar a long time ago. Hard—gearing up for a fight. “Son of a bitch.” He glanced up, his eyes snapping blue fire. “I never authorized this.”

“Then explain to me why I would get the letter if you never sent it.” She’d learn to read his body language like a book. “Someone else knows about the girls and their paternity, don’t they?”

A flush of red colored his cheeks. “I told Tommy Dunne. Remember him?”

“Like I’d forget the other Musketeer in our ill advised marriage.”

“He said it would be wise to have a DNA test

done. I agreed on principle. There would be less of a hassle over legal matters if anything happened to me. They would be assured of their share of my

estate, but you have to believe me, I never gave the go ahead on this.” Alex thumped the letter with his hand. “This is something I wanted to discuss with you first. We need to clear the air. It’s not just the children. It’s you, me, my family.”

“Typical Alex. Me, me, me, my.” Zoe’s shoulders slumped. “Who else did you tell?”

“Just Mom. She’d already figured it out. Jesse

Saur, a family friend, and Sydney.” He held his hands up in defense. “Before you go all Kung-Fu on me, just hear me out.” Alex pointed to his ear. “I told you about the King Notch. All of us boys have it, but the girls have the birthmark as well. It’s been in our family on my father’s side for generations. Mom noticed it.”

“That’s just peachy.”

“You know they’re mine. Why won’t you admit

it?” He stared down at her, his eyes blazing. “Unless you think I’d be monster enough to take them away 104

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from you?”

She blushed under his scrutiny. He’d seen into

her, fished out her worst fear to dangle it like bait in front of her. “After the letter, I didn’t know what to think. I still don’t know how this is going to impact my kids.”

The heat in his eyes died down. Alex took her

hand and led her to the couch. “Our kids.” He pulled her down beside him, keeping her hand in his.

“Wow, that’s just—it’s hard to take in all at once.”

“Wait until the OBGYN tells you you’re going to have two instead of one. I thought twins were scary enough. Macy came first, then Michaela but

surprise, Mia made an appearance.”

“She’s the shy one?”

“Yes, even in the ultrasounds. She hid behind

the other two.”

His hands gripped her fingers so hard she let

out a gasp. Alex relaxed his hold enough to rub soothing circles over the top of her fingers. “I’m sorry. You have no idea how much I envy James

Bennett. I could’ve made the effort to find you after—but...

The sensation of a hundred electric shocks

swirled over her skin, the simple contact bringing back memories of the way he’d touched her five

years ago.

“I chose to cut off communication. Maybe I

should’ve told you the moment I found out I was pregnant.” Zoe extracted her hand from his, her mind in a whirlwind of emotion, tears near the

surface again. “Alex, I know you, or at least the man you were five years ago. I’ve said it before. A child didn’t rank high up on your lists of priorities. Even now, I see you falling back into old patterns with your choice of fiancées. I’m sure Sydney is the perfect wife for you, but not as a stepmother to my children—our children.”

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Alex pulled away, nodding and clasped his

hands, letting them dangle between his knees. “You don’t have to worry about that. I’m not marrying Sydney.”

“What?” She thought he said he wasn’t marrying

Sydney ‘The Snake’ Stanford.

“I said Sydney canceled the wedding.”

“Why?”

“She got into a snit about the wedding plans and called the whole thing off. It goes deeper than that but it was the breaking point—for both of us.”

“I’m sorry.” Zoe let out a sigh of relief. “That’s a lie. Now the girls won’t have to associate with her.

They’re amazing kids and I was so worried about Sydney’s influence.”

“You’re right.” Alex kept his eyes down but

suddenly, he turned his head and gave her that dose of double dimples. Her breath clogged in her throat.

“I came to that conclusion when I first met

them. I don’t know how you did it.”He shook his head. “I want to get to know them, but I’m not going to demand they see me, if it’s going to hurt their—

wellbeing or whatever might screw them up.” He

shot her a quick look. “Believe me, that’s the last thing I want.”

She tried to harden her heart against him. As

Cherri was fond of saying,
Well great Jupiter’s
jockstrap, how’s that workin’ for you?
She still felt anger but not the solid block of ice she’d built around the core of her heart when it came to him.

Without thinking, Zoe reached over and placed

her hand on his shoulder.
Go figure.
One minute, she wanted to drive sharp objects into his eyes, the next, she wanted to comfort him. “We’ll figure this out. It’s not like neither of us are blameless.” Without

warning, the tears she’d been holding back flooded her eyes.

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Alex gripped the hand resting on his shoulder

like a lifeline, watching a flurry of emotions

skittering through those fantastic eyes. They

glittered green with tears. For the first time, he looked beyond his own mental upset and noticed her puffy eyelids and red nose. “You’ve been crying.”