A Tangled Web (A Books We Love Erotic Romance) (11 page)

"Um, I don't mind it too much, but I do love AC," she said, realising that Babs' chatty manner might act in her favour. "Have you worked here long?"

"Sixteen months. Bill and I are the oldest employees here at Rendezvous—in terms of time, not age." She grinned. "I am the youngest. Just turned twenty-three last week."

"Happy belated birthday, Babs."
Erin
raised her glass to the bartender. "Is it all right if I call you that?"

"Certainly." She raised her cola glass to
Erin
.

Erin
took a swallow of her screwdriver. "You must know the other employees then." She rushed on. "Derek?"

Babs, a plain, dishwater blonde, looked much prettier when she smiled. She had beautiful, even white teeth and her brown eyes sparkled. "Ah, yes. Derek, the hot Italian hunk. If I wasn't married, I'd have fallen all over him." She held up her left hand to display a wide gold band. "But my old man would kill me and him both. Besides, Derek never seemed much interested in me or any other woman, at least not that I noticed."

Erin
smiled at the first good news she'd heard all day.

"Hey. Did you and he have a thing going? Lucky you, if so." Her smile quickly faded. "Wait a minute. Maybe not so lucky if you're here and he's gone. Friday was his last day. Bill is his cousin and Derek was just filling in for him while he was laid up with a broken leg."

Derek had known all along their relationship was temporary but never told her. He'd said he might be a one-night stand but he'd kept coming back for more…sex. If he'd left because the job ended, it wasn't her declaration of love that sent him away. But it might be the reason he hadn't told her he was going or how to get in touch with him. He actually planned to disappear from her life.
How could he
?
Erin
drained her glass and held it out for a refill. "Did Bill say where he's gone?" she asked in a choked voice.

While pouring vodka over ice, Babs screwed up her face as if trying hard to remember. "To some town he said was south of here. White…something?"

Erin
wanted to drop off the earth. "White Grove?" She grabbed her fresh drink from the bartender and took a gulp. That would be quite a coincidence if he lived in the same town as Angel.

"You okay, honey? You look pale." Babs patted
Erin
's hand. "Wait a minute. Were you in love with Derek? If so, it might not be too late to go after him. Bill said Derek didn't act as happy as a groom should, and his wedding isn't until Saturday."

A groom.
Getting married on Saturday. Dear god, could Derek be 'Dior'? He must be. There couldn't be that many weddings taking place in a town as small as White Grove next Saturday. A wave of sickness washed over her. Derek, the man she loved, was marrying her cousin, Angel.

Chapter Ten

"
Why
?"
Erin
wailed. She'd called an emergency meeting of the Wives-R-Us partners, and true to form, Margo and Leanne dropped everything to come to Rendezvous, the place she designated. These 'called get-togethers' were reserved for major life happenings. Like marriage, pregnancy and divorce.

Erin
, upon hearing the news from Babs, the bartender, had huddled in a dark corner booth where she hoped no one would see her and cried until she'd gained enough control to phone her two best friends.

"Why is Derek marrying my cousin? How could this happen?" She slapped her hands down on the table.

"Maybe Babs got it wrong," Leanne said, handing
Erin
a tissue to blot her tear-streaked face. "He might just be one of the guests attending the wedding. She's supposed to be marrying someone named Dior. Right?"

"It's a humongous coincidence that he'd even be attending the wedding I was going to invite him to,"
Erin
said, sniffling.

"What name is printed on the invitation for the groom?" Lea asked.

"I don't know… I'd already heard all I wanted to hear about the wedding from my mother and Angel, and I was so ticked off at them both that I threw it away without even opening the envelope."

"You could have saved yourself a lot of grief if you'd read it," Margo said dryly. She folded and unfolded her napkin. "Nevertheless, it's such a damned dirty trick that he'd quit his job, pack up and move out of his apartment and leave town without a word to you. I'd like to cut off his balls."

Erin
managed a weak smile. "The point is, what should I do?" she asked, raising her hands. "Call Angel and tell her I have scarlet fever and she'll have to get someone that's not contagious? Stay out of sight until time for the ceremony and hope he passes out when he sees me walking down the aisle?"

"Pass out, nothing. Hope he drops dead." Margo pounded a fist on the table.

"Lighten up, Margo," Leanne said. "Drink your beer. Your suggestions aren't constructive."

Margo stuck out her tongue before taking a slug of her beer.

"Is there a rehearsal dinner on Friday night,
Erin
?" Lea asked.

"There's a rehearsal. I don't know about a dinner. I get your meaning though. He and I will see one another before the wedding."

"
Wait
a minute!" Margo slapped herself alongside the head. "Aren't you forgetting something? You're supposed to show up for all these festivities with your fiancé."

"Ohmigod"
Erin
thought she was going to hyperventilate. "Oh, my God. I forgot all about that. I was so upset about losing…" she could barely speak his name… "Derek. What am I going to do? That will be the ultimate humiliation."

"You'll have to take someone who's willing to pretend. How about Mitch? I'll bet he would do it for you," Margo said.

Erin
thought about Derek and how jealous he'd been of Mitch. Still, she'd cut Mitch short on the phone recently. "I told Mom my fiancé was tall, dark and handsome. He's blond and I don't want to so much as see him anyway."

"Joseph?" Lea shook her head. "No, of course your mother knows him."

"And so does Derek. He's seen me with both Mitch and Joseph." Margo and Lea both raised their eyebrows. "Don't ask,"
Erin
added.

"I'd loan you Mike," Lea said, "but he doesn't fit the description."

"Brit," Margo said. "My husband does and you can borrow him. Of course, I'm going to tag along to sleep with him. I'm not loaning him out for a night at the hotel."

"You're sure he'll go for this?"
Erin
asked. Without waiting for an answer, because she knew Margo would see that he did, she went on. "I had it all planned. I would spend the night with Derek and surprise him by booking the honeymoon suite, so maybe he'd get the idea and propose…which reminds me. I bought a diamond ring, so that's taken care of."

She downed the rest of her glass of wine. "I don't know how I'm going to make it through all this, but Derek deserves everything I can hand out, and Margo, I'm glad you're going along. I'll need you to keep reminding me that he has it coming."

* * *

Derek paced the floor in his hotel room, which seemed to be getting smaller and smaller. He felt like the walls were closing in on him and he didn't know what to do.
Erin
was going to show up here on Friday and he had to head her off before someone else told her he was the groom. He hoped she'd decide not to take part in the wedding. He didn't know how he could go through with it with her there, standing next to his bride.

He'd called
Erin
time and again but she wasn't answering her phone, and her partners at Wives-R-Us answered and hung up on him every time. So she knew something was amiss and she was angry or hurt, but did she know what? He needed to explain and apologise for being such an ass. He'd hoped to get away to tell her in person, but Angel had been particularly needy. And clingy.

It was hard to regret his relationship with
Erin
, but he'd been unfair to her and he hated himself for that.

He wished Dior would sweep in and save him from this mess. Angel said she wasn't still in love with him, but Derek thought she was lying. Her mother was a pain in the ass and if he married her daughter, she'd be one for the rest of their lives. Surprisingly, Walt turned out to be the family member he liked best. He didn't put on airs like Julia and he wasn't as mercurial as Angel. However, Derek did understand that she was in a tight squeeze. Her father was clueless about her pregnancy and her mother was in denial, plus Angel's hormones were in a tailspin and mentally he didn't think she could take even the slightest upset.
             

Erin was going to feel hurt and humiliated standing at Angel's side while the minister pronounced her cousin and Derek man and wife—and there was another complication that hadn't occurred to him at first. If he didn't 'fess up to Angel about him and
Erin
and the truth came out, the whole family would be ready to crucify him.

That damned Dior was the one who should be marrying the woman he'd gotten pregnant. He was the one who started this mess. Derek sat down on the bed, elbows on his knees, and buried his face in his hands.

A knock sounded at the door of his hotel room. "Come in," he called, his voice thick with anguish. It didn't matter if it was the housekeeper or someone from room service bringing the orange juice and whole wheat toast he'd ordered. He didn't feel like getting up.

Angel walked in, looking even worse than he felt. Seating herself in a chair so that she faced him on the bed, she spoke. "Derek, I can't go through with this." Tears ran down her cheeks and she began to sob. "I…I know you don't love me, and I don't love you. You're the best friend I could ever want, asking me to marry you, but my conscience is killing me."

Derek's heart lurched with hope and at the same time, he felt it squeeze with pain for the woman sitting across from him.

"I do still love Dior and…I never told him about the baby. I should have given him a chance. We argued. He said he was moving back to
Florida
and wanted me to move there after our wedding. He'd requested a transfer, without consulting me, and it was being granted, so he had to go right away. His company had sent him to the
Indianapolis
office this past winter because they needed a man. But Dior hated the cold and snow in
Indiana
and asked to go back to
Miami
as soon as they found a replacement.

"I told him the weather here isn't always bad and I'd vacationed in
Miami
once and didn't like it there. I begged him to change his mind. He said if I loved him, I'd go, and he assured me I'd love it there once I got used to it. I got angry and tearful and said if he loved me, he'd stay here. He could learn to like
Indiana
as well as I could
Florida
, and I have family here and he doesn't there.

"Now, I miss him so much, I realise he was right. I could learn to like
Miami
. At least, I could give it a try. The hotel where my parents and I stayed was trashy, but that's because Dad wanted to save money. It was primarily a resident hotel where people left their doors open and the odour from Latino food pervaded the rooms and halls. I'm sure Dior lives in a nice place, and I'd be okay because I love him." Angel hung her head. "The truth is…I was afraid to leave home and Mama and Daddy. He knew that and resented it."

"Is that why you dropped out of college after I graduated?" Derek asked. "Because you were homesick?"

Angel nodded. "I'm a big baby and now I'm going to have a baby." She grabbed a tissue off the nightstand and threw the one she'd soaked in the wastebasket beside her chair.

"Mama and I did everything together. We were like sisters, which meant I didn't have many close friends except
Erin
, and her mother nearly ruined that.

"I always tried to please Mama and I succeeded. She bragged about me to everyone including her sister Barbara,
Erin
's mother. Their parents favoured my mother who was a people-pleaser like me. Barbara was a tomboy with a temper and a competitive nature and naturally took issue with their favouritism. I don't think Mama boasts to annoy Aunt Barb, but Barb, who is still eager to one-up my mother, badgers
Erin
to outdo me."

Derek bristled. "
Erin
's doing quite well for herself. Why would her mother think otherwise?"

"
You
know
Erin
?"

The shock on Angel's face told him he'd misspoken. He shouldn't have divulged that yet. "Yes, that's why I asked her last name, but let's take one thing at a time. Why didn't you tell Dior you were pregnant?"

Her face crumpled again. "I wanted to, but even though I was desperate to hold onto him, I didn't want to do it that way. Besides, I hadn't seen a doctor and wasn't certain yet, and if it turned out I was mistaken, he'd think I lied and maybe hate me.

"After we quarrelled, I went home and cried myself to sleep. The next day I took a pregnancy test and it was positive. I took another the following morning and got the same result. I'd been waiting for him to call, but when he didn't, I rang him on his cell phone and he was on his way to
Miami
."

"And you still didn't tell him?"

Angel began to weep again.

Derek handed her the tissue box. "Phone him again, Angel. Tell Dior and give him a chance."

She quickly fumbled a paper out of her pocket and looked at the room phone. Then, she dropped her hand into her lap. "I'm afraid. I don't know what to say."

"If you stay here, your mother is going to make your life miserable. She needs friends of her own and so do you. She manipulates you, Angel, and she'll have you bringing up your child the same way. Tell Dior that you
do
love him and will move to be with him. Tell him what you told me about being uneasy over the move. Tell him you're scheduled to marry someone else and you can't go through with it and maybe he'll take my place. If not, you'll have to call the ceremony off."

"I will?" she asked, wide-eyed. "You want me to?"

"It's for the best," he said, touching her wrist.

Angel stared at the crumpled paper in her hand. Dior's number must be written there and Derek willed her to pick up the phone.

"I have been wanting out of this arrangement since I fell in love with someone else," he said. "I met her after you and I got engaged and told myself I couldn't back out on you, but now that you've said you can't become my wife, that clears the way for me to do what I want to do. Our marriage would ruin too many people's lives…yours, Dior's, mine and Erin's.
Call him
."

Angel paled and clutched the note then shook her head. "I don't…" She rose, clasped her hands behind her back and smiled faintly. "Aunt Barbara was never justified in criticising
Erin
. You're right. She's doing well for herself." Angel patted him on the back. "And now she's getting a wonderful man. It's an amazing coincidence, but I'm glad you told me about you and her."

"Maybe it's more than coincidence. It could be fate, Angel."

She turned up her hands and shrugged. "Don't let her get away, Derek, or you'll have to live with regrets the rest of your life, the same as me."