Just Deserts (10 page)

D
anielle dabbed at her eyes thinking that Renée made such a beautiful bride. And she looked simply stunning, completely elegant in her white cocktail-length wedding dress embellished with delicate embroidery and pearl beading on the halter bodice. A classy pair of silver-and-white strappy sandals graced her feet, and the infamous diamond necklace—the one Marc had almost done away with—hung around her neck.

The bride and groom were now posing for the camera. Renée had said they wanted lots of pictures to share with everyone. Danielle glanced around. It appeared that more than three hundred guests had been invited to the Sweet House. Built in the early 1900s, the building transported its guests back in time the moment they stepped inside its doors. The sheer elegance echoed a time long gone.

“You okay?”

Tristan didn’t wait for an answer. He leaned down and wrapped his arms around her waist.

She looked at him. “Yes, I’m fine. Just happy. I don’t know how to explain it, Tris, but it’s like I’ve waited for this day to happen for Renée forever, when I’ve only known her for a little more than three months. How can that be?”

He smiled and pulled her closer into his arms, remembering the last two days they’d spent in San Francisco. They still hadn’t gotten a lot of sightseeing in, but that was okay. What they
had
gotten in had been even more precious. Before, they’d known each other as best friends. Now they knew each other as lovers. He was more aware of her, more honed in to her wants and needs than ever before.

“The way I see it,” he said, dipping his head to brush a kiss across her forehead, “is that something good came out of Marc’s deceit, after all. He was able to make something happen.”

She raised a brow. “What?”

“You, Renée and Alex. I don’t know of three women who probably needed each other more.”

She smiled at him before reverting her gaze to Renée and Chris. She then glanced over to where Alex and Hunter were standing. “I’ve thought that same thing lately. But still, there isn’t closure for me.”

He nodded, understanding. “It will come soon.”

She stared at him. “Did Chris tell you something?”

“Yes. He was able to pick up a few leads on the woman’s identity, but didn’t have the time to follow up on anything. I thought we would fly home first, check on things, get the ball rolling for the purchase of Shipping Source and then fly to Costa Woods.”

Gratitude shone in her eyes. “I know how busy we’re going to be at A&T with the merger and all, but you’ll take time off again for me?” she asked quietly.

He nodded as he took her hand in his. “Yes, I’ll take time off for
us.
I won’t be satisfied until we bring this thing to closure, as well.”

What he wouldn’t tell her was that only when there was closure would he share with her what he’d held inside him for so long. It was bursting to come out, but he had to be certain she would be ready not only to hear it, but accept it.

“Hey, guys,” Alex said, as she and Hunter joined them. “How about all of us getting together for an after-the-honeymoon party on board the
Marc III
when the newlyweds return?”

“That sounds like a good plan to me,” Tristan said, one arm around Danielle’s shoulders now.

It sounded like a good plan to Danielle, too. She looked at Alex and saw the sly smile on her friend’s face and knew what she was thinking. Even if Danielle hadn’t shared with Alex and Renée the news that she and Tristan were lovers, it would have been quite obvious to everyone here that they were. He had always been a demonstrative person where she was concerned, but now he was even more so. And they’d been caught kissing—the tongue-deep-in-your-mouth-almost-down-your-throat kind—when Alex had stumbled upon them last night almost in this very spot after the rehearsal dinner. Alex had been out looking for Little Sweetie, who’d gotten away from her.

“Great,” Hunter said, pulling his wife into his arms. “Then it’s final. In three weeks the two of you, along with Renée and Chris, will join us in Atlanta.”

The following two weeks were busy ones not only for Tristan and Danielle, but practically everyone at A&T. The first thing the partners did upon returning to the office was to call their top management together to advise them of what was in the works.

The main thing was to be sensitive to the people who had worked many years for Simon Craven’s father at Shipping Source. Tristan and Danielle had given him their word that they would.

Shipping Source had more than forty offices spread out across the country, and Tristan and Danielle intended to make it their business to visit each one of them to assure the current employees that, starting out, few changes would be made. However, they both knew it was important to get many of their key players in place to ensure a smooth transition.

The purchase of Shipping Source went off without a hitch, and Tristan and Danielle were grateful for that. It had taken two weeks, instead of the one they’d counted on, but when it was over, they had celebrated with dinner and champagne. And that night, they continued the celebration in each other’s arms.

“Tristan.”

Danielle whispered his name from deep within her throat when a sexual explosion hit both of them at the same time. He held her tight while her legs locked around his taut and solid thighs, pulling him even further inside her.

This was what she looked forward to each day, she thought. No matter how hectic things got at the office—and lately things had gotten crazier than ever—she knew she would always have this peace in his arms, after the turbulence of heated passion and earth-shattering ecstasy was shared.

Still locked in her body, Tristan pulled back far enough to look at her face. “I had your secretary clear your calendar for next week,” he said in a deep, husky tone.

She lifted her lashes, just barely, to look at him. “We have another trip?”

“Yes,” he said softly. “I talked to Chris today.”

Her eyes widened in alertness. “Yes?”

“And he thinks he might have a positive ID on the woman.”

Danielle’s breath caught. They’d been too busy to talk about taking time away to follow up on Chris’s last lead as they’d intended, and she’d been fine with that, had understood completely. Considering everything that was going on with the merger, there had been no way she could have asked Tristan to put everything aside to fly out with her to Costa Woods, so she hadn’t. But neither had she forgotten that the loose end still existed.

“And?” she asked quietly.

“And Chris has told Renée and Hunter is telling Alex. He’s asked me to tell you. Of course he’s fully aware that you want to be the one to go and visit with the woman to tell her about Marc, assuming she doesn’t already know.”

Danielle nodded, knowing there was that possibility. “Did Chris tell you anything about her?”

Tristan shook his head. “He gave me a name and an address. He decided to leave it up to us how we handle things from here.”

He paused a moment and then said, “There’s something else I need to tell you. It’s something Chris shared with me while you and I were in San Francisco. Because I didn’t want to ruin your vacation, I made the decision not to tell you at the time, but I think before we make plans to go anywhere that it’s something you should know.”

“What?”

Tristan slowly disconnected their bodies and then eased off the bed. “Come on, let’s take a shower first and then we’ll talk.”

Tristan walked into the kitchen and paused in the doorway. After their shower, which got delayed because he couldn’t resist making love to Danielle again, he’d gotten a call from one of his new district managers in Savannah. The call lasted longer than he’d anticipated.

Danielle had come into the kitchen to make coffee. He couldn’t help but admire what she was wearing, which was barely anything beneath another short robe. He smiled, thinking that since moving in, she had done wonders in gracing his kitchen each and every morning.

Although she claimed she hadn’t officially moved in, she stayed with him every night. She’d put her house on the market and he knew she was working with a Realtor to find a condo close by the office. But he figured that was going to change soon enough, once he began doing whatever it took to make their relationship permanent.

“Coffee smells good,” he said, walking into the kitchen and taking a seat at the table where she had placed a pair of mugs. She turned and smiled and reached for the coffeepot.

“Thanks. Is everything okay in Savannah?”

He nodded. “Yes. Reynolds wanted to make me aware of a huge shipment coming through. And he wanted us to know that the employees appreciated the new equipment.”

“It was long overdue,” Danielle said, pouring coffee into the mugs. “I’m glad Craven decided to go ahead and sell once he’d made the decision that he wanted no part of the business his father started.”

Tristan couldn’t agree with her more. The acquisition had been a blessing for everyone. Not only had A&T been able to retain Shipping Source’s employees, most of whom had been with the company for years, they had posted a number of new positions at all the offices. The increase in hiring was a boost to the local economy where the offices were located.

Danielle sat down and glanced at him. He saw the anxious look in her eyes. “So, what did you have to tell me about Marc?”

He could see that although she wanted to hear what he had to say, she was also uneasy about it. She had to put her coffee down when her hands began shaking.

He reached over and captured her hands in his. “Don’t, sweetheart. It’s nothing
that
serious.”

“You mean Chris hasn’t stumbled on a fifth woman?” she asked, affecting a playful tone.

“No.”

“Okay, then, what is it?”

He leaned back in his chair. “When Chris was able to get back to Costa Woods earlier this month to do a more thorough job of going over Marc’s apartment, he discovered a jeweler’s receipt. He paid the jeweler a visit and found out Marc had an engagement ring exclusively designed for the woman.”

Danielle raised a brow. “How exclusively designed?”

“To the tune of a half million.”

“What!”

“Yes, I understand it was six carats.”

Danielle shook her head. Tristan could tell she didn’t want to believe it. “Where on earth did he get that kind of money?” she asked, stunned.

“Chris and I figured it was part of the loot that he embezzled from Alex’s family’s company.” Tristan paused before adding, “The jeweler was also paid to design his wedding band and hers.”

He knew Danielle was taking it all in before she asked, “Was the jeweler able to provide Chris with the woman’s name?”

“No. But he was able to provide him with the name of the restaurant where Marc told the man he’d proposed to her. Because of his own wedding and then the honeymoon, Chris wasn’t able to follow up on that until this week.”

Danielle inhaled deeply. “And?”

“He visited the restaurant and the man remembered Marc. It seems Marc paid him a large amount of money for the restaurant to be closed that night at a certain time so that only he and his lady friend would be there.”

Danielle blinked. She found it totally unbelievable that the man she thought was her husband for five years and who’d stopped having a romantic bone in his body for the last three of them, had wined and dined this woman. “The restaurant’s in Costa Woods?”

“No, it’s in Dallas.”

Danielle shook her head again. “Marc certainly got around a lot, didn’t he.”

“Apparently.” After a few moments Tristan continued, “The restaurant owner remembered the woman, too. In fact, she patronizes his establishment on a frequent basis. And he’s certain that’s where she and Marc met, which was why he was so adamant about proposing there.”

Silence stretched for a long moment before Danielle spoke. “Okay, just who is this paragon who deserved all of this lavish treatment?”

Tristan studied the contents of his coffee cup for the longest moment and then he looked at Danielle. “Her name is Catherine Hodges and she runs a school not far from the restaurant.”

Danielle was staring at him as if she expected to hear more. He could tell she knew there was more. “Ms. Hodges runs a school for the deaf and blind,” he added.

She raised a brow. “And?”

“She’s blind, Danielle, and has been since birth.”

Danielle paced the kitchen. She was livid. How could Marc stoop so low? Her heart went out to Catherine Hodges, and she couldn’t help but wonder how badly the woman had gotten taken in.

“Dani, you’re going to wear a hole in the floor.”

She stopped and glanced at Tristan. They stared at each other for a long moment and then he stood with open arms and she wasted no time going into them. He held her tight, rubbed her back and whispered that things would be all right.

And then she cried.

He continued holding her, his arms enfolding her in his warm embrace, and she felt comforted in a way she never had before. And then she was scooped up in his arms and he carried her to the bedroom they were now sharing. When they got there, instead of placing her on the bed, he sat down and held her in his arms to let her continue to cry.