Twice the Temptation. Rochelle Alers

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      Chapter Two

      However, if things between them hadn’t changed she now would’ve been Denise Fennell and probably would’ve had at least one, if not, two children. Rhett, who was an only child, always talked about having a big family. When she’d asked him what he felt constituted a big family his reply had been a minimum of four children. They’d argued good-naturedly, she refusing to agree to push out four babies, while Rhett reminded her of how much fun it would be making babies.

      Denise knew conjuring up images of the passionate encounters she’d had with Rhett would be detrimental to her emotional well-being. It had taken a long time to recover from his deceit and now that her life was on track she wanted nothing to derail it again.

      “Your table is ready, Mr. Fennell.”

      Rhett’s arm went around her waist, holding her close to his length. Denise was relieved she’d chosen to wear the stilettos. She was five-four in bare feet, and the additional four inches put her at eye level with Rhett’s broad shoulder.

      “How often do you eat here?” she asked him after he’d seated her.

      “Enough,” Rhett replied cryptically.

      Denise stared across the small space of the table for two, her eyes taking in everything that made Rhett the confident man she’d loved selfishly. “How often is enough?” He’d greeted the maître d’ and several of the waitstaff by name.

      Rhett stared at Denise with lowered lids. He didn’t want to believe she was more stunning than he’d remembered. The private investigator on his payroll had more than earned his salary. He made a mental note to give the man a generous year-end bonus. The former police officer had information on the teacher she probably hadn’t remembered, or had chosen not to remember.

      “I stay at the hotel whenever I have business in D.C.”

      A slight frown furrowed Denise’s smooth forehead. Whenever she saw Garrett Fennell’s name linked with a D.C.-based company in the business section of The Washington Post, she was under the impression that he still lived in his hometown.

      “Where’s home now?” she asked, staring at his firm mouth.

      A hint of a smile found its way to Rhett’s eyes. “I have a little place off the Chesapeake.”

      Resting her elbow on the table, Denise cupped her chin on the heel of her hand. “So you got your wish,” she said in a quiet voice. “You always said you wanted to live on the water.”

      Rhett’s expression changed, becoming somber. “Unfortunately, not all of my wishes were granted.”

      “What more could you have wanted, Rhett? You’ve become a successful entrepreneur, you have the home you wanted and—”

      “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” he said, cutting her off.

      Denise’s arm came down and she sat back, her eyes never leaving the pair pinning her to the chair. He’d done it again. He had yelled at her without raising his voice. “If you talk to me like that again, I’m going to get up and walk out of here.”

      “You do that and you’ll throw away everything you’ve worked so hard for. And knowing you like I believe I do, you won’t do that just because someone said something you don’t like.”

      “You’re not someone, Rhett,” she countered angrily. “Remember, we’re not strangers.”

      “That’s something I’ll never forget, because you made certain of that.”

      Her eyes narrowed. “So, you’re still blaming me for something you initiated and let get out of control.” Rhett’s reply was preempted when the waiter brought menus to the table.

      “Would you like to order cocktails before I take your order, Mr. Fennell?”

      “We’ll have a bottle of champagne.”

      “Your usual, sir?”

      “Yes, please.”

      Denise did not want to believe Rhett had ordered champagne without asking her beverage choice. “I don’t want anything to drink because I’m driving,” she said softly after the waiter had walked away.

      Rhett smiled. “Don’t worry. I’ll make certain you get home safely.”

      “How are you going to do that?”

      “I’ll drive you home and then take a taxi back here.”

      “That’s not necessary.” It was enough that Rhett knew where she worked, and Denise didn’t want him to know where she lived.

      Picking up the menu, Rhett studied the entrées as Denise seethed inwardly. His success had made him not only arrogant but also rude. When they’d dated she rarely drank. Being underage was a factor and even when she’d reached the legal drinking age she’d discovered one drink usually left her feeling giddy.

      “You’ve changed, Rhett.”

      “And you haven’t?” he said, never taking his eyes off the menu.

      “Yes, I have. I’m no longer the wide-eyed young girl who got to sleep with the smartest guy on campus.”

      Rhett’s head came up as he slumped back in his chair. “You think what we’d had was all about sex, Denise?”

      “What else was it, Rhett?” she asked, answering his question with her own. “Even you admitted you’d never connected with a woman the way you had with me.”

      Pressing his palms together, he brought his fingertips to his mouth. He’d fallen in love with Denise Eaton because of her outspokenness, passion and her ambition. Of all the women he’d met at Johns Hopkins, she’d been the most focused and driven. Even at eighteen she knew who she was and what she’d wanted for her future.

      She was a Philadelphia Eaton, while he was the only child of a single mother who’d looked young enough to pass for his sister. Denise had grown up in a sprawling house on several acres with her attorney father and schoolteacher mother and an older brother. Her brother had attended the prestigious Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, with the intention of becoming a professional soldier.

      Meanwhile, he hadn’t known his father, and whenever he’d asked Geraldine Fennell about him, she would say she didn’t know. His mother didn’t know the man who’d fathered him, and every time he walked the streets in his neighborhood he’d randomly searched the faces of men in an attempt to find one who he thought he looked like.

      Gerri, as she was affectionately called by the few friends she’d held on to from her childhood, worked two jobs to send him to a boarding school twelve miles from their blighted neighborhood so he would get a quality education. Her sacrifice had paid off, because he’d been awarded full academic scholarships to Stanford, Howard University, Harvard and Johns Hopkins. Rhett had decided on the latter, because the scholarship included СКАЧАТЬ