Twice the Temptation. Rochelle Alers

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СКАЧАТЬ all of the plans they’d made for their future to crawl into bed with Trey Chambers. He’d wanted to hate her, but couldn’t. He’d wanted to hurt her, but hadn’t. Now the only thing he wanted was revenge—the sweetest revenge that he would exact in his own time, using his own methods.

      “That was then.”

      “And this is now,” she said softly.

      “Yes, it is,” Rhett said slowly as if measuring his words. “Speaking of now—how is your family?”

      Denise, relieved to change the focus of the conversation from her and Rhett, smiled. “Thankfully, everyone’s well.”

      “How’s your brother?”

      “Xavier has retired from active service. He went to Iraq a couple of years after 9/11 for two tours of duty. He was stateside for a while, and last year he was deployed again, this time to Afghanistan. A month before he was scheduled to return home he took a bullet to the leg that shattered his femur.”

      “What is he doing now?”

      “He just got a teaching position at a military school in South Carolina, much to the relief of my mother, who went to church every day to light a candle that he wouldn’t come back in a flag-draped casket.”

      Rhett had always liked Xavier. The career soldier had become the older brother he’d wished he had. “Are your parents well?”

      “Very well,” she said, smiling. “Daddy is now a state supreme court judge. Mom put in for early retirement, and now complains that she’s bored out of her mind. All she does is cook and bake cakes.”

      “Your mother missed her calling.”

      “And that is?”

      “She should’ve become a chef instead of a teacher.” Whenever he’d gone to Philadelphia with Denise, her mother had prepared so much food that she’d invited every family member within a twenty-mile radius. Although he and Denise hadn’t been engaged, the Eatons had unofficially adopted him into their family.

      Denise’s smile was dazzling. “I think you just gave me an idea, Rhett. When I speak to my mother I’m going to suggest she take some cooking classes.”

      Rhett’s smile matched Denise’s and for a brief moment he forgot why he was sitting across the table from her in a hotel restaurant. “Your mother is an incredible cook, unlike my mother, who still can’t boil water.”

      A tender expression softened Denise’s features when she remembered meeting Rhett’s mother for the first time. Her greeting of “you’re the daughter I always wanted” had resonated with her long after she and Rhett had driven back to Baltimore after a holiday weekend.

      “How is your mother?”

      “Believe it or not, she got married last year.”

      “I don’t believe it. Your mother is so beautiful, and what I didn’t understand was that men were practically genuflecting whenever they saw her, yet she wouldn’t give any of them the time of day.”

      Rhett chuckled, the warm honeyed sound coming from deep within his chest. “She finally met someone who wasn’t intimidated by her hostile glares and sharp tongue. Russ claims he chased her until she caught him. She used every excuse in the book as to why she wouldn’t make a good wife, including her inability to cook, until he promised to hire a personal chef.”

      “Did he?” Denise asked.

      “Yes. He made good on his promise and they have a cook who prepares their meals, so the only thing Mom has to do is heat them up in the oven or the microwave.”

      Denise wanted to tell Rhett his mother didn’t have to learn to cook because she’d worked at a restaurant and brought food home. She also didn’t tell him that six months ago she’d gone to see Geraldine Fennell, but neighbors told her Gerri had moved and hadn’t left a forwarding address.

      “I hope she’s happy.”

      “She is,” Rhett confirmed. “Once I convinced her to give up one of her jobs, she got her GED and eventually went online to get a liberal arts degree. She says she doesn’t know what she’s going to do with it, but earning a college degree is something she’d always wanted.”

      The sommelier approached the table with two flutes and a bottle of champagne in a crystal ice bucket. He poured a small amount into one flute, handed it to Rhett, and then filled both when he nodded his approval.

      Rhett offered Denise the wineglass, their fingers touching. Holding his flute aloft, he gave her a long, penetrating look. “Here’s to a successful business arrangement.”

      With wide eyes, Denise stared at him over the rim. “What business arrangement?” The query was barely a whisper.

      He took a sip of the sparkling wine. “Drink up, Denise.”

      Her fingers tightened on the stem of the glass. “No. I’m not going to toast or drink to something I know nothing about.”

      Rhett set his glass down. He knew his dining partner well enough to know she wouldn’t do anything she didn’t want to do. “I want you to stand in as my hostess for the summer.”

      A soft gasp escaped Denise when she replayed Rhett’s business proposal in her head. “You need a girlfriend?” There was a thread of incredulity in the question.

      “No, Denise, I don’t need a girlfriend. I broke up with my girlfriend a couple of months ago, and I’m not looking for another one. Unfortunately I’ve committed to quite a few social engagements this summer, and I need someone who will stand in as my date and hostess, providing your boyfriend doesn’t object.”

      Clasping her hands together, she concealed their trembling under the table. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”

      “That alleviates one obstacle.”

      She rolled her eyes at him. “Why don’t you contact a dating service, Rhett? I’m certain they can find someone to your liking.”

      Leaning forward, Rhett’s face suddenly went grim. “I don’t do dating services.”

      Denise refused to relent. “Have you been in a monastery since we broke up?”

      “Who I’ve slept with is none of your business,” he retorted.

      “I didn’t ask who you were sleeping with, Garrett Mason Fennell. I said—”

      “I know what you said. You have a choice, Miss Eaton. Either it’s yes or no.” He knew she was upset because she’d called him by his full name.

      “What are my options?”

      “If you say no, then you’ll receive a lease renewal agreement doubling your current monthly rent.”

      Denise blinked, unable to believe what she’d heard. “That’s blackmail!”

      “I call it negotiating, Denise. You want something from me, and I’m offering you a way out of your dilemma. I could’ve said I wanted you to sleep with me.”

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