Sweet Deception. Rochelle Alers

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СКАЧАТЬ curly hair framed her attractive face.

      Zabrina’s gaze moved from Belinda’s face to her hand, which flaunted a magnificent emerald-cut diamond ring surrounded with baguettes. She remembered the engagement ring Myles had slipped on her finger, a ring she had returned to him via a bonded messenger hours after she’d called him to let him know she couldn’t marry him because she was in love with another man.

      “I knew there was something going on between you and Griffin when you two were maid of honor and best man at Donna and Grant’s wedding.” Belinda’s older sister had married Griffin’s older brother.

      Belinda took a sip from her water goblet. “That’s where you’re wrong, Brina. Griffin and I barely tolerated each other. What I hadn’t realized at the time was that I was in love with him. But instead of letting him know that, I acted like a junior-high schoolgirl who punches out the boy so everyone believes that she despises rather than likes him.”

      Zabrina stared at her bare hands resting on the tablecloth. “It was the same with me and Myles. He used to tease me mercilessly until I kissed him. I don’t know who was more shocked—me or him.”

      “You kissed my brother first?”

      Zabrina’s face became flushed as she cast her eyes downward. “He was leaving for college, and I didn’t want him to forget me.”

      “And apparently he didn’t,” Belinda said softly.

      Zabrina looked up and her eyes met Belinda’s. “I was thirteen when I kissed Myles for the first time, and I had to wait another five years before he kissed me back. Myles claimed he didn’t want to take advantage of a minor, so he felt at eighteen I was old enough either to let him kiss me or punch his lights out.” Her eyes brimmed with tears. “The happiest day in my life was when your brother asked me to marry him and one of the darkest was when I called to tell him I was in love with another man.”

      Reaching across the table, Belinda placed her hand over Zabrina’s ice-cold fingers. “What happened, Brina? I know you loved my brother, so why did you lie to him?”

      The seconds ticked off as the two women stared at each other. They’d met in the first grade and become fast friends. Then tragedy had separated them for a year when Zabrina’s mother was diagnosed with brain cancer.

      Isaac Mixon moved his wife and daughter to Mexico for an experimental treatment not approved by oncologists in the United States. Zabrina had just celebrated her seventh birthday when Jacinta passed away. Her body was cremated and her ashes scattered in the ocean.

      Zabrina returned to the States with her father, not to live in the stately white Colonial with black trim but in a three-bedroom condominium in an exclusive Philadelphia neighborhood. She and Belinda no longer attended the same school, yet they’d managed to get together every weekend. Belinda would either stay over at Zabrina’s, or she would sleep over at Belinda’s. Though Belinda had two other sisters, Zabrina Mixon had become her best friend and unofficial sister. But a lifetime of friendship had ended with a single telephone call to Myles Eaton.

      Belinda stared at the beautiful woman with the gold-brown skin, gleaming black chin-length hair and brilliant hazel eyes. She remembered photographs of Jacinta Mixon, and Zabrina was her mother’s twin.

      “I had to, Belinda,” Zabrina said in a soft voice. “I wasn’t given a choice.”

      “Who didn’t give you a choice, Brina?”

      Zabrina averted her gaze, staring out the restaurant window at the patrons dining alfresco in the warm June temperatures. “It had to do with my father.” Her gaze swung back to Belinda and she closed her eyes for several seconds. “I’ve already said too much.”

      “Are you saying you were forced to marry Thomas Cooper?”

      “The only other thing I’m going to say is I didn’t want to marry Thomas. Please, Belinda, don’t ask me any more questions, because I can’t answer them.”

      She’d promised her father she would never tell anyone what he’d done although she was tempted to do just that after burying Isaac Mixon. However, she’d changed her mind when she thought of how it would’ve affected Adam. Her son idolized his grandfather.

      “You can’t or you won’t?”

      “I can’t.”

      Their waiter approached the table, bringing the difficult conversation to an end. The two women ordered, then settled back to discuss Belinda’s upcoming wedding.

      Belinda touched a napkin to the corners of her mouth. “I know you sent back your response card saying you’re coming, but I want to warn you that Myles will also be there. He came in from Pittsburgh last night and plans to spend the summer here in Philly.”

      Zabrina nodded. She’d had more than ten years to prepare to meet Myles Eaton again. Marrying Thomas Cooper would’ve been akin to a death sentence if not for her son. Raising Adam had kept her sane, rational and out of prison.

      “It’s been a long time, but I’ve known eventually we would have to come face-to-face with each other one of these days.” She couldn’t predict what Myles’s reaction would be to seeing her again, but she was certain he would find her a very different woman from the one who’d pledged to love him forever.

      The two women talked about old friends, jokes they’d played on former classmates and the boys they’d had crushes on but who hadn’t given them a single glance. They talked about everything except the loss of their loved ones—Belinda’s sister and brother-in-law and Zabrina’s parents.

      Both declined dessert and coffee. “Who’s your maid of honor?” Zabrina asked.

      Belinda wanted to tell Zabrina she would’ve been her matron of honor if she had married Myles. “Chandra. She’s scheduled to fly in Monday, because she has to be fitted for her dress.” Belinda’s sister had joined the Peace Corps and was currently teaching in Belize. “My cousin Denise will be my other attendant. Myles will stand in as Griffin’s best man and Keith Ennis will be a groomsman.”

      With wide eyes, Zabrina whispered, “Baseball player Keith Ennis?”

      Belinda smiled. “Yes. He’s one of Griffin’s clients.” Her fiancé was the lawyer for half a dozen superstar athletes.

      “It looks as if you’re going to have quite the celebrity wedding.”

      “All I want is for it to be over, so that my life can return to normal.”

      “Are you going on a honeymoon?” Zabrina asked.

      “Yes. We’re going to spend two weeks at a private villa on St. Kitts. I plan to sleep late, take in the sun and eat and drink until I can’t move.”

      Zabrina smiled again, then her smile vanished when she spied the man she hadn’t expected to see until Belinda’s wedding. Myles Adam Eaton had walked into the restaurant with a beautiful, petite dark-skinned woman with her hand draped possessively over the sleeve of his suit jacket. Myles immediately glanced in her direction. Their eyes met, recognition dawned and then the moment passed when he dipped his head to listen to something the woman was saying. To say time had been kind to Myles was an understatement. Quickly averting her gaze so Belinda wouldn’t see what had gotten her attention, she signaled for the waiter.

      “I’ll СКАЧАТЬ