Chapter 1

The August night was balmy, with a slight, cooling breeze stirring the palm trees surrounding the pool area. The scent of flowers blooming in profusion mingled with the smell of pinecones.

The man, swimming laps in the cool blue water, sank beneath the surface before heading for the lip of the pool. He was about to climb out when a fluffy white towel was handed to him.

"Mother." Pulling himself out of the water, he grabbed the towel and dried most of the water from his hair, which had turned midnight black because of the moisture. "I thought you and Dad were out."

"We just got back." Following him to the chaise, she sat on the opposite side and watched as he dried himself off. He was her baby, even though he was not one anymore. Angeline Collins studied the sleek, tanned skin, the muscles rippling as he rubbed himself vigorously.

Tossing the wet towel into a basket, he stretched his long legs out and leaned back, giving her his full attention. "What am I going to be lectured for now?"

"You should have gone with your brothers."

"To Disney World?" He chuckled at that. "It would have been a crush. Besides, I have been several times when I was a child."

"You were thinking it would have been an imposition."

He shrugged broad shoulders. "Probably. They needed the time away, and the children were excited to escape." He smiled as he reflected on his niece and nephews. His family had blossomed over the years, and in addition to his two nephews and niece, he had two sisters-in-law who were more like sisters to him. He loved it.

"Andre and Alex had been working hard over the past year; they deserved the break." She murmured as she stared at her youngest. "Are you all right, darling?"

He gave her a quizzical look out of cerulean blue eyes, her shade. "I am. Why?"

"Is the workload too much for you?"

"Mother- "

She shook her head. "I am entitled to be concerned."

"It's nothing." He certainly could not tell her that after achieving his dream of joining the team of lawyers at their law firm and becoming a junior partner, he was restless and on edge. It was not enough for him anymore.

He was the cool uncle who spoiled everyone, but he wondered what being a father would be like. "I happen to love what I do."

"I know you do. You have been seeing Lola- "

"We are no longer together."

Hiding her acute relief, Angeline tried to appear as if she was sorry the woman was no longer in the picture. "I am sorry to hear that."

"Are you?" His smile deepened. "You are not a very good actress, are you?"

She sent him a rueful smile. "One of the reasons I stick to the law. She was not good enough for you."

"Will anyone ever be?"

"Of course. I want a woman who has your best interests at heart and who loves you for you, not because you are a Collins."

"You mean like my sisters-in-law?"

"Those two women love your brothers." She murmured.

"They do. I have just made a junior partner and am concentrating on the cases assigned to me."

She gave him a shrewd look. "The firm is not all there is to life, darling."

"It's enough for now."

She continued to stare at him for a moment before rising gracefully. "Your Dad volunteered you to partner with him for the tennis match at the club tomorrow."

"I am up for it." He told her with a smile. It faded as she disappeared along the winding path to the manor"s entrance.

The conversation with Lola came back to him.

"I thought we were having fun."

"We are. We were."

"But it's not enough for you anymore. Is that what you are saying?"

"Precisely."

"Then we go onto the next stage."

"You are an actress," he had pointed out with a gentle smile.

"You are saying your high and mighty family will never accept me. It's fine if I am just the woman you are having sex with, but I could never be wife material."

He had not wanted to hurt her even more by agreeing. Instead, he had taken another direction. "It means you are committed to your career, and nothing is wrong. I want someone who will eventually want to give me children,"

He had seen the distasteful look on her face before she managed to control her expression.

"I could get on board."

"No." Shaking his head, he had taken her hands in his. "We have always been honest with each other; please don't change that now."

"I don't want to lose you!"

"I need more, Lola."

"You are still young." She pointed out.

"And I know what I want. I apologize for hurting you."

She had wanted him to stay the night, but he had left early, preferring to make a clean break. He wanted what his brothers had, and the feeling had increased over the past six months.

His niece Marissa had asked him, in her inimitable way, if he was not going to get married. She then went on to tell him that several of the teachers at her private school had crushes on him.

"Do they?"

She had nodded soberly. "Ms. Amy wanted your number."

"And she asked you to get it for her?"

His niece had nodded. "She pretended it was for her record, but I knew she wanted to call you."

"You are a very clever little girl."

"If you get married, they will not have to be chasing after you."

"That sounds like your Daddy talking."

She had grinned at him sheepishly. "I overheard him talking to Uncle Alex."

"A little girl with big ears," he had chided her with an indulgent smile. He was accustomed to being chased by women. He was a Collins, and aside from the money, they had inherited their mother's stunning dark-haired, blue-eyed good looks. He enjoyed it during high school and college until he was at Harvard Law.

After law school, he was so excited to officially join the firm that he dove right in. He wanted to be like his brother Alex, who had raised the roof and raised his parents' blood pressure with his various escapades.

He still admired his brother, who did not care about the money. Even though Alex had mellowed since his marriage and subsequent fatherhood, he still had that edge to him that wanted to right all the injustices in the world.

Andrew was subtly different. He was the best closer in the city and so confident in the courtroom that his name sent apprehension through other lawyers. His urbane and composed brother had one weakness, and that was the woman who had stolen his heart when he was cross-examining her in the courtroom.

Now he had a family; they both did and were so happy it showed.

Leaning back, he lifted his head to the velvety sky and breathed deeply. Deciding it was time to turn in, he got lithely to his feet and approached the house.

*****

"I thought you were happy at the firm?" Rachel brought the wine glasses over and handed her one.

"I was." April stretched her legs out to get rid of the kinks. She was tired, that much she had to admit to herself. Rachel had called and asked her to come over, and the only reason she had was because her friend was going through a very nasty divorce and was not dealing with it very well.

"And I did not come here to talk about my job." She stared at her friend in concern. "What's the latest?"

Taking a fortified sip of the red wine, her friend put the glass down carefully before responding. "He wants the house."

April stared at her with a frown. She had known David since he started dating her friend five years ago and had tried to warn her friend that there was something off about him. But Rachel had been in love and had not wanted to hear that the man she loved had flaws. He had appeared to be perfect, which had sent up a warning to April immediately.

He had given Rachel the impression that he wanted children, but that had been a lie, and after two years in the marriage, he had told her that he did not like kids.

"You built this place. I remembered how fussy you were about the design and the times we spent scouring the various antique stores to find just the right furnishing. Please tell me you are going to fight."

"I intend to." Rachel took another sip of wine. "I still love him." She shook her head as she gazed at her friend. "I know what you are going to say, and I have been telling myself that ever since he filed for divorce, but I cannot just turn off my feelings at will. I am not you."

April stiffened in affront. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I did not mean to offend you. It simply means that you had only a relationship- "

"Which ended in disaster. I was a complete idiot who thought that when people say they love you, they mean it. Instead, I ended up with a guy who made it plain after I was carrying his baby that he was not cut out to be a father."

"April- "

"No." She shook her head and sipped her wine to wash the bitter taste from her mouth. "It's fine. I am over it now."

"Are you?" Her friend asked quietly. "It happened almost seven years ago, and you still cannot let it go."

"That's because I am still angry that I allowed myself to be fooled like that. But never again."

"You cannot allow what that son of a bitch did to stand in the way of you finding happiness. There are good men out there- "

"Says the woman whom her husband is dumping." April regretted her words the minute they were out of her mouth.

"I am sorry."

Rachel shook her head. "You are right. I am not the one to be advising on relationships. But I am not going to allow this to scar me. I will give myself time to heal, but I am getting back out there after that."

April drove into the parking space of the tiny townhouse and turned off the engine. Leaning back, she closed her eyes, not relishing going in. It was a Saturday night, and she had spent part of the day or most of it at the firm, trying to iron out a situation and then staying longer at her friend's place than she had planned.

The conversation between them had stirred up some uncomfortable memories. Tomorrow was her day to visit her daughter, and she was not looking forward to it. Chloe was living with April's aunt in the country, the same aunt who had taken her in when her mother died of a heart attack when she was fifteen years old.

Aunt Sylvia – her lips curved bitterly as she reflected on her relative. The woman had never married, never had children, and had resented having a sullen and grieving teenager with a chip on her shoulders thrust on her.

But surprisingly, she loved Chloe and had no problem being responsible for the little girl. April only got to see her once a week and sometimes on major holidays. It could have been a better situation, but it was the only one that worked for both.

April lived in a tiny townhouse in the city"s heart, and the rent was horrendous. She was well paid, but if she took her daughter to live with her, she would have to consider daycare, another arm and leg expense.

She also worked odd hours and was required to go in even on some weekends. No one at the firm knew she had a child.

The law firm she had worked at before as a legal secretary never knew she had been involved with a senior partner because the bastard had insisted on being discreet. Shaking her head to dismiss the bitter memories, she opened the door and stepped out.

It was a lovely night, the scent of snapdragon and daffodils permeating the air. The townhouse was detached, something she was grateful for. It costs more in terms of lease, but the privacy it afforded was worth it as far as she was concerned.

It was only a one-bedroom – one-and-a-half-bathroom space, but she loved it. It gave her a sense of being cut off from everyone else, and she loved it.

Keying in the code, she pushed open the heavy glass door and stepped into the tiny foyer. The kitchen was surprisingly large, and the open concept caught her interest when the realtor showed her around.

Slipping out of her heels, she left them at the doorway before going into the kitchen to pour herself a glass of wine. Taking it with her, she padded into the living room to stand by the floor-to-ceiling window that gave an unobstructed view of the park. It was her place to exercise, and she met several neighbors with the same idea.

She was polite but did not invite anything further than that. Her circle had always been tiny, and she preferred it that way. Aside from her daughter, aunt, and best friend, she was not close to anyone.

Rachel had hinted that it was due to her innate suspicion of everyone. "Your Dad did a number on you, and after what you went through with Marcus, it is even worse."

And she was right. She did not need to go into therapy to realize that she had intimacy issues. Her father had been charming and adored by her and her mother.

The fact that he was handsome had allowed him to use that to his advantage. April recalled the late nights he would stumble in high on drugs and would bring her and her mother gifts to make up for the fact that he had been dabbling in drugs and cheating on his wife.

He had overdosed on heroin when she was only fourteen years old and left his family shattered and unable to recover. Her mother, who had been completely in love with him, had slowly declined after his death and succumbed only a year later, leaving her daughter reeling from the double tragedy of losing both parents one behind the other.

It had disrupted her life and hardened her to a point where she vowed never to love anyone again.

Then, when she had started at the law firm after college, she had met Marcus, and he had done his best to charm her, managing to thaw the ice surrounding her heart. She had been twenty-one, fresh out of college, and determined to make her mark.

He had been ten years older than her, but that had not mattered to her. Within weeks, she had fallen under his spell. She had thought nothing of it when he advised her to keep their relationship secret.

"We are not supposed to fraternize with other employees. I am a senior partner, and you are a new employee; I am just looking out for you." He had assured her. "I wish I could stay away from you, darling, but I can't.

I have been trying to do so ever since you came on board. How can I help myself? You are so beautiful that I find it difficult to concentrate on anything while you are sat outside my office."

She had been thrilled to be with him. He was tall and handsome, with coffee-brown hair and hazel eyes, and she had been dazzled.

They had never gone out on dates, but she had told herself that spending time with him in his swanky townhouse was enough. He would sneak her to the side, telling her he was very private and did not want anyone to know what was happening in his life. He had taken her virginity and told her how humbled he was that he was her first.

"I will treasure this forever, darling." He had been gentle with her, introducing and schooling her in the art of giving him pleasure, and she had been a very eager student.

Pleasing him had become very important to her.

She had been so blinded by infatuation that she overlooked that, after a while, he had been intent on having her please him, and this had become the focal point of their lovemaking.

She also chose to ignore the fact that the managing partner's daughter had started visiting him often. When she confronted him about it, he gave her a crushing put-down, making it appear she was blowing things out of proportion.

"I will give allowance to the fact that you are very young, my dear, but I will not tolerate you questioning my every move. Is that clear?"

She ended up apologizing and saying that she would never do it again. When she discovered she was pregnant, she had been frightened at first but convinced herself that he would be as thrilled as she was. He had never said anything about marrying her or wanting a family, but now that it was here, indeed, he would ask her to marry him.

But how wrong she had been!

She had insisted on making dinner for him and waited until they had finished the meal before she told him.

"I have something to tell you."

"What is it?"

Taking his hand, she sat next to him and placed it over her flat stomach.

"What are you doing?"

"I am pregnant."

He had stared at her for a minute as if she had taken leave of her senses. He slowly and carefully removed his hand and rose to get a drink.

"How far along?" He asked tonelessly, causing the anxiety to rise in her chest.

"Almost six weeks. I took a pregnancy test, and I went to the doctor to confirm."

"I will give you the money to take care of it."

At first, she did not understand his meaning. "Take care of it?"

He had smiled grimly. "Surely, you do not expect to keep it?"

"You want me to abort our baby?"

"It's hardly a baby yet. And I don't want to be a father."

"I was thinking we could get married-" His harsh laughter cut her off and made her stare at him. "You were just using me?"

"We had a perfect time, and you were an adequate lover, but that's it." He had raked her with a cruel glance, his expression hardened. "I will give you enough money to get rid of it, and I think it's best if we never see each other again. I will make arrangements for you to be transferred to another department."

She had sat there in shock, scarcely believing what he was saying.

"I thought you loved me."

He laughed again. "You are a beautiful child, but I have plans for my future that do not include you. I was planning to wait before saying anything to you, but I will marry Sara Goodwin."

"The managing partner's daughter who is in her fifties."

"Age does not matter to me. I am on a fast track to take over the firm, and nothing will stop me."

"I will march in there and tell everyone what a deceitful bastard you are." She had warned.

His expression had turned glacial. "Do that, and I will ensure you never get another job in a law firm." His expression had softened a little. "Take the money."