One

2183 Words
John is a Handsome smart Good looking business man. His past of Alize. She is a mother of one kid one day when he saw her he was shocked who is the father of your baby, Alize? She Holding her six-month-old baby on her hip, Alize had been smiling with pride and pleasure across her family’s -old farmhouse lit with swaying lights and filled with neighbors and friends for her sister’s evening Engagement. Now, pushing up her black-rimmed glasses, Alize faced her younger sister with a sinking feeling in her heart. Who is the father of your baby? People rarely asked that question anymore, since Alize always refused to answer. She’d started to hope the scandal might be over. “Will you ever tell?” Beny’s face was unhappy beneath her veil. At nineteen, her sister was an idealistic new bride with romantic dreams of right and wrong. Deny deserves a father. Trying to control the anguish in her heart, Alize kissed her son’s dark hair, so soft, and smelling of baby shampoo. She said in a low voice, “We’ve talked about this. “Who is he?” her sister cried. “Are you ashamed of him? Why won’t you tell?” “Beny!” Alize glanced uneasily at the reception guests around them. “I told you… I don’t…” She took a deep breath. “I don’t know who he is.” Her sister stared at her tearfully. “You’re lying. There’s no way you’d sleep around like that. You’re the one who convinced me to wait for true love!” The people closest to them had stopped pretending to talk, and were now openly eavesdropping. Family and friends were packed into the farmhouse’s warren of rooms, walking across creaking floors, having conversations beneath the low ceilings. Neighbors sat on folding chairs along the walls, holding paper plates of food in their laps. And probably listening. Alize held her baby closer. “Beny, please,” she whispered. “He deserted you. And it’s not fair!” “Beny,” their mother said suddenly from behind them, “I don’t think you’ve met your great-aunt Gertrude. She’s traveled all the way from New York. Won’t you come and greet her?” Smiling, Leo reached for her grandson in Alize’s arms. “She’ll want to meet Deny, too.” “Thank you,” Alize whispered soundlessly to her mother. Loe answered with a loving smile and a wink, then drew her younger daughter and baby grandson away. Alize watched them go, love, choking her. Leo was wearing her nicest Sunday dress and bright coral lipstick, but her hair had grown gray and her body slightly stooped. The past year had left even her strong mother frailer. The lump in Alize’s throat felt razor-sharp as she stood alone in the crowded room. She’d thought she’d put the scandal of her pregnancy behind her, after she’d returned to her northern New village pregnant, with no job and no answers. But would her family ever get over it? Would she? Three weeks after she’d left, she’d been shocked to discover she was pregnant. Her burly, overprotective father had demanded to know the name of the man. Alize had been afraid he might go after Jhon with an ultimatum—or worse, a shotgun. So she’d lied and said she had no idea who her baby’s father might be. She’d described her time in Italy as one gigantic shagfest, when the truth was that she’d had only one lover her whole life. And even that had been for a single night. One precious night… I need you, Alize. She still felt the violence of her boss’s embrace as he’d pushed her back against his desk, sweeping aside paperwork and crashing the computer to the floor. After more than a year, she could still feel the heat of his body against hers, the feel of his lips against her neck, his hot brutal kisses against her skin. The memory of the way John had ruthlessly taken her virginity still invaded her dreams every night. And the memory of the aftermath still left a shotgun blast in her heart. The morning after he’d seduced her, she’d tearfully told him she felt she had no choice but to quit her job. He’d just shrugged. “Good luck,” he said. “I hope you find what you’re looking for.” That was all he gave her, after five years of her love and devoted service. She’d loved her playboy boss, stupidly and without hope. It had been fifteen months since she’d last seen John’s face, but she could not forget it, no matter how hard she tried. How could she, when every day she saw those same dark eyes in her child’s face? Her tears in the little white clapboard church an hour ago hadn’t just been from happiness for Beny. Alize had once loved a man with all her heart, but he hadn’t loved her back. And as the cold December wind whipped through their valley, there were still times she imagined she could hear his dark, deep voice speaking to her, only to her. Alize.” Like now. The memory of his low, accented voice seemed so real. The sound ripped through her body, through her heart, as if he were right beside her, whispering against her skin. Alize.” His voice felt close that time. Close. Alize’s hands shook as she set down her glass of cheap champagne. Lack of sleep and a surfeit of dreams were causing her to hallucinate. Had to be. It couldn’t be… With a deep breath, she turned. Jhon stood before her. In the middle of her family’s crowded living room, he towered over other men in every way, even more, darkly handsome than she remembered. But it wasn’t just his chiseled jawline or his expensive Italian suit that made him stand out. It wasn’t just his height or the strength of his broad shoulders. It was the ruthless intensity of his black eyes. A tremble went through her. Jhon…?” she whispered. His sensual lips curved. “Hello, Alize. She swallowed, pressing her nails into her palms, willing herself to wake up from this nightmare—from this incredible dream. “You can’t be here,” she whispered. “As in here.” “And yet I am,” he said. “Alize.” She shivered at the sound of her name on his lips. It didn’t seem right that he could be here, in her family’s living room, surrounded by friends and family eating potluck. Jhon owned a vast international conglomerate that bought and shipped steel and timber across the world. His life was filled with one passionate, single-minded pursuit after another. Business. Adrenaline-tinged sports. Beautiful women. Alize’s lips turned downward. Beautiful women most of all. So what was he doing here? What could he possibly have come for unless…unless… Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her mother disappearing down the hall with her baby. Trying to stop her hands from shaking, Alize folded her arms around the waist of her hand-sewn bridesmaid’s dress. So John had come to Green Hill Farm. It didn’t exactly require a c***k team unit to find her here. They had lived here for One hundred years. It didn’t mean he knew about Deny. It didn’t. He couldn’t. Could he? John lifted a dark eyebrow. “Are you glad to see me?” “Of course I’m not glad.” She bit out the words. “If you recall, I’m no longer your secretary. So if you’ve come five thousand miles because you need me to go back to Italy and sew a button or make your coffee—” “No.” His eyes glittered at her. “That’s not why I’ve come.” He slowly looked around the house, which was decorated with strings of pink lights and red paper hearts along the walls, and candles above the fire in the old stone fireplace. “What’s going on here?” “A wedding reception.” He blinked, then came closer to her, the wooden boards creaking beneath his feet. Alize’s eyes widened as the shadows of firelight shifted across the hard angles of his face. He was so handsome, she thought in bewildered wonder. She’d forgotten how handsome. Her dreams hadn’t done him justice. She could see why so many women chased after him all over the world…and why he was the despair of them all. “And just who—” his black eyes narrowed into a glower “—is the bride?” She was bewildered at the sudden harshness of his tone. “My little sister. Beny.” “Ah.” His shoulders relaxed imperceptibly. Then he frowned. “Beny? She’s not much more than a child.” “Tell me about it.” Alize looked down at her bridesmaid’s dress. In the gleam of the fire and pink lights swaying above, the pale pink gown appeared almost white. She looked up suddenly. “Did you think it was me?” Their eyes locked in the crowded room. John said quietly. “Of course I thought it was you.” The idea of her having the time or the interest to date, let alone marry, some other man-made her choke back a laugh. She smoothed her bridesmaid’s gown with trembling hands. “No.” So there is no one important in your life right now?” he asked, in a casual tone belied by the way he held his body in absolute stillness. There was someone important in her life. She just had to get Jhon out of here before he saw Deny. “You have no right to ask.” “Sim.” He paused. “But you’re not wearing a ring.” “Fine.” Alize’s voice was painfully quiet as she looked down at her feet. “I’m not married.” She didn’t have to ask if John was married. She already knew the answer. How many times had he told her he would never, ever take a wife? I’m not made for love, I’ll never have a little housewife cooking my dinner in a snug house every night as I read books to our children. John moved closer, almost touching her. She was dimly aware of people whispering around them, wondering who this handsome, well-dressed a stranger might be. She knew she should tell him to leave, but she was caught in the power of his body so close to hers. Her gaze fell on his thick wrists beneath sharply tailored shirt cuffs, and she trembled. She remembered the feel of that strong body on hers, the stroke of his fingertips…. Alize.” Against her will, her eyes lifted, tracing up his muscular body, past his broad shoulders and wide neck to his brutally handsome face. In the flickering shadows, she saw the dark scruff along his jaw, the scar across his temple from a childhood accident. She saw the man she’d wanted forever and had never stopped wanting. His eyes burned into her, and memories poured through her. She felt vulnerable, almost powerless beneath the dark fire of his glance. “It’s good to see you again,” he said in a low voice. He smiled, and the masculine beauty of his face took her breath away. Their fifteen months apart had made him only more handsome. While she… She hadn’t seen the inside of a beauty salon for a year. Her hair hadn’t been cut for ages, and her only makeup was lipstick in an unflattering the pink shade that she’d worn at Beny’s insistence. Her dowdy dishwater-blonde hair had been hurriedly pulled back in a French knot before the ceremony, but now fell about her shoulders in messy tendrils, pulled out by Deny’s chubby fists. Even as a girl Alize had always tended to put herself last, but for since she became the single mother of a baby, she wasn’t even on the list. Taking a shower and shoving her hair back into a ponytail was all she could manage most days. And she still hadn’t managed to take off all the extra weight from her pregnancy. Nervously, she pushed up her black-framed glasses. “Why are you staring at me?” “You’re even more beautiful than I remembered.” Her cheeks went hot beneath his gaze. “Now I know you’re lying.” “It’s true.” His dark eyes seared her. He wasn’t looking at her as too if he thought she was plain. He was looking down at her as if he… As if he… He turned away, and she exhaled. “So this is Beny’s wedding reception?” He glanced around the room with something like disapproval on his face. Alize thought their home looked nice, even romantic for a country- style winter wedding. They’d scrubbed it scrupulously clean, tidied away all the usual clutter, and decorated their hearts out. But as she followed his gaze, she suddenly saw how shabby it all was.
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