A MATTER OF TRUST (11 page)

She smiled up at him, watched the sun rise and fall on his face and everything in the world simply faded away. Everything except this one magnificent man. He loved her, loved her. The enormous power of that knowledge was more than her exposed emotions could bear and Maddy was helpless to stop the flood of tears that welled up in her eyes and spilled down over her cheeks.

Chase’s heart broke neatly in two at the sight of her tears. “It was too soon,” he said unhappily. “I knew it was, but I had to tell you. Please don’t cry, sweetheart.”

“I love you too,” she managed to say before the damn broke and she cried even harder.

“But you don’t want to love me, is that it?” He hugged her to him, fierce determination lining his face. “It doesn’t matter, because you do love me and somehow I’ll make you see that we belong together.”

“You…you don’t understand,” she sniffed. “I’m crying because I-I’m so h-happy.”

The dull pain in his chest began to ease when she looked up at him with a wobbly smile. “Thank God,” he said on a sigh, then captured her mouth and kissed her senseless.

****

Maddy hummed softly as her brush brought the painting to life one stroke at a time. Not unlike Chase, she thought wickedly, remembering how erotically he’d stroked her that morning. In the two weeks since they’d declared their feelings for each other they’d fallen even more deeply in love than before, and every morning when she woke to find herself in his arms, she thanked God for bringing them together.

She imagined Chase was quite a force to be reckoned with in the business world because she’d been in the room when he’d made work related calls and knew he could be quite shrewd and ruthless, but he was never anything but kind and tender towards her. He insisted it would be her fault if he lost his hard-nosed reputation and accused her of casting some sort of spell over him, teasingly saying Minelia must have had a hand it.

“Who’s Minelia?” She’d asked sharply, feeling the barbed edges of jealousy stab at her heart. “Is that an old girlfriend?”

It was the following evening, after that first time they’d slept together. They’d been sitting on the sofa watching an old movie but she’d been more interested in kissing Chase and soon found herself on her back, pinned beneath him. One thing led to another, as it inevitably did when they started kissing, and he’d been so anxious to make love to her that he’d dispensed with the niceties of getting completely undressed. He’d managed to get her panties off and bunch her sundress around her hips, while his own jeans had only made it to his knees before he’d buried himself inside of her.

It didn’t last more than a few minutes, but she hadn’t expected it to, not when she’d done her level best to push him to the point where he could no longer control himself. Afterwards, when they’d straightened their clothing and he’d settled back on the sofa with her in his arms, he’d made the remark about Minelia. That’s when she asked if Minelia was an old girlfriend.

Chase laughed, easily subduing her when she struggled to get off his lap. “Minelia,” he explained, “is the goddess of pure, endless love who delights in bringing lovers together who are destined for each other. The story is that once Minelia brings a couple together, she strengthens the bond by helping them consummate their union. And,” his voice softened, “when the time is right, she makes the woman ripe for conceiving.”

Maddy’s insides melted at the thought of carrying his child. “Do…do you want to have children? Someday, I mean.”

Chase’s hand moved to cover her flat belly. A smile tipped the corner of his mouth. “I never really thought about it before, but I kind of like the idea of planting my baby inside of you. Maybe I’ve already gotten you pregnant.”

“I assure you I’m not,” Maddy said with a laugh and wondered why that disappointed her so much.

“You could be,” he insisted. “It’s not as if we used protection last night or just now for that matter.”

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Did you just suddenly remember about the protection because of your lesson on Minelia?”

Chase gave her a sheepish grin. “I admit the first time we made love it completely slipped my mind in the heat of the moment.”

Maddy arched a brow. “And what about the numerous times after that?”

He shrugged, his grin broadening. “Okay, so maybe it did cross my mind that if I got you pregnant you’d have to marry me.”

“Marry you? Chase, we hardly know each other!” Her breath caught in her throat when he pulled her up hard against his chest and kissed her soundly.

“We’ll have a lifetime to get to know each other, sweetheart. Marry me, be my wife, have my babies. I want to grow old with you, Maddy.”

There was a desperation to his voice that plucked at her heartstrings, made even more endearing by the sudden tension in his body. He meant it, she realized with a surge of happiness that was so forceful it knocked the wind out of her. Maddy looked into his pleading eyes, and it wasn’t difficult envisioning a lifetime with this man. He’d taken her by storm and flat out stole her heart from the moment his lips first touched hers, but it wasn’t one sided, not by a long shot. He was just as captivated by her; she could see it in his face, heard it in his voice, felt it in the rigid muscles of his shoulders and the way his stilted breath hitched because of her hesitation.

Ignoring the whispers of reason that gave her a million arguments why it couldn’t work, Maddy threaded her fingers through his hair and pulled his mouth down to hers. His big body trembled in response to her ardent kiss and the fire that had only just been doused by their love making ignited instantly, scorching her skin, burning her from the inside out, consuming the last vestige of doubt and leaving her utterly at his mercy. She could never deny him anything. Maddy, who had fought with her mother and father for independence, who had never given herself to another man for fear of losing herself, now willing accepted that Chase would always come first in any decisions she made for the rest of her life. He was everything to her, everything.

Chase tore his mouth from hers, encouraged by her kisses but needing to hear the words. “Is that a yes?” He gripped her face between his hands, stark fear in his eyes when she didn’t immediately answer him. “For God’s sake, Maddy, put me out of my misery!”

She tried to nod, then laughed because his hands kept her head from moving. “Yes,” she said breathlessly, then laughed again when he let out a loud whoop and all but crushed her with a tight bear hug.

After a quiet celebration with a bottle of champagne and a short walk in the moonlight, she’d told him why she couldn’t possibly be pregnant. A few years before, her cycles had become irregular and the doctor had put her on birth control pills to help regulate it. She’d considered going off of them after the first year but decided at the ripe age of twenty-five there was at least some chance she’d meet a man she cared enough to have a sexual relationship with. So she’d remained on them even though she wasn’t involved with anyone or had any aspirations to entangle herself in a serious relationship until after she’d taken the time off to discover if she had the talent to make it as an artist.

To her surprise, Chase had been genuinely disheartened to learn there was no possibility she could be carrying his child which only made her own disappointment more tangible. It seemed incredible that both of them would feel this way, given that they’d known each other for less than a week and that neither of them had even the vaguest desire to fall in love with anyone before they’d met. Things were already moving so fast she couldn’t seem to catch her breath and though she longed to have his baby, Maddy selfishly wanted Chase all to herself for awhile.

There was, of course, still the little matter of confessing the truth about who she really was, or rather whose daughter she was, but as one day melted into another she found it more and more difficult to tell him. For one thing, she didn’t want to be swept back into high society, which was the very life she’d fled from, and that would most certainly happen if he knew she wasn’t the shy wallflower he thought she was. Maddy loved their quiet existence together and didn’t want anything to spoil it. Besides, it was just a white lie really and white lies never hurt anybody, did they?

Chapter 7

“I want to speak to Chase,” Angela drawled into the phone, “and don’t dawdle, I haven’t got all day.”

Maddy cheeks instantly flamed with a possessive anger. Chase was hers now and she resented the woman’s call as well as her condescending tone. “He’s in the shower right now, but I’ll be sure to tell him you called,” she said icily.

“You do that, and you can also tell him I won’t be able to make our date this afternoon.”

Maddy’s fingers tightened around the phone. “You’re lying,” she choked out. "He…he doesn’t have a date with you.”

“Of course he doesn’t, you half wit. I just told you I was cancelling, didn’t I?” Angela sighed impatiently. “Just give him the message and tell him I’ll make it up to him later. Oh, and tell him the flowers are simply beautiful.”

Maddy’s mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. Angela was lying, she had to be. Chase wouldn’t do that to her. Tonight he was taking her out to dinner to celebrate their one month anniversary and he’d even suggested they go dancing afterwards. There was no way he could be as loving as he was and still be having an affair with that awful woman.

She bit down on her bottom lip as a thread of doubt found its way into her head. After breakfast he’d reminded her that he had a doctor’s appointment and then told her he was going to take care of some business while he was in town. He’d told her not to worry, that it wouldn’t take more than a few hours and he’d be back in time to make their dinner date. He couldn’t have been planning to meet with Angela, he just couldn’t.

“Hello? Did you get all that or do I need to repeat it?”

Maddy blinked, a raw pain tearing at her chest. “No, I…I got it.”

“Wonderful. Oh, there is one more little thing.” Angela’s voice became venomous. “In case you have any ideas about climbing into Chase’s bed, I think there’s something you should know. He always comes back to me, always.”

Maddy swayed unsteadily, fighting back the bile that churned in her stomach. “You’re a horrible woman,” she said shakily, “and I don’t believe a word you’re saying.”

Angela’s laugh was breathy. “My, it sounds like you already have a thing for my lover. That’s okay, Chase and I understand each other and I forgive his wandering because I know he can’t help himself. But he gets bored easily so if he has made a move on you, I suggest you guard your innocent little heart because it won’t take long to burn out, it never does.”

“Why are you doing this?” Maddy waited for an answer, but it never came. Angela had already hung up.

A cold fear wound its way around her heart and suddenly she couldn’t seem to find enough air in her lungs to breath. She stumbled across the room and dropped down onto the sofa, fighting back the wave of nausea and the stinging tears and the burning question of Chase’s fidelity. He hadn’t been evasive about what he was doing after the doctor’s appointment, he’d simply told her he had business to attend to and she hadn’t asked any questions.

But there had been something odd about his behavior, something in the way his eyes had shifted away from hers when he’d told her. And now that she thought about it, he did seem to be relieved when she’d changed the subject. An anguished sob tore from Maddy’s throat as she buried her face in her hands and burst into tears.

Chase was only halfway down the stairs when he heard the heart wrenching wail from the living room followed by the most sorrowful weeping he’d ever heard in his life. He barreled down the rest of the stairs and rushed to Maddy, but she obviously hadn’t heard him because she let out a startled cry when he scooped her up in his arms and cradled her to his chest. Aware that his cast was probably digging into her slender legs, Chase lowered himself onto the sofa and settled Maddy onto his lap before attempting to find out what could have caused such an emotional outburst.

“Maddy, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

She shook her head and buried her face in his neck, better now that he was here but still numb with fear that what Angela had told her might be true. After all, Chase’s marriage proposal had just sort of popped out without having thought it through and he’d barely mentioned it since. And the fact that he wanted to go out for dinner told her he was getting bored with spending his evenings alone with her and was probably dying to socialize with other people.

Maddy couldn’t take it if she lost him now. She wasn’t that strong, not where Chase was concerned, but if he wasn’t happy with her and needed other women to fulfill him, what choice did she have but to leave? She loved Chase more than life itself but she wouldn’t share him. Maybe that was acceptable to women like Angela but Maddy wouldn’t take less that his whole heart and if he couldn’t give that to her then she’d just have to find a way to move on.