Sweet Deception. Rochelle Alers

very smart. We’ll marry next week in a private ceremony. And, you don’t have to worry about me exercising my conjugal rights. Our marriage will be in name only.”

      A rage she’d never known burned through Zabrina. “Does that leave me free to take a lover or lovers?”

      The councilman’s smile faded. “In two years you’ll be the wife of Philadelphia’s next mayor, so I doubt that with the responsibility of raising a child and taking care of your social obligations, you’ll find time to open your legs to another man.”

      She felt the overwhelming sick feeling that came with defeat, but she wasn’t going to let the blackmailing SOB know that. “One of these days I’m going to kill you.”

      A slight arch in his eyebrows was the only indication that Thomas had registered her threat. “Take a number, Miss Mixon.” He motioned to his gofer to put the gun away. “I suggest you call your fiancé and tell him you found a better prospect.”

      The footsteps of the two men were muffled in the carpet as they turned and walked to the door. The solid slam of the door shocked Zabrina into an awareness of just what had taken place within a matter of minutes. She’d agreed to marry a man she’d come to detest when the baby of another man she’d pledged to marry in two weeks was growing beneath her heart.

      She registered another sound, and it took her several seconds to realize her father was crying. Even when they’d buried her mother she hadn’t seen Isaac cry. She stood up and walked over to her father. Going to her knees, Zabrina pressed her face to his chest. It wasn’t easy to comfort him when she was sobbing inconsolably.

      It was later, much later when Zabrina retreated to her bedroom to call Myles Eaton to tell him that she couldn’t marry him because she was in love with another man. There was only the sound of breathing coming through the earpiece until a distinctive click told her Myles had hung up.

      She didn’t cry only because she had no more tears. Her mind was a maelstrom of thoughts that ranged from premeditated murder to the need to survive to bring her unborn child to term. She may have lost Myles Eaton, but unknowingly he’d given her a precious gift—a gift she would love to her dying breath.

      Chapter 3

      Ten years later…

      “I can’t believe you’re marrying your sister’s brother-in-law.”

      “Believe it, because in another week I’ll become Mrs. Griffin Rice.”

      A hint of a smile lifted the corners of Belinda Eaton’s mouth as she stared at Zabrina Cooper. As she’d promised when she’d run into Zabrina at a fundraiser, she’d called to set up a dinner date with the woman who at one time had been engaged to her brother.

      Her twin nieces, Layla and Sabrina, whom she and Griffin legally adopted after their parents died in a horrific head-on automobile accident, were spending the weekend with their paternal grandparents, giving Belinda the time she needed to meet with her childhood friend and finish packing her personal belongings before she moved into Griffin’s house. They had gone from being godparents to parents, after Belinda’s sister, who was married to Griffin’s brother, died tragically in an auto accident, leaving the twins orphans.

      The skin around Zabrina’s large light brown eyes crinkled when she smiled, something she hadn’t done often, or in a very long time. The only person who could get her to smile or laugh spontaneously was her son. Adam was not only the love of her life, he was her life. Her mother had died when she was young, and she’d buried her father four months before she’d become a widow. Aside from an aunt and a few distant cousins there was only Adam.

      She sobered, staring at the woman who, if she’d married Myles Eaton, would have become her sister-in-law. To say the high-school history teacher was stunning was an understatement. The soft glow from the candle on the table flattered Belinda’s flawless sable complexion. A little makeup accentuated the exotic slant of her dark eyes, high cheekbones, short straight nose and generously curved full mouth. A profusion of dark 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