Erotic Deception (14 page)

Don greeted Jet. “Celeste mentioned you might be home today.”

A heavy stare clung to Lily and meeting the newcomer’s gaze, she became a target of an uncanny animosity.
Jet’s ex-wife?

Dark hair, porcelain skin, sculptured cheekbones, and full ruby lips. Perfect nightmare. Shorter than Lily by a good three inches, the black strapless dress molded every voluptuous curve like a glove.

To alleviate any doubt about their relationship, she stretched up to Jet and planted an intimate kiss at the corner of his mouth.

“I’m glad you’re back,” she breathed. “Now you can drive me home.”

Her animation proved Mark’s warning about the relationship not being over.

Jet drew back and taking her arm, pulled her toward Lily.

“Lily Delaney,” he began the introduction. “This is—”

“Jet’s wife,” the petite bombshell interrupted. “Celeste Walker.”

* * * *

Jet viciously slid out of his truck, barely holding onto his temper. His mood darkened at finding his kitchen door unlocked again. That ex-wife of his would be the death of him yet.

He’d sought Lily out tonight because he’d had to see her. Touch her. When she wasn’t at the house, he’d found her car at Don’s bar, but he hadn’t expected to find her on a date with his deputy. Then Celeste showed up, claimed to be his wife, and faked inebriation to coerce him into driving her home.

Normally Jet didn’t tolerate his ex-wife’s games, but when his deputy leaned in to whisper something to Lily, he’d had to leave before he smashed his face in.

Growling, he secured the safety of the house before heading to the bathroom for a much-needed shower. He’d taken one earlier, but this one had nothing to do with getting clean.

He stripped off his clothes and ignored the hot water tap. The icy blast of the cold water hit and he gritted his teeth at the onslaught.

When he told Lily he’d been at a friend’s house, he hadn’t wanted to mention his friend was investigating Capriccio. Why get her hopes up? Jet had asked for his friend’s help a couple of weeks ago, but the progress was slow. Nevertheless, it was better than Lily involving her ex-husband.

Jet had been pissed off when she’d told him what she’d planned. Hell, she didn’t need him in her life anymore. Jet could handle it without Bailer’s interference.

In fact, some of the kids from Jerry Delaney’s rehab center were already talking in private. They weren’t prepared to go public yet, but things looked promising and Jet had been hard pressed not to mention it to Lily.

Then again, he couldn’t tell Lily anything until he’d arranged a sit down with Celeste. What they needed was a good old-fashioned heart-to-heart. Afterward, he’d convince Lily that he and Celeste were not an item and they could figure out whatever in the hell this thing was growing between them.

Her pregnancy was now off the menu of discussions and strangely enough, Jet’s relief was lackluster.
Isn’t that a hoot? The woman is driving me crazy.

But I want her.

Maybe it was only physical, but he needed to know for sure. Tonight only skewed the situation. The moment he’d caught sight of her glittering like a beckoning lighthouse, the battle with his erection had begun. Then like an imbecile, he’d touched her and that damned jewel in her navel had taken him from semi to hard in two point seven seconds. Just like a frickin’ teenager.

Somehow, he had to detach his raging hormones from the brain cells required to rationalize the situation. At the same time, he had to keep Lily in Windom Hills and he wasn’t above using the attraction between them to do that. In fact, he almost had to resort to it in order to avoid going insane. Because if he didn’t get her beneath him again soon, insanity was inevitable.

He leaned his head against the shower wall, recalling the tightness of her muscles stretching to accommodate him. Her quivering slim body had pulsed around him until it took every ounce of strength he’d had not to explode before she did. He couldn’t forget the ecstasy on her face when she’d climaxed or the fact that he’d been the one to put it there.

Jet groaned in frustration as the cold water defied his efforts to alleviate the ache in his groin. Some bright idea this was. All he was doing was freezing his ass off and shivering like an idiot with a hard-on.

He jerked on the hot water tap with vicious amusement. He knew what he had to do and it’d been a long time since he’d done it.

Resigned, he reached for the soap.

Chapter Nine

Lily pushed her shaking limbs away from the cold porcelain.

The nausea had hit the same time as yesterday morning and the day before that. She’d ruled out the flu when her sickness had performed a one-eighty after eating graham crackers. Going three for three, she grabbed a couple of more crackers and just like the other days, felt better after a while. More than that, she had a maniacal craving for Snicker Doodles.

What in the world was going on? Rewind five years earlier and there was the same symptoms at the onset of her one and only pregnancy. She hadn’t started her period yet either. Could her body be faking a pregnancy? She’d read somewhere that it happened to some women. What about a woman unable to have children? Only one way to find out.

Lily grabbed her cell phone and plugged in the number, accompanied by the usual cynicism. Keeping her same doctor after the miscarriage had been the one decent thing Fred’s mother had insisted upon. As the Bailer family doctor, his elite services were not available to just anyone. Lily chalked it up to Patricia Bailer’s guilt for covering up her son’s alcohol level the night he’d crashed the car.

Anticipating the phone to ring on the other side, instead Lily got a long beep and recording that the number was no longer in service. She tried again, but with the same result.

Her last appointment was just a few months ago, but she supposed the number could’ve been changed. She dialed information and was given the exact digits already tried.

Calling Fred’s mother was out of the question so Lily dialed his secretary instead. It gave her an excuse to get an update on Fred’s return.

What Fred’s secretary imparted made Lily forget all about his whereabouts. She sat in front of her laptop still numb at the revelation she’d learned. Although Fred’s secretary didn’t provide much information, the search engine had spit out a plethora of it.

Malpractice for taking bribes?
Evidently, her doctor had been working from the pockets of his high-powered clients. He’d manipulated reports and given false information based on the periodic requests from a handful of people. Patrick and Barbara Bailer’s names were on that list.

Bile rose at the possibility that Lily had been one of their victims. She shoved aside the computer and barely made it to the bathroom. The cruelty was too horrible and too wonderful to contemplate.

Nevertheless, she had to know the extent of her doctor’s deception. After a hurried brushing of teeth and hair, Lily grabbed her keys for the short trip to the drugstore.

A short while later, once again in her bathroom and feeling enormously ill again, Lily couldn’t open her eyes. What if she tested positive? How strong would her disappointment be if she didn’t?

With heart in chest and non-prejudicial tears to the outcome in her throat, Lily peeked at the E.P.T.

One by one, her tears fell onto the plus sign.

“Oh Jerry,” she whispered. “Look what’s happened to us. What kind of monsters exists in this world?”

Lily placed a protective hand over her womb and a deep inhalation caught in her lungs. It burst out in a cacophony exhalation of sobbing.

She cried for Jerry, she cried for herself and she cried for this little human being inside of her.
My baby
. The one she was told would never exist.

For the next twenty-four hours, Lily yo-yoed between anger, joy, and indecision.

She could join the multitude of complaints against her doctor. Whom should she report it to? Anthony?

Lily groaned in defeat. Fred couldn’t help clear Jerry’s name now, he had his own scandal to contend with. Without the credibility of the Bailer name, they’d be lucky to get a charge of jaywalking on Anthony let alone murder. No wonder Fred had left the country.
Coward.

An ache began in her head and carried through the noon-hour. She was setting a baking sheet on the counter when the doorbell rang. Lily turned off the oven and went to answer it.

Skipity do da, its Jet’s sister.

Any other time, Lily would’ve been happy to see her.
Yeah sure, when I wasn’t pregnant with her brother’s baby.

“I hope I’m not intruding,” Cheryl smiled. “But I enjoyed the other night so much, I thought I’d take you up on your invitation to stop by. Have I caught you at a bad time?”

“Not at all.” Lily lied, opening the door. “Actually, I was just taking some Snicker Doodles out of the oven.”

“Oh, I love Snicker Doodles.”

Auntie Cheryl wants a cookie
, an inner voice twittered. Lily scolded it and led Cheryl into the kitchen. Here lied her most pressing problem…Jet. What was she going to do about him?

Lily hadn’t seen him since the night at the bar when he’d left with his ex-wife. The other woman had wanted to make sure Lily got the message that Jet was hers.
Message received. Now what?

She gave Cheryl the option to sit on the chaise lounge or on one of the stools near the breakfast bar. She chose the breakfast bar.

Lily pulled out two small plates. “Would you like milk or lemonade?”

“Whatever you’re having,” Cheryl replied.

She made a face. “I’m kind of on a Diet Coke kick at the moment.”

“Diet Coke is fine.” Cheryl looked around the cabin with interest. “I’ve never been in here before.”

“My brother’s little secret hiding place,” Lily said. “Or, at least it was.”

Thankfully, Lily had already briefed Cheryl about her brother’s death the night at the bar. Not about his murder, of course.

“It’s lovely,” Cheryl admired.

After placing a couple of cookies on the plates, Lily grabbed two glasses.

“The view’s great,” she said filling the glasses with ice.

Cheryl agreed on the view while Lily took the few steps to the pantry for the Diet Coke. Opening the door, her hand froze in midair. Regular Coke? That’s not right. She’d bought Diet. Had she mistakenly picked up the wrong one?

“Anything wrong, Lily?” Cheryl asked.

Lily turned a blank look to Cheryl. “I must’ve grabbed the wrong kind of soda.”

Cheryl waved a hand. “Oh, I do that sometimes.”

But this counted twice for Lily. The first time had been the peanut butter. Baffled, she put it back on the shelf and shrugged. No one else could’ve put it there, but she couldn’t shake the persistent peculiar feeling.

“Well, how about lemonade?” Lily offered, shaking her head.

“Sound good,” Cheryl said and her dark brown eyes glazed over as she bit into the warm dough.

“These cookies are divine,” she cooed.

Lily’s heart melted with genuine affection. Why couldn’t they have met under different circumstances?

“I’ve been craving them all day,” Lily confessed wryly.

Seated beside Cheryl, she asked, “How long have you and Don been married?”

“Seven years next spring.”

Lily sipped on her drink and rolled the tart taste around her tongue.

“He seems like a wonderful man,” she said.

“He is,” Cheryl agreed. “He’s one of those rare types you don’t find very often. Except for Jet, of course,” she laughed. “But then I’m biased on both accounts.”

Since Cheryl brought him up, Lily went on a fishing expedition.

“How long was Jet married?”

Cheryl’s mouth turned down. “Only slightly over a year, thank goodness.”

So Jet’s sister didn’t approve of Celeste.
Interesting.

Lily casually bit into a cookie. “That’s not long,” she said. It was a leading statement and Lily didn’t feel guilty. She needed answers, darn it. Since Jet wasn’t talking…

“Well,” Cheryl licked a crumb off her finger, “it’s the typical story of boy gets girl pregnant followed by marriage.”

A dreadful feeling filtered through Lily’s soul. That explained a lot.

“What happened?” she coaxed.

“Celeste had a miscarriage,” Cheryl sighed.

Lily’s hand shook and she quickly hid it in her lap. “I’m sorry to hear that,” she said and didn’t have to fake sincerity or empathy. “It must’ve been devastating for them. Was that the reason for their divorce?”

“Jet doesn’t really talk about it but evidently the baby was the only reason they’d married in the first place. There wasn’t enough to keep them together so they divorced and Celeste moved to Kansas City. That was a few years ago. Celeste’s father died recently and after the funeral, she stayed on here. It’s obvious she wants to reconcile with Jet but I don’t think he’s interested. Old history and all that.”