For You I Do (2 page)

“A soldier? How’s he going to be able to support you?”

Jabarie demanded to know.

Bianca sat up, tall and proud. There was no way she was going to allow her family to put down her boyfriend—oops—

her fiancé.

She met her brother’s hard look. “He’s not a soldier,” she shot back. “My fiancé’s an
airman.
And we’ll be fine. In fact, we’ll be better than fine. You forget, big brother, I do have a job.” As marketing director of the Beaumont Corporation, she received a handsome salary.

“Not to mention a trust fund,” Jaden mumbled under his breath.

Bianca’s brow rose suspiciously as she gasped. “Are you implying he’s only marrying me for my money?”

“Since we haven’t met him, we don’t know why he’s marrying you, now do we?” Jaden challenged.

It was days like today that she hated being the youngest. It wouldn’t have mattered if Collin were rich. The three J’s would still have found some reason or other to hate him. The idea that he was in the U.S. Air Force was even worse, as far as her parents were concerned. Jaden, the rebellious child, had joined the army right after high school, and her parents had practically had heart attacks. After three years, Jaden decided the military wasn’t for him and went on to buy his own body shop. Her parents weren’t too crazy about that career choice, either, but after being es-tranged from their youngest son for years, they had finally learned to accept it. To the four of them, that day was monumen-tal. Because up until that point, as far as their father was concerned, his children had two choices—going to college and working for the Beaumont Corporation, preferably both.

“Do you love him?”

For the briefest moment, Bianca looked over at Danica,
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For You I Do

Jaden’s wife and a former runway model. She then allowed her gaze to travel around the table. Everyone turned in their seats and all eyes were on her, waiting for her answer.

“Well, young lady?” her father replied impatiently.

Bianca felt her face flush with heat. Dropping her hands to her lap, she rubbed her sweaty palms across her napkin. Then out the corner of her eye, she saw Sheyna wink at her. To her right, Brenna was wearing a look of amusement. Thank God for sisters-in-law. Having them on her side gave her the strength she needed.

Bianca cleared her throat and said, “Of course I love him.”

Sheyna clapped her hands with glee. “Then it’s settled. We’ve got a wedding to plan!”

Jace gave her a warning look. Never one to be easily intimidated, Sheyna gave her husband a dismissive wave, then went back to eating her steak.

Roger held up his hands, palms forward. “Wedding? Wait, let’s not jump the gun. We need to meet this man first.” Her father was clearly not pleased.

“Okay.” Bianca said and nodded. What he was asking wasn’t unreasonable at all. “He’s out of town, but I was planning to bring him to dinner next Thursday. Really I was,” she added when she saw the look of disbelief on Jace’s face. “I just wanted to let you know first before I walked in the door and said, ‘Hey, everybody, meet my fiancé.’ ”

Her mother gave a rude snort. “Thank you for sparing us the embarrassment.”

Pauline came in carrying dessert and the conversation around the table quieted to a low rumble which was fine with Bianca.

At least the worst of it was over.

Or almost.
She still had something else she needed to tell them, but now was definitely not the time.

Chapter 2

“How did it go?”

Bianca had barely stepped into her town house when she heard the telephone ring. A glance down at the caller ID showed that her best friend, Debra Anderson, was calling.

“About as I expected,” she began as she took a seat on the end of her king-size bed and removed her red leather pumps.

“Mother faked a heart attack and the three J’s acted like they were my daddy.”

“Poor Bianca. What did dear old dad have to say about your announcement?”

Bianca rose from the bed with a snort. “You must be talking about when he wasn’t asleep.”

“You father was asleep?” She could tell that Debra was trying to hold in her laughter.

“Oh, my goodness, yes! Can you believe he was sitting there at the dinner table seconds away from his face falling into the mashed potatoes. If it weren’t so serious, I might have laughed.”

Unable to contain herself, Debra chuckled lightly into the
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For You I Do

receiver. “Sorry, sweetie, but just thinking about it I can’t help but to laugh. What did he finally have to say?”

“Not too much because the three J’s said it all. Of course, they all wanted to know why this was the first time they had heard about me seeing someone.”

Debra paused for a moment then said, “Well, you can’t blame them for being curious.”

Bianca blew out a frustrated breath as she walked across the plush cranberry carpeting, out of the room and down a long hallway. “I know, but why can’t they just be happy for me?”

“Because they’re your family and they love you. That’s why.

All they care about is your happiness.”

Scowling, Bianca made her way into the kitchen and removed a bottle of water from the stainless-steel refrigerator, then closed the door and leaned back against the granite countertop. “No, they don’t. My brothers don’t want to see me with anyone unless they approve of him first.”

“Is that what this is really about?”

“Of course not, and you know it.”

There was a pregnant pause. “Yes, I know.”

Bianca screwed the top off the bottle and took a thirsty swallow before saying, “Let’s change the subject. I want to hear how your date went with Brad.”

Debra burst into another peal of laughter. “Girl, it was a joke.

That man better make sure he loses my number. Do you know he waited until the waiter returned with the bill to tell me that because I had eaten more than he had in his budget for the evening, I needed to help him pay the bill?”

It was Bianca’s turn to laugh until she had tears in her eyes.

“No, he didn’t!”

“Yes, the cheap bastard did, and the bill was barely twenty-five dollars.”

“I hate to admit it, Debra, but you do eat too much,” she said with amusement.

“I can’t help it if I like food,” she replied defensively.

“Yeah, but obviously he had been banking on your only ordering a salad.”

Debra huffed. “Then that’s his problem. Anyone can look at
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15

these hips and know a salad is one thing on the menu I’m not going to order. Now I know why he only ordered a glass of water and a plate of chicken wings.”

Bianca chuckled again. She loved living vicariously through her best friend. Her voluptuous friend had curves everywhere it counted and a dynamic personality to match.

Men migrated to her and the twenty-six-year-old had a date penciled in for almost every weekend of the month. The problem was that as soon as Debra got home, she was deleting their number from her cell phone or blocking them from calling her house.

Bianca loved Debra, truly she did, but she didn’t think Debra was selective enough. She believed that if Debra picked and chose and got to know a little more about a man, other than his first name, she would save herself a lot of time and disappointment.

“I’ve about given up on men in Delaware,” Debra admitted with a discouraging sigh.

“Maybe it’s time for you to try Maryland,” Bianca suggested, then took another swallow.

“Been there, done that. I think I need to move to the West Coast.”

Her comment almost made Bianca choke. “Don’t you dare even think about moving away! Then who would I have to complain to?”

“Ha! You know I can’t go anywhere. My business is just taking off.”

Sinfully Delicious
was Debra’s catering business. Debra had always been a fabulous cook, and her repeat clientele was definitely proof of that. She had barely been in business a year and already her calendar was booked more than six months in advance.

Bianca pushed away from the counter and moved back down the hall, then headed into her master bathroom and over to a large tub. “You’ll be rich before you know it.”

“I don’t know about that, but at least now I can afford to hire an assistant.”

“Oh, Debra! That’s great,” Bianca said as she turned on the water and poured in a capful of bubbles.

“Yeah, I should be fully staffed in time to cater your wedding reception.”

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For You I Do

“Ooh, I can’t wait to see the look on my mother’s face,” she said, chuckling.

“Oh, yeah, especially when I prepare a pot of collard greens and ham hocks.”

They shared another laugh. If those dishes were on Bianca’s wedding reception menu, Jessica Beaumont would definitely have a heart attack for real.

“I’d better let you go. When are you taking lover boy to meet the family?”

“I told them at dinner that I was bringing him next week. But I lied. I’m waiting until the week before our wedding. He can meet all of them at once. You want to come?”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world. We’ll see if he passes the test. You know we have to assess.”

“Everything will be fine,” Bianca said with a chuckle. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

Bianca disconnected and put down the phone. Still wearing a smile, she slipped out of her dress and returned to her private bathroom, decorated beautifully with mauve and cream tile. She was dying to enjoy a hot, soothing bath and then get into her pajamas and curl up under the cool sateen sheets. Dinner with her family was usually full of surprises, but today was the first time in a long time that she had been the focus of attention.

I’m getting married.

It was still hard for her to believe that at twenty-five she was tying the knot, as the last of the Beaumont children to marry. Within a four-year period, even her die-hard bachelor brothers, Jace, Jabarie and Jaden, had all fallen in love and gotten married.

She climbed into the tub and leaned back on her inflated pillow, then closed her eyes and laid there for the longest time, just thinking about her reasons for keeping her marriage to Collin a secret.

They had met in a small coffee shop on the beach. The attraction had taken time but eventually she and Collin had spent almost every waking moment together. Collin made her laugh.

He was affectionate, considerate and great in bed. Most important, she loved him. Taking a deep breath, she sank lower in the tub and began imagining her life with Collin. The honeymoon.

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17

Buying a house together. Planning a life. After a while Bianca stopped feeling guilty. Considering the circumstances, her family was just going to have to find a way to get over it.

A half hour later, wrapped in a towel, she padded on bare feet back into her bedroom, picked up her phone and hit speed dial.

“Hey, sweetheart.”

Bianca took a seat on her thick cream comforter and smiled at the sound of Collin’s low husky voice. “Hey, yourself.”

“How did things go with your family?”

“About the way I expected. They flipped.”

Collin breathed heavily in the phone. “I should have been there with you.”

“I know, but you understand why I needed to do this alone.”

“Yes, but I need to meet them, Bianca.”

“Yes, and you will. I already told them I would be bringing you to dinner.”

He gave a sigh of relief. “Good. I can’t wait to meet them.”

“And they can’t wait to meet you,” she said. She could already see her mother sizing him up from across the table.

“How about I drive over tomorrow and we have dinner?”

he suggested.

“That sounds good to me.”

“Get some rest. I love you.”

Her lips curled upward. Everything was going to be okay. She could feel it. “I love you, too,” she finally said.

Bianca returned the phone to the cradle then got ready for bed.

“Everything is going to be all right,” she said. Falling back on the bed, Bianca wished she felt as confident as she sounded.

“Jaden, sweetheart, please come to bed.”

“I will in a minute,” he replied and continued to pace back and forth the length of their bedroom.

Danica laid down the romance novel she had been reading and watched her husband wear out her Berber carpet. “I’ll admit that your sister’s announcement caught us all by surprise, but Bianca
is
a grown woman.”

“I’m not saying she isn’t, but
engaged?
Come on, Danica. We haven’t even met this dude.”

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For You I Do

She shrugged and smiled lovingly at her husband. “Love happens like that some times.”

Jaden stopped abruptly and looked over at her lying across the bed. “I’m not buying it.”

The room rang with her soft laughter. “You don’t have a choice. Your sister is set on getting married whether the three of you like it or not. Besides, unless you’ve forgotten, we fell in love in less than a month.”

“That’s different.”

“What’s different about it?” she challenged and met Jaden’s intense stare. After several long seconds he scowled, then started pacing again.

“What do we know about this guy? We don’t even know who he is or where he comes from. He’s probably after her money.”

“Then again, maybe he truly loves her.”

“You’re not helping.”

She gave him a scolding look. “No, I’m not. Because you’re not being reasonable. Your sister is old enough to make her own decisions.”

Jaden shook his head. “You don’t know my sister the way I do. She has a habit of making bad choices, particularly when it comes to men.”

“But she’s a grown woman, and we all make mistakes until we finally find that perfect man.”

Danica rose from the bed and Jaden froze in his tracks when her robe fell in a pool around her feet. His eyes traveled up the length of her mile-long legs and he took a deep breath as his eyes took in the pale pink negligee with a slit in the front, displaying her swollen belly. As far as Jaden was concerned, at six months’