Overnight Cinderella (11 page)

M
onday morning Cami arrived at work at her usual time. She'd left Duke's apartment late last night but didn't feel tired. Instead she felt enervated.

There was a flower arrangement from her boss and fifteen e-mails from co-workers complimenting her on the event. She skimmed them, feeling a certain glow at a job well done.

Instead of reading them she went to the family search Internet site and entered Duke's name. Surely there was a relative however distant out there. She entered his name and a request for more information on anyone related to him, then returned to her own business, responding to the congratulatory e-mails and sending baskets of “snack” foods
to her own staff. They'd really made the gala a success!

“Hey, sweetheart, want to have lunch?”

She glanced up to see Duke filling her doorway. He hadn't asked her to spend last night with him, and she'd been swamped with doubts again. Though part of her believed any two people who shared what they had were destined to be together.

She quickly cleared her screen and stood to walk around the front of her desk. “You've never asked me to lunch before.”

He thrust his hands into his pockets, pulling the fabric of his Hugo Boss suit tight across his body.
Man, he looked good in the trappings of corporate America.

“That's because you've always beat me to the punch,” he said, baiting her. She knew from the look in his eyes that he wanted to get a rise out of her.

Was he feeling insecure, too? she wondered, but immediately dismissed that question as foolish. Duke was very self-confident. He'd carved his life out with his bare hands. He had to believe in himself.

“Why now?” she asked again, not willing to let it go.

He shrugged and leaned against the door frame, trying to seem relaxed. “We're not working together anymore.”

“Oh. Is that all?”

He glanced at her, his eyes dark and stormy like
the North Sea. “No, I thought we'd have a quickie in the elevator,” he said.

He'd started out teasing, she'd seen it in his eyes, but she felt as though all her doubts had manifested themselves in his words and now he was angry. “Is sex all we have?”

His eyes shuttered and he stepped into her office, closing her door behind him. “No, it isn't, and I think you know that.”

She looked away. She'd hoped, but he was so cold sometimes. He pushed her away more than he invited her in and every important detail he'd shared with her seemed to be an impulse regretted later. She felt like an atom about to go nuclear and didn't know how to control it. She needed to call her sister and get some tips for dealing with men on this level.

“Dammit, Cami. I wanted you to be comfortable dating me, and I knew you wouldn't be while we worked together. You said you'd take whatever I offered you.”

She nodded. Why did it hurt when he was trying to be kind? She wanted more than kindness from him. She wanted love and didn't know if he could give it to her.

“I know.”

He didn't touch her and that bothered her. But she knew it was because of her reaction to his teasing. She needed to bring things back to their normal footing.

“We've had lunch together before,” she said.

“I remember. I forgot my drink and you kept
blushing because you were reading a romance novel at work.”

“That wasn't why I was blushing.”

“Yeah, right,” he said. He gave her one of those half smiles of his he used to mask his real feelings.

“I was blushing because I'd been imagining you as the hero and me as the heroine.” She still remembered imagining him sweeping her into his arms and kissing the breath out of her. Reality had been grittier than fantasy, she thought, and recalled him carrying her to bed over his shoulder. His naked flesh pressing into hers as he made her his woman in every sense of the word.

Cami realized all her insecurities stemmed from herself and not any action on Duke's part. He wasn't a vocal man. He didn't like to talk about emotions but he'd been showing them to her the only way he knew how.

“Did we meet your expectations?” he asked, moving closer. He stopped when only an inch of space was between them. If she leaned in, her breasts would brush his chest. Her nipples tightened at the thought. She swayed and felt the cloth of his jacket through the thin layer of rayon she wore.

“No,” she said breathlessly. She needed to touch him, to prove to herself he was real. That what they had together wasn't just a fantasy. Reaching out, she ran her thumb across his bottom lip.

He bit the fleshy part of her finger. Then pulled her against his body. His erection strained the front of his tailored pants and his embrace was fiercer than she'd expected. “No?”

Doubts, she wondered. “We exceeded them.”

She laughed and he smiled at her. It was the smile she'd been hoping to see for the longest time. That smile of his was beautiful. She wouldn't have guessed it because he was such a stern man. But when he smiled, his whole visage changed.

 

Checking her e-mail one last time before she left for the day, Cami was surprised to find she had one new message. The message was forwarded from the family search Internet site. She opened it up with a great deal of excitement.

Maybe she'd found an aunt or uncle or distant cousin of Duke's. The text of the message simply explained that a relative of Duke's was searching for him, as well. Duke's name had not been sent to the other person due to the circumstances involved. Because Cami had logged on to the site as Duke, the letter was addressed to him.

How strange, she thought. What circumstances?

She felt a little guilty about pretending to be Duke, but she knew he wouldn't look into the past himself. He preferred to live in the now.

The attached letter was very succinct. It wasn't addressed to Duke, but a brief explanation in the e-mail explained that his birth mother had registered with a service and requested the letter be sent if he'd ever looked for her.

Birth mother?

Cami's heart beat so quickly she thought she was going to have a heart attack. Oh, my God. She'd
opened a can of worms with her probing. Duke was never going to forgive her for this.

Cami logged on to the site mentioned in the letter for more information and found the adoption record. Ray and Sylvia Merchon had adopted a newborn baby boy who had been born of Jane Devereau, father unknown.

There was a brief explanation left by Duke's birth mother. The woman, Jane Devereau, had given birth to a baby boy when she was sixteen. Knowing she couldn't give him anything but a life of poverty she'd put him up for adoption. She'd married and had a new family now, but had never forgotten about the baby she'd given up.

Cami knew she couldn't contact this woman. Not only was it morally wrong but probably illegal, as well. But her dad was a judge and maybe he could look into the issue for her.

No, she thought. She really couldn't do anything else here. She had to tell Duke what she'd done and she had to give him the information she'd found. Then it was up to him to contact or not to contact this woman.

Duke wasn't an only child anymore. He wasn't the family-less man he'd always believed himself to be.

 

Three weeks later Duke stared down at his calendar, October 10—his birthday. The neon-pink Post-it note from Cami caught his eye. There was a smiley face on the bottom of the note. Only Cami
would send a note with a smiley face for her signature.

Dinner, my place—6:00 p.m. I've got a surprise for you.

He knew what it was. She loved him. And though he'd confronted her with his knowledge once before, she'd never admitted it. It enchanted him, the way she tried to not let him see her emotions. But they were written clearly on her face. It scared him to be the recipient of that much affection. He'd tried to keep his distance after inviting her to lunch that one day, but it had been impossible. She'd blossomed into a seductive woman and without any encouragement from him had been asking him out. He'd spent more nights in her bed than in his own but always left before morning.

Always in the past he'd kept up a barrier. Not since his parents' death had he let anyone all the way inside his soul, but somehow Cami hadn't let him keep her out. He felt like a time bomb waiting to go off and knew that when he did he'd destroy her.

But at the same time, never had he felt more alive. He'd come to realize Rebecca had been a friend to him and not the great love of his life. Which he realized now he should have always known because he'd never been able to tell her he loved her. He'd never even thought of himself and her as in love.

He pulled her wedding band out of his pocket. They'd been “two against the world” but now it was time to move on. He should get rid of the ring.
Cami hadn't seen it yet, and he realized he'd been hiding it from her. Rebecca would like Cami, he realized suddenly. She'd like that Cami smiled and joked all the time and that she couldn't play poker worth a damn. Mostly she'd like that Cami loved him.

Goodbye, Rebecca,
he thought as he tossed the ring in the air and caught it, feeling lighter than he'd ever felt before.

Cami deserved to have a man who could love her with his whole heart. Not a battered warrior who wasn't sure if he could protect that which he held most dear.

He picked up the phone to cancel their dinner date. He hated his birthday and didn't really want to spend the night with her. He'd feel raw and exposed and would probably blurt out how he really felt about life and love. How he'd never been lovable and doubted he could be now but she made him feel that way sometimes.

He dropped the handset back into the cradle. He couldn't do that to her. Knowing Cami as he did, she'd probably gone to a lot of trouble to make this night special. He felt the walls closing in around him and knew he had to make a decision soon but had no idea in which direction to go.

He could ask for a transfer to one of the branch offices. The newest Pryce acquisition was a hockey team in Canada. If he played his cards right, Duke could get Max to transfer him there.

Did he always have to leave?
You know it's better to leave than be left.

But not tonight. He didn't have to decide now. He could go to Cami's and play the caring lover for one last night and then make a decision.

Protect himself or protect her.

He shrugged into his suit jacket and grabbed his briefcase. The elevator reminded him of Cami and their first kiss, so he took the stairs. He didn't want to think about her and how much she'd changed since the first time they'd met. How much she'd changed him.

Daddy Warbucks's real treasure was family.

Duke ignored that small voice, the one that sounded like Cami when she was her most sincere—her most real. Not a ball of nervous energy about to implode.

He exited the building and climbed into his expensive car. Duke wanted to believe that Daddy Warbucks and Orphan Annie were all about money and power and not the warm feeling of waking up in the morning and knowing someone cared.

Not any someone but a special person—Cami. She did care. And except for showing her little parts of his soul, he'd treated her the way he treated all the women he'd ever been involved with. She deserved better, but he didn't want to let her go.

He pulled into a roadside florist and bought her a dozen roses. He felt cheap doing it. He could afford better, hell he could buy her six dozen fresh-from-the-florist roses but he hadn't.

The traffic was light, and he made better time than he wanted. Standing on her front porch with the almost-wilted red roses, he hesitated. There was
still time to leave. He didn't have to call her or write her a note. He could just go.

The door opened and the scents assailed him. Turkey, homemade bread and woman.
His woman.
She stared up at him through the lenses of her horn-rims with those dark brown eyes and looked straight into his heart. Straight into the one place he'd tried to keep her out of.

“Happy birthday, Duke,” she said, standing on tiptoe as she kissed him. Not with passion but with compassion, and he didn't know how to react.

Like an awkward teenager on his first date, he shoved the flowers between them. “These are for you.”

The joy in her eyes shamed him more. He should have bought her nice flowers, fresh blooms instead of these ones from the roadside florist. Then the pleasure she experienced would have meant more to him. Yet her pleasure touched him in ways he hadn't realized he could be touched. “Come in,” she said, stepping back.

He entered her house and felt as though he'd come home. Classical music—Mozart, he thought—played quietly, candles were lit in the dining room and a banner was stretched across one wall that read Happy Birthday in brightly colored letters.

Oh, God.

Duke scanned the room and saw a small pile of gaily wrapped presents and a cake.

Oh, God.

He walked into the kitchen and saw she'd made
an all-American holiday meal. Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and apple pie. She'd given him his fantasy.

The one he'd never have uttered out loud and he wondered how she'd seen into his soul when he wasn't looking. How had she seen the man who'd wanted all his life and never had? The man who'd longed for love but had pushed it away every time.

The man who couldn't keep her, he realized. Because he loved her.

T
he dinner went perfectly, Cami thought. She cleared the table and made Duke close his eyes as she lit the candles on the cake. She sang the birthday song and told him to make a wish. The look on his face when he opened his eyes gave her heart hope.

Made her believe that this man, Duke, loved her. Plain, average, never-going-to-be-Miss-Anything, Cami Jones. She couldn't wait to give him her ultimate gift that night. The gift of a mother and a family.

“Are you ready to open your presents?” she asked, gathering all the wrapped packages and bringing them to him.

She handed him the different gifts she'd pur
chased. She'd gone a little overboard, as she always did for her family. She wanted to shower him in her caring because she knew he'd had so little of it. Because she knew he believed he didn't deserve caring. Because she wanted him to be her forever man and knew he could be if he'd let himself.

“Yes,” he said, standing and heading straight for her.

“What are you doing?”

“I want to open the biggest one first,” he said.

“Stop,” she said, holding up her hand. She had a surprise for him in her lingerie, and she didn't want to ruin it.

“Open these first,” she said sternly.

“Yes, ma'am.”

“Don't pretend to be meek, Merchon. I know you too well.”

“You do,” he said, but it wasn't in the same teasing tone her words had been. His were deadly serious and went straight to her heart.

“Do I?” she asked. She hadn't realized how much of himself he'd given her.

“You do.”

Tears burned the backs of her eyes and her pulse quickened. “Hurry with these.”

He tore through the wrapping on the presents. He loved the season tickets she'd bought him for the Braves' next season, the new Hugo Boss tie and the box of Cuban cigars. But the picture of the two of them seemed to touch him the most. It had been taken by a photographer at the Gala, and they
looked to Cami's romantic eyes as though they were meant to be together.

Duke pulled her into his lap and gave her a hug that made her bones ache. He held her so tight, she thought he'd never let go—and she didn't want him to.

“Thanks,” he said against the side of her face. His breath felt warm and smelled like the cognac she'd served with the cake. She wondered if the taste of the brandy would linger in his mouth.

“Now, I want to open my ‘big' present.”

All right, Cami thought. This night was going to be the most perfect night of her life. “Okay, close your eyes.”

“No.”

“What do you mean, no? I'm in charge here.”

“Not anymore.”

Cami trusted Duke implicitly. He unbuttoned the front of her dress. His touch against her skin was sweeter than a gooey caramel-chocolate dessert and she wanted more.

He unfastened the front clasp of her bra and urged her to stand with his hands at her waist. She did and her coatdress slid right off her shoulders. A quick sweep of Duke's hands got rid of her bra, as well. Cami stood before him in the ice-blue bikini thong underwear she'd chosen just for him and a pair of thigh-high virginal-white hose. They had a seam up the back and lace around the elasticized border. She'd felt decadent buying them and wished now she'd bought the naughty teddy with removable cups, as well.

The fire in his eyes touched her soul. Her heart, mind and body, for once on the same wavelength, reached out for him. He held her hands at her sides. Pushing the cake plate out of the way, he lifted her to sit on the edge of the table and handed her a foil condom packet.

Sitting amid the discarded paper and half-eaten cake, Cami watched Duke hurriedly strip. Her breath caught in her throat as each layer of clothing dropped, revealing the steel muscles of the warrior beneath the civilized veneer. But it was the emotion in his eyes that made her heart beat double-time.

For the first time she saw real emotion in his gaze. Not the frozen eyes of a man trapped in the past but the living gaze of a man ready to make a new start.

He lifted her roughly, his hands biting into the soft skin of her waist. “Take off your panties.”

She wiggled until they dropped to the floor and reached for her left leg to remove the hose.

“No,” he said, his voice guttural.

The emotion in his eyes had broken through his control. She saw it in the way his hands shook as he caressed her breasts. Bringing her nipples to tingling need for his mouth to soothe and then further incite. She saw it in the way his mouth sucked at her pulse in the bottom of her neck, as if he wanted to blend their lifebloods together. She saw it in the way his entire body shuddered when she touched him.

He was hot, hard and ready but still careful with her. She loved him for his concern but wanted him
enraged. Using her fingers, she teased his masculine flesh until she felt a drop of moisture on her finger.

He picked up the condom from the floor—she didn't remember dropping it—and sheathed himself. She hated that. She wanted to be with Duke as his mate. She wanted to meet and bond with him the most elemental way she could, and the thin contraceptive prevented her.

He stoked her body from neck to thigh and back again. She was on fire for him and needed him desperately.

“I feel decadent wearing these hose,” she said into his ear.

“You look sexier than hell. I've wanted you this way from the first day,” he said.

He kissed her on the mouth. His tongue doing things that made her core melt. She shifted forward and felt him at her entrance. Felt the first brush of their joining and craved more.

“Now,” she said.

He smiled down at her, braced his hands on her hips and held her still for his penetration. He went deep. Deeper than she'd remembered him being before. As if he'd become a part of her. As if he wanted to go so deep they'd never really be apart. As if he didn't want to let her.

As she climaxed in his arms and felt him do the same, she knew in her heart of hearts that what she'd done behind his back was right. Duke would never admit his love without the security of family. Duke would never be hers without the belief that
he had a past to offer her. And Cami would never be complete without Duke.

 

How could he make it work with Cami?

Duke lay on the bed waiting for Cami to come out of the bathroom. Their lovemaking had been profound tonight and scared him more than he'd admit. He turned on the television and let the flickering light play over the room.

He had to decide what to do about Cami. She'd become important to him. Duke acknowledged he was still a workaholic. He loved his job and thrived on the pressure.

He always felt a little out of place and awkward in her romantic-looking bed. He'd never spent the night at her place because he was afraid he'd never want to leave. The door creaked open and the light from the bathroom spilled into the room.

Cami was dressed in a green silk teddy he'd given her a few weeks ago. They'd gone into an upscale lingerie shop, and she'd modeled for him in the dressing room. The memory made him hard. They were taking turns playing out each other's fantasies, and that one had been his. Not something he'd desired with any other woman but only with her.

“Duke, I have one more present for you.”

They must be on the same wavelength, he thought. “Really?”

She smiled her womanly half smile that said she knew the secret of the universe. “Yes, it's the best of all.”

“Nothing could be better than my last present,” he said, his gaze sweeping down her body. Her nipples stood firm against the fabric of the teddy.

“Not even an encore?” she asked huskily.

He clicked off the television and sat up. Now they were talking. “Is that your present?”

“No, but you said nothing.”

He laughed. Duke wondered where this happy person had come from. Was Cami his gift from God for taking away so much in his early life? Had he suffered enough to now reap the rewards? He hoped so because he didn't know if he was strong enough to leave her.

“My gift is really not mine to give.”

“Don't be obtuse,” he said, clicking on the bedside lamp with a snap of his wrist.

“I'm not.”

Crossing the room to her purse, she bent, presenting him with a view he'd never get tired of. He wondered if she'd be agreeable to making love that way. He knew she would. She never said no to him. It was as if he were the greatest pleasure of her life.

She walked back to him and settled her weight next to him on the bed. She was so slight, the bed didn't even move. He forgot sometimes how fragile she was because of her damn-the-torpedoes attitude.

“Let's forget about this and go for an encore,” he said, resting his hand high on her thigh.

“No.”

Duke glanced down at the paper and noticed it was dated several weeks back. He read the e-mail message to Cami. Shock, anger, betrayal—all
warred for supremacy. He latched on to anger because it was the one emotion he felt most comfortable with.

“Dammit, Cami, you know how I feel about snooping. I thought you said you wouldn't do it again.”

“It wasn't snooping. This letter came to me from that search I did on you,” she said. Not shrinking back from him this time, she was an Amazon battling against the posturing male and she was doing a damned fine job of it.

“Why are you showing me this now?”

“You have a mother and siblings, Duke.”

Rage filled him and it was all he could do to speak in a normal tone. “No, I don't. I'm an orphan.”

“Not anymore,” Cami said softly. Her voice didn't soothe him, instead it made his fury boil even hotter. He'd never expected this from her.

“This letter doesn't mention siblings,” he said.

“Ah, well, I called my father, he's a judge and he gave me the name of a colleague here.”

“Dammit, Cami.”

God, he hurt in a way he didn't think he could. If this letter was true then his entire life had been a lie. He hadn't been the cherished son of a couple torn tragically from his young life.

He'd been a reject. Something not good enough to keep. Thrown away not once but twice. The last thing he wanted was a mother or a family. “I trusted you.”

“I know you did. I wasn't searching for this. I
wanted to find you a cousin or uncle or any relative so you wouldn't feel alone in the world. So that you'd take a chance on what we could have together.”

She touched him on the shoulder, trying to embrace him but he shrugged away and stood up.

“Obviously what we have together is a relationship where you manipulate me.” Every time he looked at Cami he felt a bit like Othello. He knew that happily-ever-after didn't work for him but he hadn't expected a knife in the back.

She'd slid her glasses on and her eyes were hidden behind a thin layer of glass but he could see the sadness in them. “Duke. That's not true.”

“Yeah,
sweetheart,
then what do we have?” He couldn't keep the sarcasm from his voice. He wanted to hurt her as deeply as she'd hurt him. He felt as though she'd ripped away his protective armor, and he stood before her naked—raw and aching.

“We could have love if you'd just open yourself up to it,” she said softly.

Fear raised its ugly head and he drew on the past for protection. “Love and betrayal really don't mix well.”

“I didn't betray you.”

“Yes, you did, and I'll never forgive you for this.”

He dressed quickly and walked out of her bedroom. He heard her behind him following down the hallway to the front door, the walk seemed to have gotten longer in the past ten minutes.

“Duke, please don't go in anger.”

He glanced over his shoulder at her. “This isn't anger.”

He closed the door behind him and walked away. He'd never expected this. Didn't know how to deal with it and knew that it was fate. He'd allowed himself a moment of happiness and had been struck down for it.

 

A blinding numbness surrounded Cami as she watched the taillights of Duke's Mercedes disappear. She'd known he would leave her. Deep inside her cruel inner voice taunted her with the fact that she wasn't woman enough to hold him. She'd tried to bring spring to the frozen winter of his life, and he'd callously rejected her.

Oh, God, she hurt so bad she felt like curling into a ball and crying. Slamming the door released her anger. She walked slowly back through her cluttered house, seeing the birthday gifts that had seemed so perfect just thirty minutes earlier. Seeing the discarded cake plates and the dining room table where they'd made love—no, had sex, she told herself firmly.

No real love had been in that room with them. Only her love, her feelings. In an instant, Cami realized that it wasn't a failing on her part. She couldn't make Duke love her. If he didn't see the precious gift she'd tried to give him then it was his loss. Actually, it was her loss, too. Because he'd filled her life in a way she hadn't known it could be filled.

He'd found the empty corners she'd pretended didn't exist and filled them with his presence. She picked up the picture of the two of them and watched and remembered. Her first night with a man. The magic of Duke in the moonlight. Duke's head bent next to hers on a dark airplane, sharing secrets he was embarrassed by.

His cold, sparse office, his empty life and traveling job. How he always moved on because whenever he stayed someone left him—Cami realized. She wanted to be there for him but he'd hurt her callously. As the warrior he was, he fought to win and in that kind of emotional battle she had no shield, no way to defend herself.

She set the picture down, not letting herself cry because if she started, she'd never stop. She'd watched him walk away before. Now she had to live with the knowledge that he could never come back in her life. Because she couldn't watch him leave her again.