A Wife for a Westmoreland - Brenda Jackson [8]
Derringer sighed deeply and wished, for his peace of mind, that he could remember more in-depth details about last night, including the face of the woman whose virginity he had taken. The thought of that made him cringe inside because he knew for certain he hadn’t used a condom. Was last night a setup and the result would be a baby just waiting to be born nine months from now?
The thought of any woman taking advantage of him that way—or any way—made his blood boil. And anger began filling him to a degree he hadn’t known was possible. If the woman thought she had gotten the best of him she had another thought coming. She had not only trespassed on his private property, but she had invaded his privacy and taken advantage of him when he’d been in a weakened, incoherent state.
If he had to turn over every stone in Denver, he would find out the identity of the woman who’d had the nerve to pull one over on him. And when he found her, he would definitely make her pay for her little stunt.
“Lucia, are you all right?”
It was noon and Lucia was sitting behind the desk of her office at the Denver branch of Simply Irresistible, the magazine designed for today’s up-and-coming woman.
The magazine, Chloe’s brainchild, had started out as a regional publication in the Southeast a few years ago. When Chloe had made the decision to expand to the West and open a Denver office, she had hired Lucia to manage the Denver office.
Lucia loved her job as managing editor. Chloe was editor in chief, but since her baby—a beautiful little girl named Susan—was born six months ago, Chloe spent most of her time at home taking care of her husband and daughter. Lucia had earned a business-management degree in college, but when Chloe had gotten pregnant she had encouraged Lucia to go back to school and get a master’s degree in mass communications to further her career at Simply Irresistible. Lucia only needed a few more classes to complete that degree.
Lucia figured it would only be a matter of time before Chloe and Ramsey decided they would want another baby, and the running of Simply Irresistible’s Denver office would eventually fall in her lap.
“Lucia!”
She jumped when Chloe said her name with a little more force, getting her attention. “What? You scared me.”
Chloe couldn’t help but smile. It had been a long time since she’d seen her best friend so preoccupied. “I was asking you a question.”
Lucia scrunched up her face. “You were?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, what was your question?”
Chloe shook her head, smiling. “I asked if you were all right. You seem preoccupied about something and I want to know what. Things are looking good here. We doubled our print run for April’s issue since the president is on the cover, so that shouldn’t cause you any concern. What’s going on with you?”
Lucia nibbled on her bottom lip. She needed to tell someone about what happened last night and since Chloe was her best friend, she would be the logical person. However, there was a problem with that. Chloe was married to Ramsey, who was Derringer’s oldest brother. There was no doubt in Lucia’s mind Chloe would keep her mouth closed about anything if she asked her to, but still…
“Okay, Lucia, I’m only going to ask you one more time. What’s wrong with you? You’ve been acting spaced out since I got here, and I doubt you were listening to anything Barbara was saying during the production meeting. So what’s going on with you?”
Lucia breathed in deeply. “It’s Derringer.”
Frowning, Chloe stared. “What about Derringer? Ramsey called and checked on him this morning and he was doing fine. All he needed was a dose of pain medication and a good night’s sleep.”
“I’m sure he got the dose of