Eternally Yours - Brenda Jackson [105]
“No. Please don’t tell them anything, at least not yet. I’ll be all right. Just be careful, and always know that I love you. No matter where you go or what you do, just believe that I love you, and will love you forever.”
He pulled her closer into his arms. “And I love you. I always will. I will make you my wife one day, and I don’t care who may not like it as long as I have you….”
Syntel opened his eyes. He had been at the academy only a couple of days when Ned had contacted him that Janeda had moved out of her apartment and hadn’t told anyone where she’d headed. He had almost gone out of his mind with worry, and when days passed with no word from her, he’d almost gone crazy. The only thing that had gotten him through his days at the academy was the belief that sooner or later she would contact him.
She never did.
He was sent to Vietnam directly from the academy. His father had tried to stop the order but had soon discovered that the Remington name hadn’t meant a thing to Uncle Sam.
Janeda never contacted him and when he returned to the States nearly twenty-four months later, he had tried finding her but couldn’t. He’d tried forgetting her but had been unsuccessful in that attempt, too. Years later, he’d hired an investigator who had concluded his report within weeks. Janeda had died of a bad case of acute pneumonia at the age of thirty while living in Dallas, Texas. The report had not mentioned anything about the fact that she had been survived by a child. His child.
The lump in his throat seemed to grow larger. He stood and walked to the window and looked out into the darkness. He had a daughter. A twenty-eight-year-old daughter that he hadn’t known about until tonight.
His child…Janeda’s child…their child.
Syneda Tremain Walters.
Syneda recognized the smell of spaghetti the moment she entered her apartment. A broad smile covered her face.
Clayton was here!
She called out to him and moments later he walked out of the kitchen and swept her into his arms, kissing her with a need that she returned. Finally she lifted her head after he had placed her back on her feet. “What are you doing here?”
He leaned down and kissed her moist lips. “Aren’t you glad to see me?”
“Yes, but it’s Wednesday. I wasn’t expecting you until the weekend.”
“I missed you,” he responded huskily, cupping her chin and leaning down and kissing her once more. It was a deep kiss, long and warm. His lips left hers then moved to her ear, her temple, and her nose before retracing the path back to her mouth. The sensual force about to explode between them was acute. He pulled her closer to him. “Do we eat first or make love?”
Syneda looked up and studied the face of the man she loved, the man she was going to marry. Desire-filled eyes stared down at her. She had missed him, too, and wanted nothing more than to lose herself in his arms, to lose her body in his.
Her hands slowly slid up his chest and around his neck. “Make love to me, Clayton. Now.”
He kissed her again as he swept her into his arms and carried her into the bedroom.
“I’m hungry.”
Clayton smiled at Syneda’s words. He lowered his head and placed a kiss on her lips. “You could have eaten first. I did give you a choice.”
“I know, but I preferred doing this first,” she said, smiling against his lips. She eased up on her elbow and looked down at him. “At this moment I’m happier than anyone deserves to be.”
He reached up and captured her face in the palm of his hand. “If there’s anyone who deserves to be happy, you’re that person.”
Clayton kissed her, knowing he had to discuss the reason he had come to see her during the middle of the week. He would never forget how Syntel had taken the news of Syneda’s existence. He had been filled with joy, sorrow and anger. Joy that