Eternally Yours - Brenda Jackson [95]
Syneda frowned. “Now, to think about it, I remember her telling me all the time when I was a lot younger how much I looked liked him. She stopped telling me that after I began asking questions about him.”
Syneda shifted in his arms. “Now I want to ask you a question.”
Clayton nodded, smiling. “What do you want to ask?”
“Do you know anything about Larry Morgan being hired at Remington Oil?”
He chuckled. “Why would I know anything about it, sweetheart?”
Syneda gave him a pointed look. “Because you do. I know it and you know it whether you admit it or not.”
Clayton shrugged. “End of discussion.”
She frowned at him, knowing he wouldn’t fess up. But she had a way to make him talk and confess all. She smiled sweetly up at him. “Can I see that case of condoms you have in your closet?”
Syneda held her left hand out in front her. Tears misted her eyes as she looked at the three-carat diamond ring on her third finger that Clayton had just placed there. It was absolutely stunning.
It had been past noon before they had left Clayton’s apartment. After showing her the case of condoms in his closet, he had proceeded to put a few of them to good use. The first place they had stopped on their shopping expedition was the jeweler.
“Oh, Clayton, this ring is absolutely gorgeous.” She looked up at him. “Are you sure?”
Clayton glanced down at Syneda’s face and saw the uncertainty lingering there. It was there in her eyes. Dear heaven!
How could she still doubt anything about him? But then he remembered she had had eighteen years of doubt and pain from another man she had wanted to believe in. Placing her complete trust in someone didn’t come easy for her.
“Am I sure about what, Syneda? That I want to marry you or that I love you?” he asked her quietly.
“Both.” She bowed her head, unable to meet the intensity in his eyes any longer.
“Syneda?” He waited for her to look up at him. Waited for the abundance of golden-bronze hair that fanned across her shoulders to fall back in place and frame her face.
When she lifted her eyes to him, her gaze was searching his for answers. “Yes?”
“I’m sure,” he said, his voice low and soft. “I’m sure that I love you very much, and that you’re the woman I’ve been waiting for all my life, even without knowing I was waiting. And I’m sure I want to marry you, to make you my wife. I want to give you my name and one day I want to give you my babies. I promise to be a good husband to you and a good father to our children.”
She smiled through the tears that misted her eyes. “Babies? Meaning more than one?”
Clayton grinned. “Yes, babies, meaning more than one.”
He tilted her chin up with a knuckle. His expression was serious. “Trust me, Syneda, and know that I would never deliberately hurt you.” His tone suddenly became fierce. “Believe that I love you with all my heart and soul, and that I will love you for all eternity. And that I will always be here for you.”
He stepped back and, ignoring the fact there were other shoppers in the store, some more curious than others, he opened his arms to her.
Syneda stepped into his embrace, and he drew her to him. Reveling in his touch, she clung to him. “Thanks for loving me, Clayton.”
He tightened his arms around her. “Thank you for letting me love you.” After some moments had passed, he checked his watch. “We have a few more stores to hit before dinner.”
Taking her hand in his, he asked, “Ready?”
She nodded.
“Then let’s go, baby.”
“Are you certain you don’t mind having dinner here?”
Syneda smiled. “I’m positive. I know about your past reputation and that it included other women, lots of them. And since this was your hangout, it wouldn’t surprise me to run into a few here tonight. That really doesn’t bother me. I’m woman enough to get beyond that. Besides, we are here for a worthy cause.”
“True,” Clayton said as they entered Sisters. They were meeting Justin and Lorren and Dex and Caitlin for dinner. Each year on the day after Thanksgiving, the local chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority sponsored a tree-decorating