Just Deserts - Brenda Jackson [3]
“And?”
“And from what he discovered, he reached the conclusion that there could be a fourth Mrs. Foster, or that Marc was planning another wedding. Chris leans toward the latter.”
“The bastard!”
Tristan went to her and pulled her into his arms, wanting her to get her emotions out. She had cried in the attorney’s office when it was revealed that Marc was sterile, but he felt she was still holding a lot inside. She refused to let all of it out.
She pulled away from his arms. “No, I won’t cry again,” she said angrily. “If I cry again that means Marc has succeeded in humiliating me again. And I won’t let him.”
Danielle walked back over to the sofa and calmly sat down. “Now, Tristan,” she said in a composed voice, “does Chris know how to contact the woman?”
He sat beside her. “No,” he said.
“Who’s been paying the rent?”
“Chris spoke with the landlord and it appears Marc had a paid-up lease for a full year.”
Danielle nodded. “And from what Chris found at the apartment he’s pretty sure there might be a fourth woman?”
“Yes, it’s a very good possibility.”
She stood up again. “Then we have to do something. We need to find out if she was a wife or a fiancée. We need to—”
He pulled her back down on the sofa beside him. “We, namely you, need to slow down and relax, Danielle. You’ve been through a lot these past two months and I don’t want to see you lose it.”
She lifted a brow. “Lose it?”
“Yes. Have a nervous breakdown or something,” he tried to say delicately. “I don’t want to see you lose control.”
She scoffed at his words. “Oh, come on, Tris. I’m always in control. I’m—”
“Danielle,” he said in a firm voice, “do I need to remind you that you lost it one day and slapped someone? You, who’re too compassionate to even squish a bug, actually slapped Alexandra.”
He watched as she lowered her head in shame. Then she raised her head and he noted first regret and then fire in her eyes. “Okay, that was one time I admit I lost it. Hell, Tristan, she pissed me off. If you had any idea what she said—”
“I know what she said. She told us and she apologized.”
“And I apologized, as well. I even offered to let her slap me back,” she said in earnest.
Tristan couldn’t help but chuckle at the ridiculousness of the offer Danielle had made that day. “Well, still, you’ve been under a lot of emotional stress and pressure and need to get away.”
“Get away?” she asked with an incredulous look on her face.
“Yes, get away.”
“Tristan, I can’t get away. I’ve taken enough time away from A&T as it is, trying to straighten out the mess Marc left me in.”
“You can and you will. Take off, Danielle. Fly to New York and visit some of your friends. Or better yet, fly to Paris to visit that model friend of yours. What’s her name?”
“Lust.”
“On second thought maybe you don’t need to fly to Paris.”
A smile touched Danielle’s face. “Trying to be big brother, Tristan?”
“Someone has to keep you out of trouble.”
“Whatever.”
“Now where were we? Oh, yeah, we were discussing your need to get away. And I don’t want to hear any argument out of you.”
She looked at him and he knew she was itching to make a word of protest, but she had to know it wouldn’t do any good. When he had his mind made up, that was it. “Okay, okay. And if I do get away for a few days, when I come back will you promise to help me find out more about that fourth woman?”
He shook his head. “Dani, I’m sure Chris is already on it. He’s an FBI agent, so he’ll know how to track her down.”
“Yes, but I want to be there when he does. You know how it was with Alex, Renée and me. One of us needs to be there to assure this woman that everything will be okay and that we were all duped by Marc and survived. Since I’m the oldest among Marc’s wives, that task belongs to me.”
Tristan studied her stubborn features, especially the firm set of her lips. They were lips he had placed a friendly kiss on a number of times but had never taken with the fire and passion that burned in his loins whenever he looked at them. “Okay, Danielle, I don