One Special Moment - Brenda Jackson [22]
“I’ll marry you, Sterling, for the sole purpose of saving Wingate Cosmetics.” She stood. “If you’ll excuse me, I’d like to be alone.” She walked across the room to leave.
When she reached the door she turned back to him. “Edward Stewart was wrong. You’re not a decent person. Earlier you referred to your mother as cold and heartless. In that case, you’re definitely her son. You’ve turned out to be the same way.”
Then she walked out, closing the door behind her.
Chapter 6
Colby’s words had cut him to the core.
The last person Sterling wanted to be compared to was Angeline Hamilton Chenault.
He stood from the table. His suite suddenly felt dark and empty, a lot like his life had been since the death of his father. Even with the constant flow of beautiful women in and out of his life, the huge box-office draw of his movies and the financial success of his business ventures, he’d felt something was missing.
He had inwardly longed for something more. Something more substantial and meaningful. That’s when he had made the decision to become a parent. He wanted to channel his energy into the happiness of his child—just like his father had done for him. After he’d made the decision, he had thought it would be enough, and that the arrangement would be simple, hassle-free with no complications.
But that was before Colby Wingate.
He shook his head. He had to give it to her, she was one gutsy woman. Never in his life had he encountered a woman like her. She’d even had the nerve to inform him at the beginning of lunch that, just to set the record straight, he wasn’t her favorite actor, Denzel Washington was. In fact, she had continued to tell him that she had seen his latest movie and personally didn’t think, like most women, it was all that.
At the time, he couldn’t help but laugh at her frankness. In fact, he had laughed more since meeting her than at any other time in his life. He was a fool to admit it, but he was fascinated with her and that smart mouth of hers. She could give just as good as she got. He had a feeling that with her around, his life would never be dark and empty. It would always be bright and full.
But that was the crux of his problem.
That part of him that served as a protective shield against pain and rejection didn’t want her in his life. That was the part of him that saw her as a threat to his very existence. He had learned a long time ago how to avoid setting himself up for disappointments. He knew women clung to him because of who he was. His status intrigued and captivated them.
He had given up all hope that there was a woman out there who would love him just for himself—who he was deep inside. His real mother hadn’t. And she had proven it by abandoning him and never looking back. Then later when he’d seen her face-to-face for the very first time, she had wasted no time rejecting him.
As a child, the pain of that rejection had stayed with him for a long time. He had even gone so far as to believe the reason she hadn’t wanted him was because she thought he was a bad boy. So he had done everything within his power to be good. He was the pride of his teachers, he excelled in school and sports and was the kid around town that everyone liked. But all of that hadn’t made his mother come back or want to love him.
He shrugged off the past and once again settled his mind on Colby. He didn’t want to, but he suddenly thought about twenty-one years with her. She had a lot of nerve to even suggest such a thing. Very few celebrity marriages lasted that long. Most couldn’t survive the harsh reality of the media invading their personal lives. But he had a feeling to remain close to her child, Colby would beat the odds or die trying. She would do whatever was necessary.
Already she had thrown factors into the equation he hadn’t even thought about, like breast-feeding, for instance. She had raised some important questions. Who would continue to breast-feed his child once