Her Inconvenient Groom by Niomie Roland

Chapter 40

 

“I’m never going hiking again!” Chantelle declared, perhaps a bit too dramatically, still riled up hours after they had returned to the mansion.

Dustin smiled indulgently and wrapped his arms around her. “What are you talking about? Didn’t you have a great time out there with me? You know, getting lost, getting caught in a thunderstorm, trespassing.” He waggled his brows at her suggestively. “Doing stuff.”

She smacked him on the arm. “Having a putain de serpent crawl up my leg!”

“Did you think it was me? Coming back for more?”

She shrieked in mock horror. “If I ever begin to associate you or any part of you with a snake, trust me buddy, you’ll never enjoy any of this awesomeness again!”

“Then, my sweet,” Dustin said solemnly, “I promise you to never take you camping again. It’s simply not worth the risk.”

They hugged and laughed, and their light kisses became more passionate. Dustin couldn’t believe what was happening to his woman, the changes he was seeing in that stiff-backed, solemn executive who had walked into his tattoo parlor a couple of months ago.

The way her spirit seemed to have grown wings. She was now able to joke and laugh as easily as she was able to surrender to him in passion, to allow him to glimpse deep into her soul.

Was this what love did to you? If it was, he would always be grateful.

Just as he was reaching for her, a voice came drifting up the stairwell. “Madame Chantelle, c’est l’heure de depart!”

“Time to go,” she told him, but his French was already good enough that he’d figured that out on his own.

Determined to show off just a little, he shouted back down, “On arrive, Rosemarie!”

She looked impressed. “Ooh. Bien fait!”

He tried to look modest. “C’est rien.”

The driver would be there waiting out front with their bags packed, ready to take them to the airport. From there, it would be onto Chantelle’s private jet, and after a long night’s journey, they’d be back in Paradisio Falls again.

Where she could forget about snakes, and he could concentrate on establishing the family he’d always wanted to have.

***

 

Good thing the plane was so comfortable, Dustin thought as they stood outside his house. At least he was able to get some sleep during the flight. He had been so eager to reconnect with his family that they had driven directly over there, rather than stop off at Chantelle’s home—which he’d still not yet visited—to rest and regroup.

He felt her close to his side, pleased beyond measure to know that she was there with him, and would forever be with him. His wife. A real wife. Not another player in a farce that had ended in tragedy.

The door swung open, and to his shock, Arabella was there. She looked happy and healthy, her skin glowing, dark, thick hair twisted on top of her head, eyes bright and shining rather than sunken and jaundiced. The blessed sight robbed him of speech for a moment.

Then she screamed and lunged at him, throwing herself into his arms so hard he almost fell over backwards. “Dustin! Oh my God!”

“Who is it?” came a voice from up the hallway, and he looked past Arabella to see Kim wheeling towards them. Her face burst into a delighted smile, and she held out her arms to him. “Oh, Dustin, it’s you! I missed you so much.” He closed his eyes as he squeezed him tight against her, feeling the love in her touch and hearing it in her voice. Questions tumbled forth. “How was it in jail? Oh, dumb question. Was it awful? Did they treat you well? Did you eat?” She stroked his cheek and looked into his eyes as hers began to fill. “I’m so glad you’re back!”

Aaron appeared, and it seemed to Dustin that he had grown even taller since last he saw him. “Hey, asshole,” his brother greeted him affably, reaching out to clap him at the back of his head.

Dustin saw it coming and managed to duck, but his responding blow hit the target and there was a satisfying thunk at the back of Aaron’s skull. “Hey, dickhead,” Dustin answered, and then they hugged.

“You two!” Kim said indulgently, but she quickly lost interest in their brotherly shenanigans and was looking beyond Dustin to take in Chantelle.

Dustin remembered his manners and gentled Chantelle forward. “Kim, this is my wife, Chantelle Moreau. Chantelle, this is my stepmother, Kim. My sister, Arabella and my idiot brother, Aaron.”

Chantelle and the two women were staring at each other with a peculiar sense of déja vu, and then they burst out laughing.

“What?” he asked, mystified.

“You still watching Marry that Stranger?” Chantelle asked with a broad smile and bent forward to hug Kim.

“You know I wouldn’t miss it,” Kim joked back. She threw an amused look at her daughter. “Arabella’s favorite got kicked off early. She almost stopped watching after that ….”

“I still say he’s cute,” she said stubbornly.

“What is going on?” Dustin was still mystified. “You guys know each other?”

“We’ve met,” Chantelle said.

“Small world,” Kim agreed.

“Fine. Keep your secrets.” He sighed, exchanging a resigned look with his brother. “Women, eh?”

Then there was another sound in the doorway, and Dustin looked up in puzzlement. There shouldn’t be anyone else in the house, he mused. Who could that be?

Everyone turned, and then the room went completely silent, and he felt the icy fingers of dread crawl up the back of his neck.

Jen appeared, his ex-fiancée, and the woman who had hurt him so badly. Who had dumped him without ceremony and robbed him blind of every last penny in his bank account. She was standing there, in his home, casually dressed in a t-shirt and jeans. And she wasn’t alone. She was holding a baby.

He felt the blood drain from his face. He remembered that disturbing conversation he had with Kim when he’d been released by the French authorities. She’d said that Jen had visited, and had brought a baby with her. A baby who apparently looked like him.

Chantelle was still smiling expectantly, obviously enjoying the experience of meeting his family. She didn’t seem to sense the undertones at first, and then it came home to her that something was amiss, and her bright smile faded.

“Hi,” Jen said, and shifted the baby in her arms.

Hi, Dustin thought. You stand there in my home, without my invitation, and all you have to say is Hi? “What the hell is going on?” he demanded.

Kim shifted uneasily in her chair. “She arrived in town just recently. She hasn’t been able to find a place to stay yet—”

“She’s staying here?” he exploded.

“Dustin?” Chantelle queried, her puzzled eyes on him.

But Jen went on without even allowing him the chance to respond. “I tried calling you,” Jen said. “I called you repeatedly.”

“And I didn’t pick up,” he said shortly. “Should have given you a hint.”

Dustin could feel the heat of Chantelle’s gaze on him, and his heart sank as he sensed an awakening of understanding within her.

She stepped forward with the calm assurance of a true CEO, a woman who mastered the board room. “My name is Chantelle Moreau. What a lovely baby. Is she yours?”