to believe that love and lust went hand in hand. With Dominic she knew they wouldn’t. It would be lust, lust and more lust. There would be no love between them.
I forgive you for your affair with Keith; I blame myself for that. And I forgive you for forcing me to pay you to have my baby, darling. I know you didn’t want a child at first and that you did it for me, despite taking the money. And I know the truth, if it all comes out, will hurt you.
She swallowed hard as she looked down at the letter and let the words sink in. The truth? There was no truth in his words, not about the affair and not about Nicole. How could Liam lie like that? He was virtually saying she was an adulterer who’d “sold” her body to have the baby of a dying man. It hadn’t been like that at all. She had wanted a baby, but had hesitated for various reasons. Saying yes hadn’t been about the money. It had not been for herself.
Marry Dominic and raise Nicole together as a family. He’ll be a wonderful father. And she’s a beautiful little girl who deserves to be loved for herself.
If you refuse, Dominic already has my full blessing to fight for custody of Nicole. The letter with my lawyer detailing everything will be used against you in court.
The threat sent chills down her spine. Dominic could easily have the family lawyers paint her in a bad light for custody of Nicole. They’d have no hesitation in twisting things, especially if they dragged Keith into court. She was certain he would perjure himself to protect his marriage.
And after proving her a liar, the lawyers would simply have to point out that her monthly allowance had been increased at the same time her father had been put in the nursing home, not to mention that the five hundred thousand dollars for the bond had been given to her at the same time she’d been artificially inseminated. They’d only have to search her records, going back a few years, to discover that. And then it would “prove” she’d blackmailed her husband.
The letter will be destroyed six months after you marry Dominic. Look on this as my legacy to you all.
She could fight Dominic, of course, but what chance would an adopted kid from a low-income family have at winning against a wealthy, upstanding family like the Roths? Her parents-in-law would dislike her even more once they learned the so-called “truth.” They would want revenge, too.
So marry Dominic she would.
And let him think the worst of her she would.
She didn’t want him to know anything he could use in court against her. An unfaithful wife “paid” to have a baby wasn’t something an unsympathetic judge could choose to look kindly on, no matter the circumstances or what good she’d done with the money.
She wouldn’t risk being labeled an unfit wife and mother.
She would risk nothing where her daughter was concerned.
Two
The wedding ceremony was held in the plush surroundings of Dominic’s office in the city a few days later, in what had to be one of the quickest services on record. Even the hasty ceremony for her and Liam had been longer than this.
She wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. Dominic had juggled his schedule to fit this in, and it somehow seemed appropriate. This wasn’t a love match between them. His fleeting kiss on the side of her mouth sealing their marriage a few minutes ago was testament to that.
Fleeting but potent.
“I’m glad you dressed appropriately for your wedding,” he murmured sardonically as his personal assistant, Janice, hurried the marriage celebrant out the door.
Cassandra casually patted the jeweled hair stick in her French twist. She thought the short satin dress with the chic bolero jacket was a nice touch, especially in black. “I’m a widow, remember?”
“Not any longer.”
She winced inwardly, but wouldn’t let him know it. “Next time I marry, I’ll wear gray then.”
His brows flattened. “There won’t be a next time,” he all but snapped.
She held his gaze, then looked away to where the other witness to their marriage—his brother Adam—was opening a bottle of champagne. Oh, God, she didn’t feel in the least like celebrating being married again. There was absolutely nothing to celebrate in this travesty of a ceremony. It was the reason she hadn’t brought Nicole today or told her sister, and Dominic hadn’t pressed her about it, either.
Thankfully his parents were still