Deadly Embrace by Jackie Collins (ebook reader for manga TXT) 📕

they arrived, Beth had given birth to a healthy girl. The baby weighed eight pounds six ounces, and had a full mop of thick, black, curly hair.

‘We’re calling her Madison,’ Beth announced, lying in the hospital bed holding her baby, her long, dark hair damp with sweat, a contented smile on her face.

‘What kind of a name is that?’ Michael asked.

‘It’s a special name,’ she replied softly, ‘for a special girl.’

‘I don’t got no say?’

‘Get used to it.’ Max laughed. ‘That’s the way it is. Married or not, the female always gets her own way.’

‘Here,’ Beth said, ‘you take her.’ And she handed Michael the newly named Madison.

Gingerly he took the baby and held her in his arms.

Madison.

She was a beauty, exactly like her mother.

Chapter Twenty-five

Dani: 1971

Recently Sam’s lawyer had contacted Dani to inform her that Sam wished to arrange visitation rights with his son. When she confided in Gemini over lunch at the Desert Inn, her friend was adamant that she tell the lawyer the truth.

‘I can’t do that without telling Sam first,’ Dani explained.

‘I thought you did tell him.’

‘No. After I threw him out I didn’t see him again. It seemed pointless to contact him when he obviously had no plans to visit Vincent. I was under the impression he didn’t care.’

‘Apparently he does, so now you have to hire your own lawyer and only speak through him.’

‘Surely that will cost a fortune?’

‘Isn’t protecting your son worth it?’ Gemini asked.

‘Of course it is.’

‘Anyway, Dani, you should ask Dean’s advice. He’s a smart man, and rich. I’m sure he will help you.’

‘You once told me that money isn’t everything.’

‘This is true,’ Gemini said. ‘However, Dean is not only rich, he also cares about you. The wise move would be to snap him up before someone else does. You’re keeping him at a distance, and no man enjoys that. He’s probably already beginning to feel rejected.’

‘I’m not responsible for how he feels,’ Dani said, wishing that Gemini would stop pushing Dean at her. If anything, it was making her back away even more.

Dean King lived in Houston, where he was president of a large oil company. He was thirty-three years old, unmarried, and extremely wealthy. He was also attractive, charming, kind, adored Dani, and was very fond of Vincent.

What more could she ask for? And yet there was something within her that prevented her allowing him to get too close.

‘The man is crazy about you,’ Gemini pointed out. ‘Why are you holding back?’

‘I’m scared,’ Dani said, shivering at the thought of being intimate with another man.

‘Of what?’ Gemini asked, picking at her salad.

‘Scared of him leaving me,’ Dani admitted.

‘Leaving you?’ Gemini exclaimed. ‘That’s ridiculous.’

‘I know I’m being foolish,’ Dani said, speaking fast. ‘I also know that I have to give it more time.’

‘How much more time?’ Gemini asked, as the waiter refilled her water glass. ‘Dean won’t stay around forever. I mean, how much longer do you think he’ll wait before you sleep with him?’

‘I can’t do it,’ Dani said, panicking.

‘Why not?’ Gemini demanded. ‘It’s a perfectly natural act. You’re not a virgin. You’ve been married, you’ve had a child.’

‘You don’t understand,’ Dani explained. ‘Michael was the first man I slept with.’

‘Who’s Michael?’

‘Vincent’s real father, the man I told you about. Anyway, Michael was my first, and after I married Sam, then he and I…well, we only did it once.’

‘This cannot be true,’ Gemini said, genuinely surprised.

‘It is.’

‘Are you telling me that you’ve only made love twice in your life?’

Dani nodded. ‘I’m afraid sex is not for me.’

‘Oh, my God.’ Gemini sighed. ‘You poor girl. You need professional help. And you also need a man who is gentle. A man like Dean. Now that I know this, I shall encourage it even more.’

‘Please don’t,’ Dani said quickly.

Gemini had an endless supply of male admirers. Unlike Dani’s former roommate Angela, Gemini was very picky. She would go out with a man once, and if he didn’t measure up to her exacting standards, he was history. Dani admired the way she dealt with men. Personally she couldn’t do it.

‘I suggest you don’t wait too long before asking Dean’s advice,’ Gemini said, signalling for the check. ‘You’re having dinner with him tonight, aren’t you?’

‘Yes, he’s in town for the weekend.’

‘Then do it.’

Gemini was right: if she didn’t cement their relationship soon, it was quite possible she might lose him.

It didn’t matter, because one of these days he’d leave anyway. Men always did.

They dined in Dean’s penthouse suite atop the Stardust Hotel. Dean was extremely romantic, and tonight especially so. There were candles and a bowl of pink roses on the table set for two on the terrace, while a violinist played classical music quietly in the background.

‘What’s the occasion?’ Dani asked.

‘You’re the occasion,’ he replied, kissing her cheek. ‘You’re always the occasion.’

It was late, she’d performed two shows, and she would have preferred going straight home to Vincent, who was no doubt fast asleep. She’d hired a capable woman, who lived in, to take care of him. Although Vincent was fond of the woman, he’d told Dani that it wasn’t the same as having his mommy round.

Vincent had never asked for Sam. Not once. Perhaps he sensed that Sam was not his real father.

‘Make yourself comfortable,’ Dean said, ‘while I pour you a glass of champagne.’

‘I don’t drink,’ she reminded him.

‘Tonight is a special occasion,’ he said, removing a bottle of Cristal from the ice bucket.

‘Is it your birthday?’ she asked, hoping she hadn’t forgotten.

‘No, it’s not my birthday,’ he said, filling her glass. ‘You can have champagne once in a while, can’t you?’

‘I suppose so.’

He sat down opposite her and clinked glasses. ‘Y’know, Dani, for someone so beautiful and, I thought, sophisticated, you’re really just a homebody at heart, aren’t you?’

‘What made you think I was sophisticated?’

‘You’re one of the leads in a top Vegas show. Onstage you come across as so statuesque and glamorous.’ He looked