CHAPTER THREE
TAYLOR
It was three in the morning, and Taylor felt as if they had consoled Victor’s wife long enough.
“So, where are you staying?” Taylor asked, ready to go to bed.
Rosemary blinked up at Victor with pleading eyes. “I don’t have anywhere to go,” she whispered.
“So, your plan was to come here and do what? Live with Victor? I’m sorry, honey, but that’s not gonna happen.”
Rosemary wiped the remaining moisture from her cheek and stood. She rolled her shoulders back and glared at Taylor. “I risked my life to come here and warn you about Collier. I had no way of knowing that he was dead until I got here,” Rosemary blurted.
“No, you didn’t. You could have called. Why did youreallycome back?” Taylor leaned back on the sofa and crossed one leg over the other. She returned Rosemary’s glare as she waited for the truth.
“Victor,” Rosemary confessed on a faint breath.
“It’s a good question,” Victor agreed. “What’s the answer?”
Rosemary stood and began to pace nervously. She ran her fingers through her long blonde hair and turned to Taylor.
“Someone tried to kill me,” she admitted. “Some woman put a gun to my head and forced me into the back of a limousine. She said that she’d been looking for me for a long time. No doubt, her plan was to kill me, but we had a car accident that killed the driver. I was dazed, but the woman was unconscious. So, I escaped.”
Taylor noted just how different she and Rosemary were. If a woman had put a gun to Taylor’s head and threatened to kill her, she would have made sure that said woman never regained consciousness.
Taylor reached for the bottle of Merlot and poured a moderate amount into all three glasses.
“Rosemary, I feel for you, but—”
“Taylor,” Victor interrupted. “May I speak with you in the bedroom?”
Taylor narrowed her eyes at Victor and asked, “Why?”
“Now, please,” was his abrupt response as he headed to Taylor’s bedroom.
Taylor blew out a harsh breath and followed Victor into the bedroom.
“He hasn’t changed a bit,” Rosemary chortled at Taylor’s back.
Taylor ignored the comment and walked into the bedroom, ready to do battle. But as soon as she entered, she was ambushed by Victor. He pulled her into his arms and grabbed the back of her head. He pushed his lips against hers and kissed her with a passion that rendered her immobile.
“I love you so much, babe,” he professed when he ended the kiss.
It was amazing. With just one kiss, Victor had weakened her resolve. Her irritation had immediately melted away. There was a contentment that came with being in Victor’s arms.
Taylor looked up, into her fiancé’s beautiful eyes. “I love you too,” she whispered.
Victor led Taylor to the bed and urged her to sit. Once she did, he sat next to her. Victor took her hand and smiled, exposing his beautiful dimples.
“Taylor, I know we haven’t talked much about our past marriages, but I need to make you understand what Rosemary and I had.”
Taylor knitted her brows as she waited for him to explain his relationship with Rosemary. But when he took too long to speak, Taylor asked, “Are you about to try to convince me that we need to take in your ex…um, your current wife?”
“Yes.”
“What?” Taylor exclaimed. “You cannot be serious.”
“Taylor, sweetheart, Rosemary is my friend. Yes, we were married, but I wasn’t in love with her, nor was she in love with me. We got married for the optics. It was a purely political manipulation. Baby, what I’m trying to say is our marriage was never a real marriage.”
