Joan Kilby - When Love Is True

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To Mike

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Epilogue

Two sets of bubbles rose from the scuba divers off the west coast of Vancouver Island. Chloe Bennett, wrapped in a duffel coat against the chill January air, watched the spreading ripples intersect and wondered which set of bubbles belonged to her husband, Daniel, and which belonged to Evan, her former lover?

Her nineteen-year-old daughter, Brianna, poked about in tide pools, and Chloe could see her glowing blond head as she wandered between granite boulders as large and smooth as a whale’s back. Other questions surfaced, which Chloe had given up pondering years earlier. Who had fathered the child who’d brought her and Daniel to the altar—Evan or her husband?

Chloe worried about Daniel. Evan was a highly experienced scuba diver, but Daniel was a novice and this deep-water shipwreck was quite possibly beyond his present capability. Only Chloe knew that his confidence was at least partly feigned. Only she knew he was there in large part because he was determined not to show weakness in front of his rival.

She wrapped her duffel coat tighter and shivered at the memory of the rage in Daniel’s eyes as the men had suited up on the cobblestone beach between the towering cedar trees. She understood his hostility toward Evan, but why had he turned on her? Was it possible Daniel had overheard her conversation with Evan at the house before the dive?

Twenty years earlier…

“Don’t cry, sweetheart.” Esme dabbed at the delicate skin beneath her daughter’s eyes and the damp tissue came away smudged with dark brown mascara. “This is the happiest day of your life.”

“I think I’m going to be sick.” Chloe swallowed and pressed a trembling hand to her stomach, which was cinched tight in ivory satin. A worn pair of ballet shoes hung by their pink ribbons from a knob on her old brass bed, a reminder of the career she was giving up just as she was reaching her peak.

“Nerves,” Esme pronounced with a bright smile. “All brides get cold feet before the ceremony.” She tossed away the used tissue and pushed at Chloe’s wispy red-gold bangs with her beringed fingers. “Turn around and let me adjust your veil.”

“Mom, stop!” Chloe clutched her mother’s wrists with icy fingers. “It’s not nerves. It’s morning sickness.”

Esme’s dark blue eyes widened. “You’re joking.”

“I wish I was,” Chloe said bitterly. “Why do you think I’m getting married?”

“I’d hoped it was for love.” Esme’s gaze skimmed Chloe’s thin, muscular figure for any hint of a pregnancy. “You’ve only been seeing Daniel for a few months. Before that you were head over heels for that Australian doctor who went to work in the refugee camp. What was his name?”

“Evan.” Brilliant, handsome, charming Evan had lit up her life like a bolt of summer lightning before leaving for Sudan and plunging her world into darkness. That they’d fought before he’d left added another layer to her misery. Fresh tears spilled over Chloe’s lower lashes and she grabbed another tissue from the box on the maple dresser.

Esme sat Chloe on the bed and put an arm around her. “Is the baby Evan’s? There was something about him I didn’t like. He was a little too glib, if you ask me.”

“You only met him once, so that’s hardly fair.” Wearily, Chloe shrugged her lace-covered shoulders. “I don’t know whose baby I’m carrying. Daniel and I spent only one night together, but it could also be his.”

Dependable, solid Daniel, a man of few words and kind deeds. She couldn’t have found anyone more different than Evan, if she’d tried. After that first impetuous night with Daniel she’d leaned on him, taking comfort in his steady companionship. In the months following Evan’s departure, however, it was hard not to compare Daniel’s predictable ways to Evan’s quicksilver charm.

Esme rubbed Chloe’s back as if she were comforting a young child. “You don’t have to have the baby. Aside from the question of paternity, it’ll put a crimp in your ballet career. You’ve worked hard for years and you’re finally a soloist.”

Chloe twisted the tissue into a knot in her hands. “When I think of Evan traveling across the world to save other children’s lives, how could I do that? I want this baby, Mom. I really do.”

“But you shouldn’t marry Daniel if you don’t love him,” Esme argued. “It’s not fair to him.”

“He knows I don’t love him—not in the way I feel about Evan. He says that what matters is for the baby to have a mom and a dad. I like Daniel a lot, Mom. He’s really good to me. And he wants the baby, even if it isn’t his.”

“What if Evan comes back?”

Chloe sniffed and dabbed at her nose. “He didn’t want to get engaged or make any sort of promise. Two years is a long time, but I thought what we had was special. The worst part is we didn’t make up before he left. I wrote him twice—once to tell him about the baby, and then to let him know I was getting married.

“He didn’t reply to either of my letters. I kept hoping he’d show up in time to stop the wedding.” She drew in a deep breath and then let it out. “I guess it’s too late now.”

“Regardless of Evan, it’s not too late to back out,” Esme urged. “It would be hard on Daniel, but he would understand. You could come back home for a while, and your father and I would help with the baby. Marriage is a commitment you shouldn’t make unless you’re one hundred percent happy about it.”

Chloe shook her head. “I can’t. You should have seen Daniel’s face when I told him I was pregnant. He was so happy, you’d think we’d planned it.”

When her mother started to protest, Chloe added quickly, “It’s not just for his sake that I agreed to get married. My baby deserves a father, and I know Daniel will make a good one.” She tugged at the tissue, and it fell apart in her hands. “I’ll never have another love like Evan, and so I might as well do what’s best for my child.”

“Well, if that’s really what you want…” Esme’s loving face softened into a thoughtful smile. “Maybe the baby will bring you and Daniel together.”

“That’s what he said.” Chloe twisted the diamond ring—more than Daniel could afford—that weighed down her left hand. “I hope you’re right.”

Esme held her daughter’s tight. “Daniel’s a fine man. I’m sure you’ll grow to love him.”

A horn honked on the street below. Daniel was forgotten as Chloe ran to the window, every fantasy she’d entertained over the past month rushing to the surface. Evan was here to stop the wedding and whisk her away. He wanted her baby, even if it wasn’t his; he loved her more than life itself.

The car outside was a white stretch limousine.

Feet sounded on the stairs. Jasmine, Chloe’s best friend and maid of honor, hurried in, her dark curls bouncing above a pale blue taffeta gown. “Your father’s here to take us to the church.”

Reality settled like a cloak of chain mail around Chloe’s shoulders, pulling her back to earth. Slowly she turned away from the window. There would be no last-minute romantic escape. She was marrying Daniel Bennett and that was that.

Blinking away her tears, she smiled and did her best to inject a lightness into her voice. “Here comes the bride.”

Daniel’s heart overflowed with joy and relief as he watched Chloe follow her bridesmaids in a slow procession down the aisle. Contrary to his fears, she hadn’t backed out at the last minute. In her shimmering dress, with burnished hair piled high, she looked like a princess. He tried to catch her eye, but her attention was fixed on the altar.