Evening Star (Star Quartet 1)
Page 89
Only the child nestled in her womb kept Giana from pouring out the whole story to Derry; he would never find out from anyone that he was illegitimate. “I found, in the end, that he gave me little choice. Alex is very convincing, you know.”
“And so handsome. There, I’ve said it for you. If I did not love Charles, I vow that I would creep into Alex’s house and slip into his bedroom.”
“That too,” Giana said. “Will you keep a secret, Derry?” she asked, sipping her wine.
“Of course. You can trust me to stay mum.”
“I am pregnant.”
“But you just got married. That is—”
“Soon all of New York society will be seeing my stomach swell, and counting up the time on their fingertips. I have been pregnant for two months, Derry.”
“Oh dear,” Derry said.
“Will you help me, Derry? Things—well, they happen, and sometimes don’t work out as expected.”
“Don’t be silly, Giana. We will sail through it together.” She tossed her head. “Who cares if the baby is a couple of months early, besides some spiteful old ladies wagging their moral fingers? Ah, here’s our lunch.” Derry smiled up at the hovering waiter. “Russian caviar, Giana.”
Giana waited until the waiter was well out of hearing. “Even though it won’t be long now, I would just as soon put off the inevitable as long as I can.”
“Well, I, for one, am excited.” Derry sighed. “How I wish I could give Charles a child. Here you do everything with no effort at all, and I cannot seem do anything as I should.”
“Eat your caviar and stop being so silly. Charles is the luckiest man alive to have you. And I didn’t want to get pregnant.”
“Well, perhaps not so very quickly, but I’m not surprised with a man as virile as Alex Saxton.”
“And so damned potent.”
“We never know what we’ll find in the cookie jar. Oh dear,” she added, trying to stifle a giggle, “that sounded so terribly vulgar.”
“Or who, for that matter.”
“Oh, how my mother would shudder in horror if she could hear us. But surely, Giana, you love Alex. What else really matters?”
“You are doubtless right.”
“Of course I am right. Is Alex excited?”
“Excited? Yes, I suppose he is quite pleased with himself.” Giana scooped up a cracker piled with caviar. “I really don’t know Alex all that well, Derry,” she said after a moment. “Everything happened so quickly, you see.”
“Alex is a man who is blessed with his own particular blend of male arrogance and charm. Perhaps you know that he and Charles are rather cool to each other. Why, I don’t know. But I count Alex as a friend.”
“Enough of me and Alex now, Derry. Tell me what you’ve been up to.”
Derry was quiet for a moment, then smiled into her wineglass. “We entertain quite a bit, all of Charles’s business cronies and their wives.”
“And there is Jennifer to raise.”
“Even Charles commiserates with me about his daughter. How I should enjoy having him all to myself in the evenings.”
“Handsome, elegant Charles. And so urbane. Four and a half years hasn’t seemed to dampen your ardor, Derry.”
“No, I much enjoy our evenings together, even with Jennifer hanging about.”
“And the days?”
“Ah, the days,” Derry said. “We were so young,” she added unexpectedly.