A Second Chance Read online

  “Is that why you’re here? You think I’d belittle myself to sleeping around with men I don’t know? You think that’s what this was all about?”

  Carlos shrugged.

  “You don’t know me as well as you think you do, Carlos Keller.”

  “Oh, I know you pretty well.”

  He did too, and that was killing her at the moment. “Then tell me. Did I run down here and sleep with the first man I met?”

  Carlos lifted his sunglasses to the top of his head. His dark eyes scanned her face and the smile slowly returned to his lips. In that moment she knew he had his answer. He did know her that well. He relaxed back on the lounge and sipped from his drink again.

  Madeline felt the urge to shake the man. Was he trying to torture her because she hadn’t gone to his wedding? Why was he here? Why was he ruining her vacation? He should be in Hawaii right now, on his honeymoon, not sipping daiquiris next to her in Mexico. And why was he drinking daiquiris next to her? She swept her eyes over the beach. “Where is your wife?”

  “Sitting next to me.”

  “What?” This time she came off the lounge and he stood to meet her.

  He raised his hand to her cheek. “You heard me.” She pulled his hand from her face and looked at it. His ring finger was bare. “Where is your ring? Where is your wife? Damnit, why are you here?”

  He moved into her and brushed a kiss across her lips. She was paralyzed. Why could she never move away when Carlos kissed her?

  When he pulled back, he kept his eyes locked on hers. “I have been dumped by my wife.” He reached for her hand. “We both knew I’m in love with someone else.”

  Her breath caught in her lungs and the heat around her swirled until she felt dizzy. Without another thought, she sat down on the lounge, and Carlos knelt down before her, his knee in the sand.

  “See, for the past five years it seems that I kept thinking about moving on, but really I didn’t want to. You moved on, and so I thought I’d better just do it.”

  “Carlos, I never moved on.” Though she’d sure made a mess of things trying.

  He nodded and sat back on his lounge, her hand still grasped in his. “I remember these two foolish kids who got married and had a family. They should have talked more. Instead they said mean things and lived in separate houses. When really they should have been sharing the same one.”

  Madeline covered her mouth with her free hand.

  Carlos took that hand in his and pressed a kiss to her palm. “You told me you loved me when they wheeled you away for surgery.”

  She swallowed hard. “Oh, I’d hoped you’d forgotten that.”

  He shook his head. “Burned into my memory.” He smiled. “It stayed there because, honey, I’ve never stopped loving you. In my heart, you are my wife and always will be. So I don’t see any reason we shouldn’t be married and pull our family back together.”

  The picture that Ed had sent her of them kissing had flashed in her mind. “You didn’t marry Kathy?”

  “Oh, I married her.” He rubbed his free hand over the back of his neck and bit down on his lip. “It was a nice wedding.”

  “Oh.” She sighed and tried to sit back, but Carlos didn’t release his grip.

  “Somewhere between eating wedding cake and waking up the next morning, she decided I wasn’t the right man for her. She says we should tear up the marriage license and move on. She’s leaving for Hawaii and then moving to California. She had my reservations changed to Mexico so I could come down here and get my wife.”

  The first tears dropped from Madeline’s eyes.

  Carlos picked up the other drink he’d set on the table. “I was going to drop this into a glass of champagne.”

  He held out the glass to her. A narrow band of gold adorned the paper umbrella.

  “This is my wedding ring.”

  He nodded. “Yes. Corbin thought teetering it on the umbrella would be more suited for the drink.”

  “Corbin?”

  He gave her hand a squeeze and locked his eyes with hers. “Tell me you don’t love him, Maddie. Right now it would kill me if you told me you did.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t love him. I’ve never loved anyone but you.”

  Carlos’s shoulders dropped, and the sexy smile that won her over every time surfaced on his lips.

  “Madeline, I love you.” He took the ring off the top of the umbrella and set the drink back on the table. He took her hand and slipped the ring onto her finger. “Will you marry me again?”

  She couldn’t answer. She couldn’t find the breath to speak. Instead, she pulled her hand back, which was now adorned with the only piece of jewelry she’d ever missed wearing. She turned and reached into her beach bag.

  She pulled a chain from the bag and offered it to him, his wedding ring hanging from it.

  “I found this the other day.”

  Carlos fingered the band of gold that dangled from the chain. “You have this with you?”

  “I was wearing it around my neck when you kissed me good-bye.”

  “You kissed me.”

  “Hm,” she laughed. She opened the clasp on the chain and let the ring fall into her palm. “It didn’t belong on my neck.”

  Madeline reached for his hand and slid the ring onto his finger. “It never, ever should have left your finger.”

  Carlos fisted his hand as if to hold onto the ring. “I love you.”

  Tears rolled down her cheeks, but she was smiling. “And I love you.”

  Carlos lifted his hand to her face and brushed away the tears with his thumb. “So, Madeline, will you give me a second chance and marry me?”

  “I’ve never wanted to do something again so much in my life.”

  He ran his fingers down her neck and over her shoulder, sending a surge of passion and promise through her body. “I’ll make you happy.”

  Madeline lifted her eyes to meet his, and in them she saw his devotion to her. “You always have.”

  We hope you’ve enjoyed book two in the Keller Family Series, A Second Chance, from Bernadette Marie.

  Here is a sneak peek at book three.

  Opposite Attraction

  by

  Bernadette Marie

  Chapter One

  Champagne flowed, again.

  His brother had married, again.

  Curtis Keller knew this marriage would last, this time, but he wondered if he’d ever love again.

  He sipped from his glass and watched his brother Carlos dance with the only woman he’d ever truly loved. His Madeline.

  Curtis leaned up against the pillar of his sister’s porch and watched as couples danced with the bride and groom in the garden. He gave a little chuckle to himself. Carlos and Madeline had been young when they’d first married. No one ever saw it coming, the day Carlos announced that he and Madeline were getting divorced.

  She’d gone on and remarried. It had taken Carlos five years to finally remarry, but that had lasted less than a day. Now here they all were celebrating their second marriage, to each other.

  Curtis tipped his glass in a toast when Madeline glanced his way. She was a glorious sight and as a doctor, as well as her dear friend, he was happy for her. Only a year earlier she’d been diagnosed with breast cancer. But with a full head of chestnut hair swinging at her shoulders, compliments of his sister Arianna’s extensive wig collection, no one would have ever known that only months earlier Carlos had shaved off all of her natural hair.

  His nephews and niece danced among them. His brother-in-law Zach danced with his own mother and Curtis’s parents hadn’t missed a song all night. In the middle of the dance floor was his older sister Arianna and her date from Carlos’s last wedding, and Zach’s right hand man in his construction company, John Forrester. They seemed comfortable, as comfortable as you could be with a set-up-date.

  As for him, he was happy to watch. The memory of his date at Carlos’s last wedding still burned in his gut. Tonight he didn’t have an escort, and t
hat was just how he wanted it.

  His sister Regan slid up next to him, a glass of champagne in her hand. “You look lost in thought.”

  He scanned a look over her. “Are you supposed to be drinking that?”

  “I won’t tell if you don’t.”

  He shook his head. “Expectant mothers aren’t supposed to drink.”

  She nudged him. “Well the expectant father said I could have just a little sip, and since the expectant brother is sleeping I’m not going to worry about it.” She lifted the glass to her lips and drank down the bubbly drink. Curtis grabbed her hand and she laughed. “It’s sparkling cider. I made sure we had plenty for the kids.” She laughed as Curtis settled back against the pillar.

  Regan was a wonder to him. There she stood a happy woman married to the man of her dreams. Their son was almost a year old and she was weeks into her second pregnancy. Only he and her husband Zach knew about the baby. She was waiting until after the wedding to announce that she was expecting. She hadn’t wanted to take away from the celebration happening around them.

  Regan shifted her glance from the dance floor back to him. “You don’t seem to be having as much fun at this wedding.”

  “You didn’t arrange a date for me this time either.”

  With a slow nod, Regan sipped from the drink then handed him her glass. “I’m going to go steal my husband away from his mother.”

  Curtis watched her do just that and he retreated to the kitchen before Zach’s mother Audrey caught him and begged him to dance.

  Caterers moved about the house and Curtis fixed himself a plate of fruit. He’d be happier in the kitchen he decided. The reception was depressing him.

  When he lifted his head from the platters of food, he saw the reason it depressed him standing right in front of him.

  “Hello, Curtis.” Simone Pierpont’s French accent stabbed right into his heart before he choked on the grape he’d just swallowed whole.

  He coughed until he could breathe. Her eyes never wavered from him and he was sure they had bore a hole right through him.

  “Simone. I didn’t expect you here.”

  She twisted her fingers together and smiled nervously. “I’ve been out of town.”

  Didn’t he know that? He’d tried for the past month to find her. Even his brother-in-law Zach, who she claimed was her very dearest friend, hadn’t known where to find her.

  “You’re looking well.” He wasn’t sure what else to say. He’d been dumped by women before, but it had never hurt like this one did. Oh, she’d had him fooled. Yes, he thought there’d been a chance for something real. He’d thought it was love.

  But he had to acknowledge that there were women in the world who appreciated the art of seduction and fast steamy love affairs without stings just as men did. He just never thought he’d be the man who was used and disposed of.

  Damn her anyway, he thought.

  She took a step toward him and then stopped just short of reaching him. Her knuckles were white now and her nervousness wasn’t helping him keep calm.

  Simone bit down on her lip then shifted her blue eyes to his. “I would have called…”

  “Listen,” he set down his plate. “You don’t owe me any explanations. Zach and Regan set us up to share the evening together so we wouldn’t be alone. They didn’t tell us to,” he lowered his voice, “screw like rabbits and run off to your yacht in the French Riviera. So we had a good time. Really, who thought much of it?” He had and he fought his eyes to make sure she didn’t know how much he’d thought of it.

  “Right. It was just sex. I was hoping you would understand that.”

  “Got it.” He picked up his plate. “Well I think I’ll go see how the party is going. See ya ‘round.”

  That wasn’t exactly how Simone had hoped that would go. She untangled her fingers realizing they were almost numb now.

  She deserved him to treat her like that. She’d been very forthcoming with him, over too much champagne on her yacht, that she’d bedded many men. Why she felt he needed to know that she wasn’t sure. She’d left out the hefty part of the tale though. Most of those men had been in her bed while she tried to wrap her head around the fact that Zachary Benson had never seen her as more than a sister or dear friend.

  Lucky for her she loved him the same. She was glad he and Regan had found each other and now had a family. But that hadn’t changed her view on herself. Simone Pierpont longed for what Zach now had. Love, marriage, and a family. One piece didn’t really fit without the other.

  She sucked in a breath. Had she not made such an ass out of herself in front of Curtis and then ran off without a word, stranding him on the Rivera to find his own way home, perhaps she’d have just that.

  Simone ran her hands over the slim satin line of her dress, lingering only a moment on her jittery stomach.

  Well, she thought, at least she’d have some of what Zach had.

  Curtis lifted a glass of champagne from the tray as he walked out into the garden. He drank it down fast, the bubbles shot straight into his head. As another waiter passed, he set it down and lifted another. He wasn’t on call at the hospital for another two days, he’d surly be fine with a few more glasses, especially now that Simone Pierpont had joined the party.

  She’d made her way out of the house he noticed. She stood wrapped in his brother-in-law’s arms as his own sister looked on lovingly. What an idiot he’d been thinking that it was wise to have whisked her away that night. They’d taken their first tumble right there behind the house.

  He drank down that glass of champagne. In all his life that hadn’t been his style. What in the hell had he been thinking?

  There lay the problem. He hadn’t been thinking. Not with his head anyway. He hadn’t even realized his brother had been dumped the next morning by his new wife and sent off to find his ex-wife. No he’d fled the country on that damned lovely yacht with a near perfect woman only to come home and find his brother cuddled on his mother’s couch with the woman he’d once been married to. Talk about a shock to the system.

  He knew there was trouble headed his way when he saw all three of them shift their heads and look at him. Quickly, he finished the glass of champagne and blew out a breath as he tried to focus on Zach walking to him. Things were becoming a bit fuzzy.

  “Regan wants me to go in and check on Tyler. Why don’t you walk with me.”

  It wasn’t an invitation, Curtis realized, but a request. He followed Zach up the stairs to the small room where his nephew slept. Zach poked his head in and came back with a smile.

  “She’s a bit paranoid with all these people here, but he’s fine.”

  “Good,” Curtis said quickly and turned for his retreat.

  “Why don’t we go down to the study and have a drink.” Zach walked down the stairs and Curtis reluctantly followed. He wasn’t sure another drink was a good idea and when Zach shut the door he wasn’t sure being in the same room with the man was either.

  Zach moved to the liquor cabinet and pulled open the doors. “I got a new bottle of whiskey last week from Ireland. A business associate sent it to me. What do you say?”

  Curtis swallowed the words he really was thinking and gave his brother-in-law a nod.

  Zach poured them each two fingers full and handed Curtis a sniffer.

  “To Carlos and Madeline.”

  “To them,” Curtis said as he threw back his drink and then blew out a fiery breath. Certainly, it was going to take the next two days off work to sober up.

  “Good stuff.” Zach looked in his glass. “Want another?”

  “No.” That came out quickly enough he thought. He needed to sit, but Zach was walking around the room as if he needed to talk. Curtis tried to hold on to the ground with his feet firmly planted, but the room was beginning to tilt.

  Zach sat on the edge of his desk. “I was surprised to see Simone here tonight, weren’t you?”

  Curtis shrugged. “Your house. Your friend.”

  “She s
ure is. My dearest friend in the world.” Zach nodded and then turned his eyes up to him. “She seems a little nervous to be here. She’s never been nervous.”

  He shrugged again, but when his shoulders fell he decided he needed to make it to the couch before the room completely spun on him. “Maybe she’s uneasy being her for another of Carlos’s weddings.” The thought made him laugh. Two weddings in two months was that a record or something?

  Zach moved to the seat across from the couch where he’d landed and sat down. “It seems to us she’s a little uneasy being around you.”

  In his current state, Curtis took that as an insult. Fine, if his sister and his brother-in-law thought more of some rich French girl than they did of him. Him, who saved lives every single day. Him, who on occasion, had been known to save his own sister’s life, but that wasn’t something anyone talked about anymore. Hell, he should be put on a back burner just because of the sexy, leggy, raven haired, blue eyed goddess who seemed to always show up unannounced. He completely understood why her uneasiness was a problem.

  No, no he didn’t.

  He tried to focus his eyes. How many glasses of champagne had he had before the whisky? Oh wait, with more thought, he, Carlos, and Zach had already had a few shots before the wedding. No wonder he couldn’t focus.

  Zach sat back in his seat. “So what went on between the two of you? Simone has never said, and Regan and I have only speculated.”

  Speculated? Who was Zach kidding? They’d disappeared together for two weeks. Even the hospital was speculating if he’d return.

  Never in Curtis Keller’s entire life had he blown off responsibility as he had with Simone, but damn, it had felt good. It felt good until he woke up on the yacht and she was gone.

  The pattern in the carpet was making him dizzy. He looked up and tried desperately to focus on the bow tie of Zach’s tuxedo. “I know she’s very special to you, but you don’t want details.”