Secret Pleasures by Cheryl Howe

ready made family comes with her . Ready made by you.”
    “What the bloody hell are you talking about?”
    “Do you not have any feelings for Ivy at all? ” Darien heard the break in his voice but didn’t care . He’d never be a detached bastard like Marcus and refused to even try . “It hurt like hell when I discovered she’d taken up with you, a man I once considered a friend . But you never made your admiration of her a secret . I thought perhaps you actually loved her, would look after her.”
    “And I did, believe me. ” Marcus’s practiced plea sounded as if he were trying to convince himself as much as Darien . “You have no idea what Ivy went through . How painful it was to have everyone she had ever known turn against her . She had no friends besides me.”
    “Some friend. ” Darien’s cynical laugh prompted Marcus to shift in his plush leather seat . “Then what happened ? Her little complication no longer fit in your plans . I know you like everything nice and neat, Marcus . Though, I thought you had more honor than that.”
    “Honor? ” Real anger crept into Marcus’s cool demeanor, assuring Darien he had finally hit a nerve . “I heard you shucked your duty to your family to live like a sheep farmer . Are you drunk?”
    “No, I’m sober for the first time in years and I don’t like what I bloody see in front of me.”
    “I’m sorry for what has happened to you, Darien . But you brought it upon yourself.”
    “Why didn’t you marry her ? She’s not some harlot that you can discard when her belly starts to grow . The baby is sick, you know?”
    “Baby ? I thought we were talking about Ivy.”
    “Yes, Ivy has a baby.”
    “She’s pregnant ? She thought she was barren.”
    “Apparently not. ” Darien ground his teeth, furious that Marcus knew more about Ivy than he did.
    “My God. ” Marcus sat back and shook his head, looking truly stunned for the first time since Darien had ambushed his carriage . “She didn’t tell me . I would never desert Ivy.”
    “What are you going to do about it? ” Darien’s heart sank and he was surprised he could still feel such loss . Brokering a marriage between his ex-friend and the woman he hopelessly loved — no matter how hard he tried not to — was not what he had planned for the evening.
    “This isn’t like Ivy . She would have told me . We never kept secrets from one another . The child can’t be mine.”
    The carriage rolled to a stop in front of Marcus’s massive London home. “Come in and have a drink . It has been too long since we were civil and I miss your friendship. ”
    Darien shook his head . “Ivy needs me . Her child is sick.”
    “So you have forgiven her, I see. ” Marcus studied Darien .
    “No , I haven’t. ” He might not ever be able to forget the pain of the past, but he would not let that stop him from doing what was in Ivy’s best interest, no matter the consequences . His pride had already cost him a lifetime where Ivy was concerned.
    “There is more to the story than you know. ” Marcus leaned forward and rested his forearms on his knees, then clasped his hands.
    “I know all I need to. ” Darien’s hostile tone let Marcus know he was in no mood to be lectured about Ivy .
    “Well, leave the woman alone then. ” Marcus sat back against the carriage ’ s red leather seat . “She’s been through enough . If she has a child, she no doubt wants to keep it a private affair . Don’t expose her to further ridicule because you cannot control your hothead.”
    “I fear it’s too late for that.”
    Marcus jumped out of the carriage, not waiting for his footmen to open the door . Darien followed . Marcus stood to his full, intimidating height and looked down at Darien with all the regality of a man who had been very powerful since he was an adolescent .
    “Then you shall have trouble from me. ” Marcus’s deep voice reverberated with threat.
    Darien turned to leave, then swung back to hit Marcus in