For You I Do by Angie Daniels Page A

always offer to marry women you like?”
    His eyes twinkled. “Only the pregnant ones.”
    She couldn’t resist a smile, then tore her eyes away, ignoring the pounding of her heart.
    Debra was grinning from ear to ear. “I think the two of you will be great together.”
    Bianca didn’t agree. “Don’t you want to marry a woman you really love?”
    He gave her a long, thoughtful look before answering.
    “Maybe one day I’ll meet a woman who makes my heart beat faster and who’ll cry when I ask her to share the rest of my life with me, but until then I’m available to help a friend. The same goes for you. I’m sure some day you’ll meet a really nice guy 70
    For You I Do
    and fall in love. Just because your fiancé was a jerk doesn’t mean the right man isn’t out there for you.”
    She disagreed. “I think there is someone out there for everyone, my brothers’ wives and my parents’ forty-year marriage is proof of that. But for some reason I have a history of picking the wrong men and that’s why I don’t intend to ever allow myself to fall in love again. But that doesn’t mean I don’t believe marriage can work. It just doesn’t work for me.”
    “Because…”
    “Because it means giving my heart, and I’m not willing to do that again.”
    “It’s too soon to say that.”
    Bianca shook her head. “No, it’s not.”
    “That’s too bad if you think sex will be enough,” he said, as if he were challenging her. Sex was one path she did not want to go down with him. Just thinking about having him in her bed caused a warm deep sensation to pool down low.
    London rose. “I’d better get back to the restaurant. I just wanted to stop in and see why the two of you were eating across the street at the competition.” He winked, then strolled out the same way he’d come in.
    Bianca nibbled on a cracker and watched as he crossed the wide cobblestone street and stepped inside his restaurant. When her eyes shifted, she noticed Debra shaking her head.
    “What’s wrong?”
    “You, if you pass up a good thing like that. Hell, if I were in your shoes I’d be giving him my heart and a permanent place in my bed.”
    She broke off a tiny piece of cracker, lifted it to her lips and said, “I think we need to eat and get out of here.”
    “Okay, ignore me if you want to, but I saw the way the two of you were looking at each other. And that was more than friendship passing between you. I saw attraction and strong sexual chemistry. You’re just too stubborn to admit it.”
    “I am not stubborn,” she denied.
    Debra rolled her eyes. “Yes, you are. You know I’m your girl, so I’m not going to lie to you. You have a tendency to want things your way.”
    Bianca lifted a brow. “And what’s wrong with that?”

    Angie Daniels
    71
    “Everything, when you’re too blind to see what’s standing right smack in front of your face. Or, in your case, what just walked across the street.”
    She gave an impatient sigh. “And what’s that?”
    “The answer to your problems.”
    Debra was wrong. Giving in to her feelings would stir up a whole new barrel of problems. Her attraction to London was something she could deny for only so long before she’d weaken and give in to him. And that would be a disaster. He was definitely a player, hardly husband material.
    She was pulled from her thoughts when Debra slapped her across the arm. “Earth to Bianca.”
    “I’m listening.”
    “I asked you what your parents are going to say when you don’t bring Collin to dinner with you tomorrow.”
    “Oh, no! I forgot that tomorrow is Thursday.”
    “Yep, and you’ve been making excuses long enough. They’re going to know something is up.”
    “I guess I’m going to have to tell them the truth. They’ll be relieved to know the engagement is off.”
    “Yeah, but what are they going to say to, ‘Oh, by the way, I’m pregnant.’”
    Now that was the real problem. A cracker lodged in her throat and Bianca reached for