A Blessing in Disguise (The Evans Domination, Book Two)

[Type text]

Table of Contents

Books by Collette Scott

Author’s Note

Title

Copyright

Prologue

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

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Coming Soon

About the Author

Books by Collette Scott

Forever Sunshine

Hannah’s Blessing

If We Dare to Dream (The Evans Family, Book One)

Through Winter Skies (The Evans Family, Book Two)

Eyes on Tango (The Evans Family, Book Three)

Kat’s Last Chance (The Evans Family, Book Four)

Terri’s Gift (The Evans Family, Book Five)

Cooper’s Choice (The Evans Family, Book Six)

Sunshine Rising (The Evans Family, Book Seven)

Hope is Calling (The Evans Domination, Book One)

Author’s Note

This one is dedicated to the lost children, those young boys and girls scooped up off the streets and victimized in ways that we cannot imagine.

Although I work hard to keep my stories factually correct, I did take creative license with Hayden’s plane in the drop off of Andrew and his team. While it is possible to fly at a low enough altitude to decompress an airplane and open a door (as they do with skydivers), Hayden’s particular aircraft would have additional safety measures to ensure the doors would not open midflight.

And lastly, in memory of my Precious Boy, Milo, the best dog ever. Losing such a good friend after almost 13 years of companionship and loyalty was a tough blow, and he will always hold a special place in my heart.

RIP Milo

November 26, 2001 – September 20, 2014

A Blessing in Disguise

The Evans Domination, Book Two

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Copyright © 2014 by Collette Scott

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Cover design by Laura J Miller www.anauthorsart.com

For information address Marimay Publishing, P.O. Box 11821, Tempe, AZ 85284

ISBN-13: 978-1503088528

ISBN-10: 1503088529

ISBN – ebook: 9781311349552

Prologue

December, 2013

The radio was quietly playing Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings as she sat in her car and stared at the building. For fifteen minutes, she considered her approach. Oh, it was difficult to look at, and going inside would change everything. She almost put her car in reverse several times as she battled with churning emotions.

It was humiliation that held her rooted to her seat. Staring at the nondescript building made her cheeks flame with shame, for she never expected to find herself in such a desperate situation. Something like this could never happen to her. Life had always been easy. It was perfect – a life everyone wanted and secretly hated her for. Oh, yes, she had listened to the whispers behind her back and had laughed because she considered herself lucky. Not once had she taken her good fortune for granted.

Now she was glad she had not.

With a sigh that expressed every ounce of her pain, Janka Esparza opened the car door and plucked the key from the ignition. The simple entrance beckoned from a nondescript building. A Better Place. A place of kindness and safety for women. In her desperation, she hoped they would be willing to help her at a time when no one else would.

Reaching for her walker, Janka slid it over the driver’s seat and opened it up outside the car before painfully heaving herself out of the driver’s seat. Once she had her bad knee under her, she stared at the building again. So this was it. There was no going back now.

Sighing, she locked her Mercedes and tucked the key in her Gucci handbag before limping slowly, painfully, to the door. Tears filled her eyes, and they were streaming down her face by the time she reached the simple white door.

A sob stole her breath away when she knocked. In hindsight, the signs were there. She should have known and prepared. But how? She had never imagined that things were going to turn out the way they had. It happened so quickly that she was blindsided when he turned from a doting husband into a brutal monster.

All too soon, a petite woman with auburn hair and large blue eyes was standing before her, staring at her curiously. Can I help you?

Yes, Janka whispered brokenly. Please, yes.

Without a word, the beautiful woman took her arm and guided her inside. Come in out of the cold, she said gently. Let’s sit you down and warm you up. Your hands are like ice.

Her kindness was Janka’s undoing, and a sob made her gasp. Feeling even more humiliated, she drew her hand away as panicked words tumbled out. Maybe I shouldn’t be here. This might be a mistake. You should be serving women in greater need.

Nonsense, the woman replied. We’re here to help whoever needs it. Now come inside out of the cold so we can talk.

Janka stared, but her tears blurred the woman’s lovely face. She was able to see kindness and concern in her eyes, and words continued tumbling from Janka’s lips before she could stop them. I need help, she said. Please, I need help. It’s just me and my children, and my family doesn’t understand… we have no one.

The woman nodded sympathetically, and she gently led Janka to a soft sofa. Sit down and tell me everything.

****

One Year Earlier…

You ready to go? Marco whispered as he crept up behind her.

Janka turned and smiled brilliantly, her lips curving around the rim of the crystal champagne glass. She watched Marco’s gaze drift there and mischievously reached her tongue out to catch the drop of champagne that sloshed when he surprised her in mid-sip.

His warm fingers wrapped around her upper arm, and her smile widened. Yes, my love. If I have one more of your friends grab my butt, I think I’ll scream.

Marco’s eyes widened in surprise, and his dark gaze rolled over the guests in the massive ballroom. It was a sea of tuxedoes, all similar in appearance, with only shapes to discern who was who. She watched his dark eyes narrow as he scanned the group. Pedro isn’t here tonight.

It wasn’t him.

Then who? I’ll speak to him now.

Janka chuckled, her gaze scanning his lean form. And do what? You work for these people. I can’t cause any trouble.

Marco knew she was right, but his nod was abrupt. Deep down, Janka was thrilled by his reaction, for usually he told her to shrug it off. The sudden show of protectiveness warmed her heart, and her smile was genuine when she pressed her length against his.

Just take me home, she murmured.

They made their excuses to their host, Nico, a wealthy Mexican businessman living at the base of the mountains in North Scottsdale in a large gated compound. The massive house was surrounded by a negative-edge swimming pool moat with a series of bridges to allow the mingling guests cross the deep water. She was reminded of Venice as they walked over one of the wooden bridges together, and the candles floating in the pool brought back memories of the fireflies she and her brothers used to catch near the pond on her father’s ranch in Mexico.

Marco remained silent as they strolled to his car, and the drive home was filled with simple day-to-day talk. While they chatted, she watched his hands grip the steering wheel. Though not overly large, she liked his hands. They were feminine in appearance, smooth, well-manicured, and small – so different from her father’s work-roughened mitts. Marco was the opposite of her father in every way, but that was what drew her to him.

Although they did not speak as they undressed, Janka smiled when she felt Marco scoot across the bed and wrap himself around her. While his hand closed over her breast, she glanced over her shoulder with a smile. You can grab my butt, my love.

His lips were nuzzling her neck, but he paused to return her smile. Oh, I planned on it.

Their lovemaking was quick and explosive, born of a familiarity from years of learning what the other person liked. She closed her eyes and listened to their mingled breathing as he pumped into her. There were no ecstatic shouts in their room, for their two sons would come running the moment she reached her orgasm, but that did not mean they did not feel. Oh, no. Marco filled her completely, and her legs locked around his hips as she pressed her face into his shoulder to stifle her moan when the waves of orgasmic pleasure convulsed through her. At the same time, Marco’s body went rigid before he pounded into her several more times, and then he was shuddering and arching above her with his teeth bared. She heard his breath hitch in his chest when he erupted inside her.

They both enjoyed the languorous effects of their lovemaking for several moments before he collapsed atop her, and his voice was muffled by her hair. I’m leaving early tomorrow morning.

What? Janka asked, her relaxed body immediately going tense. Eliseo’s birthday party is this weekend.

I know. He sighed. I’ve been tasked with a new account and have to fly south.

Will you be home in time?

I’m not sure. It depends on how the meeting goes.

As soon as he spoke, she felt the strangest urge to go home, probably due to the amount of Mexicans at the party reminding her that she had not seen her family in a year. Can I call in sick and go with you? I’d love to visit my family.

She felt him stiffen and opened her eyes when he rolled away. It was as it always was, but she followed him to his side of the bed and waited for him to pull on his boxers before she rested her head upon his smooth chest. After a brief hesitation, his arm went around her. No. Not this time. I can’t afford to be… distracted.

When Janka nodded, his arm dropped away. Marco was not an affectionate man and never had been. Though they were best friends, he was an evasive man and told her very little about his work. Sometimes it was frustrating, for she was not allowed to know where he worked, but she knew his degree in accounting had granted him the opportunity to work for very wealthy businessmen who groped her every time they attended a party. Marco’s mysterious job also gave them the ability to live in a gated community with a 6,000 square-foot home and full-time maid service.

However, with their wealth came questions. When her coworkers asked what he did for a living, she replied that he was an accountant. When they asked where, she replied private. The raised eyebrows would turn to knowing nods, and suspicion appeared in their eyes. How could a Hispanic man make so much money without being involved with the cartels? Ha! Impossible.

Of course, Janka would laugh. If they saw her husband, they would never believe he would take the risk. Like her, Marco was Mexican-born, and he had witnessed firsthand the trauma the cartels caused. Although most people assumed it started in the mid-2000s, the drug wars had been going on their entire lives. Before she passed away, Marco’s mother had spoken about Marco’s father’s death in Mexico City when Marco was a teen. She told Janka that the kidnapping-for-money plot had gone terribly wrong, and it had shaped her husband into the man he had become.

When they graduated college, Marco had escaped the violence and established himself in the United States while Janka pined away on her father’s ranch waiting for his return. Return he did, a year later, engagement ring in hand, and he had changed in a deep, fundamental way. Gone was the lanky youth, replaced by a polished and mature young man. Marco was as clean-cut and well-groomed as she was, tall in stature and lean, with wide-rimmed glasses and a mild demeanor. In fact, most people who met him thought he was weak.

As soon as he turned 25-years-old, he took the exam to become a U.S. citizen, and they married that same year. Her father had refused to bless their marriage initially, but he gave up after six weeks of her pouts and sobs, throwing up his hands in frustration and cursing loudly in Spanish that she was worse than her two younger sisters. Talisa and Neena were sullen teenagers then, so that spoke volumes. However, she got what she wanted, as she always did. Her father adored her, and he wanted her to do better things with her life than become the housewife to a man he was convinced was determined to take his princess over the border – which he did.

Janka heard Marco’s breathing even out in slumber and sighed. She wished she could fall asleep so easily. Her mind wandered for hours every night, worrying about this task and that while he succumbed to his dreams. She rolled to her side to reach for her nightgown and felt the first twinge in her legs. A dull ache, a deep bone pain that radiated from her hips to her ankles.

Odd, she thought as she finally drifted off to sleep.

At first, Janka thought their lovemaking had pulled a muscle, but as the days passed with increasing discomfort, she realized something was not quite right. When the aching intensified, she blamed it on other things. She was working too hard or trying to tackle too many things. After all, Marco insisted that she remain in good shape because one of his greatest joys was parading his beautiful trophy wife around the wealthy Hispanic businessmen he worked for. She continued to tolerate their leers and inappropriate comments, but deep down she sensed something was changing with her body… and her husband. She never imagined anything so drastic could occur that gradually, especially when she was only 35-years-old.

As summer approached, her aching brought swelling. At times she felt better, but then she would wake up stiff and sore as though she had been tied up for hours. When she tried to discuss it with Marco, he began brushing it off. If she cried out in pain, he would huff and disappear into his office, leaving her alone to go over all the possibilities of the changes occurring before her eyes. However, the very real problems were the options she never considered.

Although he was growing increasingly distant, glimpses of the old Marco would appear periodically during her painful flares, and together they tried everything to ease her discomfort. However, lovemaking became a thing of the past, and she would fall asleep at night, waiting and hoping he would join her to no avail. During the day, she would hint and tease but receive no response. Marco was so preoccupied with work that he barely noticed her, and she began to miss her husband.

In hindsight, she realized Nico’s party changed everything. Marco accepted his new venture, and her body became riddled with a disease that would leave her disabled for life. That single dinner party altered her entire life.

****

When Janka’s joints began to swell, Marco started snapping at the boys. Even they noticed his downward spiral, and Janka grew more concerned. His new account was consuming him, making him travel all over the West Coast and Mexico weekly, and she even spied him with a suitcase full of cash. The buzz at her work was again cartel related, but Janka continued blaming herself for his personality change. Her declining health brought on his emotional distance, and he was escaping in his work. She was convinced it was all because of her… until he hit Roberto.

For the first time ever, he pulled down their eight-year-old’s pants and viciously spanked his bare bottom. Roberto was screaming when Janka hurried into the room, and she pulled him away with a painful cry. The rage on Marco’s face was so intense that she stood, shocked and angry but also… afraid. She had never been frightened of her husband before, never. However, the man viciously striking their child was not Marco. It was a stranger, and a terrifying one at that.

Overcome by the instinct to protect her child, she scowled fiercely despite her fear. What’s wrong with you?

With a speed that shocked her almost as much as the sight of the red welts on Roberto’s bottom, Marco lashed out and grasped her throat in his hand. His growl was primitive, and he began to squeeze when Janka lifted her chin defiantly.

She shielded her son behind her with both hands and met his furious gaze despite the terror growing in her heart. Though he was squeezing her breath away, she was able to gasp out her horror. Are you going to hurt me too, Marco? Is that what you’ve become? A man who attacks defenseless women and children?

Marco thrust her away with so much anger that she tripped over Roberto and fell onto the tile floor. She bit back her agonized cry and met her husband’s unrecognizable gaze as a litany of curses in Spanish followed until he spun on his heel and scooped up his laptop. I have work to do.

Then he was gone.

Roberto sobbed in her arms, his tiny arms wrapped around her neck, and his face buried in her hair. Mommy, I’m scared. I don’t know what I did wrong.

Oh, baby, she whispered as tears burned her eyes. I’m sorry. It’s my fault. Once I feel better, he’ll be back to his old self.

I’m afraid of him.

Although Janka did not verbally agree, she was afraid as well, and his behavior made her want to run.

A breather. That was what they needed... Some time away to recapture their feelings for one another, she thought. This time, Marco did not put up a fight, and he encouraged her to take the boys and visit her family in Mexico. She left eagerly, hoping with all her heart that the summer vacation would remind Marco how much he loved his family.

Almost immediately, she realized how wrong she was, that things had grown worse than she thought, and it happened the moment she spotted her father’s new foreman – her high-school love – José Gallano.

He was as handsome as she remembered – and as cocky. When she spied him riding in from a long day out in the mountains, her heart had plummeted to her knees. It had been over seventeen years since she had seen him last, yet she still could recognize him anywhere, and her heart had lurched when she realized he was working for her father.

At the time, he had glanced up and caught her staring, and she saw his eyes narrow before he turned and rode in the other direction. She was unsure why, but his rejection cut her deeply, and she remained thoughtfully silent when that evening passed, allowing her boys to dominate the conversation during dinner. Of course he resented her, she thought. How could he not after she had broken his heart when she left him behind to attend university? But he was not going to ruin her vacation, and she remained determined to enjoy her time away from the tension at home.

Without Marco’s critical gaze, Janka was able to walk freely in shorts and flip flops. Her joints had swelled to twice their size and were frightening to view, so scary, in fact, that her father had winced when he first saw her. She hid her body at home from her critical husband, covering her once shapely legs with slacks and skirts after she saw the disgust on his face. No more spiked heels and short dresses for her. At home, her closet contained low-cut, open-backed gowns that displayed the last of her assets, her breasts and the smooth skin of her back, and she hid her flat-heeled, comfortable shoes under long skirts.

Her shame was almost as great as her pain, and her confidence had been replaced with disgrace. She had always disliked Marco’s dinner parties, but his flat-out refusal to allow her to accompany him broke her heart. She had hoped getting away from Marco would help her heal, but that familiar humiliation returned when she realized José was on the ranch. If her husband was ashamed of her, how could she face her jilted high-school love?

She knew her reaction was strange, and it made her wonder why she would care. José was her past, and she was on the ranch to focus on the problems she faced at home. Nevertheless, she continued to watch over her shoulder during her stay, hoping José would not see her but also feeling discouraged when he was nowhere in sight. It was a strange reaction, and one that left her even more confused than ever.

She had gone home to contemplate her feelings for her husband, not become preoccupied with a man she had not seen since high school. However, her thoughts remained consumed with him rather than Marco. Memories of their youth, how José had adored her, made her laugh, and treated her like a princess continued to plague her. Unlike her husband, José openly professed his love for her, and Janka lay awake at night, longing for those days all over again.

Returning home had been a mistake. There was no escaping her shame, and Jose’s presence increased her confusion. It grew worse when José appeared out of nowhere to catch her when she tripped over a rock on the path to the barn. His silent approach had shocked her, but he moved quickly to encase her shoulders with his strong arm when she stumbled. It was her last morning there, and she had hoped that she could return home without having to face him. Unfortunately, that was not meant to be.

When she glanced up in surprise, he leaned close to her ear. You smell as delicious as ever, Janka. I wonder if you still kiss as well...

Her horrified gaze shifted immediately to her family while she shrugged off his arm, and her fierce glare combined with a well-practiced scowl helped disguise the pain radiating through her body from her stumble. What are you doing?

José was staring at her with what she swore was disgust in his dark eyes. Saving you from falling.

The pain of seeing the horror in José’s eyes was almost as great as when Marco glared at her. Although fighting the sting of tears, she lifted her chin proudly, refusing to allow him to see how much it hurt to know he had never forgiven her. If he despised her so much, why had he come to work for her father? No, what are you doing here – at the ranch?

Working.

But the mine…

She bit her lip, but it was too late. He knew her secret. There was no denying that she had secretly kept tabs on his whereabouts all these years.

His chuckle was too warm, too full of cocky assurance, and Janka watched the triumph spread over his face. I left the mine to work here. Your father pays well.

Feeling the sins of her past rise up to claim her, Janka glanced away from the intensity in his penetrating stare. He seemed to be able to see inside her soul, sense her conflicted emotions, and feel her longing for the old days. What she was feeling was crazy. She had to stop her inner conflict and put distance between them. You shouldn’t be here, José. I’m married, and those two boys with Papa are mine.

José grinned, a wide grin full of bright white teeth. "I could tell your children immediately. Luckily, they’re your image instead of that cabrón you married."

Janka’s heart raced furiously in her chest. With his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his low-riding jeans, he pulled off the appearance of a sullen cowboy perfectly. His thick black hair was trimmed, but the ends brushed over the collar of his button-down shirt roguishly. She had felt his raw strength when he caught her, but he was lean. Wiry strength, she thought, averting her gaze again. He was so different from Marco. José was three-inches shorter than her husband, but the hint of scruff on his face, his scent – full of horses, sweat, and soap – and his confident stride proclaimed loudly that he was an alpha male. When she risked another glance at him, his knowing look announced that he knew it, too.

Janka opened her mouth to tell him to go, but the words remained stuck in her throat. How could she respond? If she snapped at him again, she would appear frightened, but if she thanked him, he would take it as encouragement. That was how he always was. She chose to continue walking.

You’re not feeling well, I see, he said conversationally, falling in step alongside her. She glanced over in dismay, and her stiff fingers tightened into fists to hide the sweat forming on her palms. He was too close, and his deep voice contained the seductive crooning she remembered. It did strange things inside her, and she was again reminded of the past.

José was the man who had taught her body to orgasm, and he had an instinctive knowledge of a woman even as a teen. Although he had not taken her virginity, they had pleasured each other in every other way, and Janka had entered her relationship with Marco with the secret of what she and José had done kept close to her chest. His closeness was terrifying due to the sheer longing he was raising in her with just the sound of his voice.

As confused as she was by his sudden subject change, what bothered her more was her reaction to him. Everything was wrong. Her life was falling apart, and instead of figuring things out, she was growing even more conflicted. What was happening to her?

When they passed her grandmother’s stone fountain, a place nestled among a stand of trees where they used to meet in secret, José reached out to stop her. She glanced up in question, realizing too late that it was the wrong thing to do. With a determined gleam in his eyes, his dark head swiftly descended, and his lips covered hers. Janka’s mouth opened on a gasp when one of his hands formed a vice around her waist and pressed her hips firmly against his. His other hand grasped her thigh and hitched her leg around his waist as his mouth plundered hers fully, wildly, and desperately.

It happened so quickly that Janka’s head began to spin, and she desperately tried to figure out what was happening to no avail. While his tongue made love to hers, his hips rubbed against hers: up and down, side to side, and back and forth. Feelings that had been denied for months built inside her like a swarm of bees, and she was helpless to stop them… Nor did she want to.

Her shock was so great that she did not initially resist. Oh, she was aware that it was not Marco kissing her. He was never that aggressive – or persistent – in his seduction. What she found so stunning was that she wanted it. Her body was reacting from a deep primal need, and her hips were responding instinctively to his.

What was worse were her traitorous hands, arms that reached up to cling to his shoulders when he bent her over the edge of the fountain until the end of her long ponytail dipped into the water. One of his calloused hands massaged the soft skin of her thigh before sliding under the hem of her shorts to cup her buttocks. His low growl echoed in her ears, and her heart leapt when he responded so quickly to the knowledge that she wore a thong. The evidence of his desire pressed eagerly against hers, and it felt so good. Even worse… it felt right instead of wrong.

She was no longer thinking of pain and ashamed to be seen in shorts. No, José’s kiss made her long to tear them off and loosen his jeans until he could bury himself deep inside her.

What was she thinking?

No, no, no. This was all wrong. She had not seen José in years, and he could be married too for all she knew. They could both be cheating on their spouses... Cheating. Yes, cheating. She was being unfaithful to Marco, something she had never considered. Her pain faded as her body rose into such a heightened state of arousal that she feared she would orgasm right there on the edge of her grandmother’s fountain. Her body responded so fast that she was shocked and dismayed. Marco never stimulated her like this, and Marco was her husband, not the man expertly teasing her into a hunger so powerful that she wanted to