by Donna Fasano
"Do you want me to stay on as Gina's nanny?" she boldly asked.
He raised his russet brows and he quickly answered. "Oh, no."
Her spirits plummeted.
"Your mother would just die," he went on. He contemplated a moment and then said, "But I do need help with Gina. So would you consider marrying me?"
She blinked once, twice. "I beg your pardon?"
"I said, I need help—"
"I heard that part," she told him. "It was the other part I want you to repeat."
"Oh... well. I asked if you'd consider marrying me."
"You came right out and asked me. Just like that?"
He nodded slowly. "Yeah, I think I did."
"And here I thought you were being timid and uncomfortable." Then she frowned at him. "I don't mean to be picky here, or anything, but do you really want me to marry you, just so you'll have help with Gina?"
"No, silly," he said, shaking his head. "I love you. The part about Gina was just my opening line." He grinned. "You know how I like a good opening line."
She threw herself at him then, holding onto his shoulders and laughing boisterously. He caught her as she hopped and wrapped her legs around his waist. "I love you, too," she squealed. "And I love your opening lines. Every single, stupid one of them."
He gazed into her eyes long and deep. Finally, he said, "Can I kiss you now? I'm dying here."
Thankfully he didn't give her time to answer. His kiss sent shivers of heat coursing through her body. He tasted of romance, of passion, of all the things she wanted in her happily ever after.
"Hey," he whispered against her mouth. There was a question in his eyes. "You won't mind being married to a Devlin?" Then he grinned. "You know, of the Bayview Devlins?"
A luscious chuckle rose from her throat. "No," she told him. "I won't mind. Now, kiss me."
Epilogue
Katie sat on the deck of her new home, dreamily gazing out at the beautiful view of Pocomoke Sound. Pale moonlight glinted on the bay, turning the inky water into what looked like a mirror image of the night sky with its thousands of twinkling stars.
It had taken her six long years to talk Jason into using her trust fund money to build them a house here on the bay. However, he'd finally relented when the twins were born, and it was plain that his small, three-bedroom ranch simply wasn't going to be big enough for their growing family. Ellen hated to see them move out of the old neighborhood. But their new house was only a few miles away, and it was great having the Coles so close—great for Gina, and great for the twins, as well. Jack and Ellen treated all the kids with the same loving affection. And Katie and Ellen had become so much more than simply close friends. A smile lingered on her lips as she contemplated her blessings.
She loved the tranquil atmosphere of the bay.
She glanced over at the tall bottle of champagne chilling in a silver urn of crushed ice, the crystal glasses gleaming in the moonlight just waiting to be tapped together in celebration. Inhaling deeply, she forced herself to relax. She'd know soon. One way or the other. A corner of her mouth tilted up as she ironically thought the news couldn't come soon enough.
Allowing her mind to wander back in time, she thought about that frightening night when Jason, Derrick, and Reese had captured that maniac. Jason had told the reporters afterward that he'd just been doing his job. But the public had taken hold of the story and had clamored for more. The result of the county's positive outcry was finally coming to fruition tonight.
"Hey, Lady."
Katie automatically glanced over at the large French doors that led into the house. She smiled at her stepdaughter. Gina's habit of calling Katie "Lady" had somehow become a loving term of endearment over the years.
"Hi, there, kid," Katie said. "It's awfully late. How come you're not asleep?"
Gina shrugged. "I was waiting for Daddy. Do you think he'll win?"
"I don't know, honey," she said. "But it sure would be nice if he did."
Tilting her head to one side, Gina asked, "You wanted to be with him, didn't you?"
The question was so full of mature concern. Katie often had to remind herself that Gina was still just a little girl. She would turn eight in a few weeks, yet she often viewed the world with eyes far older and wiser. Katie made a special effort not to load too much on the child's tiny shoulders.
"I would like to have been with him," Katie said, doing her darnedest to keep the disappointment she was feeling out of her voice. "But the twins caught that cold, and they're too sick to be left with a sitter. And Nana and Granddad are off on their cruise, so I really didn't have a choice." She smiled. "I don't mind..."
She stopped when Gina began to giggle.
"I know, I know," Gina said, then she used playful voice to mimic, "It's your job as a mom."
Katie found herself laughing. "I use that phrase a lot, huh?"
Gina nodded.
"What are you two doing out here so late at night?"
"Daddy!" Gina ran at her father and hugged him.
Katie's belly tightened at the sight of her husband. The heated passion she felt for him never seemed to fade, and the urge to kiss him—long and hard—rushed at her. But nervousness kept her in the chair. She looked at him, trying to stay calm as she placed her mug of tea on a nearby table, knowing her eyes were filled with impatient questions.
"Okay, ladies," he said, "I'll have you know you're looking at the newest county sheriff—"
Katie and Gina squealed with joy and ran at him. Katie smothered his face with congratulatory kisses, while Gina tugged on his jacket in an appeal to be lifted up into his arms so she could be where all the action was taking place.
"I'm so happy," Katie told him between kisses.
"The youngest sheriff in Maryland's history," Jason said. "Won by a landslide."
"We won! We won!" Gina sang.
"Of course it didn't hurt having a United States congressman on my side." Jason laughed.
He hoisted his daughter onto his hip and kissed his wife gently on the cheek. "I know how hard the election has been for you," he said to Katie. "I've been out campaigning for weeks."
"I survived—" Katie grinned "—Sheriff."
Jason's handsome face lit with a smile. "It is great, isn't it?" He put Gina onto the deck. "Off to bed with you," he told her.
"Awww, Daddy."
"Now, young lady. It's late."
She grumbled, but disappeared through the glass doors.
"How are the twins?" he asked Katie.
"Their coughs are still a little rattly, but the doctor says they'll be fine. They've been resting."
Jason nodded. He sat down and beckoned her to him with his eyes alone. She gladly slid onto his lap.
"I've missed you," he whispered, burying his nose in the silky curve of her neck.
"Oooo," she breathed, as she languished in the feel of his lips on her skin. "And I've missed you."
"You've had it rough," he said. "What with the kids sick and me out making speeches."
"You need to make speeches," she said. "And the twins didn't mean to catch cold." Then her gaze glittered with a sensuous mischief. "Besides," she told him huskily, "you're going to make it up to me. Oh, boy, Sheriff Devlin, are you ever!"
Then she did kiss him—long and hard.
The End
Are you curious about the night Jason, Derrick, and Reece catch the 'maniac' Katie mentioned? Then don't miss The Single Daddy Club: Reece. Scroll forward to learn what happened!
The Single Daddy Club:
Reece
by
Donna Fasano
For all my friends at Al's Place,
with appreciation and affection.
You give me laughter and support,
and a place to kick back, relax and be silly.
Thank you!
The Single Daddy Club Declaration
We do solemnly swear to uphold the standards of the Single Daddy Club. We shall be loving, nurturing parents—proud of
our single status. Although female companionship would be nice, we shall never be convinced to enter into the state of matrimony solely for the sake of our children. (We shall, however, be happy to settle down with the woman of our dreams... if she ever shows up.)
Fatherhood forever!
Derrick Richmond
Jason Devlin
Reece Newton
Chapter 1
"Are you the man in charge around here?"
Reece looked up from the photo he'd been staring at and focused his gaze on the woman who had poked her head into his office.
"Well... yes," he said, feeling a little taken aback by her sudden appearance. He hadn't heard her knock, and wondered if he could have been that engrossed in his thoughts. "I am."
He had no appointments scheduled this morning; however, he found himself glancing unwittingly at his calendar. Then the door opened wider and Joey, Reece's newest employee, stepped into the room.
"I told her she couldn't barge in on you like this." Joey's tone was even, but frustration tensed his whole posture. "I told her she needed an appointment. That you were too busy—"
"I am sorry," the woman said to Reece. "I don't mean to cause any trouble. But I couldn't seem to make him—" she indicated Joey with a nod of her head "—understand the scope of my... problem."
A distraction was just what he needed, Reece decided. Realizing that he still held the framed snapshot of his son in his hand, he pushed aside his parental worries and slid the picture to its usual spot on his desktop.
"Come in," he told the woman, standing up and automatically reaching to button his suit jacket.
She skirted around a frowning Joey.
Reece had spent most of the morning so preoccupied with thoughts of his son that he hadn't processed any of the claims that were stacked on his desk. However, he quickly understood as he looked at this woman, if it was a diversion he was looking for, this one was going to be a distraction times ten.
Her deep emerald eyes glittered with pique. Her height impressed him—five foot eight or nine, he guessed. Her clothes were formfitting: her knit top hugged softly rounded breasts, her tapered trousers doing the same to the curves below her waist. But what Reece found most striking about the woman was her flaming red hair, its short and sassy cut silently shouting out the word sexy.
"Reece..."
The sound of Joey's voice drew his attention. For one quick and unsettling moment, Reece became aware of his concentrated appraisal of the woman's… attributes. He frowned. It had been a very long time since a female—any female—had captured his attention to this degree. Knee-jerk instinct had him hauling out the apathy and slipping it on as if it were chainmail.
"I handled her insurance claim perfectly." Defensiveness strained Joey's expression. "By the book. It's the Dunlap case."
The emphasis placed on the woman's last name wasn't lost on Reece.
He nodded. "I see," he said, remembering Joey's e-mail message regarding the woman's claim.
Suspected insurance fraud. The words rang in Reece's head. Well, she might be a beautiful woman, but he'd be damned if he'd allow her to rob his company.
He rounded his desk and reached for the file in Joey's hand. "I'm certain everything is in order," he told him. "However, maybe I can help Ms. Dunlap understand our position."
Joey's stare was full of silent argument, clear evidence that the young man wanted Reece to stay out of this. Reece met the challenge with raised brows. Finally, the young man handed over the file and exited the office, closing the door behind him.
"Well, Ms. Dunlap," Reece said when they were alone, "how about if we talk?"
"I'd like that."
Her nervous smile didn't quite reach those startling eyes.
"And I'd like it, also, if you called me Maggie."
"Have a seat, Maggie," he told her, walking back around his desk. "I'm Reece. Reece Newton. And I can see that your morning isn't going very well."
"That's an understatement," the woman murmured.
Her shapely behind whispered across the padded seat of the wing-back chair as she slid into it, the sound of the gentle friction seeming to weaken his armor. He moistened his lips, narrowing his eyes on the file that he flipped open on his desktop as he sat.
"Is that your son?" she asked, casually pointing to the picture he'd been studying before she'd interrupted his day.
"Yes." His mouth quirked as he glanced at his son's impish grin. "Jeff will be going to camp for two weeks. It'll be his first time away from home."
She settled her purse in her lap. "I'll bet you and your wife will miss him."
"It's just me and Jeff." Reece steeled himself for the surprise that always resulted when he told people that he was raising his son on his own. He could see the silent questions spark in Maggie Dunlap's eyes.
A father on his own with a child wasn't such a big deal these days. Two of his close friends had been, until just recently, in the same situation. Both of his buddies had women in their lives now, but that was something that would never happen to Reece. He didn't need the anguish. Or the trouble.
And he didn't owe the woman who sat in his office any explanations or answers to her unspoken questions, either.
"If you'll give me a moment to familiarize myself with your claim..."
She nodded, and they both remained silent as Reece scanned the documents in front of him. Every time he blinked, Joey's suspicions flashed through his mind like bold-faced capital letters typed on a blank computer screen. Suspected fraud.
Reece knew from years of experience that if the legitimacy of a claim was in question, it was best to induce the policy holder to talk as much as possible. Retelling the story often lent the claimant enough rope with which to hang himself, or rather, herself in this particular case.
He studied Maggie Dunlap, and couldn't help but marvel. She was gorgeous. Her almond-shaped eyes gave her creamy-skinned, hollow-cheeked face an exotic quality that surely made heads turn wherever she went.
Damn it, man, his mind silently railed. This woman just might be trying to steal from your company.
And wasn't it just like a woman to do something like this? Get something for nothing? And the beautiful ones were the worst offenders.
Reece acknowledged that it was this kind of thinking that probably kept him in the fine state of living single, free of the entanglements of an intimate relationship. And it was exactly this kind of thinking he needed right now.
Granted, just as many men committed insurance fraud as did women, but that fact was so easy to ignore when his protective shield was in such desperate need of reinforcement. If indifference wasn't working for him, and it obviously wasn't, maybe he needed something a little stronger.
Leaning forward to rest his elbows on the desktop, Reece said, "Why don't you tell me what's been happening."
Maggie Dunlap's exasperation over her circumstances quickly became evident; her spine straightened, her shoulders squared, her chin tipped up.
"It's simple, really," she began. "I don't know why that guy—what was his name, Joey?—couldn't understand. My house was broken into last Tuesday. One of my video cameras was destroyed. I called the police. They issued a report. I contacted my insurance office. This office. They sent Joey to assess the damage. And he's been giving me a hard time ever since. To tell you the truth, the man's been downright rude."
"I hope you'll allow me to apologize for Joey," Reece said. "His sister-in-law is in the hospital. She's in a coma. An accident of some kind. So Joey's under some stress with the worry of it."
Even as Reece offered the explanation, he was assessing Maggie Dunlap and her side of the situation. She had certainly sounded honest enough. Her story was short and to the point. And the fact that she'd looked him, unwaveringly, in the eye as she'd stated her case was very telling. Maggie Dunlap was either the best actress on the East Coast, or she was telling the truth. Reece hoped like hell that his hormones weren't sabotaging his intuition.
"I'm
sorry Joey's having a bad time," she said. Then she tilted her head a fraction to one side. "Are you going to be able to help me? Do you have the authority to put my claim through and issue me some money? Look, Mr. Newton—"
"Reece," he asserted. "Please, call me Reece." He gave his best professional smile. "I like to think this is a friendly office. And our first priority is making the customer happy. Since you feel that Joey has treated you rudely, I'd like to make every effort to make sure you're satisfied."
Reece paused. Why the hell had he stressed the final word like that? As if it were some sort of sexual double entendre? Thankfully, she didn't seem to notice.
"All I want is what I'm due." She tugged at a small curl of hair located at the back of her ear. "Is that too much to ask? I've paid monthly fees on an insurance policy which supposedly covered my camera. It was an expensive palm-sized camcorder. It was destroyed, through no fault of my own. Your insurance company needs to pay up."
"Well, under normal circumstances, I'd agree with you wholeheartedly."
She straightened her spine. "Are you saying what happened to me wasn't a normal circumstance? What constitutes normal?" Then she added, "If you don't mind my asking."
He fought the grin that tugged at one corner of his mouth. This woman certainly had a full-blown case of moxie going on, and Reece was totally floored by how appealing he found her sassy attitude.
Again, he sternly reminded himself of Joey's dark and dubious allegation against her, and his smile waned.
"I guess, when a true crime is committed, there is no normal." He hesitated. "But maybe you could explain something to me," he went on quietly. "Help me to understand why the police report states that there was no sign of forced entry. Usually, when a house is broken into there is evidence left behind. Bent window frames from a pry bar of some kind, broken glass in a door that's been forced open."