by Raina Lynn
“Listen to me, honey. It’s true.”
“No, it’s not, Bradshaw. This is just the aftereffects of really great sex. I think we outdid ourselves tonight.”
“You’re wrong.”
“Could be.” She shrugged. “The other possibility is that you’ve started smoking funny cigarettes.”
He hadn’t known what to expect from his declaration, but her disbelief hadn’t occurred to him. “Loving you didn’t come in a blaze of fireworks, Jill. It came gently, on quiet feet. I don’t even know how long it’s been there.”
With a mildly indulgent air, she reached up and touched his cheek. He covered her hand, then slid her palm across his lips so he could plant a kiss in its center.
She shuddered, then cleared her throat. “Mason, listen to me. If you think you love me, it’s because you’ve done what I was afraid of all along. You worked so hard to feel something for me that you’ve conned yourself into believing it’s real.”
That bothered him, but her answer changed nothing. “We have a lifetime together for me to prove it to you. You’ll see.”
She shook her head sadly. “Just turn the water off, Bradshaw. We need to go to sleep or we’ll never make it to work tomorrow.”
The next morning, he tried again before breakfast to convince her he really did love her, and again after they ate, plus once more on the way to work. Her reaction was the same each time—a pitying smile and a slow shake of her head.
Mid-morning, he cornered Vicki. “Did you tell me once that you’d installed a banner-maker of some kind on your computer?”
She frowned at him. “I use it for my kids’ birthdays. It makes greeting cards and all kinds of other things, too. Why?”
“Good. I need something I can put together quickly.” He felt a determined grin claim his face. “May I borrow your desk for a while?”
“What’s going on, Mason?”
“I have a wife who needs to see something.”
Her eyes twinkled. “Do I need to keep her busy?”
“Please.”
Jill fussed and fumed when Vicki dragged her and Claire out the door. “I’ve got work to do, Vicki. I can’t go shopping at ten a.m.”
“Girl, it’s one of the perks of being the boss’s wife. You can get away with all sorts of misbehavior.”
“Mason, what is she doing?”
He waved goodbye to both women. “Have fun.”
Once they were gone, he dropped into Vicki’s chair and went to work.
Two hours later, Jill swung back into the office. “Vicki, you can’t tell me you and Mason aren’t cooking up something.”
“I didn’t say we weren’t, girlfriend. I just said, I didn’t know the specifics.”
Jill shifted her hold on the baby. The reception area looked normal enough. So did the hallway and break room. But with each step she expected something to jump out and bite her. Then she went into the office she shared with Mason.
Jill sucked in her breath. The walls were covered with silly banners. One had hers and Mason’s initials in the middle of a traditional heart with an arrow through it. In huge letters, another declared Mason Bradshaw Adores His Wife. Jill, Are You Listening?
Tears fogged her vision, and she had to blink several times before she could read the next one. The graphic was of a Barney-type dinosaur with a heart in his mouth. The soulful eyes said it all.
“What has come over you?” Sudden emotion choked her up so badly that she could hardly talk.
Mason looked determined. “You didn’t believe me last night. Or this morning. So I’m trying another tactic. If this doesn’t work, I’ll try something else. You called me a tyrannosaur once or twice.” He glanced at the purple dinosaur. “That’s as close as that program had in its graphics collection.”
She shook her head to clear it. “Bradshaw, what will you do if one of our advertisers comes in and sees this?”
He shrugged. “Tell him the truth. That I feel like a teenager with his first crush.”
The man she adored was telling her everything she’d ever dreamed of hearing, but she was afraid to believe it. Her knees trembled, so she put Claire in her mini-crib, then sagged down at her desk. That’s when she noticed the stack of computer-generated award certificates on her keyboard. Reverently, she picked them up. One entitled her to unlimited bubble baths. Another made her his invited guest as he picked out a mountain bike for him and a pair of running shoes for her. The others entitled her to activities both sexy and ridiculous—until she came to the last one.
“Certificate of Ownership,” she read aloud. “This document constitutes legal notice to all interested parties that Jill Mathesin Bradshaw is sole owner and caretaker of Mason Bradshaw’s heart. Paid for in full. No reversion rights, loopholes or exclusions.” He’d signed it, then dated it the night before.
“Last night?”
He nodded. “That’s when I figured it out.”
Scanning the banners again, she said, “Mason, I’ve never seen you like this.” Her voice was filled with a wonder she made no attempt to hide.
He placed his hands on her shoulders and gazed down into her face. Love radiated from him in peaceful waves. His was the expression of a man who knew he had everything he’d ever wanted. “It’s brand-new.”
Swallowing hard, she asked, “Are you sure?”
He pulled her close. “Why don’t we give it forty or so years, and see if anything changes by then?”
He kissed her again, but she was still too stunned to return the gesture.
“I love you, Jill,” he said. “I will love you for the rest of my life, whether you can ever love me in return or not.” The words were an exact echo of what she’d told him the night she’d stripped away the walls between them.
With a glad cry, Jill flung her arms around his neck. Mason kissed her hard enough to make it a permanent memory. Plans began to form for a few certificates she could present him with after they put Claire to bed that night. By morning, Mason would have a few permanent memories of his own.
SILHOUETTE BOOKS
ISBN : 978-1-4592-6569-1
PARTNERS IN PARENTHOOD
Copyright © 1998 by Linda C. Johnson
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Silhouette Books, 300 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017 U.S.A.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Even pregnant, Jill looked good.
Letter to Reader
Books by Raina Lynn
About the Author
Dedication
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
Copyright
t