Kayla looked away, swallowing hard against the tears threatening to spill down her face. “I haven’t gone anywhere.”
“I’m a cop, Kayla,” he said quietly.
“I know that.”
“You hate cops and I’ve been trying to figure out how to get past that roadblock without giving up my job. I finally realized the job didn’t mean anything if I didn’t have you to come home to every day.”
She shook her head. “Do you really think I’d ask you to give up what you love doing?”
“No, but...”
“You’re the cop who made me put the past into perspective. My bias wasn’t fair. I saw that clearly the day you helped that pregnant woman out there on the road. You didn’t have to stop. You didn’t have to stick around. But it was part of who and what you are. You showed me that not every cop shoots first and asks questions later.”
Lee seemed to relax.
“You also seemed upset over my inheritance.”
“Well, I admit the idea that you were that rich sort of boggled my mind, but did you really think I’d turn down a chance to be Cinderella?” One of the nasty little tears leaked past her defenses. “I happen to like Jaguars.”
He grinned. That sneaky, sly grin that always ate into her heart. “That’s my sister’s rental car. How do you feel about old Super Sports? I had to buy the car from Iggy to keep him from going ballistic, but I needed another car anyhow since they never recovered mine.”
Her laugh turned into a sob. Then he was holding her, kissing her, setting her world back on its axis.
“I love you, Kayla Coughlin.”
She looked up, startled to see his tears mingling with hers. “Well, it took you long enough to realize it,” she muttered thickly.
He buried his chuckle in her hair. Then he raised her face, regarding her with such raw love that she thought she would burst with the emotions pulsing inside her.
“Do you think we could close on this deal?”
“Which deal?”
“You. Me. Meredith. This house. Happily ever after?”
“This house?” She wondered if she looked as stunned as she felt. “An hour’s a long commute, Lee.”
He shook his head. “Hepplewhite offered me a job here in town. That’s the other detail I’m trying to work out. It seems Fools Point is growing every day and the mayor and city council approved the funds for another senior officer.”
“But what about your job in D.C.?”
“I can be a policeman anywhere. I choose here. Fools Point is a better place to raise a child than the city.”
She studied his face, trying to assimilate what he was telling her.
“You have to say yes, or your brother promised to hurt me,” Lee explained. “Frankly, I’m not sure I could take him down and I’d rather not put it to the test.”
She followed his gaze to the screen door. Alex stood in the grass out front talking to Lexie, while Meredith happily licked a dripping chocolate ice-cream cone he must have brought for her.
“You mean you’d hide behind my skirts.”
“Nope.” He raised his eyebrows suggestively. “But I wouldn’t mind hiding under them.”
Heat and need rose right along with the memories. “Stop that.”
“Not while there’s breath in this body. Meredith wants a baby sister.”
Love and uncertainty showed in his expression.
“I’m reasonably sure she really is mine, you know,” he told her softly. “I think Fay lied about that, too. Jason’s test results came back. There’s a ninety-nine percent probability that he could not have been her father. It turns out he knew he was sterile all along.”
“The DNA test couldn’t tell you that.”
“No, but his family doctor did. Jason knew, he just refused to believe it. And he never told Elizabeth.”
“Poor Elizabeth.”
Lee tipped up her chin. “So that no one else can come at me with false claims, I’m having a comparison DNA test run on me right now. Even without that, I believe I am Meredith’s father, biologically as well as every other way.”
“I’m glad, but I wouldn’t care.”
He returned her smile. “Me neither, I’m just covering my bets. So what do you say we go shopping?”
“For what?”
“We’ve got the house, the car and the child. What do you say we get a ring and a piece of paper to tie up all the loose ends?”
“Is that a marriage proposal?”
“No. This is.” He stroked her cheek with the back of his finger, standing so close their bodies touched in the most provocative places. “Will you marry me, Kayla?”
She tried to control the elation bubbling inside her. “Well, I’d hate to see my brother beat you up,” she teased. “So I guess to keep peace in the family—”
“I love you, Kayla.”
“I love you, too.”
ALEX STARED AT LEE’S SISTER. “Looks like we’re about to be in-laws.”
Her gaze darted to the open front door and she smiled. “About time. I’m ready to go back to Texas.”
“Will you settle for a trip to the playground until those two come up for air?”
“Sure. You married?”
Startled, Alex shook his head. “No. And I plan to keep it that way.”
“Most of them do,” she said with a backward glance at the big old house. “Most of them do.”
If you’ve enjoyed your stay with
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Prologue
Her heart thudded in her chest. Despite the early morning hour, Jerome’s red sports car was already in the parking lot behind the bank. Fear of another confrontation with her husband nearly made Sydney get back in her car and drive away.
Then she spotted Mrs. Argossy. The bank manager was struggling to hang on to a dozen balloons while lifting a case of soda from the trunk of her car. Jerome wouldn’t start a scene in front of his boss. Not when he was up for promotion again. All Sydney had to do was stay near Mrs. Argossy and she could start the morning without a battle. And maybe if she saw him early and got it over with, he wouldn’t disrupt the jewelry store where she worked by coming over at lunch.
“Need some help?” she called out.
“Sydney! Good morning! Some help would be wonderful.”
“Someone’s birthday?” she asked.
“Janet’s. We’re going to have a party after work this afternoon. I thought I’d get a jump on things by bringing my contribution early, but I see Jerome is already here. You two certainly do get up early for a pair of newlyweds.”
Sydney tried to slow the nervous hammering of her pulse as she took the case of soda and reached for a gallon of ice cream. Gratefully Mrs. Argossy lifted a gaily decorated cake and shut the trunk.
“We’re hardly newlyweds,” Sydney said quietly. She didn’t add that they were about to become divorce statistics as soon as she met with her lawyer.
Mrs. Argossy had to set down the cake to unlock the bank doors. She repeated the process once more before they were inside. Empty, the place looked eerie to Sydney. She trailed after Mrs. Argossy past the counters to the rear of the building. There she had to wait again while Mrs. Argossy unlocked yet another set of doors.
Sydney had never been back in this area and she stepped inside curiously. A curse rent the air.
“You said we’d be alone,” a male voice accused harshly.
Sydney came to a startled halt. A man twisted away from her, ducking to hide his features. He pulled a ski mask into place before Sydney could register the wrongness of h
is presence here inside the closed bank.
A second man, stuffing currency inside a large gym bag, also wore a mask over his face. The vault gaped wide open. Jerome stood beside the heavy steel door, several bundles of money in his hands.
Fear stole her voice, leaving her silent and still from shock.
“For heaven’s sake,” Mrs. Argossy chided behind Sydney, unaware of the danger. “Keep moving or I’ll drop this cake.”
The masked stranger swore viciously. “What are you doing in here?”
Sydney managed the fleeting thought that it was a rather stupid question under the circumstances. Then Jerome started in her direction, his expression almost tortured. For a second, their eyes locked. She felt his anguish as clearly as if he’d cried out.
The door closed behind Mrs. Argossy. In slow motion, her lips formed a wide “oh” of alarm. “What on earth?”
Sydney dropped the heavy case of soda and cans spilled across the floor. Two split open, splashing their sticky contents everywhere.
Mrs. Argossy pushed past her. Feeling helplessly detached, Sydney watched the first man produce a gun in one gloved hand. Smoke and flame spit from the barrel. The bark of noise was deafening. Mrs. Argossy crumpled bonelessly to the floor at Sydney’s feet in a, pool of spreading red blood. The balloons she’d been holding drifted toward the ceiling.
“No! Stop!” Jerome yelled. “You said no one would be hurt!”
Sydney came out of her panicked stupor. She heaved the gallon of ice cream at the weapon now aimed at her. The container struck, deflecting the next shot.
The room seemed to swell with noise and an acrid odor. There was no place to run. Pain seared Sydney’s hand.
The gunman took aim again. Jerome stumbled, shoving her backward. Flame spurted from the weapon.
His body jerked, once—then twice. His mouth opened for another protest that never came.
She lurched as Jerome’s full weight collapsed against her. His body jerked as more bullets thudded into his back.
They fell amid the rain of currency fluttering from his limp hands. Her world dissolved with a blinding crack of pain and a stab of brilliant light.
ISBN : 978-1-4592-5147-2
FOR HIS DAUGHTER
Copyright © 1999 by Patricia A. Gagne
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