IN THE DARK

by Pamela Burford

  He nodded.

  "How…?"

  "Greg Bannister came by looking for you. We had us a nice little chat."

  Her eyes grew round. "When?"

  "Last Friday."

  She pondered this. "Right before your remarkable transformation."

  "I didn't know how else to prove myself. I know what you think of me, Cat."

  "No. You're wrong."

  "Come on, honey. You haven't exactly made a secret of it. My career, my life-style. You don't respect anything about me."

  "That's in the past. I was an idiot. I was only looking at the superficial stuff. If I'd let myself see beneath the surface…" She shook her head. "You were right. I let my hang-ups make my decisions for me."

  "It wasn't just you. I needed to prove myself to. I wasn't sure … I'm still not sure I can be a good dad. It'll take a lot more than pouring the booze down the drain and tidying up the house. And I can't promise I've written my last trashy exposé. A guy's got to get dirt under his fingernails once in a while."

  "None of that matters." Cat shifted in his embrace to face him. "Brody, don't you see it? Don't you feel it?" She placed her soft hand on his cheek. "You'll make a wonderful father. You have this solid core of … of goodness, of caring. You're the most decent man I know."

  He laughed, even as his heart swelled, filling him with warmth. "Me? Decent? Have you read my last few literary masterpieces?"

  In response she grabbed his face with both hands and kissed him on the lips.

  He said, "You must've missed Getting Their Kicks: The Secret Lives of the Rockettes."

  She kissed him again, harder. When he started to respond in earnest, she pulled back and said, "I can't believe you don't hate me. I'd decided this morning to tell you myself—that the baby is yours—but I was so scared. I was praying you'd be able to forgive me."

  "Honey, by the time I found out I was going to be a daddy, I was already so out-of-my-gourd in love with you, forgiveness wasn't even an issue. Besides…" He kissed her forehead. "I know why you did it, remember? How could I blame you for wanting to do right by your child? Oh now, honey, don't cry."

  Smiling, she plucked at his T-shirt to wipe her eyes. "I just can't believe that after all these years, I finally found the man I've been looking for. I finally found my—"

  "Oh, please don't say it."

  "—Mr. Perfect."

  He groaned. "That's it. I was going to give you the biggest damn diamond I could find, but now you'll have to settle for this." He dug in his jeans pocket and produced the brass ring he'd gotten at the merry-go-round.

  Chuckling, sniffling, Cat twirled it on her finger. "We might have to get it sized."

  "Now, this is going to be one hurry-up wedding. I mean like next week. No fussing over flowers and caterers till you're as big as a blimp. I don't want to have to roll you down the aisle."

  She clutched her heart. "That's just the most romantic proposal a girl could ask for."

  Brody felt his face heat. "Yeah, well, I just wanted everything settled and out in the open."

  "In that case, there's one more thing I need to tell you."

  "What now?"

  Cat curled her arms around his neck. "I love you, Brody Mikhailov. I even love Jake Beckett and the King of Sling. I love you so much it takes my breath away. I still don't know how it happened. Falling in love with my baby's father was not part of the plan."

  "Honey, if there's one thing I learned during that blackout—" Brody reached for the lamp switch "—it's that anything can happen in the dark."

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