by Jill Gregory
Aside from that, all had gone smoothly and Corinne and Roy had looked ecstatically happy as they spoke their vows, cut the cake, and shared their first dance before a crowd of family and friends.
Corinne had even managed to see to it that Josy caught the bouquet.
Now as Ty tossed the box of Godivas on the bed and sat down beside her, she felt a surge of wonder at how much her life had changed since she’d arrived alone and weary that first night in Thunder Creek.
She’d survived danger and near-death—and she’d knocked a rustler out cold. She’d found her grandmother—and she’d lost Ricky. She’d finished her sketches and turned them over to Francesca for the last time. And she’d turned a whole new corner in both her life and her career.
Last and best, she’d met the man she’d love with all her heart for the rest of her life.
There was something else that had happened, something more subtle and unexpected—perhaps the strangest thing of all. She’d found an entire town that somehow had come to feel like home, a place where her heart felt at peace. A place where the pace suited her more than she’d ever thought possible, and where her creativity had been reborn.
It was Ty’s home, and soon it would be hers.
And one day, it would be the place they raised their children.
Thunder Creek.
Josy opened the gold Godiva box, intending to seductively feed him the first chocolate as a prelude to another round of hot and luxurious sex. But her attention was caught by a breathtaking glitter in the center of the box.
Surrounded by tiny exquisite chocolates, nestled in its own fragile veil of paper, just as if it were a chocolate-covered cherry or a caramel cream, rested a diamond ring.
It was a brilliant pear-shaped diamond within a shimmering platinum setting. It winked like a star in the moonlight, a star Ty lifted and slipped gently onto her finger.
“What’s moonlight, champagne, chocolate, and roses without an engagement ring?” His smile was at once tender and mischievous.
She stared at him and at the diamond, a surge of emotion leaving her speechless.
“Will you marry me, Josy Warner?”
She flung herself against him, her hands twining behind his neck. “You know I will. I told you that day after Corinne and Roy’s wedding, when we rode out to the cabin.”
She pulled his head down to her and kissed him lingeringly. Heat circled through her as the kiss turned deeper, and his hands caressed her breasts.
“I didn’t need a ring to know that you love me,” Josy whispered, trembling as his hands slid lower down her body, and as she felt his hard shaft pressed against her.
“Well, I happened to think it would look pretty good on your finger. Unless you want me to take it back?”
“Just try it, cowboy.” Then she moaned, as his hand dipped lower, awakening a cascade of delicious sensations deep in her core. “You’d have a better chance of fishing on the moon than getting this ring off my finger,” she added breathlessly.
Ty’s eyes had darkened to a fierce lusty blue. He traced his tongue around the soft curve of her lips. “I’ve no desire to fish on the moon. Or to ever take that ring off your finger. There’s only one thing I do desire right now—and you don’t need three guesses to figure out what that is.”
“No,” she agreed, her laugh ragged, as she felt rational thought and control slipping away. “I definitely know that answer.”
She pulled him down and climbed atop him and their bodies clung and rocked. They touched each other everywhere, kissed and held each other until there was no way to tell where she left off and he began. Hungrily, deliciously, they made love by New York City moonlight and later, much later, they lay entwined in bed and whispered of their future—of the life, the family, the love that awaited them—in the place called Thunder Creek.
About the Author
JILL GREGORY is the New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty-five novels. Her novels have been translated and published in Japan, Russia, France, Norway, Taiwan, Sweden, and Italy. Jill grew up in Chicago and received her bachelor of arts degree in English from the University of Illinois. She currently resides in Michigan with her husband.
Jill invites her readers to visit her website at www.jillgregory.net.
Books by Jill Gregory
Thunder Creek
Once an Outlaw
Rough Wrangler, Tender Kisses
Never Love a Cowboy
Just This Once
Always You
Daisies in the Wind
Forever After
Cherished
When the Heart Beckons
NIGHT THUNDER
A Dell Book / July 2004
Published by Bantam Dell
A Division of Random House, Inc.
New York, New York
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2004 by Jill Gregory
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eISBN: 978-0-307-42322-1
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