“Stop that or I’ll shift you over to the passenger side. Why did they go and make seat belts in the middle of these bench seats, anyway?”
“Your mouth is grumbling, but your lips are grinning.” She loved it when he teased her. Heck, there weren’t a whole lot of things about him she didn’t love.
Her roving fingers were reaching under his waistband, and he caught his breath as he reacted to her in a very masculine way. “Okay, I’ll shut up,” he told her. “But you’d better stop, or we won’t get there.”
“Where?” she asked, having brought him right back to where she wanted him.
“Right here,” he said, signaling to make a right turn down a graveled, tree studded lane. Tessa watched to each side and saw nothing but green—pines, trees, grass. He drove up the gradual slope about a quarter of a mile and parked at the side of a double-story farmhouse at the top of a hill. The view of the tree blanketed valley with a pond carved out in the middle was serenity and blissfulness rolled into one, and Tessa stared in wonder.
She slipped from the truck and followed Griff inside, up the long staircase, to the master bedroom that overlooked the view. After that they checked out the kitchen and the closets—everything they could see—and ended up back outside. She followed Griff around the house to gaze down at what he told her was a five-acre pond and the forest that seemed to be all around them, tamed in some areas, untamed in others.
“One hundred acres and the house. I figure what with Jeb visiting us a lot, and with Sherrie now, and maybe more kids later, we need more room than just the top of Sadie’s house.” They’d kept the bottom free for when Sadie visited home. “The only thing is, I know how you feel about having security, and even though the flight school’s doing well, the down payment will just about wipe out the savings we have left.”
“No, it won’t,” Tessa said. It was time for her anniversary surprise to Griff. “Horace bought out my half of the bakery.” After their wedding, Tessa had taken the For Sale sign off of it and reopened for business. While she was pregnant, she’d hired Miss Reba to help her. “Sadie’s tired of traveling. She says she’s missing all the fun of having another grandbaby and being in the middle of everything. She and Horace are going to run the place now with Miss Reba’s help.”
His eyes lit up. “So you think this could be a place for us to grow old in?”
“I definitely do. I love it,” she said with delight. “It’s perfect.”
Griff gave her an odd look. “The porch swing is rusty, the outside could use a paint job and you said yourself the carpeting will need to be replaced throughout the downstairs.”
“And soon it will be filled with the kids—and lots of love. A home of my own, with you and our family in it.” She paused, her face glowing as she gazed up at him. “As I said, perfect.”
Griff couldn’t help but agree.
ISBN: 978-1-4603-5342-4
KIDNAPPING HIS BRIDE
Copyright © 2002 by Florence Moyer
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.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and TM are trademarks of Harlequin Books S.A., used under license. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
Visit Silhouette at www.eHarlequin.com
Kidnapping His Bride (Silhouette Romance) Page 16