by Lisa Norato
He strode past her into the living room. Marcella followed him to the door, watching in shock as he opened it.
“We’ll talk tomorrow,” he said. Then he was gone.
What had just happened? Marcella wondered. What choice had William been referring to? His or hers?
There had to be a way to save this relationship. But she’d already examined her options and come up blank, so the thought of making a choice … well, it terrified her.
Chapter 16
Marcella hadn’t heard from William since last night. Not that she’d expected a call first thing in the morning, but it would have given her confidence a nice boost as she went into her meeting. The moment it broke, she headed to her office to check her messages and phone his hotel. Instead she found William waiting outside the boardroom.
Hope flooded her heart as they walked towards each other, meeting in the middle of the hallway.
“This is a nice surprise,” she greeted with a smile.
He’d worn his clerical collar in a French blue shirt with charcoal pants and was looking as handsome as ever. “I came with Aunt Lynne. Wanted to be first in line to offer my congratulations.”
Marcella was impressed. Either his being here meant something really good or really bad. “William, Lynne was in attendance from the start of that three-hour meeting. You’ve been hanging around all this time?”
He gave a guilty shrug. “This is, after all, quite an important day for you.”
Leaning forward, he pressed a kiss to her cheek, which seemed a little reserved after last evening. Marcella couldn’t resist feeling a teensy disappointed. Although, realistically, they were standing in a hallway trafficked by her co-workers.
Lynne exited the boardroom, hesitating at the sight of them together. Her gaze moved from Marcella to her nephew, then back to Marcella, before she broke into a smile so uncharacteristically warm, for a moment Marcella didn’t recognize her ex-boss.
Without a word, Lynne strode past them and continued down the corridor.
Marcella returned her focus to William. “I’m so glad you’re here; you have no idea.” For the first time all morning, she let herself get caught up in the excitement that had been bubbling inside her. “Actually, it’s an even bigger day than you realize,” she hinted.
Major changes had resulted from that meeting. It had taken some soul-searching and a reevaluation of priorities, but wow! Talk about your promotion. William didn’t know it yet, but he’d just jumped to the top of her agenda.
“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking,” she said. “About us. And there’s something I have to tell you.”
“I’d like a word as well. But not here. Could we find a place more private? Oh, I don’t mean your office. D’you think you could slip away for a bit? Go for a walk, perhaps? Before you say anything further, Marcella, there’s something you need to know.”
The seriousness of his expression sobered her, and immediately her mind envisioned the worst possible scenario. He was going to end their relationship.
Silly. Of course he wasn’t. She refused to spaz. This was going to be a joyous day. It was.
“Sure, okay,” she said. “I’ll just let Lauren know I’m stepping out for a while and then we can go.”
They didn’t speak as Marcella escorted William from the building. Did she sense a bit of nervous tension in the air? She couldn’t be sure which one of them it was coming from.
Once outside, William strode to the curb and hailed a cab. “On second thought, a drive might be better, what d’you say?”
What could she say? Anything to get this show on the road. “A drive is fine.”
William opened the door and Marcella swung her legs into the backseat, then scooted over. She watched as he whispered something to the driver before hopping in beside her.
Oh God, please give me a sign I haven’t turned down the promotion for nothing, she prayed. “Thank you for your confidence in me,” she’d told Beth Anne in the board meeting, “but I wonder if you might be willing to consider me for another position.” Was she crazy? No, just in love. She’d taken a huge leap of faith, a leap which she hoped William would be happy about. It hadn’t been easy to seize this opportunity and not be afraid. She refused to turn chicken now.
Then again, if worse turned to worse, she could always beg for her old job back and the chance to work under Jillian Navarro.
She’d rather throw herself from the cab.
The driver pulled from the curb, took a right on West 57th and headed down Fifth Avenue.
“So?” she ventured. “Where are we going?”
William turned from gazing out the window. “Somewhere away from the atmosphere of the magazine.”
Evasive answer, Marcella thought. “I have an idea. How ’bout we find a Starbucks, grab a couple of lattes, and chat in some cozy corner?”
William frowned. “I’ve already consumed more coffee than I can tolerate, I’m afraid, waiting for you. But if you’d like something—”
“No, I’m good. What were you doing for three hours?” she asked conversationally, when suddenly she knew. “You were in the test kitchen, weren’t you?” Her voice held a slight edge of accusation.
William’s expression didn’t so much as flinch from the truth. “Exactly. M’Liss and Bree kindly offered to make me breakfast. A lovely but eclectic menu of eggs Benedict and banana chocolate chip pancakes.”
“How generous of them.” This talent he had for inspiring women to cook for him was beginning to get a little unnerving. “You know, they may be professionally trained chefs, but they can’t cook authentic Italian the way I can.”
He gawked, a little surprised, then burst into a grin. “Are we jealous?”
“That’s what this is about? You’re getting even with me for that terrible non-lunch-date I mistakenly got tricked into yesterday. Are you going to dump me for Bree? Those must’ve been some pancakes.”
He started to chuckle. “That’s not exactly what I had in mind, no. And I don’t believe you see a’tall, Marcella. But you shall in a moment. Ah, we’ve arrived.”
“Arrived where?” Even as Marcella spoke, she gazed out the window and saw that the cab had stopped before the Empire State Building.
“Would you mind?” William asked.
Now she was totally confused. “Huh?”
“Would you mind if we popped up to the observatory? To see the view. I’ve already purchased tickets.” He slipped a pair out his pants pocket, explaining, “Online.”
“Okay, this is getting too weird.” On the bright side, Marcella’s unease had disappeared. She still didn’t know what William was up to, but it was shaping up to be something a little more fun than a breakup.
Of course, if it turned out she’d been overly optimistic and William did break her heart, she’d be conveniently located on top of the Empire State Building, so when it was all over she’d have a place to jump.
William had already jumped out of the cab and paid the driver. He opened her door and took her hand to help her out. They entered the main lobby, passed though security, then rode the high-speed elevators to the eighty-sixth floor, where they stepped out on the observation deck to a breathtaking horizon that overlooked the glistening city of New York. Incredible as it looked, Marcella had a difficult time appreciating the view. The suspense was driving her crazy. What were they doing here?
They strolled for a bit before William pulled her aside. “Okay,” he said with a swallow, “this is it. This is what I need to say. No. Wait. Not here.”
Taking her hand, he led her to another spot with a clearer view of the 59th Street Bridge. “Here, that’s much more scenic, don’t you think?”
“Beautiful,” she said, but she wasn’t looking at the skyline. The love shining from William’s aquamarine eyes had totally mesmerized her.
“Sorry I got so upset last night, but I’m in love with you, Marcella, and I want you to marry me. In fact, I believe I’ve loved you from the first moment I saw yo
u. You’re the woman I want to spend my life with. I know life with a vicar is not nearly exciting enough to offer someone as truly spectacular as you, but it’s all the life I have to offer. It’s a lot to ask, surely. To give up your promotion and all this.” He gestured to the city below. “Leave everything familiar behind and start a new life in England, but you’re just the girl to make a smashing success of it. So, you have to say yes, you see, because it won’t be much of a life for me without you. And we can’t continue this separation. Well, I can’t, at least. And that … that’s it really. Oh-no, wait. One more thing.”
Digging into his pants’ pocket, he produced a small velvet box that had Marcella gasping even before he got it open. Inside … oh … oh! … inside was a vintage emerald ring set with a diamond baguette on either side.
“This once belonged to my grandmother, the Seventeenth Viscountess of Wiltshire. So, what d’you say?” he asked hopefully. “Will you come to England and be my wife?”
Marcella suspected he already knew her answer. The smile on her face hadn’t stopped growing since he’d begun talking. She felt as though she were about to explode with joy. Here was an opportunity to marry the most incredible, wonderful, sexy man she’d ever met. Was she going to go for it? Absolutely!
“Yes!” she shouted, jumping into his arms. “I love you. Yes, of course, I’ll marry you, William.”
“You will? I mean, that’s fantastic.” He kissed her. “I couldn’t be happier, but no regrets about giving up your job as a senior editor?”
She shook her head. “William, I love you so much that this morning in the board meeting I turned down that promotion. That’s what I had to tell you. I’ve accepted a features editor position which is going to relocate me in England. Your aunt had already turned it down and I thought … well, like you said, it was time to make a choice. And I chose you, because the truth is, I only want to be with you.”
Tears formed in his eyes. Marcella’s hand trembled as he slipped the ring on her finger. Then he took her in his arms and they kissed, feeling on top of the world, which, in all practicality, they probably were. “I have one more thing for you,” he said at length. He quietly slipped her a small package of condoms.
Marcella could only gape.
“You’re surprised?” he said with a laugh. “You should have seen the faces at the chemist’s when I bought them. I’m, er, not suggesting anything, mind. I just thought, now that we’re engaged, you might want to keep them on hand, you know, for the honeymoon.”
Marcella grinned. This just kept getting better and better.
He shrugged. “They’re not in bright colors or anything. Hope you won’t be disappointed.”
“Oh, I’m sure I won’t,” she whispered, drawing closer to his lips.
He gave her a confident smile. “No, I don’t believe you will be, actually.”
About the Author
A native Rhode Islander, Lisa Norato lives with her family in a historical village with homes and churches dating as far back as the eighteenth century. She finds enjoyment and inspiration in the quaintness of small town life, the changing New England seasons and visits to the nearby seashore.
For more, visit Lisa’s website at http://lisanorato.com/.
Other books by Lisa Norato
Where Eagles Fly
Sea Heroes of Duxbury novels
The Promise Keeper
Prize of My Heart
One final note… .
I hope you enjoyed I Only Want To Be With You. Please keep reading for the first chapter of Where Eagles Fly.
Excerpt
WHERE EAGLES FLY
Chapter 1
11:03 a.m., June 4th
Highway WYO 130, heading west towards Centennial, Laramie, Wyoming
Shelby McCoy peered into the rearview mirror at her passenger in the back. She could tell by his heavy panting he was getting impatient for the ride to be over.
She could also tell that the heavy thwump … thwump … thwump she was hearing signaled a flat tire. To be sure, she lowered the volume on Beethoven’s “Pastoral Symphony.” The CD was playing the first movement, composed by Beethoven to express the “awakening of cheerful feelings on arriving in the country,” yet Shelby felt anything but cheerful as she pulled her old Toyota RAV4 to the shoulder of the road.
Jorge whined. Elevated in his canine booster seat, he gazed in the mirror at her with dark, bright eyes, letting her know he had to pee.
“All right. I’m coming.”
Shelby reached on the seat beside her for her cell. She climbed out of the car and stepped around to the back, where she unhooked Jorge’s seat harness, clipped on his leash and scooped the tiny black Pomeranian into her arms. Setting him down in the grass, she turned on her phone to call emergency road service while Jorge did his thing.
The screen lit up. But when she tried to place the call, a “no signal” message flashed on the display.
“Oh-no. No way,” she protested into the receiver, although, obviously, no one was listening on the other end.
This can’t be, she puzzled, not when she’d traveled less than seventy miles from Cheyenne.
Shelby switched off the power and tried again only to be disappointed. What a useless piece of junk. An expensive, high tech, useless piece of junk.
After waving it above her head in search of a signal, then whacking it against her palm to no avail, self-pity reared its ugly head, and she dragged Jorge around to the other side of her sports utility vehicle to have a look at the flat.
It wasn’t lost on Shelby that she might not be facing this particular predicament if she were in a relationship. If she were in a relationship, she and Jorge wouldn’t be vacationing by themselves. They wouldn’t be forced into figuring out how to change a flat tire, because why learn when she paid yearly for road service to do it for her?
Road service she couldn’t reach.
It seemed the older she grew, having turned forty on her last birthday, the harder it was to meet attractive, eligible and well-adjusted men interested in a serious relationship.
What she wanted was a man to romance and love her, to value her for the woman she was inside. She wanted a special man, that one, true, special man. She wanted to love and cherish all his shortcomings and imperfections, because she had looked deep into the beauty of his soul and found her match.
Was that asking too much?
Her married girlfriends advised her she was nuts. A husband-hunting woman in this day and age had to be practical. Marriage was not some romantic fantasy. So they fixed her up on blind dates with practical, prospective men. They entered her profile on Internet dating sites. In reflection, Shelby shuddered to think how many awkward and unsuccessful encounters she’d endured. How many go-nowhere romances checkered her past. But no more. She had drawn the line, warning family and friends never to play matchmaker again. Their hearts were in the right place, but the truth of the matter was—arranged meetings did not work.
These same friends claimed she was bitter and had given up on dating.
Baloney. She simply had yet to find the love she wanted. There’d been moments she sensed he was so close she could reach out and touch him. But with each passing week, month, year he failed to make an appearance, his unseen presence faded like an illusion.
And yet he was so much more than just a dream. He was real, this man of her heart. Deep inside she believed he was out there trying to find her.
And she was ready for love. Overdue, in fact. Her heart was full, but her arms were empty.
It was all written in her poem. She’d woken at dawn in a strange funk, melancholy and lovelorn, the verses throbbing in her head, demanding to be scribbled down. As a songwriter, she slept with pen and paper by her bedside, and the words had spilled out of her emotions, wrenched from her gut. She couldn’t shake the feeling of them, even now.
Stubborn romantic. The thought fueled her frustration, and she kicked the tire only to stub her toe. “Ouch!”
R
ising to her defense, five-pound Jorge bounded up to the offending flat on four springy little paws. Lifting a hind leg, he squirted the greasy alloy wheel, then stepped back and stared up at Shelby, wagging his lush plume of a tail.
She couldn’t help herself. Out burst a giggle. Soon Shelby’s sweet, bell-like laughter went rolling down the desolate expanse of the Snowy Range Scenic Byway. As the sun warmed her face, she thanked God for this charming little devil who did so much to fill the emptiness inside.
Then she saw it. About a half mile up ahead. Hey, wasn’t that the ranch’s mailbox? It certainly was, posted at the entrance to the ranch road. In that case, they’d walk it. They were nearly there.
Shelby had to admit she was excited about this visit to her sister’s dude ranch.
She couldn’t wait to see Caitlin and Michael again. Teaching music and piano to high school students in Cheyenne kept her busy throughout most of the year, so she didn’t get to visit as often as she liked. But this was summer break, and Shelby had made it clear she was ready and willing to help with the opening of the Flying Eagle Guest Ranch in any way she could. Caitlin suggested the position of hostess in the beautifully restored dining room of the rustic main lodge.
Before leaving, Shelby pushed her round, wire-framed sunglasses down her nose and checked her reflection in the side view mirror. She smoothed the few, faint lines around her eyes with a fingertip, assuring herself it was merely the bright sunlight making them visible. Retrieving her rucksack from inside the car, she freshened her lipstick, added a touch of gloss.
Then she reached in the back seat for a bottle of spring water and her leather aviator jacket. From Cheyenne they had climbed over one thousand feet, and even though the day was a pleasant one in early June with temperatures expected to rise as high as seventy, the area’s high altitude and mountain breezes left the morning crisp.
Shelby locked up her white RAV4 and told Jorge, “C’mon, boy. We’re going for a walk.”
And then they started hiking.