by Gina Wilkins
Fiancée. The word rocked Savannah back on her heels. Was Kit only trying to protect her reputation…or was he as serious as he looked?
She heard the whispers, the murmurs, the speculation, but she kept her eyes trained on Kit’s grim face.
Whitley opened and closed his mouth a time or two, then cleared his throat “I didn’t know you two was engaged,” he muttered.
Nick stared at Kit in awe, then glanced uncertainly at Michael, his expression torn between resentment and what might have been envy.
“I’d suggest you keep it in mind.” Coolly dismissing the other man, Kit turned pointedly toward the coach. “Under the circumstances, I don’t think one of the boys should be punished and not the other, do you? Maybe you could let it go with a warning to both of them this time.”
“I—uh—” The starstruck coach shuffled his feet. “Yeah, I guess that’s what we’ll do. Boys…no more fighting, okay?”
Michael nodded, scooped his dusty cap off the ground and settled it firmly on his head. And then he looked at Kit, his eyes shining. “I’m glad you’re here, Kit.”
Kit reached out to straighten the brim of the boy’s cap. “I promised you I would be here, didn’t I? I couldn’t leave with that promise on my mind. I’m sorry I missed your game. I got stuck in traffic between the Atlanta airport and here.”
He’d gotten all the way to the airport before he’d decided to turn around and come back, Savannah realized. Because he’d made a promise to a thirteen-yearold boy.
How could she not love him?
“Congratulations on your engagement, Savannah,” Lucy called out, bearing down on them with an obvious hunger for details burning in her eyes. “When’s the happy day?”
Savannah looked pleadingly at Kit.
With a skill she could only admire, he managed to usher Savannah and her family through the crowd and out of the park, politely responding to comments and questions without actually answering any of them, avoiding conversational delays without actually being rude.
Savannah hoped he could teach her that skill. She had a feeling she was going to need it in the future.
Reaching the parking lot, Miranda turned eagerly to Kit and took his hand. “Did you just say that to make them shut up about Mom, or did you mean it, Kit?” she whispered, blurting out the question Savannah had been asking herself.
Kit looked over Miranda’s head to meet Savannah’s eyes. “I never say anything I don’t mean,” he replied quietly.
Miranda squealed and threw her arms around Kit’s waist. He returned the hug warmly.
“That’ll show ol’ Lucy Bettencourt,” Miranda said in satisfaction.
“Miranda, did Lucy say something to upset you last night?”’ Savannah asked.
Miranda nodded, a frown creasing her forehead. “I heard her talking to Marie Butler in the ladies’ room,” she admitted. “I was in a stall and they didn’t know I was there—at least, I don’t think they did.”
“What did they say?”
“Mrs. Butler said it probably didn’t bother Kit that you had, um, illegitimate children, because people in Hollywood do that sort of thing all the time. And Mrs. Bettencourt said that she bet you two already knew each other when you went away for vacation. She said you probably spent the whole vacation having an affair.”
Savannah felt her mouth tighten. She was too angry to respond immediately.
It broke her heart that both of her children had heard allusions to their unfortunate parentage. She had never wanted them to think of themselves as mistakes. She’d tried to convince them that, while ideally she would have been older when she’d had them, she still considered them the best part of her life.
How could other people be so cruel as to hurt them over something that was in no way their fault?
Kit blew a sharp breath out of his nose and muttered a short, pithy word in an undertone that Savannah could only hope the children didn’t hear. He made a visible effort to control his temper when he spoke firmly to the children and to Ernestine.
“Okay,” he said, “here’s the story. You all deserve to hear. it I haven’t been doing research on a book, though I suppose I’d better come up with a plot involving a small town, now that the rumor has gotten around. Savannah didn’t invite me here to do my research. She had no idea that I was going to show up on your doorstep.”
The twins looked at him in curiosity, Ernestine in suspicion. “Then what are you doing here?” she demanded.
“I met Savannah on Serendipity Island, and I fell for her,” he answered simply. “Hard. And, no,” he added with a quick glance at the twins, “we didn’t have an affair on the island. We talked and we danced, but that’s about it. She left thinking she would never see me again, but I missed her so much that I came looking for her. I wanted a chance to get to know her better.”
“You mean you came a courtin’?” Miranda asked, her voice squeaky.
Kit was startled into a laugh. Savannah blushed and wondered where in the world her daughter had picked up that phrase.
“Yeah,” Kit said, “I guess I came acourtin’. Just like ol’ Froggie.”
“And now you’re getting married.” Miranda sighed happily as Savannah gulped. “Cool.”
“Your mother hasn’t exactly given me an answer yet,” Kit murmured, looking apologetically at Savannah.
Savannah still couldn’t believe Kit kept talking about marriage. They’d only known each other for only a few days!
He must be crazy. But then, she must be, too. Because she knew that if Kit proposed right now, her answer would be yes.
If, that was, he could convince her that he was asking because he loved her, and not because he’d felt pressured into action.
She glanced at her mother and was startled to see a glint of tears in Ernestine’s eyes. “Mother?”
Ernestine looked away. “You’ll do what you want, of course.”
“Mrs. McBride, what have I done to make you dislike me?” Kit asked, looking directly at her.
She refused to meet his eyes. “Nothing. If you want to take my daughter and grandchildren off to California, I guess that’s up to them.”
Savannah almost groaned as a light went on in her head. Now she thought she understood at least part of Ernestine’s hostility toward Kit. Ernestine knew her daughter very well. She would have taken one look at Savannah and Kit together and known that some powerful emotions were at work between them.
It had been only the four of them for so long, comfortable in their small town routines, all of them secure, if not wealthy, on Savannah’s salary. This was Ernestine’s home, her family, her life. And Kit threatened that.
Kit must have had some of the same thoughts. His tone was gentle when he spoke, his expression kind.
“I never said anything about taking your family to California—at least not permanently,” he reminded her. He gestured around the rapidly emptying parking lot, ignoring the people who stared at them from a distance as they climbed into their cars. “Despite the gossip, this seems like a nice place to raise a family. A writer can work anywhere—in Los Angeles, California, or Campbellville, Georgia.”
And then he smiled winningly at Ernestine. “But even if we all chose to move somewhere else, there would always be a place for you,” he assured her. “You’re an important member of this family. They depend on you. They need you. I can’t imagine that they’d ever let anyone take them away from you.”
The twins shook their heads in fervent agreement. Savannah smiled and kissed her mother’s cheek, knowing that the lines around her mother’s stern mouth had been caused by years of work and struggle.
“I love you, Mother,” she said to the woman who had always wanted only the best for her daughter and grandchildren.
Ernestine blinked rapidly and muttered something brusque and incomprehensible. She wasn’t entirely won over, Savannah thought, but she was getting there.
Kit was very good at this sort of thing.
Kit turned back
to the twins. “As for the rest of that garbage you heard, that’s all it was. Garbage.” Your family business is just that Your business. No one else’s. Your mom doesn’t owe apologies or explanations to anyone, and neither do you. Right?”
The twins nodded slowly.
“You’re great kids, both of you,” he added, his face softening. “Your mother and I haven’t talked much about her past, but I know that she is a very special woman. And a wonderful mother. I know she’s very proud of you both, and that you must be proud of her. Any man who wouldn’t want to be part of this great family would be badly misguided.”
“Our father didn’t want us,” Michael said, his plaintive tone betraying an old hurt. “Grandma said.”
“Then it’s most definitely his loss,” Kit said firmly.
Savannah cleared her throat, feeling that it was time for her to start functioning rationally again—something she hadn’t quite been able to do since Kit had said the word “fiancée.”
“We really shouldn’t continue this discussion in a parking lot,” she said. “I think we should go. Mother, would you drive the kids home? Kit and I need to go somewhere to talk in private for a while. We’ll see you at home later, okay?”
Ernestine nodded and reached for Savannah’s car keys.
The twins looked at Savannah anxiously as she waved them to the car.
“He really likes us, Mom,” Miranda said over her shoulder.
“We like him, too,” Michael added.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Savannah told them dryly.
Apparently, her children were letting her know what they thought her answer should be to Kit’s indirect proposal..
But first, Savannah had tò hear Kit tell her exactly why he wanted to marry her.
“By the way, Michael,” Kit called after the boy. “You and I are going to have a long talk later about when fighting is appropriate and when it’s not. And about handling conflict in public places like a gentleman.”
Michael looked warily back at Kit. “Are you going to lecture me?”
Kit nodded, his expression suitably stern. “Yes, I am.”
Michael beamed happily. “Cool.”
Kit chuckled and turned to Savannah. His grin died when he saw her expression. He cleared his throat and shuffled his feet in the dirt, looking a bit like Michael when he was called on the carpet for misbehavior. “Um—I guess I’m in trouble, huh?”
“We need to have a talk,” she replied.
KIT DROVE SQRAIGHT to the cabin. By unspoken agreement, he and Savannah didn’t talk on the way, choosing to listen to the old songs playing from the radio while they contemplated their own thoughts.
Kit ushered her inside and closed the door behind them. He glanced a bit wistfully toward the stairs to the sleeping loft “I don’t suppose you wanted to be alone so we could…er…”
“No,” she answered, her tone still dry. “I wanted to be alone so we could talk.”
At least, that was what she thought they needed to do. What she wanted to do with him was irrelevant at the moment.
He put his hands in his pockets and made a production of steeling himself. “Okay,” he said. “Shoot”
“Didn’t it occur to you that you might talk to me before you announced our engagement to my mother and my children and half the residents of Campbellville?”
“I didn’t plan to make an announcement,” he explained carefully. “It just seemed to pop out But I meant it, Savannah. I wasn’t trying to protect your reputation. I want to marry you.”
She moistened her lips and wrapped her arms around her waist. “Kit, I don’t need a husband.”
His eyebrows dipped into a frown. “Er—”
‘I’ve gotten along perfectly well without one for all this time,” she continued determinedly. “I’ve supported myself, my mother and my children. I’ve weathered the gossip, and can continue to do so if necessary. I don’t need anyone’s help or pity.”
“Savannah, I—”
She drew a deep breath. “If I decide to marry, it will be to a man I am desperately in love with, a man who loves me just as desperately in return. I don’t want to be married because he feels pressured by gossip or family or…I don’t know, guilt or whatever.”
Kit’s expression cleared. He took a step closer to her. “I love you, Savannah,” he said, his voice clear, firm. “Desperately.”
Her heart tripped. “You never said so before.”
He took another step. “I shamelessly harassed a longtime friend and probably broke a couple of privacy laws to find you. I risked humiliation and rejection to show up uninvited on your doorstep. I’ve survived looks from your mother that would have made a less besotted man take to his heels. I’ve left a multimillion-dollar business deal hanging in limbo for the sake of you and your kids. I’ve just paid an inflated price for this lakeside cabin because we first made love here. What more would you like me to do to prove my feelings?”
She gulped at the sound of that multimillion-dollar deal. And then something else he’d aid sank in.
“You bought the cabin?” she repeated, stunned by the extravagant gesture.
He smiled and nodded. “I’ve grown rather fond of it.”
“Oh, Kit.” She drew a deep breath and shook her head, telling herself that it would take more than blatantly romantic gestures to convince her that he’d thought this through.
“But you never said you were considering marriage,” she said. “Not that there has really been time for us to get around to that, of course,” she added quickly.
“You think tonight was the first time the idea had occurred to me?”
Kit pulled his hand out of his pocket. He held a small, velvet-covered box in his outstretched palm. “Didn’t you wonder,” he asked, “why I brought gifts for everyone but you yesterday?”
“Well, no, I wasn’t expecting a gift.” Her eyes were riveted on that little box.
“Open it,” he urged.
A diamond ring lay nestled inside the satin-lined case. It was, without doubt, the single most beautiful piece of jewelry Savannah had ever seen. A flood of emotions swept through her, filling her heart with half-fearful joy and her eyes with hot tears.
Kit laid his hand on her cheek. His voice was tender, husky. “I was going to offer this ring to you here at the cabin this weekend. Outside, at night, with the stars and the moon overhead, ‘Star Dust’ playing in the background. I planned to go down on one knee and beg you to marry me, even though I knew I was taking a risk because we’ve known each other such a short time.”
She drew a ragged breath. “Oh, Kit.”
“Last weekend, you asked me for more time and I promised you had it,” he continued a bit gruffly. “You once asked me if there was anything I did badly, and I know now that the answer is yes. I’m not very good at waiting patiently for something that I want I think I’ve known from the minute I first laid eyes on you on that Caribbean beach that I wanted to marry you. And now that I know that life will include at least two terrific kids, I’m even more convinced that I will be the luckiest man alive if you say yes.”
“Yes,” she breathed.
“What was that?”
“Yes,” she said a bit more clearly. “I’ll marry you. But, oh, heavens, can you imagine how people will talk?”
“Screw ‘em,” her dashingly romantic swain said inelegantly. “The tabs will run with this for a day or two. The local tongues will wag. And then the talk will die down. Gossips aren’t interested in happy, ordinary married couples, which is exactly what I look forward to being with you. I hope my work continues to draw some attention, but I’m perfectly capable of keeping our private life just that Private. I’ve been in the spotlight, and I’ve enjoyed it occasionally. But now I’m ready to leave the fantasy behind and make a real life with you.”
“I love you,” she said, in case he hadn’t already figured that out.
His pirate’s smile flashed. “Desperately?”
“Desperately. An
d it has nothing to do with your fame or your money or your pretty face. I fell in love with the man who could have been an insurance salesman.”
He set the ring box on the coffee table, caught her hands in his and lifted them to his lips, visibly moved by her breathless little speech. “Thank you.”
And then he pulled her into his arms and kissed her senseless.
Her shorts fell over the back of a rocking chair. Her T-shirt landed on an end table. She had no idea where her bra and panties went when Kit tossed them impatiently aside.
Savannah was still tugging urgently at Kit’s clothing when he pulled her onto the couch.
They made love with more urgency than finesse. Savannah knocked something off the coffee table, and it landed on the floor with a clatter. Kit bumped his head on the wooden sofa arm with enough force to make him curse, and then give a muffled laugh into her mouth. They nearly fell off the narrow cushions and tumbled to the uncarpeted wooden floor.
Savannah wouldn’t have changed a moment of it.
“I love you, Savannah McBride,” Kit said when he could finally speak again.
“I love you, Kit—or Christopher Pace, or whoever you are,” she whispered in return. “I have loved you since our first dance.”
She remembered the first song they’d danced to. “That Old Black Magic.” And it had been magic, the way she and Kit had met and had known immediately that they were meant to be together.
She intended to make the magic last for a lifetime.
eISBN 978-14592-6405-2
SEDUCING SAVANNAH
Copyright © 1998 by Gina Wilkins.
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 publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.