Built to Last (Harlequin Heartwarming)
Page 22
Jo shook her head. “I guess I’m not as adventurous as I thought I was. Do you?”
His smile was wry. “I’ve always admitted to being stodgy.”
Jo nodded behind them. “The blonde back there didn’t think so.”
“Blonde?” Endearingly, he sounded surprised, as if he hadn’t noticed being ogled. “Right.”
He slid his arm around her waist. “You’re imagining things.”
Jo laid her head against him. “I don’t think so.”
“What about you?” he asked, his voice a low rumble against her hair. They had turned a corner and found themselves on a dark side street. “What do you want?”
“I’d like a kiss,” she confessed.
“Yes, ma’am,” Ryan said with feeling.
Ryan turned her to face him.
“Mmm.” She lifted her face naturally and parted her lips the moment his touched hers. The gaudy, noisy party behind them faded. Only they existed. He kissed her tenderly, making promises with his mouth and receiving everything she could give him in return.
On their meandering route down narrow streets, a couple of taxis passed, a few other pedestrians. Mostly this part of the French Quarter was deserted and dark but for the apartments above shops. Light streaming through wrought-iron balconies made them look like black lace. The spires of St. Louis Cathedral reared against the dark sky. A ship’s horn could be heard on the broad, muddy Mississippi, only three blocks away but not visible. Restaurant doors yawned, bringing bursts of music and light and laughter. In between, unlit shop windows hinted at fascinating contents: antiques, Civil War relics, books and feather masks. Wrought-iron gates between stuccoed brick buildings allowed glimpses of dark gardens or cobblestoned carriage entrances. On one balcony, a couple seated at a tiny table looked lovingly at each other and murmured in soft voices.
Ryan and Jo stopped in dark alcoves to kiss, lingering because this time was magical, stolen. This was the adventure, Jo thought dreamily. She couldn’t imagine how she hadn’t recognized that sooner.
He lifted his head after the last kiss and said roughly, “Jo, I wish this week could have been what I promised you.”
With one hand, she cupped his cheek. “In a way, it has been. Don’t worry, Ryan. I’ve had a glorious time.”
Amusement briefly infused his voice. “After this morning, I thought you might insist we take a baby alligator home as a pet.”
“The kids need a pet,” she said thoughtfully. “A kitten, or a puppy.”
“Tyler was taken with the small gator that swam next to our boat.”
“I noticed.” She nuzzled his neck. “I had to hold his hand to keep him from dangling it over the side.”
“Ah. Nice to know I’ve raised smart kids.”
“You have. I like them both.”
Ryan’s fingers tunneled into her hair, sending pins flying. “Jo, I don’t want to go back. How are we going to see each other?”
“In company.”
“I’m afraid that is how it would be…” Ryan was surprised to see that Jo’s expression, far from shutting down, had actually grown more open and warm.
His hands went still, and his voice almost shook. “Even after this romantic vacation, you still want to make a go of it?”
Heart swelling, she nodded.
“Jo.” A tremor ran through him. “I love you.”
“I know,” she whispered.
“I want you to marry me,” Ryan said intensely. “I want to wake up next to you every morning, come home to you after work every day. I want you to be a mother to my kids. I know all that scares you, but I need you.”
Her heart must have burst, because joy and terror and love all ran like rivers through her body. Voice tremulous, she managed to tell him, “I need you, too.”
Now his fingers bit into her arms. In light from a balcony behind them, his face was taut and incredulous. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying…” Oh, no, her voice didn’t want to cooperate! Jo took a deep breath and finished more strongly, “I’m saying yes. I’m saying I’ve figured out a lot. I can do this. If…if you really want me.”
“Want you?” He gave a hoarse sound that might have been a laugh. “From the first time I saw you.”
Tears dripped onto her cheeks. “Ryan…”
Ryan’s big hands cradled her face, lifted it so that she couldn’t miss the deep glow in his eyes. “Josephine Dubray,” he said huskily, “will you be mine, to have and to hold, ’til death do us part?”
“I will,” she said shakily, acknowledging to herself that she was afraid, but refusing to let the fear rule her life any longer.
Ryan kissed her with consummate tenderness and love. How could she have lived without this? she asked herself, as she flung her arms around his neck and kissed him back with everything in her. With her eyes closed, she seemed to be floating in emotions so powerful, they made what and who she had been seem dull and tepid and cowardly.
When the kiss ended and Ryan touched his forehead to hers, Jo said softly, “I wonder what my father would say if I asked him to give me away?”
“I think he’d be honored.”
Jo nodded. Forgiveness might not be love, but it felt right. Necessary.
“I will,” she repeated, and then smiled, brimming with joy she couldn’t contain. “I will.”
ISBN: 978-1-4592-1296-1
BUILT TO LAST
Copyright © 2011 by Janice Kay Johnson
Originally published as TAKING A CHANCE
© 2003 by Janice Kay Johnson
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