By now Josh’s heart was pounding so hard he could hardly hear his own thoughts. But the one he did hear...
Dee’s brow creased when Josh pushed himself up to sit beside her on the couch, tugging over a nearby ottoman to prop his boot on the edge.
“Okay, what’s with the grin?”
“I bet between us we could swing a half-decent down payment.” He smiled into her startled gaze. “Whaddya think?”
Now her eyes nearly popped out of her head. Only to immediately squint. “And that wouldn’t be you trying to buy me, would it?”
He actually laughed. “Even if that were possible—since you’re the last person on earth who could be bought—we’re talking a piece of property, honey. Hell, you can make it a loan, if that makes you more comfortable. But when I said everything I have, or am, is yours... I meant it.”
Dee turned away, staring toward the tree. “You’d really be willing to risk it? On me?”
Chuckling, Josh swung his arm around her shoulders to tug her and the still nursing baby closer. “Trust me, laying my butt on the line with you like I just did? That was far scarier than investing in your new gallery could ever be.”
Her breath actually hitched before she said, “Our new gallery.”
“Oh, no—that’s all yours. I’ll stick with horses and rodeos, thank you. Since what I know about art you could write on a gum wrapper.”
Several moments of silence passed before she said, real softly, “No one’s ever...” Then she shook her head, and Josh kissed her hair, and she knuckled away a tear before shoving out another choked little laugh.
“I suppose this means I have to marry you now,” she said, and Josh’s heart banged against his ribs hard enough to hurt. “Since I doubt anyone’s ever shacked up at the Vista before.”
“And God forbid the ghosts talk smack about us.”
Her chuckle rumbled through him. “God forbid.”
“But only if you want to. No pressure.”
“Got it.” Then Dee looked up at him, her eyes all shiny. “What was always true still is, you know.”
“And what’s that?”
“That I love you,” she said softly. “That I trust you. That you’ll always be my best friend.”
“Same goes,” Josh whispered as the dog stuck his head back in the room, cautiously wagging his tail. Chuckling, Josh smacked his leg to bring the dog closer. “Merry Christmas, sweetheart,” he said, more content than he’d ever been in his life. “Or should I say, Marry Christmas?”
Dee groaned, then laughed so hard Thor got on his hind legs to shove his face in hers, making sure she was okay.
* * *
“You ready?”
Sitting beside Josh in his SUV, both kids strapped in their car seats behind them, Deanna blew out a breath, then nodded. Next year, he thought, they’d do Christmas Eve at their house—a thought that still, less than twenty-four hours after Deanna agreed to marry him, sent a thrill racing up his spine. But tonight they were all gathering at his parents’ place, and it would be crazy and loud and a trial by fire for the girl whose childhood had been so lonely and quiet most of the time. But if she was truly opting for this life, best she know what she was really getting into.
He leaned over and kissed her, her lips cold and smooth even though the truck’s heat had kicked in almost as soon as they’d left the ranch. Once she’d told him about her and Gus’s conversation, when she’d learned about her mother’s mental health struggles, her aunt’s role in her father’s sending her away, a lot of things made sense that hadn’t before. For both of them, but especially for Dee. And Josh was well aware that it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park for either of them, watching her feel her way through to the other side after all the crap her family, in some misguided effort to shield her from her own pain, had actually dumped on her to deal with later. At the same time, that she trusted him enough to do that...
Well. You really couldn’t put a price on that.
Austin naturally ran off to play with his cousins the moment they entered the cozy little house, filled with the traditional New Mexico Christmas Eve scents of roasting turkey and spicy enchiladas and posole. Val appeared out of nowhere to claim Katie, who was taking in the sights and sounds with big dark eyes and pursed lips.
“Auntie time,” his twin’s wife said with a wink, as if she knew. Then again, knowing Val, she probably did.
Still in their coats, Josh took Dee’s hand and led her into the jam-packed kitchen, filled to bursting with Talbots. Or soon-to-be Talbots. And immediately the chattering and laughter ceased, all eyes turning to them. Expectantly, Josh thought.
Then Dee took a deep breath and said, “I’m staying,” and Austin popped up again out of nowhere and said, “An’ she’s gonna be my mom! For real!” and all hell broke loose.
In the best possible way.
Several minutes later, after the poor woman had been hugged within an inch of her life and Josh’s back had been slapped so hard he was sure he’d have bruises, he tugged his fiancée into a back bedroom to kiss the stuffing out of her. Then she smiled up at him and whispered, “Thank you for loving me,” and he saw so much promise in her eyes he almost couldn’t stand it.
But he’d manage, he thought, pulling her into his arms with a big old grin on his face.
Epilogue
Several weeks later
Dude definitely hadn’t been kidding about not being careful, Deanna thought with a satisfied smile as she gradually came awake in the new king-size bed in the house’s master bedroom.
The bedroom she now shared with the warm, naked man in whose arms she’d awakened. The man responsible for that satisfied smile. The man who’d finally banished the ghosts from this house—her thoughts—forever. Or at least, was helping her banish them.
Dee lay in the silence of the deep winter morning, still gray and soft and velvety, cherishing the moment. The peace. The...knowing. That she was safe, and loved, and right where she belonged. Where she’d always belonged, if she were being honest. And where her daughter would grow up cocooned in love, in laughter and shenanigans, surrounded by family.
Thank you, Daddy, she thought, blinking back the suggestion of tears. Whatever mistakes her father might have made—even from the best of intentions—in the end, he got it right.
So right.
From his dog bed in the corner, Thor whup-whupped in his sleep, probably disturbing the cat, who’d taken to cozying up to the mutt, much to the dog’s shock. It’d be a good hour before the kids woke up—Katie had been sleeping through the night for weeks, God bless her, in Dee’s old room, now girlified within an inch of its life. Although her wicked, wicked mother-in-law had said not to get used to it, the next one probably wouldn’t. A thought that pushed a silent chuckle from Deanna’s chest. Not that she and Josh were in any hurry to add to their brood—they’d only been married a week, for heaven’s sake, a no-frills justice of the peace affair with a reception at Annie’s—but maybe next year...
She snuggled closer, breathing in Josh’s scent, reveling in his solidity, his thereness. It’d been a crazy few weeks, including her returning to DC long enough to close up her apartment, arrange for shipping stuff here she wanted to keep, sell off what she didn’t. Enduring an endless evening with her aunt and uncle to show off Katie, practically choking on the rampant disapproval, that clearly her aunt’s plan to rescue Deanna had backfired so spectacularly. Then again, once Emily’s wedding was over, she doubted she’d ever see them again. No reason to, really.
And, since the sale to Mallory was no longer an option—not that her future sister-in-law seemed at all unhappy about that—Josh instead offered to rent her part of the spread for h
er therapy facility since so much of the ranch was underutilized, anyway. And those funds would go into the kids’ college funds, as well into the gallery, which Deanna planned on opening in the spring—
Josh stirred, then yawned and stretched before pulling her closer, his early-morning beard haze tickling her neck, his fingers skimming the slim gold band on her finger before finding their way to her no-longer-leaking breast, hallelujah.
“Mornin’, wife,” he murmured, his voice thick with sleep as he thumbed her nipple, making her toes curl.
“Morning, husband,” she whispered back, turning into a mass of tingles when Josh gave her an impish grin.
“How much time we got?”
“Enough,” she said, laughing when he disappeared beneath the covers to stoke fires that, to be honest, didn’t need all that much stoking. And she melted at his touch, his tenderness, the message behind them both—I’m not goin’ anywhere, darlin’—breathing out a sigh of pure contentment when he slid inside her, filling all her empty spaces...and she saw, in his eyes, bright in the silky, filmy light, home.
“I love you,” she whispered, and he grinned.
“Oh, just wait,” he said, and she laughed, thinking, I am a lucky, lucky girl.
* * * * *
EXCLUSIVE EXTRACT
Crown Prince Armando enlists Rosa Lamberti to find him a suitable wife—but could a stolen kiss under the mistletoe lead to an unexpected Christmas wedding?
Read on for a sneak preview of
WINTER WEDDING FOR THE PRINCE
by Barbara Wallace
“Have you ever looked at an unfocused telescope only to turn the knob and make everything sharp and clear?” Armando asked.
Rosa nodded.
“That is what it was like for me, a few minutes ago. One moment I had all these sensations I couldn’t explain swirling inside me, then the next everything made sense. They were my soul coming back to life.”
“I don’t know what to think,” she said.
“Then don’t think,” he replied. “Just go with your heart.”
He made it sound easy. Just go with your heart. But what if your heart was frightened and confused? For all his talk of coming to life, he was essentially in the same place as before, unable or unwilling to give her a true emotional commitment.
On the other hand, her feelings wanted to override her common sense, so maybe they were even. As she watched him close the gap between them, she felt her heartbeat quicken to match her breath.
“You do know that we’re under the mistletoe yet again, don’t you?”
The sprig of berries had quite a knack for timing, didn’t it? Anticipation ran down her spine ceasing what little hold common sense still had. Armando was going kiss her and she was going to let him. She wanted to lose herself in his arms. Believe for a moment that his heart felt more than simple desire.
This time, when he wrapped his arm around her waist, she slid against him willingly, aligning her hips against his with a smile.
“Appears to be our fate,” she whispered. “Mistletoe, that is.”
“You’ll get no complaints from me.” She could hear her heart beating in her ears as his head dipped toward hers. “Merry Christmas, Rosa.”
“Mer…” His kiss swallowed the rest of her wish. Rosa didn’t care if she spoke another word again. She’d waited her whole life to be kissed like this. Fully and deeply, with a need she felt all the way down to her toes.
They were both breathless when the moment ended. With their foreheads resting against each other, she felt Armando smile against her lips. “Merry Christmas,” he whispered again.
Don’t miss
WINTER WEDDING FOR THE PRINCE by Barbara Wallace
Available December 2016
PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY
www.millsandboon.co.uk
Copyright ©2016 by Barbara Wallace
ISBN: 978-147-4-04186-7
THE RANCHER’S EXPECTANT CHRISTMAS
© 2016 Karen Templeton
Published in Great Britain 2016
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
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