Foxfire Light
Page 18
Her breath caught in her throat. For an instant, she wasn’t able to reply. “I’ve been lonely here, too,” she admitted.
He appeared to lean toward her, as if to sweep her into his arms, then stopped. “There’s one way to end our misery.”
Inside, she was straining toward him, but some invisible force held her in check, too. “What’s that?” Joanna whispered.
“Marry me,” Linc said simply.
A smile began to curve its line along her lips. “I’ll marry you,” she accepted and added her own conditions to the proposal. “But—only if you promise to keep me barefoot and pregnant.”
His arms were around her and it was the only place in the world she wanted to be. Joanna closed her eyes, loving him more than she had ever believed it was possible to love a man.
His mouth came down to bruise her lips in a hungry kiss, but Joanna had been without the particular satisfaction only he could give just as long as he had. This was a feasting time. Both of them were trembling long before they had their fill.
His heart was beating so loudly, Joanna could hear it above the drumming of her own. She leaned weakly against the wide wall of his chest, momentarily satisfied just to be in his arms.
“I guess I didn’t need this after all,” Linc stated thickly.
One arm was withdrawn from around her. Its loss, as much as his cryptic statement, prompted Joanna to glance around. The champagne bottle was still in his hand. She had been so absorbed in loving him, she hadn’t been conscious of the bottle’s alien shape against her body.
It took her a second to understand why Linc had brought the champagne. It was so obvious when she realized it. He had believed she preferred champagne dinners to barbeques. The gesture of bringing champagne proved the lengths he would go to have her.
“If you had bothered to ask me,” Joanna murmured, “I would have told you that I don’t like champagne.”
“There are times when you can be as stubborn as a Missouri mule, Joanna,” Linc declared on a vibrantly possessive note. “But I have the feeling I’ll make a ridgerunner’s wife out of you yet.”
She partially withdrew from his embrace, but continued to rely on his steadying support as she bent to slip off her heels.
“What are you doing?” he frowned despite the hint of amusement in his voice.
“A proper ridgerunner’s wife is supposed to be barefoot,” Joanna reminded him. “I can handle that part of it, but I’ll need your participation for the rest of it.”
He laughed and pulled her back into his arms. “I’ll handle it—in my own good time,” Linc promised, tossing the champagne bottle onto the couch cushions. “I’m not sure that I fancy the idea of your momma marching me down the aisle with a shotgun at my back.”
The reference to her mother sobered Joanna, reminding her of the reason for the separation. “You do understand why I had to come back with her, don’t you?” she asked.
“Now, I do,” Linc assured her. “At the time you left, I didn’t. I thought she had influenced you into changing your mind about me.” A wry smile crooked his mouth, a very handsome mouth. “It would be safe to say that I’m not your mother’s first choice as a son-in-law.”
“But I’m not marrying you so she can have a son.” Joanna would have liked her mother’s approval, but it wouldn’t change anything if she didn’t have it. In all fairness to her mother, she had to say, “She has changed a little—since that incident with Reece. When our first baby is born, I wouldn’t be surprised if she came to the hills to see it.”
“Let’s do some practicing first before we get down to the serious business of making a baby,” Linc suggested.
“Anytime,” Joanna murmured provocatively.
JANET DAILEY is the author of scores of popular, uniquely American novels, including the bestselling The Glory Game, Silver Wings, Santiago Blue, The Pride of Hannah Wade, and the phenomenal four-volume Calder Saga. Since her first novel was published in 1975, Janet Dailey has become the bestselling female author in America, with more than 130,000,000 copies of her books in print. Her books have been published in 17 languages and are sold in 90 different countries. Janet Dailey’s careful research and her intimate knowledge of America have made her one of the best-loved authors in the country—and around the world.