by Gina Wilkins
He turned away from the big windows to look at her. “I turned thirty recently. But you knew that, didn’t you?”
Maybe she was dreaming. Nothing seemed to be making sense. “Yes. I was there.”
“Which is what made it so special,” he said with one of his sexy, single-dimpled smiles.
She almost gulped.
“Anyway, when a man reaches the age of thirty, it seems like he should take stock of his life. Where he’s been. Where he’s headed. What he wants.”
“And?” she whispered, holding herself steady with one hand on the back of a chair.
He answered with another confusing subject change. “I have some good news to share with you. I was offered a full partnership in the law firm yesterday.”
She couldn’t help remembering the drive to Shane’s ranch on Scott’s birthday, when she had shared her own career news with him. “Congratulations, Scott. I’m very—”
“I turned it down.”
Stunned, she clutched the chair with both hands. She could feel the blood drain from her face. “You did what?”
“I turned it down.”
“Scott, why? It was your dream.”
“No. It was a goal, not a dream. I’ve only recently realized that there’s a difference. Once I reached that goal, I knew it was time to move on.”
Maybe she should try pinching herself. This simply could not be real. “What—what are you going to do?”
He straightened his wildly patterned shirt. “I’m looking for a change of scenery. Texas is great, but it’s time for new experiences. I can practice law anywhere, once I’ve obtained the proper licenses.”
“Here?” Her voice was barely audible. “You’re moving here?”
He was still smiling, but his eyes were very intense when he looked at her. “Yes. I have a new goal, you see.”
“What new goal?”
“Convincing you to marry me. This goal is also a dream, by the way. One I expect to fulfill me for a lifetime.”
“I am dreaming,” she said out loud. There was no way this was really happening.
He chuckled softly. “No. It’s real.”
“I…” She couldn’t for the life of her make her tongue respond to her will.
“My sister says you keep your emotions very well hidden,” Scott said, sounding suddenly a bit uncertain. “She says she can never tell exactly what you’re thinking or feeling. I’ve got to admit, I know what she’s talking about right now.”
It would help, Lydia thought, if she knew what she was feeling. Other than terror, of course. Other than a wild, reckless, almost overwhelming urge to throw herself in his arms and hold him forever. “Scott—”
“I know I’ve got my work cut out for me,” he went on doggedly. “We didn’t plan on anything like this. You certainly never said you wanted me to join you in your new life here. Maybe, like the woman I knew in law school, you think you need to be on your own to accomplish your goals. But, whatever it requires, however long it takes, I’m going to convince you that this is right, Lydia. That we’re perfect together. That we were meant to be together.”
“Yes.”
“I’m going to show you that I would never stand in your way, that I can be a partner to you in every way. If we choose to have a family, I’ll be there to help you with…” He paused, frowning. “What did you just say?”
“Yes.” She said it rather more firmly this time.
“Yes, what?” he asked, sounding as if he wasn’t entirely sure they were talking about the same thing.
“Yes, I’ll marry you.”
“Oh.” He looked suddenly as stunned as she felt. “But I haven’t even asked you yet.”
She was now torn between kissing him and punching him. If he was only toying with her… “Well?” she prompted.
Very slowly, his eyes began to lighten as his smile invaded them. “Lydia McKinley, will you do me the great honor of marrying me? In a civil ceremony or a lavish affair with all the trimmings—whatever you want, as long as it’s forever.”
“Yes,” she said again. After all the debate, all the stress, all the worry, it turned out she’d never been more certain of anything in her life.
His grin was full, almost blinding. “That was a lot easier than I expected.”
She finally released the chair and stepped toward him. “I’m still not entirely convinced I’m not dreaming.”
He moved a step in her direction. “What would it take to convince you?”
“You could pinch me, I suppose.”
His grin turned wicked. “Oh, Lydia. I’m going to do a lot more than that.”
Finally, she was in his arms and his mouth was on hers. And if she was dreaming, she knew she never wanted to wake up.
Scott spared only a glance at Lydia’s new bedroom before he turned to her beside the bed. “Very nice,” he said—but he was looking at her, not the decor.
She smiled. “About those clothes…”
He glanced down. “What about them?”
“I’m not sure they’re really you.”
“Not even the new Florida me?”
Laughing, she shook her head. “I miss my Texan.”
He reached out to pull her into his arms. “I’m real glad to hear that, ma’am,” he said in an exaggerated drawl.
She tugged his head down to hers. “Just be quiet and kiss me, will you?”
“With pleasure,” he murmured, then proceeded to do so until neither of them could tease any longer.
With long, deep, hungry kisses, they attempted to make up for all the lonely days they had spent apart. Their hands raced over each other, eager to compensate for lost time. Clothes flew, landing in multi-colored puddles across the sand-colored carpet. The bed rocked when they fell heavily onto it.
Lydia no longer worried that she might be dreaming. No mere dream could make her feel this good. Only Scott could do that.
As if he was afraid he might have forgotten some minor detail, Scott reexplored every inch of her, trailing his lips and fingertips from the hollow of her throat to the swell of her breasts, and then slowly, tantalizingly lower. Along the way, he nipped, nibbled and licked until she was writhing with sensations almost too intense to bear. And when she arched and cried out, he gave her even more.
“I love you,” he murmured just before he joined them with one powerful thrust.
She would have repeated the words, but he had completely deprived her of the power of speech. She settled instead for showing him exactly how she felt.
She must have fallen asleep. There were long shadows in the bedroom when she opened her eyes. Needing reassurance again that it hadn’t been a dream, she lifted her head and looked at the pillow next to hers. She smiled in relief when she saw Scott lying there awake, one hand behind his head, the other lying on his flat stomach.
“Hi,” he said.
“You’re really here.”
His smile turned tender. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”
Pulling the sheet snugly beneath her arms, she shifted to prop herself on one elbow, facing him. “You really turned down the partnership? Gave up your job with the firm in Dallas?”
“I really did. So I sure hope you like your job here.”
“I do, actually. Very much.”
“I’m glad to hear that. It’s a beautiful area. I think we’ll like living here, don’t you?”
“Yes, I think we will.” She ran a fingertip down his arm, feeling the muscles beneath his skin. “Have you, um, told your sister?”
“Yes. I called her yesterday. Yours, too, for that matter.”
“You called my sister?”
“Yes. I suppose I wanted her blessing, too. She said she wondered what was taking me so long to follow you here. And then she wished me luck.”
Apparently, Larissa had decided to give her approval to this match even if Scott was still a lawyer. “I have a feeling your sister didn’t react quite so positively. I’m sure she’s still sobbing at the t
hought of you moving away.”
He shook his head against the pillow. “You continue to underestimate my sister. Heather didn’t try to stop me from this move. In fact, she claims full credit for giving me the idea.”
She couldn’t have heard him correctly. “I beg your pardon?”
“It was something she said during her wedding rehearsal. She pretended to be glad we were going our separate ways, but she said that was only an act. According to her, she was actually encouraging me to come after you.”
Lydia was stunned. She remembered that Heather had said something at her wedding about having “planted the seed,” but she’d had no idea it was anything like this. “What made her change her mind about me?”
“I’m not sure exactly. She said it was something she overheard that convinced her we were right for each other after all. She said she had an ‘instinct’ about it,” he added wryly.
Lydia laughed. “I can’t believe it.”
“Hey, that’s my sister. I gave up trying to figure her out a long time ago.”
“I know she’ll miss you terribly.”
“As much as Larissa misses you,” he agreed seriously. “As much as we’ll miss them in return. But our sisters have their own lives. It’s time for us to get on with ours. We’ll visit them often—and we’ll make sure to let them see that we knew what we were doing all along when we ignored their matchmaking to find our own partners.”
“Has it occurred to you that it’s because of our sisters’ matchmaking that we ended up together? So maybe they should get the credit after all.”
Scott almost shuddered. “Don’t even think that when you’re around them. If we give them the credit, we’ll never hear the end of it.”
She smiled and leaned down to kiss him. And then sent a silent thank-you to Larissa and Heather for making this surprise partnership possible.
ISBN: 978-1-4603-5548-0
SURPRISE PARTNERS
Copyright © 2000 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 editorial office, Silhouette Books, 300 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017 U.S.A.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and TM are trademarks of Harlequin Books S.A., used under license. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
Visit Silhouette at www.eHarlequin.com
* From Bud to Blossom
† Family Found: Sons & Daughters
§ Family Found
‡ The Family Way