by Janice Lynn
His heart surged with emotion. “I love you, you know.”
Tears now spilled over onto her cheeks.
“I’ve never said those words out loud as an adult, not to anyone, but they’re true. I love you, Savannah, and I need you in my life. Now and always. I was afraid I would do to you what my father did to my mother, what I thought I’d done to her. But I was wrong.”
Leaning over to wrap her arms around him as best she could, she buried her face against his neck. “I can’t believe you’re really here, that you’re really saying these things to me.”
“I should have been here every day, telling you how I feel every day. I don’t want to lose you, Savannah. Please tell me I haven’t. At least agree to play me for the chance to win a second chance. I promise not to blow it this time.”
She straightened, wiped at her tears, then picked her cards up again and nodded.
“Okay?” he asked, not exactly sure what she was agreeing to.
“Let’s play cards, Charlie.”
He picked up his cards, looked at his still sorry hand, then nodded. He might not win this game, but he was determined to spend the rest of his life trying to win the love and respect of the woman sitting across from him.
Without another word, they each took their turn, studying their cards carefully before each move.
Finally, prior to Savannah laying down her discard, she met his gaze. “So, if you win this game, you get a second chance with me?”
He nodded.
“And if I win?”
“Did you ever figure out what it was you wanted?”
She nodded, then tossed out a card.
The card she tossed fitted perfectly into Charlie’s hand. One more card and he’d be able to lie down. He wasn’t sure how he’d pulled his hand together, but with each round things had improved.
“Care to share what that is?” he asked as he discarded.
“If you want to know,” she said as if it were no big deal as she drew then tossed another card. A card that went perfectly with the card she’d previously tossed down.
The card Charlie needed to be able to lie down and win the game.
His gaze dropped to the discard pile, then he glanced up at her. “It’s not like you to toss away cards you need.”
“I don’t need those cards,” she denied.
“No?” He arched his brow at her. “Let me see your hand, Savannah.”
She frowned. “I thought you said you wouldn’t cheat.”
He turned his cards up on the table, revealing them, but he didn’t declare himself the winner, even though he was.
And not just at the card game.
Her gaze dropped to his cards for a brief moment, then she smiled. “You win.”
“Because you cheated.”
Her lips twitched.
“Let me see your cards, Savannah.”
She slowly flipped her cards over. Recalling the cards she’d tossed her previous few plays, he shook his head. “Cheat.”
“I didn’t cheat.”
“You didn’t win when you should have.”
“Maybe I didn’t want to win at cards.”
“Since when?”
“Since you changed the game rules.”
His heart surged with what she meant.
“I love you, Savannah.”
“I think I’ve always known that, Charlie. Even when you left me, deep in my heart I just couldn’t accept it.”
“I’m sorry I left, Savannah. I thought I was doing the right thing.”
“For future reference, anything involving you leaving me is never the right thing. I love you, Charlie.”
“I can’t believe I’m lucky enough for you to love me.”
“It’s easy to love you, Charlie,” she assured him. “You’re a very lovable man.”
Something inside him cracked at her words. He was lovable. Savannah said so and he saw the sincerity in her eyes, heard the conviction in her voice. He was lovable and she loved him.
“Thank you,” he told her, kissing her face. “Thank you for that.” Knowing she’d just given him a great gift that she’d probably never fully understand.
At that moment, her eyes widened, and then she smiled. Taking his hand into hers, she placed his palm against her belly. After just a couple of seconds he felt the tiniest little jolt. A few seconds later, he felt another.
He grinned. Hiccups.
They sat there in silence for a few minutes, him taking in the miracle of the life they’d created.
“I don’t know how to be a good parent, Savannah. I’ll need your help.”
“You’ll be a great daddy, Charlie. You already have the most important part down pat.”
“What’s that?”
“Love.”
That he did, because he did love this woman and their baby with all his heart and always would.
EPILOGUE
“ONE. TWO. THREE. Blow out your candles!” Savannah told the sweet three-year-old blond-haired little boy leaning over the picnic table to get to his birthday cake.
“I can’t believe my baby is three,” Chrissie whined from beside the table as she removed the candles once he’d extinguished all the flames.
Savannah’s mother sat near her, holding the sweetest baby girl in the whole world.
Yeah, Savannah had a difficult time believing Amelia was already three months old, too. Time sure flew when one was having fun.
She was having fun.
Mainly due to the handsome man snapping pictures to capture the moment. He caught her looking at him, grinned, then snapped a picture of her.
She rolled her eyes at him, causing him to laugh out loud, and take another photo.
After cake had been served all round, Savannah took Amelia so her mother could eat. At least that was her excuse. Really she’d just been away from her precious baby too long.
“She okay?” Charlie asked, stepping up and kissing the baby’s head. Although Amelia’s eyes were blue as could be, she’d gotten her dad’s dark hair. Savannah knew that most babies’ eyes were blue but, due to the lighter than normal shade, she suspected Amelia would keep hers. If she ended up with dark eyes like her father’s that would be just fine, too.
Either way, she had both her parents wrapped around her tiny fingers.
“She’s perfect,” Savannah assured him and meant it in every way possible.
“You want me to hold her so you can have some birthday cake?” Charlie offered, reaching for the baby.
Savannah laughed. “That was my excuse when I took her from my mom.”
He grinned and stroked his finger across Amelia’s head. “You’re right, you know. She is perfect.”
Savannah glanced down at the wiggling little bundle in her arms, who’d realized it was past time for her next feed and her mommy now held her. Although she’d struggled for the first few days with breastfeeding, she and Amelia had eventually gotten it figured out and she was thriving.
“She takes after her daddy.”
“Her mommy,” he corrected, his voice choked up. Charlie glanced around the backyard of the house he’d given to Savannah but that she hadn’t accepted until he’d carried her over the threshold as his wife, when he’d brought her home from the hospital after she’d delivered their daughter.
She smiled at him, knowing losing that card game to him was the best decision she’d ever made. Not that she’d let him win since. She hadn’t. Not that they finished most card games they started. They usually got distracted after just the first few hands.
She’d refused to marry him until after the baby had been born. They’d gotten married at the hospital with her mother and Chrissie there, along with their daughter.
They�
��d traveled back and forth between Chattanooga and Nashville more than Savannah liked to consider over the past few months, but no more. Although she’d offered to move to Nashville, Charlie had refused. He’d finished his obligation to Vanderbilt last month and he was home to stay.
Home with his family.
Home where he was loved and loved her right back.
Home.
* * * * *
EXCLUSIVE EXTRACT
Their chemistry is undeniable! But will Sullivan Darcy follow his heart when doctor princess Gabrielle Cartier must return home to rule?
Read on for a sneak preview of
THE DOCTOR AND THE PRINCESS
He turned the palm of his hand, extending it out towards her. ‘Give me Gabrielle back, please.’
She frowned with confusion. ‘What do you mean?’
He was giving her a knowing kind of smile. ‘I had her. I had her right there with me, then you just flipped back into princess mode.’
A little chill spread over her skin. He was right. She had. One second she’d been enjoying dinner with Sullivan, contemplating some fun, and the next? She’d been sucked back into the wave of responsibility that felt as if it could suffocate her.
Tears prickled in her eyes. But Sullivan kept his voice light, almost teasing. ‘When Gabrielle hears this tune, there’s only one thing she can do.’
‘I thought you didn’t dance?’ She smirked as the heat of his body pressed up against hers. Apart from the night she’d lain in his arms, this was the first time since Paris she’d really been in a place she wanted to be.
‘I thought you needed to let your hair down a little,’ he said huskily. ‘Remember what it is to have some fun.’
She swung her head. ‘But my hair is down,’ she argued, as her curls bounced around her shoulders.
‘Is it?’ he asked as he swung her round and dipped her.
She squealed, laughing, her arms slipping up and fastening around his neck. He held her there for a second, his mouth just inches from hers. She glanced up at his dark hair, running a finger along the edges. ‘This is the longest I’ve seen your hair. Is that a little kink? Does your normal buzz cut hide curls?’ She was teasing. She couldn’t help it.
This was the kind of life she wanted to live. She wanted to be free to work hard during the day and laugh, joke and flirt her way with a man who made her heart sing through the nights.
He swung her back up, so close her breasts pressed against his chest. ‘Now, that, my lovely lady, would be telling.’
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THE DOCTOR AND THE PRINCESS
by Scarlet Wilson
Available May 2017
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Copyright ©2017 Scarlet Wilson
ISBN: 978-1-474-05143-9
THE NURSE’S BABY SECRET
© 2017 Janice Lynn
Published in Great Britain 2017
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
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