by Lisa Wells
“I was just in the neighborhood,” he said with a tentative smile.
Her mind told her to resist the smile, but her heart refused. “On a night like tonight. What could you possibly be doing on my street on a night like tonight?”
“I lost something and I was looking for it.”
She wanted so many things all at the same time; she couldn’t act on any of them. “What’s that?”
“I was told by my grandmother to get my ass in gear and come here to find it.”
Lacey nodded. Her communication skills deserted her.
“May I come in?” he asked.
Finally, heat fused her body and she blushed. “Sorry, come in. Let me have your hat. Go stand by the fire and get warm.”
Covey handed her his hat and walked toward the fire. “What did you lose Covey that would be here?” she asked. Her hands trembled and she nearly dropped his hat before she tossed it on the couch.
Covey turned around slowly. His gaze traveled over her face and searched her eyes. She saw something in his eyes that had to be her imagination. She held her hands over her stomach in protection. She was afraid to put into words what his eyes were shouting.
He held out his right hand and pointed to the mood ring she placed on his pinky on their wedding day. “This damn thing keeps saying I’m in love; and I lost the receipt to take it back.”
Disappointment gushed in. How could he be so cruel? “Oh,” she let her gaze drop to his chest. Her body ached for his touch.
He unbuttoned his jacket and tossed it on the couch.
“I don’t have the receipt. I…” With a start, she read the front of his T-shirt. Emblazoned in red were the words Mr. Wrong with a line drawn diagonally through them.
Her hope unlocked. “I don’t understand.”
“Lacey, I don’t want to be your Mr. Wrong. I want to be your Mr. Right. Am I too late? Have you already moved on?”
She opened her mouth, but he stopped her from speaking.
“Even if you have, I want to interfere. I’m better for you than that scum you were engaged to. Marry me, be mine forever.”
Lacey gasped in surprise. “But, you hate marriage. You said I don’t turn you on,” she reminded him as she studied his lean dark face. Was she dreaming? Was this another dream she’d wake up from and feel her heart break all over again?
“Lacey, I love you. I can’t survive without you. I told you those things out of pain. I’ve never wanted someone as much as I want you. All of you. Your body, your soul, your heart.” He dropped down on one knee and brought out her own mood ring she’d left on the bedside table in his cabin. “Lacey Valentine, your husky voice lassoed my heart, your incredible personality knocked me off my feet, and your superior lovemaking skills finished me off. I love you darling, forever. Will you marry me?”
Lacey’s lip trembled in disbelief. She pinched herself to make sure she was awake. “Covey James, you are the man I never knew I wanted. I love you for opening my eyes to the beauty of the things that are wrong with you. I love you. I would be honored to marry you.”
He slipped the ringer on her finger. They watched it turn yellow.
She smiled. “I’m pretty sure my ring is working,” she said.
“What does yellow mean?” he asked.
Lacey glanced at her stomach and then at him. “I’m pregnant. We’re pregnant.”
Awe washed over his face and a tear rolled down his cheek. His hands trembled. He stood up and pulled her into his arms. “We’re having a baby?”
“Yes. You’re going to be a daddy.”
He let out a cowboy holler. “Were you going to tell me? Lacey, I can’t survive without you. I need you like nothing I’ve ever needed in my life. I love you.”
Lacey bit her lip. “You really do?”
“Yes. When is the baby due?”
Lacey laughed. He wasn’t upset about the baby. He was in love with her. He wanted her sexually. All of this pain for naught. “You’re going to be a daddy in the spring.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered in his ear, “I love you.”
Chapter 31
Lacey was propped up in the hospital bed with Covey James IV bundled in her arms. Covey James III stood beside her, his chest puffed out in macho pride.
“Nine pounds. I threw a strapping nine pound boy,” he told his brother Casp, who’d just bounded into the room.
“Not bad for your first try. I’m sure you’ll do better on the next,” Casp teased him.
“Hey you two, I get some say if there’s going to be a next one,” Lacey said with a smile at both men.
They both looked at her and winked simultaneously.
Covey said, “You sure do sweetheart. Can we start tonight on number two?”
She frowned. “In your dreams, big boy.” As much as she loved sex with her husband, tonight wasn’t doable.
“I knew it, the sex is over. Just like I’d always feared,” Covey said in mock horror.
“Hey you two, I’m still in here, could you hold off on the subject of sex.” Casp said in a teasing tone.
“What’s wrong, you still not getting any?” Covey asked him.
“Who’s not getting any?” asked Maddison, as she came into the room like a whirlwind, her arms full of gift bags. She dumped everything in Casp’s hands and moved Covey out of the way so she could get next to Lacey and little Covey. “Oh, he’s so beautiful. Look at his tiny nose and little ears.”
“They may be small, but there’s one thing destined to be large. Just like his old man’s,” Covey said, while standing at the foot of the bed.
“Covey, stop that. We’ve got company,” Lacey admonished.
“Honey, they know we have sex. We’ve got proof.”
Maddison looked around the room. Her eyes stopped on Casp. “You look familiar. Have we met?” she asked.
“No, but we could have dinner and remedy that,” Casp responded in a smarmy voice.
“No, really, I’m sure we’ve met somewhere.”
Casp shrugged.
“Are you the one not getting any?” Maddison asked.
Casp coughed and glared at Lacey and Covey who were both laughing. “I’m getting plenty, thank you,” he told Maddison.
Maddison’s eyes grew wide. “I know why you look familiar.” She gave him a head to toe look. “You’re the centerfold in this month’s Playgirl Magazine.”
They were all so focused on one another, they didn’t hear the hospital door open, until they heard Grandmother. “Playgirl Magazine. What is she talking about Casp James?”
The occupants in the room looked wildly at each other. Lacey came to their rescue. “You know, I’m a little tired. Would all of you mind letting Covey and I have some time alone?”
Maddison and Casp went out first, arguing with one another as they did. Grandmother took a peak at her great grandson and then whispered, “I think I need to get my ring ready for those two.” She nodded her head toward the door. They could all hear Maddison and Casp quarrelling.
With everyone gone, Lacey gave Covey a suggestive look. “I’ve made a decision.”
“What kind of decision?” Covey asked, while playing with his son’s fingers.
“Well, the doctor told me sex was off limits for six weeks.”
Covey’s shoulders’ slumped. “Surely, that’s a myth.”
“I don’t think so. I’m pretty sore. But, listen. I promised you a wedding gift that we haven’t gotten around to.”
“You did? What?”
“I’m pretty sure I promised you that I’d give my husband a complete Big Mamma’s Bawdy Brothel Special.”
He swallowed the lump in his throat. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
“Mmmm mmmm.”
“Now?”
She gave him an outlandish wink and patted the bed for him to come and sit down. “Maybe.”
A word about the author…
LISA WELLS fell in love with the idea of writing books in the fourth g
rade during a year-long writing unit. After snagging a few romance novels out of a brown paper bag under her Granny Hazel’s bed and reading them, she knew romance was the genre for her. Lisa lives in Southwest Missouri with her sexy husband and two, mostly-perfect children. She’d love to hear from, you so stop by her web site at www.lisawellsauthor.com.
Thank you for purchasing this Wild Rose Press publication. For other wonderful stories of romance, please visit our on-line bookstore at www.thewildrosepress.com.
For questions or more information contact us at [email protected].
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