“Don’t say a word,” he commanded before either she or Lalie could exclaim with surprise. “Come with me.”
They followed him out of the banquet hall to Thomas Graves’s office. Elizabeth and Cameron were there on the office couch, hugging, crying happy tears. Graves, in his desk chair, was blinking moisture from his own eyes.
Rafe shut the door, took off the glasses and stripped off his fake mustache. He gave Lalie a big hug, then took Terra in his arms and kissed her long and sweet.
He turned with her to his grandparents and announced, “Meet my future wife.” Then he immediately turned back to her and asked, “What are you doing here?”
“She had a feeling,” Lalie supplied. “A Leon feeling about Noel-Cooke.”
Rafe raised his eyebrows. “Well, is my future wife brilliant or what?”
Terra didn’t know what to say about being Rafe’s future wife, so she asked, “Where is Leon?”
“Having a word with a federal agent in another office,” Graves said.
Then she asked Rafe, “How did you slip through security here?”
“Stole a banquet waiter’s union card ID at that hotel in Charleston.” He touched his red hair and eyebrows. “Had a couple of Clairol moments.”
“How did you make Noel-Cooke talk?”
“Gave him a note that said his wife, children and yacht were in the gravest possible danger if he didn’t. Gave him a look at my eyes, too, when I served him the note. I think the yacht did the trick, though.”
“Rafe,” said Elizabeth, dabbing at her eyes, “you always were the nicest possible bad boy. You’ve proven it once again to one and all.”
Cameron gave him a power sign. “Good to have you back with us.”
Rafe nodded. “In jail probably for a while, if not longer.”
Elizabeth shook her head. “Oh, no. I’ll put up the resort for bail if that becomes necessary. The entire property.” She smiled at Terra. “How did you and Rafe coalesce in the midst of everything?”
“Someday when we both have time, Miz Elizabeth, I’ll tell you the whole incredible story.”
“Long one,” Rafe confirmed. “Two whole weeks.”
Graves stood from his desk. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve got an overcrowded banquet hall to keep an eye on.”
“And so do we,” Elizabeth said, rising along with Cameron.
They all left the office, followed by Lalie who wondered aloud where in heaven Liz was whenever there was a crisis. The answer to that, it seemed, might never be known.
Alone together, Terra and Rafe embraced. He rested his forehead against hers. “I’ve had a change of heart since you last saw me, Terra. A week without you did it.”
“What do you mean?”
“I need to settle down. With you and Josh, if you’ll both have me.”
She gave him a kiss that told him she’d have him without any doubt. “We’ve got some rough waters ahead, I know,” she said, “but in the end we’ll have what we want and need.”
“Say you’ll marry me, Terra.”
“I will,” she promised. “But first, there’s something you need to know.”
He groaned. “Don’t tell me you’ve got to get a divorce or annulment first. God, just when I think I’m going to get the wife and stepson of my biggest dreams, there’s something I don’t know?”
“Mmm-hmm. You’re getting a wife and son.”
“Come again?”
“Sit down, Rafe.” She led him to the couch. “You once said I reminded you of someone you knew. Mermaid?”
He gave her a quizzical look. “So?”
“Rafe, can you picture me five years younger, fifteen pounds slimmer, with long, blond hair?”
Rafe frowned, then his eyes widened. “How do you…Wait a minute, I never said she was…”
“I was blond, once, Rafe. Five years ago, the night before you put out to sea from Charleston Harbor.”
He drew back, looking thunderstruck. “You mean, you’re my Mermaid?”
“One and the same.”
Rafe stared at her, not saying anything for so long that she started to think he’d gone into shock. She touched his hand and he came to life, recognition dawning in his eyes.
“Terra, you’ve got me speechless.” He swallowed hard, obviously searching for words. “But now I see it.”
She drew a deep breath. “Rafe, Josh is our son.”
There was another startled silence, and then his blue eyes misted. “Well, glory be,” he murmured. “Josh Jermain.”
Terra nodded. “We’re a family, if you want one.”
Closing his eyes, Rafe gathered her in his arms and held her as her words sank in. Pillowed against his chest, Terra sighed.
Everything, finally, was going to be all right.
Epilogue
A YEAR LATER, on a lovely day in May, Terra and Rafe were married at Bride’s Bay Resort. Surrounded by dearly beloved family and friends, they made their vows to Judge Bradshaw in the rose garden gazebo.
The best man, Kent Prescott, and Macy Medford, the maid of honor, were the happiest friends at the event. People were already predicting they’d be the next newlyweds at Bride’s Bay. Of course, Macy caught the bouquet.
All charges against Rafe had been dropped, and with his name in the clear at last he’d made a full recovery. In fact, Terra thought he’d never looked better. He was breathtakingly handsome in his charcoal gray tux. He wore a pink rosebud m his lapel.
As for Rafe, he thought he’d never seen anything so beautiful as Terra, his wife, mother of his son, standing at his side. She looked like a mermaid princess in pearls and white satin, her veil flowing around her bare shoulders.
But perhaps the happiest family member witnessing their marriage was Joshua Andrew Jermain, who’d always wanted a father and got the real thing when his mommy married his daddy.
Roseanne Williams is acknowledged as the author of this work.
eISBN 978-14592-7827-1
STRANGER IN THE NIGHT
Copyright © 1996 by Harlequin Books S.A.
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 publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
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 the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
Printed In U.S.A.
Table of Contents
Cover Page
Table of Contents
Dear Reader
About the Author
Books by Roseanne Williams
Prologue
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Epilogue
Copyright
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Stranger In The Night Page 17