Earth Angel
Page 15
“Give me that thing,” she said, snatching it out of his hands. She flipped it open. “We agreed no business at the cabin on the honeymoon. Anyway, how did you arrange to have it delivered … Wait a minute. This is last week’s newspaper.”
He shrugged. “I needed a fix. Take me outside and let me bask in the real fresh air and sunshine and it’ll go away.”
“You’re naked,” she pointed out.
He looked down at himself, then shrugged again and rubbed his chest. “Clothes take a lot of energy to be manufactured, and then there’s the dyes polluting the atmosphere—”
“They pollute the water.”
“The water. Not to mention the impact to the landfills when they’re thrown away …”
She reached down and turned off the taps. “I’ll buy you a lifetime membership in a nature club. Happy now?”
“Ecstatic.”
She dropped her robe and stepped into the old-fashioned claw-footed tub. Sighing, she lay back in the warm water, the liquid like silk against her skin.
Miles walked over to the tub and climbed in with her. “Shall we conserve?”
“You’re a fast learner,” she murmured.
The past week had been sheer bliss, and Catherine had no doubt Miles was enjoying every minute of it, business fix or not. She vowed to make up for every hurt she’d caused him. And she would love every minute of that.
That afternoon, as they sat on the cabin porch, Miles plucked at his flannel shirt and grumbled, “Too damned confining.”
She grinned at him. “What are you going to do when you get back into your three-piece suits?”
“Itch to death.” He glanced out at the spectacular view of Utah’s Wah Wah mountain range. The peaks were capped white and plunged into deep sand valleys. The blue-green haze of Sevier Lake was just visible in the distance. Clouds danced across a pristine sky. “I bet there isn’t another human within twenty miles of this little cabin. I still can’t believe anyone was ready to turn this place into a strip mine. It would have been a sin.”
“Not anyone, Miles. Us,” she said gently, leaning on the porch rail. “And you stopped it. Without the codicil.”
He nodded, feeling a little like Superman. “Glad I was finally able to see the place.”
She turned and looked at him. “That’s right. You hadn’t seen it. I knew what I was fighting for because I’d come up here with Grandfather. But you didn’t. You even put up that sign and didn’t know what it said.”
He chuckled. “I had great faith in you.”
To his surprise, she flung herself against him. “I … Miles, you did. I never realized. I promise I’ll make it up to you.”
“You already did,” he said, wrapping his arms around her. “You married me against your better judgment.”
“I have lousy judgment.”
“Excuse me, folks.”
Miles turned to find Mr. Walters, a fishing friend of Allan’s who took care of the cabin, puffing his way toward them. Catherine slipped out of his arms. So much for his theory about twenty miles.
“Left my truck at the bottom of the canyon and climbed up,” Walters said, taking off his cowboy hat and wiping his forehead. “Didn’t think Red would make it. I damn near didn’t, either.” He held out a large envelope. “This come for you two. It looks important, so I thought I better bring it right away.”
Catherine took the envelope from him. Miles looked at the return address and raised his eyebrows. “It’s from Grandmother.”
Catherine pulled open the gummed flap and shook out a legal looking document.
“Must be another one of her friend’s schemes she wants me to approve,” he said, looking over his wife’s shoulder.
“Miles.” Catherine’s voice shook. “It’s the missing codicil.”
Miles read the first paragraph more closely. It was. He pulled off the frilly notepaper clipped to it and read aloud:
Dear Catherine and Miles,
It was quite a fight to get you two together, but you both finally came around. Here is the codicil from Allan. He left it in my keeping to file, not trusting his lawyers. I’m afraid I fibbed a little about a few things. I had to do something to get you involved with each other. You were too slow on your own. Allan would be pleased to know he had a hand in some matchmaking. Know you’ll forgive my small deception because it all turned out right in the end. Love, Grandmother.
Miles crumpled the note and tossed it over the edge of the canyon. “I think I’ll kill her when we get home.”
“I get to go first.” Catherine carefully folded the document. “We better get home and file this with the state.”
“After we do something natural and environmentally safe,” Miles reminded her.
Mr. Walters frowned in puzzlement.
Three thousand miles away, Lettice smiled.
Many thanks to LINC for all its collective brains, and to Dot Brown for “Earth Angel.” I love the song too. Let’s keep the earth green and growing. It’s all we’ve got.
THE EDITOR’S CORNER
Welcome to Loveswept!
Love is in the air this month – and no, I’m not talking about that holiday. I’m talking about all of our fantastic Loveswept releases coming up, and I’m so excited to share them all with you.
Tina Wainscott’s red-hot WILD ON YOU introduces the Justiss Alliance, an elite team of heroes out to do right. This is one book that will be hard to put down, as one untamable SEAL meets a woman who handles the wildest sort of animals—until she herself becomes the hunted. Another book that I keep raving about it Sally Eggert’s electrifying romantic suspense, IN THE DARK, where passion raises the stakes when a woman is drawn into a dangerous game, with a man who may not be what he seems. Intrigued? I was! If you’re a fan of historical romance with tons of sensuality, adventure and intrigue, look no further than Sharon Cullen’s PLEASING THE PIRATE, where a ruthless pirate and a Scottish lass are wrenched between love and duty. And if you were sucked into Stacey Kennedy’s CLAIMED like I was, you’ll be happy to hear that the oh-so-sexy Club Sin returns in BARED – a wicked and wild tale of submission, seduction, and love.
And of course, we can’t forget about those classic romances that made us fall in love time and again. This month we have two fantastic books from two beloved authors: Sandra Chastain’s irresistible reads: JOKER’S WILD and LEAN MEAN LOVING MACHINE, and Ruth Owen’s wonderful historicals: MIDNIGHT MISTRESS and GAMBLER’S DAUGHTER. Then there’s Karen Leabo’s tale of hot pursuit and hotter passions, HOT PROPERTY, and Linda Cajio’s EARTH ANGEL, where a boardroom hotshot discovers heavenly pleasure with an unlikely angel. And a sensuous historical tale from #1 New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen, WILD SILVER: THE DELANEY’S – who doesn’t love a story with a wicked prince and a beautiful, willful captive?
Be swept away with Loveswept!
Gina Wachtel
Associate Publisher
Love stories you’ll never forget by authors you’ll always remember
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