Watching Nick as he walked back to her, Lanie understood it, too. When you loved someone, really and truly, passionately and forever, there were no games and no pretense, no self-protection or hiding, only a sense of rightness so blazingly fierce that you saw the world colored with hope and magic.
Lanie forgot Mrs. Smith and started towards Nick.
He flicked open a blue velvet box and knelt in front of her.
Her heart stuttered. Breathing became an optional extra, unimportant compared to the happiness roaring through her.
“Lanie Briers, I love you. Will you marry me?”
“Yes!” She barely let him finish the question before flinging herself at him.
He rose in one smooth, powerful movement and swung her in a circle of exultant happiness before bringing her, dizzy and safe, into his kiss.
“Love you, handsome,” she whispered, just before her family and Richard besieged them.
“You forgot the ring,” Stella cried. She pushed the box at Nick, who’d dropped it.
He took it, smiling ruefully, his gaze not leaving Lanie. “A family heirloom, but you can have—”
“I love it.” She hadn’t looked at the ring. But when he put it on her finger, she forgot to breathe all over again. The beautiful emerald, surrounded by diamonds, sparkled with sunlit joy; the perfect ring for a woman who loved a gardener.
The perfect symbol of their love.
Note From The Author
I’m an avid reader, turned enthusiastic author, and I write as widely as I read. I’ve written in genres from science fiction to Regency romance, from steampunk to contemporary romance set on the coast and in small town America. The only thing I insist on is a happy ending.
If you’d like to learn more about my books, please visit my website (I have all my social media links and VIP newsletter sign-up there) or follow my Amazon Author Profile to have Amazon alert you to my new releases.
Happy reading!
Jenny
http://authorjennyschwartz.com/
P.S. Thank you for your reviews. They are the “social proof” that coaxes Amazon to show my books to readers like you who’ll also enjoy them. Thank you!
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