by JoAnn Ross
“And someday, when we’re old and gray, I want to watch you sitting in the rocker on the veranda of the cabin, while I teach our horde of grandkids how to catch crawfish for dinner.”
“I suppose I’ll be the one cooking all those crawfish to feed the hungry hordes.” Her tone was dry, but the laughter in her eyes revealed she found the fantasy more than a little appealing.
“The kids will pitch in,” he promised. “Because I’ll be old and need lots of rest, so after all that hard work of crawfish catching, I believe a nap with Grandma would definitely be in order.”
She laughed at that. “You’re going to be a dirty old man, aren’t you?”
It was going to be okay, Shayne realized. A cooling wave of relief flooded over him.
“You bet... What do you say, Bliss? I have an empty house that needs furniture. And love. And children. And I need a woman—the right woman, the only woman—to help me fill it with all those things.”
Shayne O’Malley had lied to her, used her, made her the happiest woman in the world, then made her the most miserable. And now, looking up at him, Bliss realized that although she believed him when he said he loved her, life with this man would always be an adventure. The question was, was she brave enough to take it on?
“Bliss?”
He was still waiting for her answer. He’d waited long enough, she decided. They’d both waited long enough.
She twined her fingers behind his neck, her heart in her eyes as she smiled up at him.
“Yes. On one condition.”
“Anything,” he said without missing a beat.
Bliss knew he meant it.
“If we’re going to have all those children, I think we should get started right away.”
His laugh was expelled on a pent-up whoosh of relief. “Never let it be said I denied my woman anything.”
As he pulled her down onto the bed he’d bought with her in mind, Shayne thought how ironic it was that after years of chasing adventure around the world, damned if he hadn’t found all the adventure any man would need, right here in his own backyard.
And as Bliss’s laughing mouth met his in a long, emotion-filled kiss, Shayne realized he’d finally come home.
Don’t miss Michael’s story
MICHAEL THE DEFENDER, Temptation #654,
October 1997.
Here’s a sneak peek at
Carrie Alexander’s THE AMOROUS HEIRESS
Available September 1997...
“YOU’RE A VERY popular lady,” Jed Kelley observed as Augustina closed the door on her suitors.
She waved a hand. “Just two of a dozen.” Technically true since her grandmother had put her on the open market. “You’re not afraid of a little competition, are you?”
“Competition?” He looked puzzled. “I thought the position was mine.”
Augustina shook her head, smiling coyly. “You didn’t think Grandmother was the final arbiter of the decision, did you? I say a trial period is in order.” No matter that Jed Kelley had miraculously passed Grandmother’s muster, Augustina felt the need for a little propriety. But, on the other hand, she could be married before the summer was out and be free as a bird, with the added bonus of a husband it wouldn’t be all that difficult to learn to love.
She got up the courage to reach for his hand, and then just like that, she—Miss Gussy Gutless Fair-child—was holding Jed Kelley’s hand. He looked down at their linked hands. “Of course, you don’t really know what sort of work I can do, do you?”
A funny way to put it, she thought absently, cradling his callused hand between both of her own. “We can get to know each other, and then, if that works out...” she murmured. Wow. If she’d known what this arranged marriage thing was all about, she’d have been a supporter of Grandmother’s campaign from the start!
“Are you a palm reader?” Jed asked gruffly. His voice was as raspy as sandpaper and it was rubbing her all the right ways, but the question flustered her. She dropped his hand.
“I’m sorry.”
“No problem,” he said, “as long as I’m hired.”
“Hired!” she scoffed. “What a way of putting it!”
Jed folded his arms across his chest. “So we’re back to the trial period.”
“Yes.” Augustina frowned and her gaze dropped to his work boots. Okay, so he wasn’t as well off as the majority of her suitors, but really, did he think she was going to pay him to marry her?
“Fine, then.” He flipped her a wave and, speechless, she watched him leave. She was trembling all over like a malaria victim in a snowstorm, shot with hot charges and cold shivers until her brain was numb. This couldn’t be true. Fantasy men didn’t happen to nice girls like her.
“Augustina?”
Her grandmother’s voice intruded on Gussy’s privacy. “Ahh. There you are. I see you met the new gardener?”
ISBN : 978-1-4592-7107-4
SHAYNE: THE PRETENDER
Copyright © 1997 by JoAnn Ross.
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