The Taming Of Reid Donovan
Page 26
His smile when he faced her was gentle. “You’ve done a lot of work.”
“It was something to do while I missed you.”
“It almost makes me regret what I have to ask.”
“What is that?”
He set his bags down inside the door, claimed her hand and pulled her into the bedroom to the window. He settled her in his embrace, her back to his chest, his hands clasped tightly at her waist. “Remember the day before school started? Karen invited both of us to Sunday dinner, and I wound up down there—” he gestured next door “—on the porch.”
She remembered, of course. She remembered every day she had spent with him, whether they’d actually been together or just two people in a crowd. “You were doing a sketch of O’Shea’s.”
“And you were asking about that house.”
“You said that anyone who wanted to buy it should have her head examined.”
“Yeah, well, I guess I need my head examined, because I bought the place today.”
Stunned, Cassie turned in the circle of his arms. Like most of Serenity, the house next door was shabby and in need of work. From the cracked sidewalk out front to the rusted fence with its discarded gate, the piles of rubbish that dotted the yard and its years of neglect, it called for attention, cash, backbreaking labor and love. Lots of love.
“I know it needs work, and you’ve already done a ton of work making this place livable. I know it’s a major expense and a major commitment, but...will you live in it with me? Will you help me fix it, paint it and make a home of it? Will you raise our children in it?” He swallowed hard, looked away, then back again. “Will you marry me, Cassie?”
She looked from him to the house outside. One short month ago, he had been scornful of the idea that anyone would want the place, and now he wanted it. Only one short month ago, he had been equally unconvinced that anyone would want him. What a difference thirty days made.
Looking back, she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him her biggest, brightest, happiest smile. “Marriage, babies and a lovely old house. What more could a woman want?”
“One other thing. Actually, two.” He moved to the opposite side of the window, taking her with him. “See the tree down by the fence?” The streetlight shone on a small tree, its root ball bundled in burlap. “That’s an oak. Once we get it planted, we can get some cuttings from Karen’s wisteria to plant around it. You see, there’s this legend...”
He repeated her mother’s tale in soft words accompanied by soft kisses and softer touches, seducing her with his voice and his hands, sliding her clothes off, sliding his own off. As they moved to the bed, coming together on the thick white comforter, joining, filling, welcoming, loving, he finished the story in a husky murmur.
“And their wish came true. He was transformed into the strongest, tallest oak in the forest, and she became the wisteria vine, clothed in delicate purple blossoms, entwined with her true love for all eternity.”
And their wish came true. Oh, yes. Every wish she had ever wished had come true in Reid.
For all eternity.
ISBN : 978-1-4592-7262-0
THE TAMING OF REID DONOVAN
Copyright © 1997 by Marilyn Pappano
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