Daisy held on to him and kissed him desperately, wildly, responding to his urgency, his wildness with an eagerness she’d never known before. He was everything. Everything she’d ever hoped for and dreamed of. In his arms, she felt magic shatter within her, and she rode the crest of tiny, soul-splintering explosions and knew she would never be the same again. As he gave her all that he was, she cradled him in her arms, and together they raced toward completion.
Five minutes, an hour, heck, an eternity later, Daisy opened her eyes and stared blindly at the ceiling. At least she guessed it was the ceiling, though how she could see the stars was a little puzzling.
With Alex still draped across her body, still locked inside her, she took a shallow breath and committed to memory the feel of his weight pressing her into the bed. She wanted to remember everything. To savor every touch, every breath.
Because when he was gone, it would be all she had left.
“I love you,” he said, his words muffled against her throat.
Daisy stilled, her heart stopped dead in her chest and she wasn’t sure she could breathe. But as much as she wanted to hear him say those words and mean them, a part of her knew he’d only said them in reaction to what they’d just shared. So rather than respond, she asked, “When do you have to ship out?”
He lifted his head and looked down at her, confusion clear in his eyes. “Less than a week. Did you hear me?”
“I’ll miss you,” she said, and lifted one hand to cup his cheek. Her thumb stroked his jaw, which was bristly with whisker stubble.
Scowling now, he propped himself up on his elbow, and with his free hand, captured her fingers in a tight grip. “Didn’t you hear me? I said I love you.”
“Yes, I heard you,” she answered, then tore her gaze from his, looking anywhere but into those dark brown eyes. A yawning black hole opened up inside her, though she managed to keep her voice even as she said, “But we both know you didn’t mean it.”
“Is that right?” His voice sounded tight, cold and hard. “Just what did I mean, then?”
“You meant the sex was good.”
“No, the sex was great. I said I love you.”
“Alex, don’t do this.” She pushed at his chest in a ridiculous attempt to shove his much bigger body off of hers. She chanced a look into his eyes and almost instantly wished she hadn’t. There was no spark of desire there now. Just confusion. And anger.
He made no move to get off her. Instead, he shifted, rising up onto his knees, but keeping her with him, their bodies locked together. She was pinned onto his lap like a butterfly trapped under glass. Grasping her hips, he held her down when she would have scooted off him.
“Are you trying to tell me you don’t love me?” he demanded. “’Cause if that’s what you’re up to, I don’t buy it.”
“I didn’t say that,” she snapped, tossing her hair out of her eyes and giving escape one more try. Pointless. His hands held her tightly and the hard, rigid length of him was pushed so deeply inside her, she wasn’t going anywhere. Slapping her hands down onto his shoulders, she forced herself to meet his gaze squarely. “What I feel for you doesn’t really matter.”
“Matters a hell of a lot to me,” he countered.
“You’re leaving and I—”
“You what?”
“I’m staying.”
He sighed heavily. “Look, I know being a navy wife won’t be easy, but—”
“A wife?” She reared back and stared at him as if he’d lost his mind.
“Well, what did you think I was talking about?”
“You’re crazy,” she said, and tried to scoot off him again. But all she managed to do was send tiny ribbons of heat winding throughout her body. He rocked into her, tripling the effect until her eyes rolled in her head and she clung to him just to keep her balance.
“I want you to marry me,” Alex said, and fought back a groan as she moved on him, taking him deeper within.
“You don’t want to marry me.”
“Why don’t I?” Stop moving, he thought, but he didn’t say it because he didn’t really want her to stop moving.
“Because you’re a Barone. I’m a waitress.”
“So?”
“It wouldn’t work. I just don’t—”
“You’re a waitress. My family makes ice cream,” he said, his anger fading as he realized that she was trying to protect him from himself. “Seems like a perfect match to me.”
“Alex, you don’t know what you’re saying.”
“I always say what I mean, Daisy. You know that by now.”
“Yes, but—”
“But nothing. Just answer one question. Do you love me?”
She looked at him, her gaze soft and wide and filled with a renewed pulse of desire that tore at him. He slid his hands from her hips up to her breasts and cupped them gently, kneading her nipples until she finally gasped, “Yes. Yes, I do love you. I tried not to but—”
“Then marry me,” he whispered, lowering his head to kiss first one rigid nipple, then the other. “Marry me and put me out of my misery.”
Daisy shook her head, trying desperately to think. To keep her brain functioning despite what he was doing to her. “Angel,” she said. “I have a daughter and—”
He lifted his head, reached up and cradled her face between his palms. “We have a daughter.” He said the words firmly, so there would never be a mistake about it. “I’ve loved her from the moment she was born. She’s the child of my heart, Daisy, and if it’s all right with you, as soon as we’re married, I’ll start the adoption process to make her mine legally, too.”
Tears filled her eyes and his image blurred. Moonlight swam around them like a thick, silver fog and she knew that she would never forget this night. “Alex—”
But whatever she would have said was lost when they heard the baby whimper. This time when Daisy moved off of him, he let her go. She left the room and went into the nursery they’d created together, and Alex was right behind her.
Angel lay in her bed, sound asleep and making the tiny mewling noises that tore at every parent’s heart. Daisy reached down and stroked her daughter’s back, whispering soft assurances that calmed the child and sent her back into a dreamless sleep.
Alex wrapped his arms around the woman he loved and watched the child that had brought them together. In the soft light of the lamp, he stared into blue eyes that held the only world he cared about.
“Marry me, Daisy. Love me. Make a family with me.”
She looked up at him and knew she was lost. She’d been lost from the moment he’d first stepped into Antonio’s. Her life had changed that one, miraculous night and she knew that she’d been given a great gift. How foolish she would be to turn it down.
“Yes, Alex. I will marry you. And I will love you as long as I live.”
He kissed her gently, softly, tenderly, with a promise of tomorrow as he led her back to her bedroom. And this time, when he laid her down on the bed and stretched out beside her, his heart was full. She was his love. His life. And he silently thanked whatever Fate had sent her to him.
Sliding down the length of her body, he kissed her, adored her and caressed her skin until she tingled with anticipation.
“Kiss me, Alex,” she said softly, reaching for him.
He smiled at her and said, “I plan to,” just before he scooped his hands beneath her bottom and lifted her off the mattress. Lowering his head, he covered her with his mouth, giving her a kiss of another sort. An intimate touch of tongue and lips. He tasted and savored and suckled, pushing her higher than she’d been before. Sending her to places she’d only dreamed existed.
Daisy closed her eyes, then opened them wide again, determined to watch him as he took her. His tongue stroked her center in a damp kiss that sent goose bumps racing along her spine. His strong fingers kneaded her behind, and as he worked her body, she gave herself up to the sensations coursing through her.
She’d found a lover.
&nb
sp; She’d found a husband.
And a father for Angel.
And more, she’d found the missing piece of her own heart. Right there, in a pair of warm brown eyes.
Deep within, a chain reaction began. Sensation piled on top of sensation until she quivered in his grasp and heard herself beg, “Take me, Alex. Be inside me again when it happens.”
Instantly, he set her down and moved to claim her as his own. He entered her with a long, slow thrust that she swore later had touched her soul. And when the skyrockets exploded, they clung together and drifted through the stars.
Epilogue
Three days later
It was a small, hurried wedding. With a special license and the blessings of the Barones, Alex and Daisy were married in Moira’s garden.
Tiny Angel wailed through most of the ceremony, but no one seemed to mind. The day was just too perfect.
And as Alex slipped the simple gold band onto Daisy’s finger, she smiled into his eyes. Yes, he would be leaving in two days. But once he’d been assigned quarters at whatever base he was being sent to, she and Angel would be following him.
Until then, she would have her new family around her and a golden ring of promise to keep her warm.
“You may kiss the bride,” the minister said, a broad smile on his face.
“Now that’s the best idea I’ve heard all day,” Alex told him, and pulled Daisy close.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and glanced at Rita, who was trying desperately to quiet the baby. Then, smiling, Daisy looked back at her new husband. “I think your daughter wants a kiss, too.”
He grinned, and Daisy wondered if her toes would always curl when he smiled at her like that.
“She’ll have to wait her turn,” he murmured, so only she could hear. “Right now it’s her mama I’m interested in.”
“Then kiss me, sailor.”
“Aye-aye, Mrs. Barone.”
As his lips closed over hers, Daisy felt her heart swell until it nearly choked her. She’d found everything she’d ever dreamed of, right here in Alex’s arms. No matter where they lived, or how many places the navy sent them, she knew without a doubt that home would always be where her hero was.
Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to Maureen Child for her contribution to the DYNASTIES: THE BARONES series.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-6799-6
BEAUTY & THE BLUE ANGEL
Copyright © 2003 by Silhouette Books S.A.
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