Her Secret Bodyguard
Page 18
Blake could feel a smile blossoming across her face. "Back to me?" She heard her voice shaking, and didn't care.
His head was down. He seemed very intent on his eggs. "Problem is, I just can't seem to forgive myself for lying to you. I put your life in danger, because I didn't tell you the truth."
She reached out and touched his hand. Finally he looked up, into her eyes. "There were lies on both sides," she said softly. "I wasn't exactly playing it straight with you when we first met. I was just beginning to understand what kind of mess I was in – I should've told you the truth, that you could be in danger just being around me. But I didn't." Blake spoke with quiet emphasis. "The past is only as important as we allow it to be. What's important is the future."
She released his hand and straightened. "So what's ours going to be?"
He looked at her thoughtfully. "Our future?"
She nodded.
"The truth is, Blake Sera, that I can't imagine a future without you. You've changed me. I know that sounds corny, but it's true. I'm not the same man who came riding into town two weeks ago. I don't think that guy even remembered how to love. But this one sure does." He squinted at her, giving her his best cowboy look. "You sure you're in love with me?"
"Oh yeah," she grinned.
"And is it that for better or for worse kind of love?"
Her heart faltered and she nodded, unable to speak.
"Well then, you're going to marry me, right?" All the joking went out of his voice, and suddenly his face was the bare, yearning countenance of a man desperately in love. "Blake, will you?"
Blake found that her voice had caught in her throat. She let out a shaky breath, and nodded slowly. "Yes," she whispered.
Thunk. A plate landed on the table in front of her. It was fully loaded, just like Caleb's.
"Anything else?" Dina asked.
Blake raised teary eyes and smiled. "Coffee?" she whispered shakily.
Dina bit her lip and looked mortified. "Oh, I'm sorry! I'll be right back. Please don't cry."
As she scurried off, Blake turned back to Caleb and laughed. "Well," she said, wiping her eyes. "Pancakes and a proposal. It's almost too good to be true."
"I'll tell you what it is: it's absolutely perfect." He reached for her, his face alight with love and joy. "There's nothing better than a Hollywood ending."
******
Be sure to check out Misha's other timeless tales of heart and home, available in paperback and on Kindle!
HOMESONG
(Finalist for the 2010 Bronte Prize for Romantic Fiction)
In a small town, everyone knows everything about everybody. Or do they?
For twenty years, Kate Doyle has been haunted by the night when she was forced to flee from her tiny Virginia home town and abandon her childhood sweetheart, Reed Fitzgerald. So when Kate, now in her mid-30s, escapes her unhappy life in Washington, DC and takes a much-needed vacation, the last thing she expects is to be reunited with Reed. Now, under the warm clear Caribbean sun, amid ancient churches and pink flamingos, Kate and Reed seek to revive the love that they thought was gone forever. But will small town secrets ruin their last chance for happiness?
Get Homesong for Kindle!
STILL WATERS
A tragic death. A disturbing photo that can't be explained. A woman drowning in an ocean of secrets....
In 1950s Virginia, beautiful, serious Jenna Appleton seems to have found the life she's always wanted. But underneath the shallow gleam of her bright suburban world, murky truths are waiting to surface. The deeper she dives for answers, the darker the water gets. How will she find happiness for herself and her family, when every step she takes towards the strange and awful truth seems to lead her right back to her own home shores?
Get Still Waters for Kindle!
About the Author
Misha Crews was born in Charlottesville, Virginia and has lived in and around DC all of her life. Raised in a family of book lovers, her mother first encouraged Misha to read by offering to pay her two cents per page of Hop on Pop, by Dr. Seuss. At first she was happy just to be raking in the cash, but before long she traded the pennies for the riches of the written word, and since that time she’s seldom been seen without a book in her hand, in front of her nose, or at the very least in her purse!
September 2008 saw the culmination of a lifelong dream with the publication of her first novel, Homesong, by Vanilla Heart Publishing. Her second novel, Still Waters, was published in August 2010.
Misha is married and is currently living and working in Northern Virginia. She loves to chat about writing, reading, movies, antique typewriters, stuff that makes you laugh, etc. She can be contacted on Facebook and via her website: www.MishaCrews.com.