McKnight in Shining Armor
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“What kind of stuffing do you prefer?”
“Oyster,” he said, admiring the way the jacket barely covered her bottom as she went to the parrot’s cage and dropped the cloth cover over it. When she came back to him, he wrapped his arms around her lightly and said, “Anyone can see we belong together.”
“You think so?” she asked, feeling pleasantly lightheaded. She traced the arc of his smile with her fingertip.
“Oh, yes. We’re well suited,” he said, tugging at the white fur trim of the jacket.
She barely had time to groan and roll her eyes before he pulled her down on top of him on the couch.
“I believe we have some unfinished business with this piece of furniture,” he said, vividly recalling the night he had taken Jeffrey to the hockey game and how he and Kelsie had played on the couch afterward until they were interrupted.
“Mmm, yes, I—ouch! What have you got in this jacket pocket?” she asked, arching up to save herself from getting jabbed again.
“Pocket? Oh! I almost forgot.” He dug into the pocket and produced two small gift-wrapped packages. “Two more early Christmas presents for you. Open this one first.”
They sat up side by side, and Alec watched and held his breath as Kelsie unwrapped a diamond and sapphire engagement ring.
“I figured this would solve a few of our scheduling problems,” he said softly as she stared at the ring in open-mouthed shock.
“Alec,” she said. “I don’t know what to say.”
“There you go again, letting me know your weaknesses. Say yes. That’s what I want to hear.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, looking deep into his eyes for her answer. “You know it’s not just me you’ll be marrying, Alec. Jeffrey and Elizabeth—”
“I think Jeffrey and Elizabeth are terrific kids.”
“And the dog and the rabbits and the fish and the parrot and the cats?”
“I really like Jeffrey and Elizabeth.” He broke into a grin at her look of disappointment because he hadn’t included her pets in his statement. “Honey, I don’t care if I have to adopt the whole damn Minnesota Zoo. I love you. And if this last week has been a preview of what my life would be like without you, I know I couldn’t stand it.”
Tears spilled over the rim of Kelsie’s lashes and caught on the corners of her smile. “I love you too.”
Tenderly Alec brushed the crystal drops away. “Think you can stand being married to a neat freak who wants to spend all his spare time with his arms around you?”
She tried to laugh and nodded her head, wiping away more tears. Alec leaned over and pressed a kiss to her trembling lips.
“Open your other present,” he ordered.
Kelsie slipped her ring on first. It was a tad large, but that hardly spoiled the moment. Then she carefully untaped the wrapping on the small flat box. Inside, on a bed of white satin was an expensive-looking gold pen.
“A pen. You romantic devil. This sure tops the engagement ring,” she said dryly. “It’s lovely, Alec, but I’m not sure I understand the significance.”
He traced a finger over the eyebrows he found so sexy. “Friday you left a calendar at the studio for me. Whether you meant to leave it or not, after what happened, I don’t know. Inside the cover you wrote that it would remain blank until I filled it in.”
He lifted the pen and tapped it against the end of her upturned nose. “I thought it would be a better idea if we filled it in together. That way we can both make time for what’s important. Sometimes it’ll be work. Sometimes it’ll be the kids.” He smiled. “Sometimes it might even be the Humane Society. All are important, but in our hearts we’ll know we will always take time for each other—starting with a honeymoon,” he added with a devilish grin.
Kelsie laughed and agreed.
In unison they said, “That’s what’s really important!”
They shared a kiss, a kiss full of promise.
“Merry Christmas, sweetheart,” he whispered, holding her close.
As Alec drew her back down on the couch with him, Kelsie murmured against his lips, “You make a good knight in shining armor, Mr. McKnight, but you’re also a great Santa.”
Alec gave her a wily smile and pinched her bottom. “Ho ho ho.”
McKnight in Shining Armor is is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
2009 Bantam Books Mass Market Edition
Copyright © 1988 by Tami Hoag
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Bantam Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
BANTAM BOOKS and the rooster colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Originally published in the United States in paperback by Bantam Books, in 1988.
eISBN: 978-0-553-90695-0
www.bantamdell.com
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