by Sarah Morgan
“It needed to be shaken up. I did love it, but it wasn’t a whole life. You were right when you said I was hiding.”
“After what you went through no one would ever blame you for hiding.”
“But I don’t want to hide any longer. That’s what I wanted to tell you. That’s why I came back. To say I’m ready to start living properly and to say that—I love you.” Saying it was so terrifying she almost choked on the words. “I really do love you, and if you still think you love me then maybe we could both try not to panic about this and perhaps see each other or something. Have a relationship that is as much indoors as outdoors. I can come to Boston sometimes and you can come here more often.”
He didn’t speak. Instead, he stared at her. Rain darkened his hair and clumped his lashes together and she waited, not breathing, the only sound the soft patter of rain on the trees around her.
Why didn’t he say something?
Had she scared him to death?
She knew a moment of panic and then, just as she’d convinced herself she’d got it all wrong and misunderstood his feelings, he dragged her against him and brought his mouth down on hers.
“I don’t think I love you, I know.” He spoke the words against her mouth. “But I wasn’t at all sure you loved me.”
“Didn’t you check your phone? You should have twenty missed calls. I called twenty times to tell you I love you but you didn’t answer.” Drenched in raindrops and happiness, she wrapped her arms around his neck. “I love you. I love you with my whole self. I cannot switch it off. It is the worst thing about me, I think.”
“I happen to think it’s one of the best things about you. I love your passion and your loyalty to the people you love. I love that you called me twenty times to tell me you love me. I hope you do it every day.” His voice was husky and he hauled her close and held her tightly. “I stayed away from this place because being here created so many conflicting emotions but over the summer I fell back in love with the place and you’re the reason for that. I saw it through your eyes. You’re the reason I managed to fix things with Gramps.”
“You would have done it, anyway. I just pushed you a little because love should not be a quiet thing. It is important to tell people, every day. I learned that.”
“You said it to everyone except me,” Sean groaned, kissing her again. “You said it to my brothers, to my grandfather—to anyone and everyone except me. I’d given up ever hearing you say that to me.”
“Because I was afraid of saying it. Saying it to you would have meant something very different. I always knew that. I was very scared. When you love with everything, you can lose everything.”
“And you can also gain everything.” He pulled her against him, trying to shelter her from the rain. “I always thought that relationships were all about sacrifice. It was Gramps who made me see that I was the one making the sacrifice.”
“You should not have to make a sacrifice! Your work is important to you and I wouldn’t want to change that. You are an amazing doctor. What you did for little Sam—” she shuddered “—you have such skill and you should use it.”
“I will use it, but there’s nothing to say I can’t use it closer to here. Your job is here. Your life.”
“Walter has been nagging you again. You need to make the decision that is right for you.”
“This is the decision that is right for me and it has nothing to do with my grandfather, although it will feel good to be able to be more involved with the place and see more of my family. It’s what I want for us. I’ve already talked to the local hospital about joining the orthopedic department. It’s not going to be an instant thing, of course, but we can work something out in the meantime. My car has done the journey from Boston to Snow Crystal so often over the summer it can probably do it by itself now.” He was kissing her again and she was kissing him, too, both of them pressed up against the tree.
She slid her hand under his shirt. “Perhaps we should go back to Heron Lodge.”
“Yes. No. Wait—” With difficulty he dragged his mouth from hers. “There are still things I want to say.”
“You can say them later.”
“In my pocket—” The words were muffled against her neck and she closed her eyes.
“What about your pocket?”
“Put your hand in my pocket.”
“I don’t know what you—” Her fingers encountered a small square box and she stilled. “What is it?”
“It’s for you. Open it.” Those blue eyes burned into hers. “Open it.”
Hands shaking, she flipped it open and blinked at the beautiful emerald that nestled on a bed of velvet. Her knees started shaking, too. “It’s a ring. You are carrying a ring around with you?”
“I had it with me that day I told you I loved you and it flew to Paris with me. It’s been with me the whole time. I couldn’t bear to take it back to the jewelers because that would have meant coming to terms with the fact you’d turned me down.”
“Sean—”
“Would you have preferred a diamond? It’s just that when I saw it, it reminded me of the forest and the forest is our place.”
“I love it.” She lifted herself on tiptoe and crushed her mouth to his. “I love it so much. It’s perfect.”
“And will you wear it?”
“Always and forever. I love you. And I will phone you twenty times a day to tell you that.”
“I can live with that.” He took the ring from its box and slid it onto her finger. Then he kissed her and stroked her hair away from her face. “You’re soaking wet.”
“So are you.”
“We could go to Heron Lodge or we could go to the house. It’s family night.” A smile touched the corners of his mouth. “And as you’re about to officially become a member of our family, we should probably be there.”
“Has Jackson already given away my job?”
“No, but he really didn’t think you’d be back. He suggested that we might need to find help in the kitchen and Gramps almost bit his head off. Shall we make a run for it? We’re already wet, anyway.”
“I just need my suitcase—there’s something in there.” She grabbed it from under the tree where she’d left it and Sean took it from her and then drew her onto the path. They ran through the rain and arrived at the house, breathless and soaked. His hand tightened on hers. “Ready?”
“Of course.”
She held tightly to his hand as Sean put the suitcase down, opened the door and pulled her inside.
“Look who I found outside in the rain.”
Stunned silence fell across the table and then everyone started talking at once. Maple sprinted across to her, Jackson stood up and pulled her into a hug and Elizabeth exchanged a knowing smile with Alice.
“I told you she’d be back,” Alice said. “Why do none of you ever listen to me?”
“I knew she’d be back, too.” Elizabeth crossed the kitchen and gave her a hug. “You’re soaking wet! Sean, you shouldn’t have kept her out in the rain. We need to get you dry.”
“I’m fine. I’m not cold. I am very pleased to see you all, and I have a present for you.” She unzipped her case, now soaking wet, and pulled out a tin. “I made these for you and carried them all the way from Paris.” She tipped them gently onto a plate and Kayla gave her an odd look.
“Cakes?”
“They’re madeleines,” Sean said gruffly, his eyes on Élise. “I’m glad you made them.”
He understood the significance and she smiled. “It was time. Time you tried them. If you like them I will put them on the menu at the Boathouse and it will be a small piece of Paris.”
A small piece of her past.
“I just hope they’re better than those things you call pancakes,” Walter muttered and she sped around the table and hugged him tightly.
“I love you, Walter. How are you feeling?”
“I don’t know why everyone keeps asking me that because I’m just fine.”
“Th
at’s good,” Sean said, “because we have something to tell you.” Even as he said the words Alice spotted Élise’s finger and gasped.
“You’ve given her a ring. Oh, Sean!”
Elizabeth beamed. “I knew she loved you. A woman always knows.”
Walter frowned. “I knew, too. I was the one who pointed out he was in love. For all that brain of his, he’s very stupid about some things.”
Rolling his eyes, Sean pulled Élise against him. “She said yes, so now you can all give us some peace.”
“Did you go down on one knee?”
“It’s pouring with rain out there. He’d ruin his trousers.” Tyler stood up and wrapped her in a tight hug. “Welcome to the family. I’m glad it’s official. Just don’t start slobbering all over each other, that’s all I ask. There’s enough of that around here with Jackson and Kayla. I’d suggest we all have a drink to celebrate but Sean has already thrown most of it over the table. Thank God for napkins, I say.”
“She’s already family,” Walter grunted, “and she would have stayed family whether she married Sean or not. And we should definitely have a drink. Champagne. Jackson? Is there any champagne?”
“I do not need champagne to celebrate. Being here, it is enough.” Élise felt tears prick her eyes. “You are all very dear to me and I love you very much.”
Tyler winced and retreated back to his seat at the table. “If you’re going to get mushy, I’m going to need alcohol. Probably a crate of the stuff. Raid the cellar, Jackson.”
Ignoring all of them, Élise tugged at Sean’s hand and pulled him toward her. “I love you. I love you always and I tell you this in front of everyone and I will tell you every day.”
Tyler groaned and slid down in his char. “I’m moving out.”
“It is important to say how you feel.”
“In that case, you should know I feel sick.” Tyler shook his head and turned his back on them. “Tell me when it’s safe to turn around.”
Laughing, Jackson passed him a beer. “It’s not champagne but it will numb the agony of witnessing true love. So now the excitement is over, can we get back to planning the winter? We have a ski season ahead and we need to do everything we can to make sure it’s the best it can be.”
Still holding Sean’s hand, Élise slid into her chair, knowing that for her, life was already the very best it could be.
She helped herself to a madeleine, thinking of her mother. For the first time ever, the memory made her smile.
Sean sat down next to her and took one, too. He bit into it and smiled. “It’s good.”
“Yes.”
His hand found hers under the table, his fingers strong and firm as he looked around at his family. “If you’re planning the winter season then you can count me in. I might be around a bit more.”
Jackson lifted an eyebrow. “Will you be providing your own shirts?”
“That depends. I quite like the ones Kayla buys for you. I might borrow those sometimes.”
Alice picked up her knitting. “Have you noticed that the scarf I’m knitting is exactly the same color as Élise’s ring?”
“These madeleines, or whatever you call them, are delicious.” Kayla reached for a second one. “You should definitely put them on the menu.”
Brenna smiled. “If you eat too many of those I’ll have to double the length of our morning run.”
The conversation bounced around the table, everyone talking at once, and Élise sat quietly, soaking it up.
The O’Neils. She loved each and every one of them. But most of all she loved the man sitting by her side, holding her hand, refusing to let her go. The man who had dropped everything and flown to Paris to be by her side. The man who had finished her deck so the Boathouse could open on time. The man who had made her see the truth about her mother and who had given her the courage to love again. And she knew love was a gift she would never, ever take for granted.
Unable to believe life could be this good, she turned her head to look at him, her heart overflowing, and then she reached for him and kissed him, ignoring their audience.
“I love you.”
Sean smiled at her. “I love you, too. Shall we get out of here and go home?”
Home. Home to Heron Lodge. “It’s family night.”
Tyler choked. “Go! For God’s sake, go and leave the rest of us to eat in peace. And don’t come back until you can be together for five minutes without touching.”
“In that case—” Élise stood up and Sean grabbed his coat and wrapped it around her.
“It’s still raining. We’ll make a run for it. Are you ready?”
“Yes.” She was more than ready and she held his hand tightly as he opened the door, smiling as they stepped out into the rain together.
* * * * *
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Publishing a book is always a team effort and there are many people who deserve thanks. I’m always anxious I might miss someone so it sometimes takes me as long to write the acknowledgments as it would to write a whole chapter of a new story.
As always, my biggest thanks go to the readers who buy my books. I feel privileged that you choose to read my stories.
I’m grateful to my agent Susan Ginsburg, and to Susan Swinwood, Flo Nicoll and the team at Harlequin in the U.S. and U.K. who work so hard to make my book the best it can be and put it into the hands of readers across the globe.
I’m indebted to lovely Ele for helping with my French. Any mistakes are mine (blame it on the Pinot Noir consumed for research purposes).
Thanks to the fabulous Sharon Kendrick, who read the first sentence of this book over my shoulder on a flight and told me it was crap (thanks, Sharon, you’ll be relieved to hear I rewrote it). She then read out the first sentence of hers in a loud voice and we were subsequently banned from flying with that airline ever again. Just kidding. Or maybe not. I won’t know until I try and book my next flight.
As always, thanks to my family for their endless patience. Living with a writer isn’t easy and no amount of pizza and chocolate can compensate for those times when a book is going badly and I’m pulling my hair out. You make me happy and I’m lucky to have you.
Keep reading for an excerpt from SLEIGH BELLS IN THE SNOW by Sarah Morgan.
“Morgan’s brilliant talent never ceases to amaze.”
—Romantic Times
If you loved Suddenly Last Summer, be sure to also check out Sleigh Bells in the Snow by USA TODAY bestselling author Sarah Morgan. Available today in ebook format.
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And don’t miss the first two titles in Sarah’s Miller Sisters series, only from Cosmo Red-Hot Reads from Harlequin:
Ripped
Burned
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CHAPTER ONE
KAYLA GREEN CRANKED up the volume on her favorite playlist and blocked out the sound of festive music and laughter wafting under her closed office door.
Was she the only person who hated this time of year?
Surely there had to be someone out there who felt the way she did?
Someone who didn’t expect Christmas to be merry or bright?
Someone who knew mistletoe was poisonous?
She watched gloomily as soft snowflakes drifted lazily past the floor-to-ceiling glass windows that made up two sides of her spacious corner office. She hadn’t been dreaming of a white Christmas but it seemed she was getting one anyway.
Far below, the streets of Manhattan were jammed with tourists keen to enjoy the festive sights of New York in the holiday season. A giant spruce twinkled in front of the Rockefeller Centre, and the Hudson River glinted in the distance, a ribbon of silvery-gray shimmering in the wint
er light.
Turning her back on the snow, the tree and the glittering skyscrapers of Midtown, Kayla focused on her computer screen.
A moment later the door opened and Tony, her opposite number in Entertainment and Sports, appeared carrying two glasses of champagne.
She unhooked her headphones. “Who the hell is picking the music out there?”
“You don’t like the music?” The top button of his shirt was undone and the glitter in his eyes suggested this wasn’t his first glass of champagne. “Is that why you’re hiding in your office?”
“I’m searching for inner peace but I’d settle for outer peace so if you could close the door on your way out, that would be perfect.”
“Come on, Kayla. We’re celebrating our best year ever. It’s a British tradition to get drunk, sing terrible karaoke and flirt with your colleagues.”
“Who told you that?”
“I watched Bridget Jones’s Diary.”
“Right.” The music made her head throb. It was always the same at this time of year. The tight panicky feeling in her stomach. The ache in her chest that didn’t ease until December 26th. “Tony, did you want something? Because I’d like to keep working.”
“It’s our office party. You cannot work late tonight.”
As far as she was concerned it was the perfect night to work late.
“Have you seen A Christmas Carol? Or read the book?”
A glass of champagne appeared on the desk in front of her. “I’m guessing you’re not Tiny Tim in this scenario, so that makes you either Scrooge or one of the ghosts.”
“I’m Scrooge, but without the tasteless nightwear.” Ignoring the champagne, Kayla glanced through the doorway. “Is Melinda out there?”
“Last seen charming the CEO of Adventure Travel who has been looking for you all evening so he can thank you personally for the incredible year their company has enjoyed. Bookings are up two hundred percent since you took over their account. Not only that, you got his picture on the cover of Time magazine.” He raised his glass and his mouth twisted into a smile. “Until you arrived in New York, I was the golden boy. Brett used to give me tips on how to be the one on top. I was all set to be the youngest vice president this firm has ever appointed.”