by Lyn Stone
Ben hoped she was sad about parting company. He was damn near devastated. He hadn't been able to face a flight back with her whole team, where he'd have to sit there and share her. Cate, Mercier, Vanessa Senate and their new guy, Jake Radford. Every one of them had some kind of psychic talent, Cate had said. Fine deal that would be. They'd have him pegged as a heartsick loser before the plane got off the ground.
Okay, he might be that, but he didn't like to advertise. And he especially didn't want Dani to know. She probably wouldn't be able to tell, since her trick was premonitions.
"Too much, too fast, huh?" he muttered under his breath as he closed the door. How the devil was he supposed to go slowly when they lived two hundred miles apart? She hadn't suggested he do that anyway. Her recent avoidance pretty much indicated he should leave her alone.
"I could drive up to McLean the end of next week," he said. That had come totally out of the blue. He had not intended to say anything remotely like that. Now she'd shoot him down again. Man, was he a glutton for punishment.
"No," she said, just as he predicted. Hell, maybe he was into premonitions, too. Then she glanced at him sideways and smiled a secret smile. "I won't be there."
"Oh...okay then. Just a thought." A wish, a hope, a prayer. All shot down in flames.
She sashayed over to the window, her skirt swinging around her legs, enticing his gaze to follow the motion. With one hand, she parted the curtains and looked out. "Switzerland's nice, but you know, I like Iceland better. Romantic. All that steam. Great place to make love."
Ben's heart raced. She glanced at him over her shoulder in that way she had. "Want to come?"
"Now there's a loaded question."
She laughed with him as she turned and walked straight into his waiting arms. "You love me." Then she rose on her toes and kissed him.
Ben could have conquered the world in that moment. "You sound very sure of yourself," he teased.
"Rom certain," she replied, sliding her arms around his waist. "We know these things. Like, I know I love you. In all your incarnations...uptight banker...hard fighting soldier...tireless lover. You continue to confuse me, but I don't care anymore."
"And how did you come to this conclusion after fighting it so hard?" Ben asked, truly interested in what turned her around.
She closed her eyes and exhaled, her fingers toying with his shirt, untucking it in back. "Well, I did a lot of soul searching." She opened her eyes and peered into his. "I don't think I can live without you, whoever you are."
He kissed her again, his own soul filled with gratitude and determination to make her happy, whatever it took. "We'll go slow," he promised. "I won't ask you for any life-altering decisions until at least next week."
"There will be problems to work out, Ben. Our jobs. Logistics. Your family, if they have objections. So, no mentioning the M word for at least six months," she warned. "We have to get better acquainted." She slid her hand under the front of his shirt and tickled his chest, playfully at first, then smoothed her palm over his heart, absorbing its beat. She grinned. "But the L word is okay."
"I love you," he said sincerely. "But you know that. Must be nice to have friends who read minds for you."
"It does help. Eliminates the risk of rejection," she admitted. "But I'll take my premonitions any day of the week."
He embraced her fully and rested his chin on the top of her head, feeling every inch of her pressed against him, just as she should be. "So where do you see us in, say, half an hour from now?"
"Together somewhere soft and pillowy. Like that bed over there."
"And years from now?" he asked seriously, threading his fingers through her hair and holding her so that he could see her eyes sparkle again.
She shrugged. "Together. Forever. It's all I can see."
He gazed deeply into the amber Gypsy eyes that held his future. "I see that, too. It's really all we need to know."
Epilogue
"Doesn't Ben look handsome in his dress blues?" his mother crooned. "Bless his heart, he never wanted to be anything but a soldier." She shook her head and smiled fondly. "He hated banking. Now he'll be happier, working in the Pentagon."
"You're okay with it, Mrs. Michaels?" Cate asked, offering the groom's mother a tissue when a tear trailed down her powdered cheek. "Ben was worried that his going back on duty might upset you."
"Oh, it did, honey! You know he was almost killed once." She daubed at her eyes, her gaze never leaving her son who stood tall at the altar, his father beside him as best man. Cate had volunteered to keep the mother of the groom company in her pew. "But I don't have to worry anymore. Danielle will look after him. She's prescient, you know."
"Prescient?" Cate almost laughed. Dani had been so anxious about Ben's parents accepting her as a daughter-in-law.
"That means prophetic. She can actually see the future!" Mrs. Michaels whispered, shivering with excitement. "She's a Gypsy. First one I ever met. Except for her sister, but we never knew Carol was. I was just floored when Ben told us! In a good way, though."
Cate managed to look surprised. "Floored, huh?"
But Mrs. Michaels didn't hear. She was looking back down the aisle now, as the organist played the chords announcing the bride's entrance. "Oh, look!" She sighed as fresh tears gathered. "There's our new daughter. Isn't she darling?"
Cate almost snickered. No one but Ben and his parents would ever describe Dani as a darling. She was a hard-hitting, straight-shooting, hyperactive pain in the butt most of the time. Ben would have his hands full. And God help them both if their offspring inherited their combined strong wills and daring.
Well, maybe Dani did look darling in her simple ecru-satin gown, Cate thought. The veil of matching lace was elegance itself. She was also wearing that bridelike, wistful look as she spied Ben waiting for her in front of the pulpit. Love like theirs was about as pure and undiluted as it came.
The service at the Ellerby United Methodist was over in less than twenty minutes, ending with a kiss that threatened to set the altar cloth on fire. The organist struck several chords again, until they broke their embrace. Dani and Ben turned to face their friends and relatives as man and wife.
The sun shining through gorgeous stained-glass windows, the beauty of the couple done up in their wedding finery and the sheer wave of collective happiness in the place were enough to make even Cate weep a little. She sniffed, then laughed.
Ah, weddings were such fun when they weren't hers!
THE END * * *
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First Published 2007
First Australian Paperback Edition 2007
ISBN 978 0 733 57695 9
SPECIAL AGENT'S SEDUCTION �� 2007 by Lynda Stone
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