His Inherited Wife

by Barbara McMahon

  “Sounds nice,” she said. What about his marriage proposal? She felt as if it stood between them, filling the cab. Would he bring it up again, or was it up to her this time?

  When they reached the hotel, Jase offered to meet her at seven for dinner.

  “I think we have unfinished business to discuss now,” Shannon said, not able to wait until after dinner to resolve things.

  “If you like. Your place or mine?”

  “Yours,” she said firmly. If things went bad, she could leave.

  Once inside his hotel room, Shannon placed her briefcase on the chair and turned to face him.

  He watched her warily.

  “About your proposal,” she started, hoping he’d say something.

  He nodded.

  “You meant it?”

  “Of course. I don’t say things I don’t mean, you know that.”

  “You do love me?”

  “I love you,” he said. The sincerity rang in his voice.

  Her heart stuttered. For a moment she believed.

  “How long have you loved me?” she asked, still not trusting the timing. Dean must have gotten through to him, and this was Jase’s way to protect her.

  “For more than six years, I think,” he said softly.

  Her eyes met his. “What?”

  “And I also think Alan knew. That was one reason he insisted I leave. It was either relocate and keep the firm going, or he was going to pull out.”

  “Alan knew you loved me?”

  “I wasn’t sure myself back then. But over time, I’ve suspected. There was no future for us, when Alan was alive. I knew that. Sometimes I’d want to come see you so badly it was all I could do not to get on a plane to fly to Washington, just to look at you from a distance,” Jase said.

  “I can’t believe it.” Shannon was floored by what she was hearing.

  “I never did, but it was touch and go sometimes to see if I could resist.”

  “And you say you think Alan knew?” Shannon repeated in disbelief.

  “We were good friends, but he didn’t trust me an inch around you. I would never have deliberately hurt him. You know that, and I sure hope to goodness he knew it as well. But he most likely also recognized the signs in me—especially as he felt it for you himself.”

  “I would never have been unfaithful to my vows,” Shannon said.

  “He knew that, and so did I. But faithful or not, feelings change, and he was afraid you’d see him for the old man he was and turn to me.”

  “So you meekly left?”

  “Not so meekly actually. I wanted you and I was furious at him for beating me to the draw and asking you out first. We had never discussed dating employees before—it hadn’t come up. But he was my friend and you chose him.”

  Shannon thought back to those first days with the new firm. There’d always been that tingling feeling around Jase. Alan had seen it, she had felt it. Were they meant to be? Or was there too much between them because of Alan?

  “So the question is, how do you feel about me?” he asked.

  “Confused,” she replied promptly.

  His gaze never left hers.

  “And in love,” she added softly.

  He swept her into his arms, kissing her like they would never part. Shannon closed her eyes and gave her all to the embrace, reveling in clinging to the man she loved. Could it be that happiness would be forthcoming? She loved Jase Pembrooke, and it looked as if he loved her as much. How astonishing.

  An eternity later, he pulled back long enough to gaze into her eyes. “So is this a yes?”

  She smiled slowly, feeling the warmth of his love fill her. “This is a yes,” she said, reaching up to kiss him again.

  EPILOGUE

  May

  JASE STOOD ON the sidewalk watching the painters carefully apply the last coat on the trim. The house looked good.

  The mailman walked down the street, delivering at each house. When he reached Jase he, too, looked at the painters. “Almost finished,” he said. “Looks good.”

  “Once this is done, we’ll have the landscape firm in to finish the yard,” Jase said. Who would have thought last November that he and Shannon would end up with a fixer upper home? But she’d fallen in love with it when she’d first seen it, and he liked to indulge his wife. They both loved the house, though it was still months away from being the way they wanted it.

  The postman handed Jase the mail and continued.

  He took one more look at the house and headed inside. Shannon was hard at work on the kitchen, putting away their dishes and pans now that the renovation of that room was complete.

  He shuffled the envelopes, stopping when he reached the one with a familiar return address. It was the attorneys he and Alan had used in Washington. The letter was addressed to Shannon.

  When he entered the kitchen, he smiled, the familiar feeling of contentment filling him.

  “You have a letter,” he said, offering it to her.

  “Thanks. I’m just about finished here. How about we celebrate by ordering in pizza?” She looked at the return address and frowned.

  “I hope there isn’t something more from Dean. I thought we’d heard the last from him.”

  Jase didn’t say a word. They had heard the last from Dean; he’d made sure of that. But he wasn’t planning on telling Shannon. Let her think the man finally got tired of his stupid demands and stopped harassing her. He knew she was still picky about Alan’s request that Jase take care of her.

  “Oh, my God, it’s from Alan,” she said.

  He looked at her. “The letter?”

  Shannon nodded. “Dated a couple of weeks before he died.” She looked up at him. “Today is the first anniversary of his death, you know.”

  Jase nodded. He had known and not known what to do about it. Should he have mentioned it to her? Or wait for her reaction? He still wasn’t sure.

  “Oh, my, listen to this,” she said and began to read the letter aloud.

  “Dear Shannon:

  “First let me tell you how much you have meant to me over the years. You were everything I ever wanted in a wife. You made me supremely happy the entire time we were together. I only wish our time together had been longer. I would have loved to see you as an old lady with grandchildren around you. You will make a wonderful mother and grandmother. Tell your kids about me. I regret we didn’t have children, so I could know if they looked like their mother, had her charming personality, or her joy of life.

  “I know you’ve been exasperated with me lately, especially with the promises I’ve extracted from you and from Jase. I hope I’m doing right. I also hope by the time you get this letter that you and Jase have found each other. He loves you, Shannon, I’ve known it all along. Being the honorable man he is, he left the field open for me to marry you. But if he’d halfway tried, I think the outcome would have been different. I couldn’t have lived without you.

  “If you and Jase have not found each other, take the next plane to San Francisco and look him up. Tell him Alan wanted the two of you to be together. Youth draws to youth, after all. Have a dozen kids and name one for me.

  “I have always loved you, my darling. Be happy. Live long and love Jase the rest of your life.

  “Your devoted husband, Alan.”

  Shannon blinked back tears. “So he most definitely did know then.”

  Jase took her into his arms. “And he approved, that’s even more important.”

  She took a deep breath and smiled up through her tears. “I love you, Jase Pembrooke. You’ll be happy to know I’m following Alan’s advice.”

  “Since we’ve been married two months, I already knew that.”

  “But did you know that we’ll be having the first of those dozen kids in about seven months!” She flung her arms around the man she loved and kissed him. “Let’s name the baby Alan—or even Alanna!”

  She would be forever grateful for the earlier love she’d shared with Alan, for it prepared her for the deeper
, lasting love she’d always have with Jase.

  ISBN: 978-1-4603-6686-8

  HIS INHERITED WIFE

  First North American Publication 2006.

  Copyright © 2006 by Barbara McMahon.

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

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  *Babies On the Way…