by Louise Clark
Faith laughed, a little shakily. “Always. You have to learn to ignore them.”
Cody looked at her parents and sister, then his gaze landed on Andrew and lingered. When he looked at Faith again, he smiled that sexy smile that had such a devastating effect on her. “Or out-do them.” She looked at him questioningly and he laughed as he dropped to one knee. “Faith, we began because I lusted after your gorgeous body—”
“What! Have you and my daughter had…had…”
“Sex, Daniel. The word is sex,” Chloe said. “And while I’m not a fan of casual—”
“Will you let him finish?” Liz demanded.
Faith raised her eyes heavenward and shook her head. Cody grinned. “But we’re here now because I fell in love with your heart and your spirit and everything that makes you so special. You honored me tonight by trusting me with your secret. Will you honor me further by agreeing to become my wife?”
Liz moaned with satisfaction. For once the others were silent. Faith smiled down at Cody. “You look very silly on the floor, you know.”
“So much for romance,” he said dryly.
She laughed and dropped down opposite him. “Yes. Oh yes, Cody.” She took his face between her hands and kissed him. The ring slipped from his fingers and bounced free, landing on the floor with a tinkle on the hardwood.
“Good thing Faith doesn’t have a dog,” Andrew observed. “Those two half-wild hounds of mine would have been upon that ring in an instant. One of them would have had it in his belly by now.”
Faith and Cody broke apart. Cody picked up the ring, kissed it, then put it on Faith’s finger. “Can we get rid of them?”
Faith laughed. She touched the ring tentatively, possessively. “Yes, but not yet. I am so happy! I want to celebrate. With you, with my family. I want to pick a wedding date—”
“Soon,” said Cody.
“Small,” Daniel said.
“And ask Liz to be my bridesmaid—”
“You bet,” said Liz.
“Am I invited too?” Andrew demanded.
“I hope you’ll be my best man,” Cody said, easing into the spirit of things.
Faith’s eyes sparkled. “Oh, yeah.” She smiled and tilted her head, adding softly, “And then, Cody my love, after we’ve eaten and drunk and laughed as a family, I want to take you away and talk to you about our honeymoon.”
He caught her meaning immediately. He curled his mouth into a smile filled with promise. “My place or yours?”
“Doesn’t matter.” She laughed softly. “As long as we’re alone.”
“Are they talking about sex again?” Daniel demanded.
Andrew reached into the cupboard for glasses. Chloe headed for the refrigerator. As she opened it, she said tartly, “Oh, for heaven’s sake, Daniel. Grow up. Faith is an adult woman. There’s nothing wrong with her being intimate with the man she loves.”
“After they’re married!”
“Yeah, right. Get real, Dad,” Liz said. “Mom, what can I do to help?”
Cody said, “It will always be like this, won’t it?”
Andrew handed around glasses of wine.
“It’ll only get worse when we have kids of our own.”
Cody paled. “Oh, man.”
“A toast!” Andrew said, holding up his glass. Everyone stopped. “To Cody and Faith. May their love span the centuries and bring them the happiness they deserve.”
They raised their glasses, each of them smiling, even Daniel. “To Cody and Faith!” they chorused.
And drank.
Author’s Biography
Louise Clark is the author of both contemporary and historical romance novels. She’s combined these two genre in the Fate series—time travel stories with a twist. In addition to working on new material, she is also republishing her out-of-print titles.
Louise holds a BA in History from Queen’s University and a Master of Publishing degree from Simon Fraser University. She is a freelance book producer, cover artist and educator. Her books have been published in fifteen countries worldwide. For up-to-date information on her latest release, please visit www.louiseclarkauthor.com.