Angel Unaware (33 page)
Authors: Elizabeth Sinclair
Dora smiled up at him, then rested her face against his broad chest and hugged him close.
“Where’s Jack? He has to open his presents,” Penny said. Her face was stained with the chocolate Santa she’d been sampling. In her hand she held a red and green stocking that read
Dogs Need Christmas, Too
. “Jack?
Here, Jack.” She made a clucking sound with her tongue. “Where is he, Uncle Tony?”
Just then they heard scratching at the front door, followed by a sharp bark.
“I guess that answers your question, kiddo.” Tony went to the front door and opened it.
A shaggy white dog trotted past him and jumped on Penny. She immediately sat down, and the dog climbed into her lap, licking her face and wagging his stubby tail. Tony put his arm around Dora, and they watched as Penny tore into Jack’s stocking and began feeding him the contents.
“So, you finally asked our little girl to marry you,” Preston Sullivan said to Tony from the far end of the dining table.
“Yes, sir, and she said yes.” Tony grinned at Dora, and her heart flipped over in her chest.
“’Bout time,” Preston said, holding his plate out for another piece of pumpkin pie.
Millie frowned at him. “You’ve had enough pie. Besides, I made an extra and you have your own at home.” She pushed her chair back and stood. “Now, as soon as I help Dora clean up these dessert dishes, we’ll go home and you can have your second piece.”
Dora laughed. She loved her mother and father’s good-natured sparring. “No. Tony will help me. You take Dad home before he wastes away to nothing.”
Millie laughed this time. “Not likely. I had to let out his pants last week.”
Then she scanned the table. “You sure you don’t want me to help?”
Dora opened her mouth to say she was sure, but her father stepped in between his wife and daughter. “Millie, my love, can’t you see these young people want to be alone?”
Tony grinned. Dora slipped under his arm and nestled against his side.
Looking a bit embarrassed, Millie gathered up the shopping bag with her presents and Preston’s, kissed her daughter’s cheek, then started for the door. Preston followed.
Dora let the silence of the house close around her. It had been a long day. Lisa and Leon had made good on their promise to come to dinner, and to Tony and Dora’s amazement, Penny had liked them instantly. Lisa appeared to be very taken with her niece and promised to come for another visit before they returned to Texas.
After they left, Penny had had her dessert. When she nearly fell asleep at the table, Dora had taken her upstairs and put her to bed. Now that her parents had gone home, she and Tony finally had the house to themselves.
“Tired?” he asked, kissing the top of Dora’s head. “Exhausted.” She snuggled her face against his chest and leaned against him.
He pushed her back and looked into her face. Love shone from his eyes. He winked. “Well, Soon-to-Be Mrs. Falcone, how about we go upstairs and I give you one of my famous massages?”
Standing on tiptoe, she kissed him long and suggestively. “Just a massage?”
“For starters.”
Their shared laughter could be heard throughout the house as he carried her up the stairs.
The Archangels were once again gathered at the Earth Pool. Lailah stepped from behind Michael’s massive wings and took her place at the rim of the pool. From the small white pouch she held, she drew a handful of sparkling, gold powder. As she let it drop into the pool, she said, “I give you the precious gift of a new life.” She smiled at Gabriel and stepped back.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR...
Elizabeth Sinclair sold her first romance, JENNY'S CASTLE, in 1993 to Silhouette Intimate Moments, which reached #2 on the Walden Bestseller List and won a Georgia Romance Writers Maggie Award of Excellence. Since then, this multi-published author's books have sold in ten foreign countries and been translated into seven foreign languages.
Her books have won The National Reader's Choice Award, The Anne Bonney Reader's Choice Award, Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award, Maggie Award of Excellence, and placed in the Heart of Excellence. She has also won a Gold Medal Top Pick from the Romantic Times Book Club.
Co-founder and member of the Ancient City Romance Authors of St. Augustine, FL, she is also a member of Romance Writers of America, RWA's Kiss of Death Chapter and Sisters In Crime. Elizabeth served as RWA's Region 3 Director and chaired the 2001 RWA Annual Conference in New Orleans.
In addition to having presented numerous workshops on the craft of writing and authored the widely-acclaimed instructional books, THE DREADED SYNOPSIS and FIRST CHAPTERS, she has published a total of twenty-three romances with Silhouette Intimate Moments/Romantic Suspense, Harlequin American, Kensington Precious Gems, Medallion Press and Bell Bridge Books.
Her latest release, FOREVER FALL (due out Oct 2012), is the THIRD book in the HAWKS MOUNTAIN series for Bell Bridge Books. Previous Books in that series are: HAWKS MOUNTAIN (book #1) and SUMMER ROSE (book #2). She is presently writing book #4, WINTER MAGIC.
Elizabeth and her husband share their Florida home with their two furry children: Ripley, a seven-year-old Collie, and Miss Lily, a five-year-old Golden Retriever. Elizabeth is the mother of three children, grandmother of five, and great grandmother to her first great grandchild, born in August 2012.
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