Baby Before Business (Silhouette Romance) (15 page)
Read Baby Before Business (Silhouette Romance) Online
Authors: Susan Meier
He swallowed. He got what she was saying. If he didn’t say the words she needed to hear to stay in town, then she risked looking like a fool if he could never say them. At the same time he couldn’t lie.
And he knew the very second she figured that out. The tiny light that had been in her eyes suddenly died. Her lips parted slightly and her tongue darted out to moisten them, as if she were giving herself something physical to do so she wouldn’t completely dissolve with disappointment.
“Well, I guess that settles that,” she said, and turned toward her car door.
Regret tumbled through Ty. Not just that she was leaving, but that she was leaving so hurt. She’d totally changed his life for the better, but in the process he had hurt her.
As she pulled the lever that opened her car door, Ty remembered their time together frame by frame. And every frame included her laughing, her smiling, her teasing. Her pushing him, challenging him, refusing to be bullied by him. She was nothing but emotion. And in a life that had been totally devoid of emotion for at least eight years, she was like water on cracked, dry land. Her laughter had
been the first in his life for years. He suddenly didn’t know how he could live without that. Minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years loomed before him empty and void.
As she prepared to step inside her car, he saw himself quietly grow old. He saw Seth fall in love and start a family. He even saw Sabrina grow up and move away from him. And he saw himself alone and lonely because, without the woman stepping into the car, he lived in a dry, arid desert. And he didn’t want to live in the desert anymore. He wanted her warmth, her laughter, even her confrontations.
And if that wasn’t love, Ty was willing to take the risk that it was.
“I love you.”
He watched Madelyn pause halfway to the seat of her car, then quickly shift to face him, eyes wide with disbelief. But that wasn’t nearly as satisfying to Ty as the sensation that burst in his chest.
He
did
love her.
“I do love you,” he said, disbelief and hope mingled in his voice. “My, God! I love you!”
Madelyn fell into his arms. “Why do you sound so surprised?”
He looked down at her upturned face. Her full lips had tipped up into a smile. Happy tears had filled her eyes. Her pretty hair glistened in the sun. He knew he wasn’t surprised that he would want this woman in his life. What surprised him was that it was so easy.
He swallowed. “It’s so much easier than I thought it would be.” As a weight lifted from his shoulders, hope
and joy filled him. He never wanted to lose this feeling, this woman. “Stay.”
She pulled back and looked at him.
Before she could protest, challenge him or make the suggestion, he said, “Marry me.” For once he wanted a decision about their lives to be his idea, not the end result of her prodding.
Her mouth fell open. “Are you sure?”
“I have never been more sure,” he said, then he kissed her. His mouth met the softness of her lips and he finally realized that the sensation he felt every time he kissed her was rightness, perfection, partnership. This was the woman who was supposed to be in his life. This was the woman he
loved.
He kissed her lips, her cheeks, her eyes, then he brought his mouth to her lips again where he deepened the kiss, letting his tongue explore her mouth while his hands freely roamed along her body. She was his. He finally understood that.
A car pulled up to the pump beside them. Ty continued to kiss Madelyn. Like a starving man at a banquet, he couldn’t get enough.
A car door slammed. “Hey, buddy, get a room.”
Ty pulled away and faced the guy. Jim Ronan from Bryant Development’s Estimating Department. “Hey, Ronan. Wanna have a job on Monday?”
“Mr. Bryant!”
“It’s Ty. And just pump your gas.” He faced Madelyn again. “So, do you want to go to your parents’ house and tell them you’re staying…” He lowered his voice.
“Or my house. We’ll send the new nanny and Sabrina on a mission, and make love.”
She rose to her tiptoes and kissed him. “Your house. There’ll be plenty of time to settle things with my family.”
“Family,” Ty said, suddenly realizing something else. “You do understand that Seth trying to get Cooper to take his share of the profits may end up bringing Cooper back into our lives.”
“Actually, I think that’s what you guys need to have happen.”
He looked at her, and realized that she was right. It wasn’t enough to get Cooper to take the money. They had to get their brother back in their lives. “You’re right.” He pulled her to him again. “We’re gonna have a lot of fun.”
“You missed a lot of fun.” She kissed him again. “And I’m just the person to make it up to you.”
ISBN: 978-1-4603-5471-1
BABY BEFORE BUSINESS
Copyright © 2005 by Linda Susan Meier
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 editorial office, Silhouette Books, 233 Broadway, New York, NY 10279 U.S.A.
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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