Candace McCarthy (29 page)

Authors: Sweet Possession

BOOK: Candace McCarthy

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Daniel lifted his head and frowned. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be so rough with you.” There was a heartbeat of silence in which Amelia sensed that he was apologizing for more than just this one solitary kiss, that his apology was also for the last time they’d come together.

“I’m not,” she said. Amelia raised her hand, touched his cheek. “Sorry for the roughness.”

He seemed startled by the admission. “Amelia?”

She nodded. “That night, you didn’t hurt me—not physically. I—” She blushed. “I loved it.”

He stared at her hard, groaned when he saw she meant it, and clutched her to him tightly.

“Amelia … Angel, will you marry me?” he asked. His voice had turned raspy as he was overcome with emotion.

Amelia’s eyes filled with tears as she nodded. “Oh, Daniel, I thought you’d never ask.”

And they kissed and felt their passion returning, building. Then, they clamped it down and reluctantly pulled apart. They wanted to tell the others their news. They wanted, quite simply, to share their joy with the other people they loved.

Epilogue

The rippling sound of childish laughter filled the quiet afternoon outside the Trahern residence. Amelia sat on her front porch swing, observing Daniel playing with their blond, blue-eyed daughter. She watched as Daniel swung the little girl high into the air, where she hovered for a moment in laughing glee. The child cried out with happiness as she fell downward, confident in her father’s efforts to catch her.

She and Daniel had been married for two years. Amelia had given birth to baby Cecily nine months after the day she’d become Daniel’s wife. She’d been wary, at first, wondering how quickly Daniel wanted to be a father, grateful when he’d been overjoyed at the news. She’d thought that perhaps Daniel had wanted a son. He loved Susie like a daughter, and Amelia wanted to take nothing away from Jane’s little girl.

Daniel’s face when Cecily was born banished any of Amelia’s lingering doubts that this child wouldn’t be wanted or loved by her father.

Jane remained still quiet and withdrawn—except with Susie. Her four-year ordeal had scarred her emotionally. Amelia hoped that Daniel’s sister would someday find the peace and happiness Jane needed so desperately in her life.

It didn’t help that no one had ever heard what happened
to Richard Milton. The last news had been that the authorities had shipped him back East for trial. It would have been nice to know for certain what method of justice had finally taken the man in the end.
Jane needed to know,
Amelia thought, and made a silent vow to write to her aunt back East to ask if the woman could use her social contacts to make polite inquiries.

Daniel’s deep musical laugh drew Amelia’s attention back to her beloved family. He had put Cecily on the ground and was tickling her.

Amelia’s gaze went to Susie, now ten years old. The child stood off to one side, watching father and daughter not with envy but with a loving smile on her beautiful little face.
You ‘re a treasure, Susie.
And Amelia knew that Jane thought so, too, for she had the feeling that Jane would have long given up the will to live if not for her overwhelming love for the daughter she’d been separated from for four years.

Daniel rose to his feet, eyed his niece with a wicked gleam. “Your turn,” he growled, before he went after Susie with tickling fingers.

Both man and child went down in the yard, rolling, tickling each other, their laughter rising high on the warm spring afternoon air. Amelia watched fondly as Cecily toddled over on unsteady legs to jump on the tangled heap of bodies and limbs. Her own childlike giggles joined the other two. The sweet, musical sound of all three was so merry, so full of happiness and love, that Amelia’s eyes filled with tears.

“Ho! Are those my little ladies?”

Amelia glanced over to see her smiling father coming up the path. Two heads lifted from Daniel’s chest as Cecily squealed with delight as she spied her grandfather.

Daniel rose to his feet with a grin, then meandered over
to Amelia as John Dempsey assumed with great pleasure the duties of a doting grandpapa.

“Hello, little momma,” Daniel said, then he bent to kiss her on her protruding belly. He straightened, then took a seat next to her on the swing.

Amelia smiled and patted her stomach, knowing in her heart, that if she could have wished for it, life couldn’t have been any better. She had her father back, and she had a wonderful husband, a beautiful daughter and niece, and another baby on the way.

She sighed and reached out to pat and squeeze Daniel’s knee. “I love you, Daniel.”

He covered her hand, then trailed his fingers seductively up her arm until she had to look at him. The desire in his blue gaze made her catch her breath and caused her pulse to beat rapidly.

He still makes my heart go crazy,
she thought, looking forward to the time when she and Daniel could be alone.

She gave him a flirtatious smile. Life was good.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Candace McCarthy lives in Delaware with her husband of 24 years, and she has a son in college. She enjoys hearing from her readers. You may write to her at:

P.O. Box 58

Magnolia, DE 19962.

She also has a Web site on the Internet.

Books by Candace McCarthy

WHITE BEAR’S WOMAN

IRISH LINEN

HEAVEN’S FIRE

SEA MISTRESS

RAPTURE’S BETRAYAL

WARRIOR’S CARESS SMUGGLER’S WOMAN

Published by Zebra Books

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ANYTHING FOR LOVE (0-8217-4992-7, $5.99)

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A BALTIMORE BEAUTY…

As innocent as she is idealistic, Amelia Dempsy
arrives in Michigan knowing nothing of life in this untamed
land or of the Indian people she has come to help. It’s no wonder
she immediately clashes with Daniel Trahern, a rugged blond
frontiersman who opposes those who attempt to “civilize”
the Indians with the White mans ways.

A RUGGED BLACKSMITH

And when raiders attack her home, kidnapping her father,

Amelia is left with no other choice but to accept Daniels
protection. Unsettled by the awakening passion he ignites, she
fights her attraction for the handsome blacksmith
—
realizing
only too late she has put her heart in jeopardy. For Daniel’s
tragic past conspires to keep them apart even as their
undeniable desire brings them together…

“A beautiful story of Indian culture, of love, caring, and sharing, and a blending of white and Indian customs. “

—Rendezvous
on
WHITE BEAR’S WOMAN

Copyright

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First Printing: February, 1999 10 987654321

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Ebook Edition APRIL 2013 ISBN: 978-1-60183-102-6

Version 1

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