Flirting with Fate (14 page)

E
lle helped Nan put a couple of bows on the Christmas tree. Not that she needed help. Nan had already hung every decoration that Elle and Eric had made, along with bulbs, bows, lights, and tinsel. She’d been given the job because her pacing had gotten on her grandmother’s nerves.

“It’s beautiful,” Elle said as she backed across the room. “What’s in the big box?”

“None of your business.” Nan moved to stand between Elle and the present under the tree. “You’ll have to wait until Christmas morning.”

Elle heard a noise. Logan had dropped her off at Nan’s before he joined Eric for lunch. Elle had wanted to go and voice her opinion, but Logan had won the argument. This was something he wanted to do alone. “Logan’s back.”

“I didn’t hear anything,” Nan said with a chuckle. “He’s taking care of business. Relax.”

Elle walked to the front door and looked out. It was nothing. “I should have gone with him. You think he and Eric are arguing?”

“No way of knowing. My money is on Logan.” Nan pushed the screen door open. “He’s only been gone a couple of hours. Come sit in the porch swing next to me.”

Elle followed Nan outside but paced the length of the porch instead of sitting.

Another thirty minutes passed before Elle spotted the dust rolling off the dirt road that led to Nan’s house. “Finally.”

Logan parked his pickup and got out. He straightened his shirt, walked up the drive and down the sidewalk without changing expression.

“I knew it.” Elle turned to Nan. “Eric hates the idea of me and Logan in love.”

“I don’t believe it,” Nan said.

Elle ran to meet him at the yard gate, lifting up on her toes for a kiss. Logan leaned down, brushing her lips with his. Nan waited for them on the steps.

“Afternoon, beautiful,” he said, turning on the charm for Nan. He smiled at her, and the Texas sun got brighter.

“Good to see you.” Nan turned her cheek for a kiss. “It sure felt like you and Elle were gone a long time.”

“But we made it back in time for Christmas.”

His mood was too good. Nan had been right not to fall for his solemn look. He was just making them wait.

Nan huffed. “Good thing you did.”

Logan sniffed the air. “I smell blueberries, which means a cobbler just came out of the oven.”
 

“I was just going in to take it out of the oven. Your timing is perfect.” Nan squinted, looking him over from top to bottom. “I don’t see any bruises.”

“No, ma’am. Eric took it a lot better than I expected.” Logan slid his arm around Elle’s waist.

“Told you it was right to let him go alone,” Nan said, enjoying the fact that she’d been right. “In five minutes, I’m dishing up vanilla ice cream to top off my cobbler. Any takers?”

“We’ll be right in,” Elle said, holding onto Logan’s arm. She waited until the front door closed. “You scared the crap out of me. What did Eric say?”

“Something about me damn near getting you killed.”

“Really?” Elle pulled Logan down to the porch swing. “I thought you said it went okay.”

“It did. I was joking.”

She smacked him in the stomach. “Give me details. What did he say when you told him we were getting married?”

“Are we?” His eyebrows lifted in question. Was he joking again?

“You proposed. And you’re not taking it back!”

“Can’t take something back that was never accepted.”

“I said yes.” Her mind raced back to that day in the castle’s lobby. “Didn’t I?”

“Nope. You never answered my question.”

“Then do it again.” Her heart was about to explode. “Stop teasing and say it again.”

“I made one other stop before I came back.” Logan removed a small box from his pocket and opened it to reveal a beautiful engagement ring. “Will you marry me?”

“Yes. Yes. Yes.” She kissed him, putting her heart and soul into the kiss.

“Merry Christmas,” he said.

“It’s beautiful.” Tears flooded her eyes as he placed the ring on her finger. The winter wind lifted her hair, reminding her how nice it was to be back in Texas. “I’m so glad we made it home before Christmas.”

The front door opened. “If that’s settled,” Nan said with a grin, “cobbler’s getting cold.”

I’d love for you to check out the other Noble Pass Affaire titles by members of Chick Swagger, listed in the front of this book—here’s a sneak peek at
Flirting with the Devil
by Kym Roberts:

Flirting with the Devil

A Noble Pass Affaire Novella

“D
o you remember anything about last night?” He pushed again. Praying that she remembered.

Looking down at her feet, she replied, “I remember what you walked in on…did Ty do that to your lip?”

He only gave her half an answer, “No, there was an unruly passenger at the airport.”

She waited for more, but they’d been here, done that with the other part of her question. It was not a memory he wanted to dwell on, and yet at the same time, Wade’s heart nearly broke in half.

She didn’t remember any of it.

“Was it real? Last night?” she asked.

That hope just kept knocking on his heart, dying to get in. “It was more real than the nightmare I’ve been living since the day you left.”

“Did we sleep together?”

With all of his being, he wished they had. It’d been so long. “We slept together, yes.” Her eyes shot up at his face and he smiled. “That’s all we did. We didn’t have sex.”

“Oh.”

Again, that hint of disappointment that gave him so much hope he wasn’t sure what to do with it. Until she asked, “Why are you here?”

He knew why he was there. He loved her. More than anything, and he damn sure didn’t want to lose her ever again. But he didn’t have her. Not yet, anyway. Last night, at her weakest, most vulnerable moment, she’d trusted him.

Today, she wasn’t sure where to turn—to trust in the lie of the past six months, to believe the lessons from her past that told her love was a myth—or to side with the truth and the devotion from the man standing in front of her. The man she loved with all of her being. He now understood, more than ever, the battle she faced.

Half of it had nothing to do with him and everything to do with a dead mother and a father who’d left her, at the age of nine, in a homeless camp made of boxes. Frightened and alone. Shivering from the cold, dressed in clothes five sizes too big that had belonged to her mother.

But could she really trust a member of the human race with her heart? Unconditionally? He’d thought she had learned how—with him. But the past six months had erased everything.

Knowing her childhood, he wasn’t sure he could win. Especially when she was afraid to trust…to feel.

She searched his eyes for the truth, and he prayed she could read it. Feel it in his touch.

“I thought that Ty was the better man for you. He has the training, the skills, everything it takes to keep you safe. I build houses…” He laughed and looked away. He never would have believed he’d be embarrassed by owning one of the premiere building corporations on South Carolina’s seaboard. He and Reese built dream homes. They were featured on television for their vision and design. Yet he couldn’
t protect his wife…from the mob. 

“That wasn’t your fault…”

“Wasn’t my fault?” He couldn’t believe she was letting him off the hook. “If I had been there with you to celebrate your victory, that scumbag wouldn’t have gotten within two feet of you.”

“He would have killed you first. Put that blade in your back without us ever seeing him. You wouldn’t have stopped the attack on my life. It would have left you dead, and I would have had to go on living knowing that I was the reason for your death.”

“Would you have cared?” He knew the answer. She loved him, but he needed her to admit it to herself.

And she did, with indignation that he would ever doubt her feelings. “Of course I would care!” Her voice grew softer, “You’re the only person I’ve ever loved in my life.”

He seized the moment. “Give us another chance, Sam. You know I didn’t cheat on you. I would never risk losing the woman who made me complete, not for a meaningless affair, not for my company, not for anyone or anything. I found love when I met you. The moment you fell into my arms, I knew you were the one for me.” His voice hitched with emotion before he looked her in the eyes and put everything on the line. “The only one for me.”

“Your miniskirt with the zippers on each side about drove me crazy. I wanted to unzip it with my teeth, unravel the present that had dropped in my arms and gave my life meaning. I’d thought I was happy, before I met you. But I wasn’t…”

She was staring at him like she couldn’t believe he remembered what she’d been wearing that fall day. But he did. From her tight jean skirt to her black sequin top and short black boots. She’d been his fantasy in the flesh that day. Just like today.

“Your hair was up in a clip, and just as you fell into my arms, the clip slipped and your hair tumbled out. It was like sheets of black satin unfolding in my arms.”

She reached up and put her finger on his lip, searched his face for the truth of his love, as if she was remembering the moment when he’d held her in his arms for the very first time. Six years ago, the desire to kiss her had been so strong he didn’t think he’d be able to resist. But he had. Because their future was on the line.

Today, however, was a different story. Holding back the passion would be all wrong, and he knew it. Knew she needed to be reminded of how good they were together. It was now or never.

Enfolding her in his arms, he dipped her backwards like the day they’d met. But this time he didn’t resist the sweet temptation inches from his mouth. “This is what I wanted to do the day we met.”

His lips touched hers ever so gently, waiting for her to respond, to give permission for him to take it further. With a little sigh, her arms encircled his neck, and he was done resisting. Done holding back the passion and need that this woman created within him. His mouth devoured what she gave. And oh, how she gave.

Until she stopped.

With tears in her eyes, she buried his hopes. “I can’t do this.”

Unedited excerpt from:

Lost and Found, Inc., Series-

Book Four

No Greater Hell

By Jerrie Alexander

J
ake settled his ball cap on his head to shade his eyes against the morning sunlight. He blinked against the glare as he scanned the Donovan Ranch for damages. His joints were stiff, more from tension than being cramped underground in a storm cellar for the past six hours. Neither he nor Aunt Alice had slept, not with the torrential rainfall and high winds pounding against the only door out of this underground shelter.

A battery powered weather radio had kept them up to date on the deadly hurricane that hit the coast of Texas. It had spawned three tornados and dumped untold inches of rain. He and Alice had known exactly when the tornado had passed over the ranch. The past few days the two of them had worked nonstop. Alice had already proven that she could carry her weight. She’d boarded up windows, stacked furniture, and moved food to the cellar while Logan had moved the cattle and then the horses to higher ground. Strong and determined, she’d worked harder than any two men. His level of respect and affection grew every day.

It was quiet now. The air was still. Even the birds had stopped chirping. Probably too scared to announce the danger had passed. Alice stood silently beside him. Her blue eyes looked permanently stained with red streaks from the lack of sleep. Her salt-and-pepper hair mussed from lack of care, not that she cared.

“Thank God the house is still standing,” she said. “Roof looks to have shingles missing over the back bedroom.” She pulled an old ball cap from her hip pocket and socked it on her head. “Damn twister cut a swath right through the pasture. I’ll take a look at the house. You’ll check on cattle and horses?

“Yes ma’am.” Jake had no words of comfort to offer. Nothing he could say would make things better.

He escorted his aunt to the front porch then went to the barn, surveying damage as he walked. Rapidly moving water had cut a wide swath in the usually hard dirt road from the house to the out-buildings. Uprooted paddock fence posts, felled young trees with their jagged roots pointing skyward, which would’ve someday provided the livestock shade from the broiling Texas sun, dotted the pasture. The odor of wet wood and soggy cattle pens went unnoticed as he pulled on a tall pair of rubber boots. The four-wheeler would get stuck, so he walked. His feet sinking into the mud with each step.

Within a few hours, Jake had located the livestock and counted four dead. He stared in amazement at a new born calf and her mother. He gathered the heifer in his arms, knowing the mother would follow, and carried it back to the barn. Secure in a horse stall with a fresh pile of hay, both animals would be fine.

Jake tugged off the rubber waders, dropping them on the back porch steps. He turned on the water hose and rinsed them off followed by his face, arms, and hands. The heat and humidity had taken their toll on him, soaking his clothes clean through.