Getting It Right This Time (30 page)
Read Getting It Right This Time Online
Authors: Rachel Brimble
Tags: #Romance, #Contemporary, #Fiction
And then there was an abrupt knock at the door. They froze.
Mark.
Without opening the door she knew it was him.
She dropped Jess’s hands and clutched at the spot where her heart beat like an out of control bongo drum. He was there. Right now. A wave of nervousness, delight, fear and love washed through from Kate’s toes to the top of her head. Images of James, of her mother, of James’s mother, of Marcia and Underwood flicked past her eyes. Her feet remained welded to the floor.
But Jess held no such qualms or hesitation--Kate was forced to move when Jess made a run for the door.
“Sweetheart, wait. You don’t ever answer the door without Mummy, remember?”
“But it could be Mark. Quick, quick!”
Kate swung Jess up onto her hip just as a second knock rapped on the door. She looked at Jess and winked. “Impatient, isn’t he?”
Jess frowned. “What?”
Kate laughed, shook her head. “Nothing. And it’s pardon.”
She stepped forward and opened the door.
“Mark!” Jess screeched.
Kate’s breath caught in her throat. Whether it was their three day separation or the truth they would spend the rest of their lives together, Kate had no idea, but Mark never looked more handsome than he did in that moment.
His gaze went straight to Jess. “Hello, you.”
Jess put her arms out to him and Kate came undone when he lifted Jess from her embrace and into his own. “You were on the telly,” Jess said.
Mark brushed the hair back from her face. Kate could’ve sworn his eyes were shinier than they were a few seconds before. She blinked back her own tears.
“Did you see me?” he asked, his gaze still locked with Jess’s.
“Yes. And you said you loved us.”
He grinned and whatever tiny piece of Kate’s heart that wasn’t yet his surrendered. “I did.”
He kissed her cheek. “I do.” He kissed her other cheek. “Is that okay?”
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Jess giggled and threw her arms around his neck and hugged him close, clearly too happy for words. Kate swayed slightly back on her heels when their eyes met over Jess’s shoulder. She had never been more in love in her whole life.
She smiled. “Do you want come in?”
“More than anything.”
Kate’s stomach turned over, and her heart swelled when she recognized the uncertainty in his frown. He’d had no idea if she would agree. He still thought she wanted nothing more to do with him. Wanted to break away and never come back. She locked her gaze on his and nodded.
He watched her. Nodded back. She nodded again…
And then she was in his arms along with Jess, the three of them tucked together as one. Kate drew comfort from the feel of his strong hand pressed to the small of her back and the joy shining in Jess’s eyes.
But just a few seconds later, she was snapped back to reality by the jabbing, wriggling elbows of a three-year-old. “Can I go and watch TV now?” Jess asked, clearly bored with the whole reunion thing.
Mark planted a kiss on her forehead and set her down.
“Sure, if Mummy doesn’t mind.”
Kate winked. “Go.”
Jess ran back inside and Kate slid her hand into Mark’s, pulling him into the suite, closing the door behind them. Silently, the two of them walked passed Jess and into the bedroom. They sat down on the bed. Kate met his eyes.
“I can’t believe you did that.”
“I want you, Kate. You and Jess,” he said, looking down at their joined hands. “I want you both so much.” He looked up. “Do you want me?”
She leaned forward and put her lips to his. There was a moment’s hesitation before his hand moved to her shoulder, then to the back of her neck.
Knowing she risked Jess seeing them yet unable to go a moment longer without kissing him, she gave him her silent answer. Their soft tentative kiss became more intense, more ardent…Kate pulled away at the urgent tell-tale hitch between her legs.
“Yes, Mark. I want you.”
His threw a hurried glance toward the open bedroom door and then back to her. He cleared his throat, his eyes full of mischief as he not-so-subtly adjusted the fly area of his trousers. “Mmm, good. I got that. But what about the long-term? I can’t let you have your wicked way with me and then toss me aside like a surplus-to-requirements gigolo.”
Kate pushed out her bottom lip and tipped her head to the side as though considering what he’d said. “Well, the thing is…”
“Hey!”
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She laughed, and he pulled her into his arms. She closed her eyes when she felt him kiss her hair and rest his chin on her head. “I love you so much, Kate Marshall.”
“I love you too, Mark Johnston.” She paused as her gaze fell on Jess in the other room. “But I’m also scared.”
He gently eased her away and looked into her eyes. “I won’t be going anywhere. I’m here for the long haul.”
“You have to promise me nothing else will pull us apart.”
“It won’t.”
She glanced toward Jess. “But most of all you have to promise me you’ll do everything in your power to protect Jess. Whether that be from the press…or pain. The fear I won’t be enough for her, that she’ll one day ask for James because she still feels the void he left in her heart and I’m not enough to fill it scares me to death. Do you understand?”
He briefly pressed his lips to hers. “More than anything. I love her, Kate.” He paused, smiled.
“And that’s why I have a plan.”
Kate’s stomach did a loop-the-loop at the boyish pride in his eyes. “A plan?”
“Uh-huh.”
“What plan?”
He gripped her hands. He looked adorable. And sexy. And determined. And…she needed to focus.
“Okay, here goes.” He swallowed. “I have more money than we could spend in a lifetime…”
Kate pulled away and cocked an eyebrow. “And clearly modest about it.”
He laughed. “If you let me finish…”
She smiled and gestured for him to continue.
“We can travel. I can pay for Jess’s education, her hopes and dreams, anything you want.
We can live here, abroad…both. What I’m saying is, it’s up to us what happens from here on. I want you to be happy and if it means leaving Foxton and starting again where no one knows us or cares who we are, so be it.”
Kate shook her head. “Mark…”
He grasped her hand. “We can do whatever we want. But please, Kate, please say we can do this. The three of us can be together.”
She leaned forward and kissed him long and hard. “We can. But we’ll be together here. I will carry on with the salon, and you will continue to run your company.”
“But surely…”
“We are not running from them, Mark. If we’re going to do this, we do this here. We live together in Foxton where we are surrounded by family and friends. Where Jess can grow up knowing my parents and James’s parents. Where I can tell her about the places we used to go and the places we wanted to once we were old enough. And most of all…” She paused, cupping his jaw in her hand. “She can live in the most beautiful house in the entire world.”
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He drew her into his arms. “I bought it for you, you know.”
She leaned her head against his strong chest, placed her hand over his heart. “I know.”
“And one day you will pay me back.”
Kate’s eyes shot open, and she sat bolt upright. “Pardon?”
He grinned. “Well, there has to be some sort of remuneration. So…once the place is filled with six kids running around the garden, I’ll consider the debt cleared.”
Kate swatted him on the arm as he casually slid it into his pocket as though what he was asking of her was no big deal. “Six! Are you crazy?” she said.
He shrugged. “Well, okay, I’ll settle for four.”
She stared back him as a flutter of anticipation rippled through her stomach. “We’ll see.”
After a moment, his smile slowly dissolved. Kate touched his arm. “Are you all right?”
His adam’s apple shifted beneath the taut skin of his neck and a flush of color darkened his cheeks. “Couldn’t be better.”
“Then what…”
He flipped open the lid of the red velvet box and Kate’s heart jumped into her throat. The diamond sparkled and glinted even in the subdued light of the hotel room. Flawless and perfect, nothing too big but oh, so striking, Kate couldn’t take her eyes off of it.
She raised her eyes to his. “Mark. . .”
He slipped the ring onto her wedding finger. “Kate Marshall, will you marry me?”
With tears spilling onto her cheeks and his handsome face blurring, Kate nodded. “Yes, yes I will.”
And at that moment, Jess came running into the room, her eagle eyes falling on the ring. She looked from Kate to Mark and back again before screaming and scrambling up on the bed between them. And as Mark scooped her up and the three of them fell backward onto the bed laughing and crying, Kate knew they had gotten it right this time.
About Rachel Brimble
http://www.lyricalpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=authors&authors_id=158
I hope you enjoyed
Getting It Right This Time
--this book was inspired by my eldest daughter, Jessica, who was exactly like the Jessica in the book when she was the same age! This is my fifth novel, the first with the lovely Lyrical Press, and I found myself wanting to include my children in my writing somehow.
So the idea came to explore how I would try to restore my children’s confidence and belief all could be good in the world if they were to lose their father. It was an emotional write at times, and I hope it gave you an emotional read--and of course, a great happy ending! xx Rachel’s Website:
www.rachelbrimble.com
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- Getting It Right This Time
- Back Cover Copy
- Highlight
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Chapter 4
- Chapter 5
- Chapter 6
- Chapter 7
- Chapter 8
- Chapter 9
- Chapter 10
- Chapter 11
- Chapter 12
- Chapter 13
- Chapter 14
- Chapter 15
- Chapter 16
- Chapter 17
- About Rachel Brimble
- More From Lyrical Press
- Back Cover Copy
