The Cinderella Deal (25 page)

“Oh, a
true
story.”

“Shut up. Then along came a curly-haired witch and set him free. But he wasn’t very happy about it because the witch made him nervous.”

Daisy scowled at him, and he remembered the first time he’d seen her, in that horrible hat, and he laughed.

“Why did she make him nervous?” Daisy demanded.

“Because she was a witch. In fact, he was so nervous about her being a witch that he kept trying to change her into a princess.”

“Dumbbell,” Daisy said, and Linc said, “Exactly. And he couldn’t leave her because they’d made a deal. A Cinderella deal. He had to stay with her until midnight, no matter how weird she acted.”

Daisy stuck her nose in the air. “Must have been embarrassing for the prince.”

“What he minded most was that she kept interrupting his story.”

“Sorry.”

“Then one day the witch turned herself into a princess. She dressed in black and sat quietly and behaved herself. She also stopped telling stories.” He hugged her tighter at the thought. “It scared the prince into fits because by then he’d fallen in love with her.”

Daisy put her face close to his. “Why?”

He grinned and kissed her nose. “Because she was kind and funny and warm and great in bed. She was damn near impossible to tell stories to, though.”

“Well, it’s a long story.”

“We’re almost at the end. So the prince told the princess to change back into a witch, and she did, but they had some more problems because witches and princes are going to run into problems no matter how much they love each other.”

Daisy got very still in his arms, and he held her close.

“Some more problems?” she asked quietly.

“The kids brought us a record. We’ll play it later. Where was I? Oh, yeah. The prince, who was not a complete idiot although he acted like one sometimes, noticed that she wasn’t completely a witch, that she had changed a little bit, maybe for him. And so he decided he could change too. So he bought a red sweater even though he really hated it, and he promised her that if she stayed with him he would never again buy track lighting as long as they both lived. And then he waited for her answer. Oh, and he got her a present.” He tipped her to one side of his lap, and she clung to him until he’d pulled a ring box from his pocket. “I’m not sure about this,” he told her. “I had to guess.”

Daisy wanted to tell him that she didn’t need a present, that it was all right, but he was looking at her with such concentration that she couldn’t. She opened the box. Inside was a chased silver band with freshwater pearls, not the one she’d liked in Pennsylvania, but close.

“It looked like a Daisy Flattery ring,” Linc told her. “I thought you might like it better than the old daisy ring.”

Daisy sat frozen, trying to absorb what he’d done. He must have gone back over every moment they’d had together to remember this; he must have rethought every minute they’d been together. He was giving her a chance to be Daisy Flattery again.

She held out her right hand. “I want them both.”

He held her tightly for a moment, and then he took the ring from the box and slipped it on her right ring finger. “Stay with me, Daisy. Make midnight stay away forever and live with me and have babies with me and adopt some more defective animals with me, and live happily ever after with me.”

“I love you,” Daisy whispered. “I couldn’t possibly ever leave you.”

He kissed her then, and she curled into him, holding him close in the bright spring sun, feeling so safe and loved and warm in his arms that she didn’t care who saw or what they thought.

“Actually,” Linc said into her neck, “for the complete experience of what happily-ever-after feels like, we have to go inside. The neighbors have taken just about all the public happily-ever-after they can stand without calling the police.”

Much later, Daisy moved against him drowsily, just enough to wake him up. “I forgot to ask. Does that car come with air bags?”

“Probably,” Linc said sleepily into her hair. “Why are you thinking of air bags now?”

“Make a note to ask the dealer.” Daisy snuggled closer to him and smiled up at him with such megawatt contentment that she took his breath away. “I want to keep us as safe as possible. I want all the happily-ever-after I can get.”

Next month LOVESWEPT presents Men of Power. Whether they are scaling sheer rock walls, concealed by a mask of mystery, embroiled in white-hot desert seduction, or slipping in and out of the shadows of the night, these men will fulfill your wildest fantasies. So sit back and experience the supermen of November, as they battle for passion, love, and the promise of forever. You won’t be disappointed.

SURRENDER THE SHADOW,
LOVESWEPT #810, is another superb love story in Sandra Chastain’s acclaimed MAC’S ANGELS series. No one can get in or out of dangerous places better than Connor Preston, the handsome enigma his Green Beret buddies nicknamed the Shadow, but Erica Fallon presents a different kind of threat! Once engaged to the brash daredevil, she’d vanished during a violent attack that shattered his world. Now they’re reunited but their love must survive a mysterious menace. Get set for a page-turning read of erotic intrigue as only Sandra can tell it.

Award-winning author Donna Kauffman burns up the pages in
SANTERRA’S SIN,
LOVESWEPT #811. When she answers his knock with “Enter at your own risk,” Diego Santerra realizes he has his hands full protecting Blue Delgado without her knowledge. He’s taken more than a little pleasure keeping an eye on her the past three weeks, but now he has to get closer. That means getting a job at her cantina and running the risk of endangering his heart. At her best when the story sizzles, Donna will wow you with a hero born for trouble, and a lady strong enough to handle him!

From Riley Morse, one of our talented new discoveries, comes
THE LAST HONEST MAN,
LOVESWEPT #812. Jack Graham looks every inch a god as he fearlessly scales the wall of rock, while Hannah McKenzie watches in breathless wonder. No ordinary man can move that fast, or sense her presence so far away, but he has—and she feels the heat of his eyes brand her with uncivilized desire. Desperate to touch the woman who has breached his isolation, he dares to trust her with the shocking truth. Riley delivers a breath-stealing tale of fantasy and mystery.

WHEN NIGHT FALLS,
LOVESWEPT #813, by acclaimed author Cheryln Biggs, is an invitation to venture into the shadowed reaches of the human heart. Scarred by tragedy and devastated by guilt, Anton Reichard has hidden himself deep in the Louisiana bayous, running his empire with ruthless indifference—until reporter Dani Coroneaux pene trates his fortress! Vowing to get the story no one knows of the brooding maverick with the haunted gaze, Dani may prove to be Anton’s sensual salvation. A stunning love story from an author already acclaimed for the intensity of her writing.

Happy reading! With warmest wishes,

Beth de Guzman Senior Editor

Shauna Summers Editor

P.S. Watch for these Bantam women’s fiction titles coming in November. From national bestseller Teresa Medeiros comes
SHADOWS AND LACE,
a captivating medieval love story rich in humor and passion. When Rowena’s drunken father loses her to the service of a forbidding knight accused of murder, the Dark Lord of Caerleon thinks he can use her to slay the ghosts of his past. But soon he will be ensnared by his own trap—slave to a desire he can never hope to quench. In
THE MARRIAGE WAGER,
by Jane Ashford, Lady Emma Tarrant had watched her husband gamble his life away and now she’s determined to save another young man from a similar fate. So she challenges Colin Wareham, the scoundrel who holds the young man’s debts, to another game. Intrigued, he names his stakes: a loss, and he forgives the debts. A win, and the lady must give him her heart.

Don’t miss the previews of these exceptional novels in next month’s LOVESWEPTs. And immediately following this page, sneak a peek at the Bantam women’s fiction titles on sale now!