The Love Lottery (4 page)
Authors: Linda Andrews
"Lia Lombard."
No one protested. How could they? The gods had spoken.
Lia stomped across the courtyard. Anger rouged her cheeks.
"You need to put it back in the urn."
"Not for all the heat in Hades."
She lunged for the paper. Raising his arm, he held it out of reach. Psyche and Cupid materialized fully fleshed on the portico. Psyche’s bright-blue butterfly wings overlapped Cupid's soft white ones.
Dante gathered his courage. He'd asked for another chance, and it had been granted. So, he'd speak his piece. In his peripheral vision, he noted the crowd. The whole town was about to hear it. He hoped it was good enough to win Lia's heart.
Lia kicked him in the shin then grabbed the paper.
"Ha!"
He grabbed her, reeling her in until her squirming body was flush against his.
"I'm sorry I stayed away for so long."
She stilled in his arms, but her muscles were coiled, ready to flee.
"I'm sorry I was such an idiot to waste three years searching for your family when it is here and has been all this time." He pressed a kiss on her collarbone, tasted the fear and hope on her skin.
She relaxed. Just a little.
He gently turned her until she faced him.
"You are my home, and I have yearned for you every second we were apart."
Tears glistened in her eyes, and her chin trembled.
Now for the hard part—releasing her. If she fled…
Dropping to one knee, he fumbled to open the small purse on his belt.
"What are you doing?" Lia stepped back.
His heart stopped. When she didn't move farther away, it slammed back to tempo inside his chest. Finally, his fingers found the warm metal. He offered her the plain gold band.
"Lia Lombard, I have loved you since you hit me with pizza dough when you were twelve. Please marry me. Please be my wife. Please be my family."
She pressed her hands to her cheeks, but her eyes glowed with happiness. Such beautiful eyes. He wanted to look into them every day for the rest of his life.
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely."
Slowly, she lowered her trembling hand. He almost dropped the ring before he threaded it onto the proper finger.
Fisting his toga, she pulled him to his feet and pressed against him. Gods, yes! Her smile beamed brighter than the shining sun.
"I'll marry you, Dante Trancredo. You are my love, my heart, and my home."
Thank you for purchasing a copy of The Love Lottery. Alessa's story will be released as a full length novel January 2013 by Zumaya Publications. It will is part of the Dugan family series along with The Christmas Village and Some Enchanted Autumn.
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About the Author:
Linda Andrews lives in Phoenix, Arizona with her husband, three children and a menagerie of domesticated animals. While she started writing a decade ago, she always used her stories to escape the redundancy of her day job as a scientist and never thought to actually combine her love of fiction and science. DOH! After that Homer Simpson moment, she allowed the two halves of her brain to talk to each other. The journeys she’s embarked on since then are dark, twisted and occasionally violent, but never predictable. If you’ve loved one of her most demented creations so far, she’d love to hear from you at lindaandrews at lindaandrews dot net.
