“Enough for a few days,” she answered absently, sitting up to examine the box closer.
“Yeah, man. We’ve got plenty of food.” He continued to speak to Shawn but his eyes were completely trained on Diana as she opened the box. Her eyes widened in amazement.
“Hmm, no, I’m good. Once I reached the cabin I was able to heat up. Did everyone return from the search?”
She covered her mouth with one hand and stared down at the diamond solitaire nestled in the pink satin lining.
“Good, I’m glad to hear it. Okay, well, go on to bed and we’ll probably be back sometime tomorrow.”
Diana removed the ring from the box and slipped it on the fourth finger of her left hand and it looked as lovely on her fingers as Robert thought it would.
“Okay, and by the way, Shawn, just so you know I’m planning to ask your sister to marry me.” Her wide eyes turned to his face and found his eyes watching her carefully.
“Yeah, yeah, I know what I’m getting into but what can I say, man? I love her.” Even as he spoke his eyes never left hers. “Yeah, I know she’s a pain in the butt, but I’m not really sure I could live without her.”
Diana could feel the water forming in her eyes. She looked at the ring on her finger again, and then back to the eyes of the only man she’d ever loved.
“Okay, man. We’ll see you tomorrow.” He hung up the phone and tossed it over onto his jacket before turning back to Diana. “This is not exactly the way I planned to do this, but… Diana Alison Rogers, would you do me the sincere honor of becoming my wife?”
Her eyes twinkled with tears and she threw her arms around his neck fully and completely prepared to say the words he expected to hear, but then her eyes went to the wall of the shed. Then to the dusty floor, the ancient fireplace and the crooked roof. She sat back and looked into his expectant face. “Um…no.”
“What?”
“Well, not, no, exactly—just not now.”
“What?”
“Look around you Robert.”
But Robert kept his wide eyes and openmouthed shock trained completely on her.
“What the hell do you mean no? Do you have any idea what I went through today, when I thought you might be lying dead somewhere covered in snow? Fighting through that storm to get here?”
She reached up and cupped his face in her hands. “And I love you for that—so very much, but…” She glanced around again. “When I tell my friends and relatives when and how you proposed, I don’t want it to be…this.”
His shocked expression turned to confusion. “What are you talking about?”
“If I tell people you proposed to me after making love in a broken-down shed in the middle of a snowstorm, then of course, I would have to explain the events leading up to it. And let’s just say, this has not been my finest hour.”
“Are you serious?”
She kissed his lips quickly. “I have every intention of spending the rest of my life with you, running the winery and making babies, but this is not going to be our beginning.”
He stared at her in dumbfounded silence for a moment and then nodded his head as if in confirmation. “Your brother’s right, you’re crazy.”
“Crazy in love.” She looked at the ring on her finger. Even in the dim firelight the diamond twinkled elegantly.
Watching her admire the ring, Robert raised a sardonic eyebrow. “Just so you know, me and the ring are a package deal.”
She laughed. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.” She leaned forward and kissed him. “Look—tomorrow, we’ll be back at the inn and then in the completely appropriate environment of the sitting room you can ask me again. I promise the answer will be the one you want to hear.”
He frowned. “How do I know you won’t change your mind by then? Right now, you’re all sexually satisfied and pliable. What if you come to your senses when we return to civilization?”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Well, then I guess you’ll just have to make me pliable again.” And Robert was thinking about doing just that as he gently laid her back down on the sleeping bag.
Mid-afternoon Christmas Day, the pair sat close together on the settee in the living room. The storm had passed over the region late into the night, and just after daybreak Robert and Diana had packed up and headed back, without any hindrances they reached the inn in under twenty minutes. And after eating a big breakfast, getting a shower and fresh clothes life had pretty much returned to normal. Except for Robert’s demand that she meet him in the sitting room later that afternoon.
Now, here they were having come full circle from the young people they once were. Teenagers whose lives were then manipulated by forces beyond their control to two take-charge adults. So much had changed for both of them, but Diana knew that this was the man she was suppose to spend her life with.
It was so obvious now, and what had seemed a difficult choice the day before suddenly seemed quite simple now that the choice was no longer needed. She loved La Bohemia, and was grateful it would now stay in her family for generations to come. But what was a piece of land up against her possible future happiness? What was a legacy when compared to the love of a lifetime?
She stared into Robert’s eyes and knew that despite all the appearance of polish and sophistication, that boy she once knew still lived in there, hopeful, optimistic and romantic and she planned to spend the rest of her days drawing him out little by little.
As if reading her mind, Robert suddenly slid off the settee and onto bended knee.
“Is this what you had in mind?”
She laughed. “Not exactly, but it works.”
Just then Shawn passed the door heading to the front, the image of Robert on his knee before his sister was enough to stop the man in his tracks.
“Are you sure you want to do this man?” He leaned against the doorjamb and casually crossed his legs as if planning to remain for a while.
Robert laughed. “Yeah, pretty sure. Although, I know she’s going to make my life hell.”
“Probably?”
“Get out of here, Shawn! This is a private affair.” Diana shooed her brother, but he didn’t budge.
Instead, he glanced around the room. “Kind of a public place for a private affair, wouldn’t you say?”
Robert laughed again. “This is what she wanted. So here we are. But she’s right, man. Your being here is not making this any easier.”
Diana turned an indignant expression on her would-be fiancé. “Oh…is this hard for you?”
His eyes narrowed on her face. “See, this is what I was afraid of.” He leaned and whispered in her ear, “Are we going to have to take this upstairs where you’ll be more…pliable?”
She smiled. “No, well, maybe later. Go on—you’re doing fine.” Remembering her brother, she glanced over her shoulder. “If you’re going to stay, Shawn, be quiet. I want this to be just perfect, so when I tell my children about when their Daddy proposed it sounds appropriately romantic.”
Shawn stood straight. “Oh, good Lord.” He slipped on a pair of gloves he’d been holding. “On that note, I’ll see you people later.” He turned and headed to the front door. “Oh, and Robert,” he called as he was heading out the door, “welcome to the family.” The door shut and all was quiet again.
The pair sat staring at each other for several long moments until finally they both burst into laughter.
“Yesterday, this felt perfectly natural,” Robert said. “And today, I feel so silly doing it this way.”
“I know.” She shook her head. “I swear it sounded like a really good idea in my head. But you’re right, this is silly.” She stood. “Come up, get up, I do already. Now give me back my ring?” She held out her hand.
Reaching into his pocket Robert took out the ring and gently slid it up her finger but instead of releasing her hand, he placed a gentle kiss on her palm and simply held on to it. “Diana…” He kissed her hand again, before looking up into her eyes. “When I think of w
hat I almost lost, when I think of how close I came to making you hate me, it sends a chill down my spine. I love you so much and have always loved you even when I did not realize it. What if I’d never come back here?”
She reached down and touched his cheek. “That’s where you’re wrong, Robert. Fate would not have allowed it. Fate brought you back to me even if you thought you were being brought back for different reasons—it was for this. It was so that we could make it right and we did.”
He stood and wrapped her in his arms. “Diana Alison Rogers, will you marry me?”
She leaned back to look directly into his eyes. “Robert Edward Fenton, yes, I will.”
ISBN: 978-1-4592-1575-7
BABY, LET IT SNOW
Copyright © 2011 by Harlequin Books S.A.
The publisher acknowledges the copyright holders of the individual works as follows:
I’LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS
Copyright © 2011 by Beverly Jenkins
SECOND CHANCE CHRISTMAS
Copyright © 2011 by Elaine Overton
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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