by Betina Krahn
“Hold on.” Hamilton lifted his hands in peace. “Andrea is my friend. I don’t know you very well. I’m just looking out for her best interests.”
“Then that’s me,” Tyler said firmly.
Hamilton glanced around. “And yet she doesn’t seem to be here by your side.”
Tyler’s shoulders slumped as he stepped back. No point in taking his frustration out on somebody else. “We’re kind of having a problem.”
“She doesn’t take him seriously,” Aidan offered.
Hamilton nodded. “Ah.”
“You’ve been there, I guess?” Tyler asked.
“No, not really.”
“Love’ll get you, too,” Tyler warned. “Just wait.”
Hamilton looked a bit wistful. “It hasn’t so far.”
“Gentlemen…” Aidan extended his hand toward the back door. “I think this discussion calls for more whiskey and the privacy of the library.”
“Sloan told me to wait here,” Tyler said. “She wants to introduce me to the crowd.”
“Don’t worry,” Aidan said. “She’ll know where to—” He stopped as his attention caught on something in the direction of the house.
Sloan was exiting the back door. And just behind her, in a red sundress that glowed beneath the spotlights, was Andrea.
Tyler’s heart slammed into his chest.
“That’s my Sloan,” Aidan murmured.
As the women headed straight toward them, Tyler had a moment to regret the setting. Much as he appreciated the party, the things he needed to say were best told without an audience.
Once she reached the group, Sloan planted her hand on her shapely hip, fanning her face with the other. “All these beautiful men in one place. I think I need something cold to drink.” Looping one arm each around Aidan and Carr, she led them off.
Andrea’s amused gaze followed them for a second, then she focused on Tyler. His breath caught at the brightness in her pale green eyes. “Can we talk somewhere private?”
His pulse picked up speed and hope surged through his body. He reached for her hand, pulling her closer. “The gazebo is a little crowded right now.”
Smiling, she said, “I know a place that isn’t.”
She led him around a group of palm trees to a side door, then up the back stairs from the kitchen, the same ones they’d taken the night of the costume ball.
When he recognized where they were headed, he knew everything was going to be okay. Perfect, even.
As soon as he closed the door of the blue bedroom behind them, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. Her mouth was hungry, persuasive, needy, and he reveled in every touch and breath. There’d been moments in the last few days that he wondered if he’d ever touch her again.
Those fears fell away, replaced by a love so strong and sure he wondered how his heart had ever beat on its own before.
She leaned back and met his gaze. “I’ve been an idiot.”
“I’ve been an idiot,” he returned.
They shared another smile before he led her to the bed, pulling her down to sit beside him. “Ladies first,” he invited.
She kept a hold on his hand and her gaze focused intently on his. “I’m sorry about Saturday, the things I said, the way I said them. I’d been unfairly blaming you for the past. I felt like you forced me to protect my heart after you broke it.”
“I’m sor—”
She laid her finger over his lips. “You did nothing wrong.” She drew her hand down his chest, resting it at his waist. “Actually, I’m glad we didn’t get together then. I didn’t really love you. I loved a fantasy. I used the facts I knew about you—your sisters’ names, what you ate for lunch, your football stats—and drew up the perfect man in my mind. I didn’t really know you.
“I didn’t know about your loyalty to your family and your unit, or the pressure you felt to live up to being a hero.” She slid her hand across his thigh. “I didn’t know how the people you work with both respect and genuinely like you or about the scar on your knee. Or how considerate you are, remembering Finn likes his coffee sweet. I didn’t know you’d never care about who I was, but who I am.” Tears in her eyes, she pressed her lips gently to his. “Now I know you. And I know you belong with me, because no one will ever love you more than I do.”
Incredibly moved, he crushed her against his chest. “You’re all I’ll ever need, the only woman I’ll ever love. And Saturday was my fault, too. I compared loving you to liking the same TV shows. I didn’t exactly come up with a romantic idea.” Sliding his hand into his pants pocket, he let go of her long enough to drop to one knee in front of her. “I’m hoping to do better this time.”
Her gaze darted from him to the box he held out. Her eyes widened. “You really are serious.”
“Very,” he said as he flipped open the box and pulled out the diamond solitaire. “Marry me.”
“Oh, wow. I…”
“You need some time to think about it?”
“No. No way.” She held out her left hand. “I mean, no, I don’t need to think about it but, yes about—”
He kissed her and slid the ring on her finger at the same time.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered against his cheek, then paused, her sharp brain obviously aligning the details. “And it fits.”
“Finn helped pick it out.”
“Finn? How long have you had this?”
“Since Saturday afternoon.” He pressed her onto the mattress. “I arrested Roger, then went straight to the jeweler.”
She cupped his jaw. “You were that sure of me?”
“No. But I wasn’t giving up until I had you.”
She smiled. “Mission accomplished.”
He began unbuttoning her dress. “My most important case.” He pressed his lips to the pulse beating rapidly at the base of her throat. “I’ve missed you.”
She wrapped her arms and legs around him. “I got ready thinking of you, and the moment you might undress me later.”
Trailing his lips down her chest, he inhaled her familiar citrus scent. “I’m always happy to serve.”
That was when he knew she meant she’d literally dressed for him.
The bra was a screaming red that matched her sundress, the panties blue with white stars. If his constituents could see her campaign strategy, he would have won unanimously.
However, he wasn’t sharing.
She belonged to him, forever. Every inch of her smooth skin and curvy body would be explored and cherished. Every smart comment from her mouth would draw a smile from his own. Every moment of fidelity and support would be returned a hundredfold.
When their bodies were one, he knew their hearts were as well, drawing a whole new element of intimacy he hadn’t expected. Their hands linked, their fingers intertwined as he rocked against her hips, and the moment her neck arched and she closed her eyes while her climax broke and his followed, he knew completeness for the first time in his life.
Wherever he’d gone, whatever had come before, had led him here, to her, to this woman who’d love him with her whole heart, just as he’d devote himself to her.
He tried to catch his breath as he rolled onto his back beside her. “Oh, wow is exactly right.”
She wrapped her right hand around his arm, holding her left above them, studying the ring, which glinted in the glare of the spotlight coming through the window. “It’s perfect,” she said in a dreamy voice he’d rarely heard from his practical math whiz. “I especially like the sterling silver setting.”
Weakly turning his head, he kissed her shoulder. “I thought you might appreciate the significance.”
“I do.” She sighed. “I guess we should go back to the party.”
That innate responsibility was his girl.
He thought of Aidan, the way he knew Sloan’s determination would bring Andrea as she’d promised. He was starting to understand the woman he’d spend his life with in the same way.
He shifted onto his side, the
n he drew the tip of his finger down the center of her bare body. “We didn’t before.”
“But this party’s in your honor.”
“Good point. What about London?”
Startled, she looked at him. “I’m supposed to leave the day after tomorrow.”
“Do you want to go?”
“No.”
“You were just running from me.”
“I did have a job.”
“Uh-huh.”
She waved that away with a flip of her hand. “I’ll canc—” She stopped, a smile breaking across her beautiful face. “Come with me.”
“What?”
Naked, she leaped to her feet. She grabbed her clothes from the floor and started putting them on. “You’ve got a passport, don’t you?”
“Sure, but—”
“You don’t take office until January, right?”
“Well, yeah.”
Impulsive and practical. Could a woman be both? His certainly was.
The more he considered the idea—three weeks in London with Andrea—the more he knew it was right. After all the tension and anxious days, they could enjoy simply being together. “I’m due for a vacation after solving the biggest crime spree on the island in a decade.”
“Exactly.”
They dressed in a frenzied haste, then darted out of the room and down the hall. He was already thinking of the people he needed to call about his spontaneous trip when he remembered. “Sloan.”
“She can’t come,” Andrea said as they moved down the stairs.
“No, I mean I promised to let her introduce me onstage.”
Andrea stopped. “Now?”
“Tonight anyway.”
Andrea took his hand and led him out the side door. “I guess these are the things I have to expect if I’m going to be the wife of a public figure.”
He jerked her against him for a quick kiss. “Have I told you how much I love you?”
She stroked his face. “A couple of times, but let’s keep it up. My fantasy engagement to you was pretty spectacular. The real one has a lot to live up to.”
When they reached Sloan, she was toe-tapping impatiently by the stage. “Where have you two been? I’m supposed to introduce Tyler to—” She stopped, her gaze roving their faces, which were probably still flushed with pleasure and happiness. “Oh.” She smiled widely. “I guess you worked out your issues.”
Andrea simply held out her left hand. “We did. Thanks.”
The two women embraced briefly before somebody shoved a microphone in Sloan’s face. “The band’s getting impatient.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she said, grabbing the microphone. “Details tomorrow,” she said to Andrea.
Next, Sloan was onstage, thanking everyone for coming and for their election day support. She introduced the mayor, then Sheriff Caldwell, her voice breaking a bit when she hugged him and expressed the island’s gratitude for his many years of service.
“So, now,” she said dramatically, “please welcome the man who will serve and protect our island for many years to come, Sheriff Tyler Landry.”
Tyler took the stage to a round of applause and cheers. He shook hands with everyone near the podium and waved at the familiar people in the crowd—his family, Sister Mary Katherine, Aqua, Dwayne and Misty. He’d make sure his life was spent keeping theirs safe, understanding how precious the gift of love and contentment could be.
When the noise died down, he moved toward Sloan to take the microphone, mentally going through the list of people who’d helped him get here, when Sloan pointed toward Andrea. “And please welcome the future Mrs. Landry.”
Tyler’s gaze darted to Andrea, expecting her reluctance to announce their engagement so publicly and suddenly, but she was already racing up the stairs to join him.
To stand by his side always.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-4879-7
Copyright © 2010 Harlequin Books S.A.
The publisher acknowledges the copyright holders of the individual works as follows:
The Chase
Copyright © 2010 by Betina Krahn
The Takedown
Copyright © 2010 by Joanne Rock
The Satisfaction
Copyright © 2010 by Lori Borrill
The Charmer
Copyright © 2010 by Peggy A. Hoffmann
Play with Me
Copyright © 2010 by Leslie A. Kelly
Her Sexy Valentine
Copyright © 2010 by Stephanie Bond, Inc.
Take Me If You Dare
Copyright © 2010 by Candace Havens
Tempt Me Again
Copyright © 2010 by Etherington, Inc.
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