Raina was seated at his desk with her back facing the door so he wouldn’t see her right away. But she had a clear view of his reflection in the window as he strode into the room, briefcase in hand, scowling as he impatiently jerked his tie loose. Her heart lurched at the sight of him.
“I’ve had a long day,” Warrick said to his butler and housekeeper, a note of exasperation in his voice. “What did you want to discuss with me that was so urgent?”
On cue, Raina swiveled around in the chair and drawled, “Actually, Mr. Mayne, I’m the one with an urgent matter to discuss with you.”
Warrick’s eyes widened.
“Raina?” he whispered, staring at her as if he were hallucinating. “What are you doing here?”
“You have something of mine,” Raina said, looking at the snow globe on his shelf, secretly relieved that he hadn’t gotten rid of it in the aftermath of their argument.
Warrick frowned. “If you’re talking about the snow globe, that’s mine. You gave it to me.”
Raina smiled softly. “I wasn’t talking about the snow globe. I was talking about something else you have, something else I gave you a long time ago.” She paused. “My heart.”
Warrick’s expression softened. “Are you taking it back?” he said with a husky catch to his voice.
“Even if I wanted to,” Raina said, rising from the chair, “I couldn’t. It belongs to you, and I don’t think that’s ever going to change.”
Their gazes held.
Raina didn’t know who moved first, but the next thing she knew she was rushing around the desk as Warrick tossed aside his briefcase and strode purposefully toward her. And then she was in his arms, wrapped in his fierce embrace, and it felt like heaven.
With gentle, conspiratorial smiles, Mr. Gibbons and Evamay Watts quietly left the room and closed the door behind them.
“I love you,” Warrick whispered fiercely into Raina’s hair. “I’ve missed you so damned much.”
“I’ve missed you, too,” Raina moaned, her face buried against his broad chest as she held him tightly, never wanting to let go. “I was crazy to think I could ever live without you.”
“So was I!”
Raina lifted her face to his, and he seized her lips in a hungry, plundering kiss that she returned with equal passion.
Even as their mouths separated long moments later, they clung to each other, neither willing to end the embrace.
Gazing down into Raina’s face, Warrick said feelingly, “I’m sorry for all the pain I caused you. I didn’t want your property anymore, not like that.”
“And I’m sorry for not believing you when you told me you had nothing to do with Deniece’s article. I should have trusted you.”
“I never gave you any reason to. Your reaction was perfectly justified.”
“Let’s not rehash the past,” Raina said, echoing the words he’d spoken to her on that devastating morning. “From now on, let’s look to the future. To you and me.”
Warrick smiled into her eyes. “I like the sound of that. You know what else I’d like to hear?”
“What?”
“You saying yes when I ask you to marry me.”
Raina closed her eyes for a moment, remembering all those childhood fantasies she’d had about marrying Warrick. The reality of this moment far surpassed anything she could have ever imagined.
Opening her eyes, she gazed into the unbearably handsome face of the man she’d loved over half her life, and she said simply, “Yes.”
Warrick laughed, a full, satisfied rumble. Overcome with emotion, he lifted her into his arms and swung her around. Their lips met in a deep, lingering kiss.
As they drew apart, Warrick gently set her down and took her hand. “Come here. I want to show you something.”
He led her across the room to a large glass-topped drafting table. As he opened a drawer and removed a stack of drawings, Raina asked curiously, “What are those?”
And then she saw.
The architectural drawings of his new office complex, which was already under construction at the site of her former spa. She waited to feel a twinge of resentment, but it never came.
Warrick spread the drawings across the table, and Raina leaned close to admire her first view of the sprawling, ultramodern facility Houston was abuzz about.
“This is what I wanted to show you,” Warrick murmured, pointing on the page.
There, on the first floor of the main building, was space for a day spa.
Raina gasped, tears rushing to her eyes. She stared wonderingly at Warrick. “How…?”
“If you hadn’t decided to forgive me,” he said huskily, “my backup plan was to hire you to run the spa. I was going to make the offer too irresistible for you to turn down. And then I was going to do everything in my power to persuade you to marry me.”
Raina’s heart swelled. Awash with tenderness and gratitude, she curved her palm against his cheek. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“Thank you.”
She smiled through her tears. “I’m going to hire Tina to be the spa director, and Trey will be in charge of customer relations.”
“Whatever you decide, sweetheart. The spa is all yours. What else do you want?”
Raina said softly, “I want to marry you in the garden on a beautiful, balmy spring afternoon.”
Warrick smiled. “I think we can manage that. Anything else?”
“I want a baby.”
His gaze softened. “We can definitely manage that.”
Raina gave him a sheepish smile. “But would you mind if we have dinner first? All they served on the plane were peanuts, and I’m starving.”
Warrick laughed, kissing her forehead. “Golden girl,” he said, his eyes shining with all the love and adoration she’d longed for all these years, “you can have anything you want.”
“I know,” Raina said lovingly. “I already do.”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-4118-7
TOUCH OF HEAVEN
Copyright © 2009 by Maureen Smith
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Touch of Heaven (St. James Sisters Book 1) Page 25
