He’d lost Amelia. The thought brought an ache to his stomach and a ripping pain through his chest. Emotions weren’t supposed to work this way. They were barely informational, never mind physically crippling.
He felt a hand on his shoulder, and he realized Daisy had moved across the room to him.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “We didn’t intend to hurt you.”
“You didn’t,” he managed, but his voice cracked on the words.
He suddenly realized he had to get out of here. Raw, uncontrolled emotion was ricocheting through his body, threatening to escape. He had no idea how to manage it or get rid of it.
“Morgan?” came Amelia’s soft voice.
At first he thought he’d imagined it. He wondered for a moment if they were going to have to cart him off to a padded cell, because he really was losing it.
“Morgan?” she repeated.
He twisted his neck to see her standing at the end of the hall.
“Amelia,” Hannah trilled.
Morgan blinked once, then twice, but Amelia was still there.
“How did you—” he started, but Hannah was enveloping her great-niece in a hug.
“I caught a plane,” she said to Morgan over her aunt’s shoulder.
“It’s a computer matchmaking system,” he told her as an opening to an apology. “You had nothing to do with it.”
She gave a sad smile. “I know.”
Hannah backed out of the way.
He shook his head, regret slithering through him like ice.
Amelia looked so sad, he could barely stand it.
“I told you when you learned the truth, I’d hate you,” she said softly.
He nodded his acceptance of her words. It killed him, but he couldn’t blame her for that.
“I lied,” she said.
“No, you didn’t,” he countered. She’d never done anything but tell him the truth. He should have believed her.
But she nodded. “You’ve learned the truth, Morgan. But I don’t hate you.”
Everything inside him stilled. Could there actually be a chance she’d stay in his life?
“Because,” she finished, “I still seem to love you.”
Morgan couldn’t take it in. She loved him? How could she love him? It didn’t make sense. She was her, and he was, well, nothing but him.
“Morgan,” Sam stage-whispered, easing closer. “I’m no expert, but I think this is the point where you kiss the girl.”
“You love me?” he asked in what came out as total disbelief.
Sam groaned, closing the space and throwing him an elbow to the shoulder. “Dude, get a grip.”
Morgan came to his feet, moving toward her. “How can you love me?”
She seemed to fight a smile. “Turns out, it’s really easy.”
He came to a halt in front of her, gazing at her beautiful face, lifting his palm to stroke her soft cheek. “Are you sure?”
“I hope so. I spent a fortune on that plane ticket.”
He couldn’t believe this was happening, couldn’t believe it was real. “I am absolutely, completely head over heels in love with you.”
Her smile broadened. “That’s good.”
“Are you sure?” he repeated.
Sam groaned from behind him. “Nerds everywhere want to smack you upside the head.”
“Give the man some space,” JW growled.
“This is amazing,” Daisy sighed.
“I’m going to cry,” Hannah sniffed.
Morgan took Amelia’s hand, raising it to his lips to brush a light kiss. “I adore you.”
She took a step forward, bringing their bodies together. “I adore you right back.”
“You know I’m a nerd, right? You know you could have any guy on the planet.”
“Nerdiness is the new hot.”
He chuckled. “No, it’s not.”
“It’s my new hot.” She raised her lips for a kiss.
He dared nothing but a fleeting touch, not with such an interested audience.
“Daisy?” he called over his shoulder.
“Yes?” she piped in.
“What’s the best restaurant in town?”
“The Seaside, on Granite Road.”
“Thanks.”
“Are you going out for dinner?”
“We’re going out for dinner. There’s something important I need to ask Amelia.”
“Oh, my,” Hannah sighed.
Morgan looked at JW. “But we’ll be back later.” He hesitated. “Grandfather.”
JW put a hand on the wall, obviously steadying himself. “That’s good...son.”
Morgan nodded. Then he wrapped his arm around Amelia’s waist, propelling her toward the door.
“You can flag a cab on the north corner,” Sam called to them.
“You love me,” said Amelia with joy in her voice as they closed the door behind them.
“I love you,” Morgan confirmed, scanning for the place to flag a cab.
Then he stopped himself, slowing things down, turning to take her in his arms and gaze into her eyes. “I love you very, very much.”
He kissed her again, deeply and thoroughly. By the time they broke apart, he wanted to skip dinner and go straight to the nearest hotel.
“Are you going to ask me to marry you?”
He smiled. “Do you want me to ask you to marry me?”
She seemed to consider the question as they began walking toward the corner. “I’ve never really thought about getting married. I mean, you know, maybe someday in the future. But first I had things to do, places to go, a career to launch. So this is kind of sudden.”
“Take a breath, Amelia.”
She took a big breath.
“Why don’t you give it some thought in the cab?” he advised. “That way, you’ll know how to answer me later.”
“Okay.” She nodded. “Are we stopping for a ring? Because I think if you’re going to propose in some fancy restaurant, you should probably have a ring to go along with it. Maybe you could drop it in a glass of champagne.”
“That seems a bit trite.”
“You think? How would you do it?”
“Probably just pop open the box and ask the question. Getting down on one knee seems ridiculous in this day and age.”
She was silent for a moment. “I cried when you left.”
His chest went tight. “I’m sorry.”
“I felt like my world had died. I hated that you thought I was that shallow.”
“You’re not shallow.” He slipped an arm around her waist. “Girls like you never looked twice at me. I kept trying to understand why you hung around.”
“Guys like you only want to sleep with me. They never take me seriously.”
“I do want to sleep with you,” he said. “But I also take you seriously. You’re insightful, unselfish, hardworking and funny.”
She leaned her head against his chest. “You should ask me to marry you, Morgan.”
A cab appeared a block away, and he waved to hail it. “I know. I’m putting the biggest diamond I can find on your finger.”
She tipped her head to look up at him. “The biggest?”
He lifted her left hand and kissed her ring finger. “A lot of guys are going to try to steal you away. I want them to know you’re very, very taken.”
“Nobody’s stealing me away.”
“Damn straight,” he rumbled.
She laughed at his forbidding expression. “Did Aunt Hannah and your grandfather really use a computer matchmaking system on us?”
The cab glided to a halt at the curb.
“Sam built the thing. Then they used their grandchildren as guinea pigs. It never should have worked in a million years.”
“It worked just fine,” Amelia noted as he opened the door to the cab.
“It worked just fine,” said Morgan. “And I’ll be grateful to them for the rest of our lives.”
o o o o
JW watched the cab
pull away from the corner. “Well, I’ll be damned.”
“It’s hard to beat sound science,” Sam put in as the four of them clustered by the small window.
“He’s definitely going to propose,” said Daisy.
JW thought it very likely that he was. He also thought Morgan seemed like a good man, a very good man. He’d showed up here, prepared to confront them face-to-face with confidence and tough questions. He’d listened to their explanation, then he’d come to his own conclusion.
JW felt his chest swell with pride. And then Morgan had called him “grandfather.” Who would have thought such a small word could mean so much?
“They make a wonderful couple,” said Hannah, her voice cracking ever so slightly.
The kitchen door suddenly skidded open, and Lizbet marched into the room.
“It worked,” Daisy sang out to her with unbridled joy.
“I’m going to kill him,” Lizbet declared.
“What the hell?” JW demanded.
“What did he do?” asked Daisy in a confused tone.
“He left her,” Lizbet stated with obvious anger.
Hannah gaped through the window at the departing cab. “No, he didn’t. They’re together. They’re getting engaged.”
“Who are you talking about?” asked Sam.
“My granddaughter Jillian,” said Lizbet. “Last night, her jerk-face of a fiancé left her standing at the altar.”
“Is she all right?” asked Hannah, moving from the window.
Daisy jumped in, the two women gravitating toward Lizbet. “You weren’t at the wedding?”
JW realized that was an excellent question.
“She’s one of Sandy’s daughters,” Lizbet answered. “You know what things are like with Sandy.”
JW sympathized. Like him, Lizbet’s priority had been her career and not her family. She’d worked in a demanding job and grown estranged from her husband. Away from home, she had sought comfort in the arms of another man. The affair had ended her marriage and earned the anger of her oldest daughter, Sandy.
“Do you know if she’s all right?” Hannah asked again.
“I don’t have a lot of details. But Edmund’s family is very prominent in DC.”
“That’s not good,” Sam put in.
“Can we help her?” asked Daisy. “Does she need anything?”
“If she does, she’s not about to ask me,” said Lizbet, bitterness in her tone. “What little I know, I got from Jade. She’s convinced Edmund met someone else. And he didn’t even have the guts to tell her in person.”
“What are you going to do?” asked Hannah.
“What can I do?”
Sam raised his arm and pointed firmly toward the door. “We enter data on the grandsons and great-nephews. We need to find her a new man, a better man.”
All three women turned to stare at him.
JW found himself grinning at the idea. “Operation Matchmaker. No reason to think it won’t work again.”
To read other books in The Match Series from Amazon.com click:
AN IMPRACTICAL MATCH Book #2
AN EXTRAORDINARY MATCH Book #3
For information on other books in the “Match” series, please visit www.barbaradunlop.com
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An Unlikely Match (The Match Series - Book #1) Page 16
