“I just came from GiGi’s Sunday dinner,” he began. “I couldn’t get past hating that you weren’t there with me. And I also couldn’t help thinking that if you said to them what you said to me on Thursday about being with you just to please them, it would have made them all laugh and scoff. It would have caused an uproar. Because I’m the last one in the family who’d do anything just for that reason. And I’m sure—especially after Vegas—that they wish I would.”
“Maybe subconsciously you are,” she suggested.
“Not subconsciously, not unconsciously, not consciously. When it comes to you, I might as well be an orphan, because nothing to do with you has anything to do with them. So take that off the table right now!” he commanded.
Gia didn’t say anything to that.
“And you need to get something else straight about my family,” he continued. “Yes, I’m loyal to them. But when any one of us partners up or starts a family, none of us expects to take priority over the relationship—”
“In an emergency—”
“A flat tire is not an emergency,” he said, referring to the story she’d told him about her ex-husband. “And even in an emergency there are lots of us—whoever is available would show up. But if you didn’t need me and I was the one running to help them, I’d drag you along so I could have you with me—because I’d want to have you with me, I wouldn’t want to do it alone.”
That carried weight for her. Leaving her behind was something Elliot had done whenever he’d answered any call from his family, emergency or not. Nothing would have pleased her more than if he’d actually wanted to have her by his side. He just never had.
“And when any one of us chooses someone,” Derek went on, “that someone becomes family. So completely that I’m willing to bet you that of all the people you met last Sunday there’s at least one or two you think were born Camdens who weren’t....”
He was wrong. She knew exactly who the Camdens were and who among them weren’t.
But she also knew what he was getting at because the more she’d thought about that dinner a week ago, the more she’d acknowledged to herself that spouses and fiancés of the Camdens were not treated the way spouses and fiancés of the Grants had been. That even she hadn’t felt as much like an outsider with them as she had among the Grants right to the end of her marriage to Elliot.
“I know that your family now is different than the Grants,” was all she said to that.
“But even though you were dead wrong about the family stuff,” he went on in a more peacemaking tone, “it was reasonable for you to look at my history and figure there was some cause for concern about where my taste in women has led me before. To worry that it might lead me there again....”
If the Bronsons had gotten him in her front door so he could tell her she was right to stop things from going any further between them because she wasn’t his type, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to forgive them. Because she wasn’t sure she could bear to hear him say it.
“There’s just one really, really big factor that you couldn’t have known about,” Derek continued. “You couldn’t have known about it because I just realized it myself....”
Gia raised her chin in question, steeling herself for the worst.
“I never actually had a weakness or proclivity for bad girls or rule breakers or psychics or zealots or weirdos in general. It’s that their...colorfulness...offered enough of an extra to cover up the fact that I didn’t actually feel much for them. A little attraction, sure. But that’s all. So what their oddity or fervor about things did was fill a gap. They provided a few thrills and chills—entertainment—that distracted from the fact that I could take the women themselves or leave them. And with the few normal women... Well, there was nothing to cover up the fact that I could take them or leave them, so I—”
“Left them,” Gia concluded fatalistically, still afraid he was acknowledging that she was in that category.
“That makes it sound worse than it was. My interest in them just ran out quicker,” he amended. “But tonight—after being so down since Thursday morning that I’ve been pathetic, when I was actually parked down the street just hoping to be able to see you through your window or on your porch or in your yard—it came to me....”
He shook his head as if he couldn’t believe he’d been so dumb.
“It came to me when I compared how I feel about you with how I felt about each and every one of the women I’ve dated or been involved with. It came to me that I’ve just never had strong feelings for any one of them. There was just more of a charge if there was something else going on with them.”
Gia wasn’t sure she’d heard him correctly. For all she knew, hope was skewing her understanding.
“How you feel about me?” she said softly.
And then he told her.
He told her about watching the Bronsons on their front porch. About seeing for himself what was between them. About wanting that for himself. Wanting it with her and only with her. About how and why every little thing about her gave him chills and thrills. About how she fascinated and interested him. Endlessly...
“And it isn’t even just what I already know about you,” he went on. “It’s that I can’t wait to see what will come next—what you might do, what you might say, the way you might look on the beach at sunset or bundled in ski gear on top of a mountain. I can’t wait to see you pregnant. I can’t wait to see how you’ll be as a wife, as a mom, as a grandma and a little old lady....”
Just the thought of that made him laugh and take a step closer to her before he said, “I love you, Gia. You’re my Marion....”
But could he be her Larry?
“I have to think....” she said.
“Think. All you want. I’ll wait. But I’m not getting out of here,” he said, planting one hip on the arm of her couch to prove it. “It was too hard to get back in. Larry and Marion weren’t easy to convince.”
Because of what they thought of the Camdens in general, Gia surmised.
But in thinking that, she could honestly say that she believed the current Camdens weren’t unscrupulous or unethical the way the Grants were, the way previous generations of Camdens had been.
She’d watched all Derek had done for the Bronsons, she’d tested and followed up to check out everything he’d claimed and promised and arranged, and she hadn’t found that a single thing he’d said or done was anything but what it appeared to be.
Regardless of who or what had come before him, he was trustworthy. He was a man of his word.
And if he was a man of his word, then maybe she could believe him when he said that her appeal for him did not lie in the fact that she might be more acceptable to his family. That he wasn’t trying to please them or make it up to them for having embarrassed them.
Which also meant that maybe she could believe him when he said that he would never put his family before her, too.
But what about the rest? The most important part of it all? Could his feelings for her keep him interested?
She didn’t know. How did anyone ever know if someone they loved would go on loving them and finding them interesting?
That was the leap of faith that had to be taken, but she’d already taken it once and failed. And Elliot hadn’t seemed like a risk at all....
Because Elliot had only shown her what he wanted her to see, she thought. About himself. About his family. About everything.
But when she thought about it, she rea
lized that that wasn’t true of Derek. Despite the fact that she’d worried about it, feared it, been suspicious, there hadn’t been any subterfuge from Derek. And not merely when it came to the Bronsons.
He hadn’t hidden anything about his past from her, including his history with unusual women and the trouble it had gotten him into.
He hadn’t even hidden what he was most ashamed and embarrassed about—the Las Vegas wedding.
Instead, he’d been open with her. Honest with her even at his own expense. As open and honest with her as Larry and Marion were with each other.
No, there hadn’t been any subterfuge, nothing superficial from him at all. Not the way there had been with Elliot.
So maybe she could trust that what was between them was real....
More real than what she’d had with Elliot.
But real enough to take a second leap of faith?
Somewhere along the way she’d dropped her head and stared at the floor, but now she raised her gaze to Derek, wondering...
But one look at him made her doubts begin to dwindle.
Because there he was, not only incredibly handsome and so hot she wanted to fling herself at him, but looking as if he’d been through the same kind of agony she’d gone through since they’d parted.
That wouldn’t have been the case with Elliot—he’d have glided in making sure he looked his best to bowl her over. So it was actually preferable to see that Derek had suffered. It brought home to her that he really did have feelings for her. Feelings as intense as she had for him.
Because there he was, the man she’d come to see the merits of with her own two eyes, strong and powerful, promising to put her first—something Elliot would never agree to even when she’d pressed for it.
Because there he was, the man who had watched and listened and made sure that every little thing the Bronsons would ever need would be provided for them, the man who had started a foundation to help other people in their situation, because he was a caring, compassionate human being, not just to make himself and his family look good.
Because there he was, the man she loved.
She’d tried to deny it. To fool herself. But that was the reason that sleeping with him had only gotten her in deeper.
She loved him. With all her heart.
And he was the one who made her want to become a wife again.
To become a mother.
He was the one she wanted to grow old with the way Larry and Marion had grown old together....
She took a breath, and he lifted his eyes to her face. His expression was full of hope, too. But also full of vulnerability—something else that only won her over all the more.
Then she pushed away from the door and went to him as he stood up as if to face sentencing.
“You’re sure?” she whispered.
He smiled a smile that went straight to her heart. “More sure than I’ve ever been about anything. You are my Marion. If you’ll just let me be your Larry...”
That brought tears to her eyes as she reached a hand to the side of his face, desperate just to drink in the warmth of his skin again.
“Marry me, Gia,” he said then. “Say you’ll marry me and I promise you I’ll never stop kissing you until the day we die....”
She laughed and blinked back even more tears. “I’ll hold you to that,” she warned.
“You won’t have to,” he said, clasping his arms around her waist to pull her closer.
Then he did kiss her. Profoundly, before he stopped and repeated, “Say you’ll marry me....”
It was all there in his eyes, in his voice—he wanted it from her as much as she wanted everything from him. He needed to hear her say it. Needed to know he could have what truly was his heart’s desire....
“I will,” she said without any hesitation now.
“And say that when I’m old and decrepit you’ll rig my bed to fix whatever ails me,” he joked.
“And when you’re old and decrepit I’ll rig your bed to fix whatever ails you,” she pledged.
The small smile was replaced by a sober expression as his blue eyes delved into hers with pure sincerity. “I love you,” he said quietly. “I love you more than any words can say.”
“I love you, too. It’s why I had to send you away Thursday—I loved you too much to pretend I didn’t.”
He nodded. “But don’t do it again. I won’t live through it.”
“Never again,” she vowed.
He kissed her then, and as Gia kissed him back her arms went around him and she let her whole body melt into his.
And just like that she knew.
She knew that there in his arms, their bodies fitted together flawlessly, was where she was meant to be.
Through good and bad.
From now until time stopped.
* * * * *
If you liked Derek and Gia’s story,
don’t miss other books in USA TODAY
bestselling author Victoria Pade’s series,
THE CAMDENS OF COLORADO:
CORNER-OFFICE COURTSHIP
A BABY IN THE BARGAIN
IT'S A BOY!
A CAMDEN FAMILY WEDDING
Available from Harlequin Special Edition!
Keep reading for an excerpt from THE BABY TRUTH by Stella Bagwell.
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Chapter One
“Pregnant! But that can’t be!”
Sassy Matthews stared in disbelief at the doctor standing at the side of the examination table. If the roof over her head had suddenly crashed in, she couldn’t have been more shocked.
The doctor gave her a kindly smile. “Why not? You’re a young, healthy woman.”
Sassy’s mouth flopped open. “But that happened more than two months ago! And we used protection.”
“I’d say two months or a little more is just about right. And no method is foolproof. You did say you’re not using oral birth control?”
Birth control! Sassy had never needed it. Then she’d gotten to know Barry and spent one impulsive night with him. Now a baby was coming. It was too much to comprehend.
“No. I’m not. I didn’t. But, doctor, I’ve not missed my period. How—”
“Occasionally that happens in the early months. If you continue to experience them, let your obstetrician know. In the meantime, I want you to take these vitamins until you get back home to New Mexico and see your regular physician.” He handed her a small square of paper. “You can purchase them at a nearby pharmacy. I’ll send a nurse in to help you dress and she’ll give you some information regarding diet and nutrition. Think you can stand now without fainting again?”
With a dazed nod, she said, “Yes. Thank you, doctor. I’ll be fine.”
As the physician left the curtained cubicle, it took all the strength she could summon to keep from dropping her face in her hands and sobbing. Thank God he
’d not asked about the baby’s father. Telling him about Barry’s death would have broken what little composure she was clinging to.
A few minutes later, her purse stuffed with prenatal care pamphlets, she walked into a large waiting area filled with people, most of whom were sitting on stuffed couches and armchairs. As her gaze swept over the scene, she caught sight of the man who’d been waiting for her.
He was standing near the double-door entrance, his shoulder resting against a wooden pillar. A gray cowboy hat dangled from one hand while a cell phone was jammed to his ear. No doubt explaining to someone that he was delayed at the hospital because of a dizzy redhead.
Oh, my, what must he be thinking? Sassy forced herself to move in his direction. He was the Calhoun family lawyer, and he’d met her nearly two hours ago when the small plane the Cantrells had chartered for her landed at the Carson City, Nevada, airport—and after five minutes of conversation she’d fallen into his arms in a dead faint. He’d rushed her to the nearest hospital and had been waiting for her ever since.
Spotting her approach, Jett Sundell immediately pushed himself away from the pillar. As he strode toward her, Sassy’s heart suddenly kicked into a seriously high gear. His tall, lean frame was covered with worn blue jeans and a short denim jacket. A brown-and-white patterned kerchief was tied around his neck, and the square toes of his cowboy boots were scuffed and worn to a buttery brown. She guessed his age to be somewhere in his early thirties; his complexion was a leathery tan while his thick hair appeared to be a shade shy of black. He looked nothing like a lawyer and everything like a cowboy who made his living in the saddle.
At the moment, a smile was tugging at the corners of his chiseled lips, and in spite of the news the doctor had just given her, she found herself smiling back at him.
“I see you’ve recovered,” he said in the same low, graveled tone of voice she remembered from their short conversation at the airport. “I hope the fainting spell was nothing serious.”
To Catch a Camden Page 19
