Still the One

by Robin Wells

  Gracie shrugged. “Having a baby will do that, I guess.”

  “Gracie doesn’t look like she just had a baby, does she?” Zack looked up to see Annette in the living room doorway, Dave beside her. “That’s one of the blessings of being young—everything springs back fast.”

  Zack stepped forward and kissed the older woman on the cheek, then shook Dave’s hand. “You both look terrific, too. There must be something in the water.”

  “It’s not the water. It’s the company,” Dave said, looping his arm around Annette. The warmth in the smile they shared made Zack’s chest ache. He turned to Gracie. “Where’s the baby?”

  “Sleeping. I just fed her and put her in her crib for her morning nap. She’ll be up in about half an hour.”

  “I can’t wait to see her. How are you feeling?”

  “Good. My incision doesn’t hurt too bad today. And get this—I got my ACT score from taking it last spring, and I got a 30! That’s a really good score. Twenty-four is what’s required for the Louisiana scholarship program.”

  “That’s terrific.” He cleared his throat. “How’s Katie?”

  They all looked at one another.

  Zack’s heart hitched. “What’s the matter? Is she okay?”

  “She’s been pretty down since you left,” Dave volunteered.

  “Yeah,” Gracie said. “She cries in her closet where she thinks I can’t hear her.”

  “Yeah, I know. Into Paul’s clothes.” Zack hadn’t realized he’d muttered it aloud until Annette shook her head.

  “No,” Annette said. “She gave all those away.”

  Zack looked at her. “She did?”

  Annette nodded. “Weeks ago. We scattered his ashes, then Katie divided his clothes and donated them to a couple of charities. She gave the urn to Dave and me.”

  Holy cow. She’d been sorting through Paul’s clothes to give them away? His heart felt like it had just sprouted wings. “Really?”

  “Yeah,” Dave said. “Didn’t you notice she’s not wearing her rings?”

  He hadn’t. It had completely skipped his notice. Probably because he’d tried for so long to avoid noticing that Katie still wore them.

  “She doesn’t go in the closet to cry over Paul. She’s crying over you, you moron.” Gracie rolled her eyes.

  The new wings fluttered. “What?”

  “She loves you.”

  Dave shook his head. “I don’t understand what went on between you two.”

  “I proposed, that’s what went on.”

  “You must have done an awfully crummy job of it,” Gracie said.

  Zack shoved his hands into his pants pockets. It had been pretty lame. “Yeah, well, I came back to take another stab at it.”

  “Really?” Gracie’s face lit up. So did Annette’s.

  “Yeah. I’ve got an engagement ring in my pocket.”

  “Oh, that’s so cool!” Gracie jumped up and down. “Can I see?”

  “Later,” Annette told her. She turned to Zack, her face all schoolteacher-ish and serious. “A woman needs to hear that she’s loved. Katie thinks you don’t believe in love.”

  Zack looked at Gracie. This really wasn’t something he wanted to discuss in front of his daughter. He cleared his throat. “I, uh, have an aversion to saying empty words.”

  “Love isn’t an empty word,” Annette said. “It’s the fullest word in the English language. And it’s a verb, as well as a noun.”

  “Yeah,” Dave said. “It’s not about stardust and floaty feelings—at least, not entirely. It means you’re willing to do whatever it takes. It means you’ll be there through bad times as well as good. It means you’ll admit it when you’re wrong and you’ll come back even though you get ticked off. It’s a choice you make, day in and day out, despite the circumstances and how you feel at the moment. It means this person is your best friend and the keeper of the biggest part of your heart.”

  “Wow.” Gracie stared at Dave, her eyes wide. “That was beautiful.”

  Annette gazed at Dave, a soft smile on her lips. “Yes, it was.”

  “Maybe I should write that down,” Zack said. “Where is Katie now?”

  Dave, Annette, and Gracie said the same thing at the same time. “Uh-oh.”

  Zack’s chest tightened. “Uh-oh, what? Where is she?”

  The three of them exchanged looks. “On her way to Italy,” Dave finally said.

  “Italy?”

  “Yes. Her friend Emma called and asked her to come do her hair for her TV special,” Annette said. “It’s being taped day after tomorrow. She’s been pretty down lately, so we offered to stay with Gracie and Faith so she could go.”

  Gracie nodded. “I played the guilt card. She didn’t want to leave me and the baby, but I told her I’d feel guilty if she missed this opportunity. Besides, she’ll just be gone five days.”

  Five days seemed like a lifetime. Zack’s shoulders drooped.

  “She might still be at the salon,” Gracie offered. “She was going by to pack up her curling iron and rollers and stuff.”

  It was worth a shot. Zack turned toward the door. “I’ll try to catch her. Do me a favor—call her and see if you can detain her. But don’t tell her I’m in town.”

  Bev was waiting by the door of the Curl Up ’N Dye when Zack pulled up to the curb, parking behind a pink panel truck sporting the name “Color Me Gorgeous Beauty Supplies.” She bustled forward as he climbed out of his Volvo. “Katie left for the airport just before Annette called. She accidentally left her cell phone at her workstation.”

  “Oh, great.”

  “Annette told us that you’re going to propose.” Bev rubbed her hands together and bounced on the balls of her feet, her thin frame vibrating with excitement. Five other women poured out of the salon, all grinning like monkeys. He recognized Rachel the manicurist, Josie Pringle, and Lulu, whose red hair was wrapped in perm rods. A large pink-faced woman had foil wrapped around her head, the retired librarian’s hair was wound up in giant pink rollers, and a woman he didn’t recognize wore rolled-up pants with weird purple spacers between her toes. Behind them ambled a beer-bellied balding man wearing a navy shirt with a “Color Me Gorgeous” logo on the pocket. He unlocked the back of the panel truck.

  “I called Joe with the police department and asked him to stop her for you,” Bev continued breathlessly.

  Being stopped by the police was not likely to put Katie in the most romantic mood. “That’s not necessary” Zack said. “I’ll catch her at the airport, or…”

  “Joe’s already got her stopped.”

  Zack climbed into his car and drove like a desperado. Three miles out of town, he saw flashing lights at the side of the road. He braked behind the police car, opened his door, and climbed out.

  Katie stood with her hands on her hips, her back toward him. She wore a pink polka-dotted sweater set, black pants, and ballet flats. She looked both adorable and pissed off. “Joe, you’ve checked my registration, my license, my insurance, and my inspection sticker,” Katie was saying. “You’ve known me all my life, so I don’t believe you really need to see any further identification. I don’t think it’s even legal for you to stop me, since we’re out of the city limits. So quit fooling around and give me back my license. You’re going to make me miss my plane.”

  The officer scratched his wispy thatch of hair and shifted his stance uneasily. “I, uh, have orders to detain you.”

  “Orders from whom?” Katie demanded.

  “Actually, that would be from me,” called a woman’s voice.

  Zack turned to see Bev climbing out of the passenger side of the pink Color Me Gorgeous van, her hand sheepishly raised. The other women from the salon were scooting out, rollers and all, to stand on the shoulder of the road.

  “Hi, y’all,” called Lulu, merrily waving. “Don’t mind us. We’re just here to watch.”

  Katie’s eyes locked on Zack. They immediately turned wary. “What are you doing here? What the heck is going
on?”

  He drew a deep breath. “This isn’t how I planned it, but…”

  A semi roared by, stirring up a wave of dust. Some of it landed in his mouth, making it hard to swallow. He swallowed anyway.

  “…I love you, Kate.”

  She stared at him. Her eyes narrowed. “You don’t believe in love.”

  “That was before.”

  “Before what?”

  “Before you changed my mind.”

  She put her hands on her hips, her eyes skeptical. “Just how did I perform this miracle?”

  “You made me miserable.”

  The women behind them laughed. Lulu’s titter carried over the whine of a passing motorbike.

  “Not exactly a shining endorsement,” Katie said dryly.

  “Maybe not,” Zack said, “but it’s a real one.” He took her arm and pulled her away from the crowd, which was growing by the minute. A dozen old people were piling out of the Sunnyside Assisted-Living Villa van, Nellie climbed out of an old PT Cruiser with a camera, and the other police officers on the Chartreuse police force had joined the crowd of spectators. “Kate, the day you said all that stuff, I made plans to move my headquarters to Chartreuse. I went up to your room to tell you, then I saw you in the closet with Paul’s stuff, and… well, I thought you weren’t over him.”

  “I was getting rid of his clothes.”

  “I know. Annette told me.”

  “Annette?”

  “I went by your house just now. I talked to Annette and Dave and Gracie.” He looked up, and saw them climbing out of Annette’s sedan. Gracie paused to get the baby out of the car seat in the back. He pulled Katie farther away.

  “Kate—I want to be with you. I want to share my life with you. I want to see what you look like when you’re old and gray.”

  “I will never be gray, not as long as I can get my hands on a bottle of hair dye.”

  “See? Now that right there—that mouth you’ve got on you—I love that about you.”

  She smiled. The tightness in his chest uncoiled a little.

  “I didn’t want to fall in love with you, Kate. Believe me, I did my best not to.”

  “Once again, your silver tongue is just enchanting me.”

  He took her hands. “The truth is, I didn’t want to be second-best. I thought you were still in love with Paul. I thought you could never care about anyone the way you cared about him.”

  The guarded look faded. She met his gaze, full on and open. “Oh, Zack—my feelings for you are just as deep. Love doesn’t get used up like a bottle of shampoo. It stretches out your heart so you can hold even more of it.”

  Zack stepped closer, looped a strand of her hair around his finger, and grinned. “Kate Landers Charmaine, did you just admit that you love me?”

  “I…” She looked down, her cheeks flaming, then looked up. “Yeah. I guess I did.”

  Gravel bit into his knee as he knelt, but he felt no pain. “I love you, too. I want to marry you and spend the rest of my life with you.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring—a four-carat, brilliant-cut solitaire set in platinum, with diamond baguettes paving each side.

  “He’s got a ring!” Lulu exclaimed. Oohs and ahhs arose from the onlookers, who crowded in for a better view. “And, oh, my—it looks like a doozy!”

  Zack continued, undeterred, seeing only Katie’s face. “Kate, I want to live with you and make more babies with you and see your face the first thing in the morning and the last thing at night. I love you.” His dimple flashed as he smiled. “In case you didn’t catch that, I love you. I, Zack Ferguson, love you, Kate Landers Charmaine. I. Love. You. So… will you marry me?”

  “Yes,” Katie said, her eyes shining and bright as the Louisiana sun. “Yes, I will.”

  He rose to his feet, pulled her close, and kissed her, oblivious to the applause of the crowd or the roar of another passing eighteen-wheeler or the cloud of dust swirling around them. He had found his one and only, his everything and more, and her arms were both heaven and home.

  THE DISH

  Where authors give you the inside scoop!

  From the desk of Paula Quinn

  Dear Reader,

  While doing research for LAIRD OF THE MIST, I fell in love with Clan MacGregor. Their staunch resolve to overcome trials and countless tribulations during a three-hundred-year proscription earned them a very special place in my heart. So when I was given the chance to write a brand-new series featuring Callum and Kate MacGregor’s grown children, I was ecstatic.

  The first of my new four-book series, RAVISHED BY A HIGHLANDER (available now), stars Robert MacGregor, whom you met briefly in A HIGHLANDER NEVER SURRENDERS. He was a babe then, and things haven’t changed. He’s still a babe, but in an entirely different way!

  My favorite type of hero is a rogue who can sweep a lady off her feet with a slant of his lips. Or a cool, unsmiling brute with a soft spot no one sees but his woman. Rob was neither of those men when I began writing his story. He was more. I didn’t think I could love a character I created as much as I loved his father, but I was wrong, and I’m not ashamed to say it.

  Rob isn’t careless with women’s hearts. His smile isn’t reckless but a bit awkward. It’s about the only thing he hasn’t practiced every day of his life. Born to fill his father’s boots as chief and protector of his clan, Rob takes life and the duties that come with his birthright seriously. He’s uncompromising in his loyalty to his kin and unrelenting in his beliefs. He’s a warrior who is confident in the skill of his arm, but not rash in drawing his sword. However, once it’s out, someone’s head is going to roll. Yes, he’s tall and handsome, with dark curls and eyes the color of sunset against a summer blue loch, but his beauty can best be seen in his devotion to those he loves.

  He is… exactly what a lady needs in her life if an entire Dutch fleet is on her tail.

  I’ll tell you a little about Davina Montgomery, the lass who not only softens Rob’s staunch heart, but comes to claim it in her delicate fingers. But I won’t tell you too much, because I don’t want to reveal the secret that has taken everyone she’s ever loved away from her. She came to me filled with sorrow, chained by duty, and in need of things so very basic, yet always beyond her reach: safety, and the love of someone who would never betray her or abandon her to danger.

  I saw Rob through Davina’s eyes the moment he plucked her from the flames of her burning abbey. A hero: capable, courageous, and hot as hell.

  We both knew Rob was perfect for her, and for the first time, I saw hope in Davina’s eyes—and her beauty can best be seen when she looks at him.

  Travel back to the Scottish Highlands with Rob and Davina and discover what happens when duty and desire collide. And I love to hear from readers, so please visit me at www.paulaquinn.com.

  Enjoy!

  From the desk of R. C. Ryan

  Dear Reader,

  Are you as intrigued by family dynamics as I am? I know that, having written a number of family sagas, I’ve been forced to confront a lot of family drama. But fiction mirrors real life. And in the real world, there’s nothing more complicated or more dramatic than our individual relationships with the different members of our families.

  We read a lot about mother–daughter and father–son relationships, not to mention sibling rivalry. Psychologists tell us life paths are often determined by birth order. And yet there are always exceptions to the rule—the child of poverty who builds a financial empire. The man with a learning disability who lifts himself to the ranks of genius. The girl who loses a leg and goes on to run marathons.

  And so, while I’m fascinated with family dynamics, and our so-called place in the universe, I’m even more intrigued by those who refuse to fit into any mold. Instead, by the sheer force of their determination, they rise above society’s rules to become something rare and wonderful. Whether they climb Mount Everest or never leave the neighborhood where they were born, they live each day to the fullest. And whether they change the
world or just change one life, they defy the experts and prove wrong those who believe a life’s course is predetermined.

  In MONTANA DESTINY, the second book in my Fool’s Gold series, Wyatt McCord returns to the Lost Nugget Ranch after years of living life on the edge, only to lose his heart to the fiercely independent Marilee Trainor, a loner who has broken a few rules of her own. These two, who searched the world over for a place to belong, will laugh, love, and fight often, while being forced to dig deep within themselves to survive.

  I hope you enjoy watching Wyatt and Marilee take charge of their lives and forge their own destinies.

  www.ryanlangan.com

  From the desk of Robin Wells

  Dear Reader,

  “So, Robin—what’s your latest book about?”

  I get that question a lot, and I always find it difficult to answer. I usually start off by describing the plot in varying degrees of detail. Here’s the short version:

  STILL THE ONE is the story of Katie Charmaine, a hairdresser in Chartreuse, Louisiana—the same colorful small town where my previous book, BETWEEN THE SHEETS, took place. Katie lost her husband in Iraq, and she thinks she’ll never love again. But when her first love, Zack Ferguson, returns, she feels the same irresistible attraction that stole her heart at seventeen. To Katie’s shock, he’s accompanied by the teenage daughter Katie gave up for adoption at birth. The daughter, Gracie, has a major attitude, a smart mouth—and is now pregnant herself.

  The medium-length version adds: Gracie’s adoptive parents were killed in a car accident, and when she discovers her birth parents’ identities, she locates Zack first. She wants him to declare her an emancipated minor and give her a nice wad of cash. Instead, Zack takes Gracie to Chartreuse, where he and Katie share custody until Gracie turns eighteen.