His Plain-Jane Cinderella

by Jennie Adams

  It felt…freeing.

  ‘You’ve come a long way.’ Troy’s words held praise. ‘I admired that about you from when I first met you. That you’d picked up and moved and started a whole new life and you were making it work. You had your goals in place and enough determination and enthusiasm to see them through.’

  A smile kicked up one side of his mouth. ‘Right down to a designer pink tool-kit, a thirst for conquering DIY projects, and your gorgeous, ever-changing nails.’

  ‘You’ve done the same, Troy.’ Surely he could see that? ‘You’ve started over. I didn’t lose a career that I felt passionate about. Not in the way you did.’

  He dipped his chin. ‘Instead, you started to build one.’

  That was true. Stacie nodded. ‘Yes.’

  ‘I said if Linda hadn’t ended our relationship after my injury happened, I would have.’ He seemed to force the words out. ‘You’ve made me realise that way of thinking was flawed. My relationship with her was flawed, empty, and on the surface when it should have been rich and deep. I thought that was all I had to give. And Linda? I don’t think she cared deeply for me, otherwise she’d have found it hard to step away in the way she did.’

  ‘I don’t want to play down your injury, Troy. I respect the loss it’s brought to you, and that it impacts on your life every day.’ Stacie just wished he could see his strength. ‘But the first time I met you, I saw how determined you were, and how strong. And look at how you handled things today. You don’t let anything stop you.’

  ‘Sometimes it just slows me down a bit.’ Troy nodded. ‘You’re right. I felt bitter about the injury because it meant loss of career and of the sense of family I had in the army, where I was among people that I felt understood me.’

  ‘You said your parents travel a lot now that they’re retired.’

  ‘They’re not a happy couple. Mum always tried to find emotional stability by trying to latch on to me for it. As a boy.’

  ‘That made you shut down to protect yourself.’

  ‘Yes. But I thought the feelings just weren’t there. I believed Mum when she said that.’ He drew a breath. ‘I’m not knocking them, just telling you how that was.’

  ‘I understand.’ And Stacie did. ‘We’ve both been through things that have shaped us, Troy.’

  ‘I want to give all those unlocked parts of me to you, Stacie.’ He uttered the words and his expression and the touch of his fingers against hers told her they were true to him.

  That he cared. ‘You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known, Stacie. Inside and out. To me, that’s how you will always be.’

  Stacie drew a tight breath. She should stop and think. She shouldn’t commit herself to Troy if he couldn’t care for her to the depth that she loved him. But he’d said those beautiful things, and it was plain he had meant them. And she wanted a chance to love him. Oh, she wanted that so much! ‘If there’s any chance—’

  ‘If there’s a chance that you might love—’ He stopped.

  Stacie’s heart thundered. Had he just said what she thought he had said? ‘I’m not sure if you mean…’

  ‘I’m deep in love with you. That’s what I mean.’ He got to his feet, pulled her to her feet and his hands cupped her shoulders as he gazed into her face. ‘I want to look at your face every day for the rest of my life. To become so familiar with each feature that I know each part of you better than I know myself. And when I’ve done that I want to start over and learn you all over again. I want to know you as well on the inside.’

  ‘Troy?’ Her heart slowed, and then rushed on a bursting beat.

  His expression, his touch, the sincerity and hope and belief in his eyes, told it all. He loved her. Truly, as she loved him.

  ‘I love you too, Troy.’ The words burst from her. ‘I knew it the morning after… I didn’t know what to do.’ She drew a breath. ‘No; that isn’t true. I was afraid to reach out for what I wanted with you. I thought you wouldn’t want me, but then I wanted to fight for you if there was any chance.’

  ‘You are a fighter, and I’m glad of that.’ He cupped her face in his hands and closed his eyes and for a moment he simply breathed her in. ‘Because I want you to fight to stay with me for always. To build a life with me. To sell dog-coats and grow almonds and survive floods, and look after muscle-dogs with beauty complexes and Houdini dogs wanting to escape all the time.’

  It was Stacie’s idea of heaven. ‘Oh, Troy. I want that. I want it all.’

  ‘And children.’ His voice lowered an octave as he spoke the words. ‘I want beautiful children with you. Daughters just like you.’

  ‘And sons just like you.’ Her voice choked on the words. ‘Oh, Troy. I want sons just like you.’

  She would have a niece or nephew first, and Stacie just smiled because it would be nice, but it was Troy’s babies that she would carry the deepest in her heart.

  Troy pressed his forehead to hers and inhaled. ‘My mother might warn you to steer away from anything to do with me and tell you I’m cold.’

  ‘She tried to fix her unhappiness by leaning on you emotionally.’ Stacie said it gently, but it still had to be said. ‘That was wrong of her, Troy.’

  ‘Families aren’t perfect, are they?’ Troy lifted his forehead from hers and pressed his lips there instead. ‘But I care about my parents, and they’re not bad people. I think they’re just not all that happy with each other.’

  Stacie’s hands crept around his middle. She was still struggling to believe this but, oh, she needed to, and touching him made it more possible to believe. ‘We’re going to be happy, Troy. We’re going to share emotionally and in every way. Support each other and go forward together.’

  He tipped up her chin and looked deep into her eyes. ‘Then marry me, Stacie Wakefield. Make me the happiest man in the world.’

  ‘Oh, Troy.’ She drew a shuddery breath. Their lips pressed together lightly, just once, and she spoke her answer against those lips she had dreamed from the start must be made for kisses. ‘Yes. I will marry you and try to live up to your strength.’

  Troy hushed her with a finger laying lightly against her lips. ‘You don’t need to try to match my strength. You already do.’

  ‘And you don’t ever need to worry about your injury with me.’ Warmth crept into her face as she admitted, ‘From the first day we met I saw the way you lived with those limitations and conquered them. I found you so attractive.’

  Stacie’s arms squeezed his waist as he pulled her tight against his hard body, and let her hair flow over the back of his hand where he cupped her neck.

  ‘I want to make love with you.’ He whispered the words against her neck.

  ‘I want it too, Troy. I need you. You, and only you.’

  Stacie took his hand. They left two dogs lying in front of a heater in Troy’s living room, and she and Troy resumed their journey together.

  * * * * *

  ISBN: 9781459220782

  Copyright © 2011 by Jennie Adams

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