by Cecilia Gray
Had he just used her Christian name or had she imagined it? “I find him amicable, too. I…like him.”
“Don’t.”
She must be going deaf. “Wh…what?”
“Don’t,” he said, his voice desperate. “Don’t like him.”
“I’m…confused. As usual, I suppose.” She shook her head. “I thought you said—”
“I said a great many things, Hanna, most of them stupid.”
She fought the soaring feeling of hope because she couldn’t bear its plunge to the ground. “What are you saying now?”
He ran both hands through his hair so it stuck up at all ends, the way he did whenever he was trying to solve a particularly troublesome mathematics problem. “I’ve had two days to consider it, Hanna. Two days of forty-eight hours that somehow felt infinite, as I imagined whether I’d arrive to find you had already eloped.”
She gasped. Eloped! “Who is the silly one now?”
“Precisely,” he said, grabbing her shoulders. “It has always been me. You told me you loved me when you were twelve years old.”
“There’s no need to tease,” she said, her cheeks burning.
“I have been telling myself for years that I do not love you. That I harbor no feelings for you whatsoever. None that I can prove. But when I was without you, when I pictured a life without you…”
Hanna’s breath caught in her throat as his hands ran up her neck to cup her jaw.
“The very thought was unbearable, and I couldn’t figure out why. The thought of you with someone else—it hurt, Hanna. Like a physical spear in my side.”
She felt lightheaded and grasped his elbows to steady herself. “Do you know what you’re saying to me? Do you know what you mean by this?”
“I mean…I mean that I love you, Hanna.”
She blinked, feeling tears prick at the corners of her eyes. “Are you sure? Even if you can’t prove it?”
“A woman once assured me that whether I prove something or not, it will not change the fact that it is true.”
She smiled against his kiss.
He gathered her against his chest and for once her daydreams stopped and she felt here, in the present, with his warmth all around her, the sun shining down on them, the blades of grass dancing in the wind, his hair tickling her cheek. “And you trust this silly woman?”
“Don’t call her silly.” He pressed a tender kiss to her hair. “She may be the smartest person I know.”
The End
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Don’t miss the first three novellas in the sweet and delightful Gentlemen Next Door series!
A Delightful Arrangement
An Illicit Engagement
A Dangerous Expectation
WIN A BRAND NEW KINDLE FIRE HD (16GB) IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS!
Happy (early) Holidays from Cecilia Gray!
I'm giving away a free tablet to one lucky reader this Holiday season.
Here's how you enter:
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2. Email [email protected] with the name of the review site(s) and your reviewer name (no anonymous!) by December 12, 2012 at midnight PST.
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Cecilia's Booklist
The Jane Austen Academy Series
Young-Adult Novels – view the series trailer at http://youtu.be/YL36WerF1y0
The Jane Austen Academy: where sassy girls, hot guys and Jane Austen collide
Available Now
Fall For You: A Modern Retelling of Pride & Prejudice
So Into You: A Modern Retelling of Sense & Sensibility
Coming Soon
When I’m With You: A Modern Retelling of Northanger Abbey
Suddenly You: A Modern Retelling of Mansfield Park
Only With You: A Modern Retelling of Emma
Always You: A Modern Retelling of Persuasion
The Gentlemen Next Door Series
Historical Regency Romance Novellas
The Complete Series Available Now
A Delightful Arrangement
An Illicit Engagement
A Dangerous Expectation
A Flirtatious Rendezvous
Fallen Idols Series
Paranormal Chick-Lit Romance Novellas
Available Now
Falling
Fading
Coming Soon
Fleeting
Fall For You
The Jane Austen Academy Series #1 – A Modern Pride & Prejudice Retelling
The Jane Austen Academy: where sassy girls, hot guys and Jane Austen collide
The Jane Austen Academy Series are young-adult modernized retellings of Jane Austen’s beloved books. View the series trailer at http://youtu.be/YL36WerF1y0.
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Description
The last thing that the girls at the elite Jane Austen Academy need is hot guys to flirt with. But over the summer the school has been sold, and like it or not, the guys are coming. And it’s about to turn the Academy—and the lives of its students—totally upside down…
To say Lizzie and Dante are polar opposites is the understatement of the century. He’s a snooty Exeter transfer with more money than Google. She’s a driven study-a-holic just barely keeping up with tuition. It’s obvious that Dante thinks he’s way too good for Lizzie. And Lizzie knows Dante is a snob with a gift for pressing her buttons.
But things are changing fast this year at the Academy. And when Lizzie’s quest to stop those changes blows up in her face, taking her oldest friendship with it, she has nowhere else to turn but to Dante, with his killer blue eyes, his crazy-sexy smile, and his secrets… Secrets Lizzie can’t seem to leave alone, no matter how hard she tries…
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A unique twist on a classic… A compelling mix of action, drama and love. – Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
There are no words to describe just how MUCH I HEART Fall for You. ~ Tumbling In Books
An incredibly charming novel - a heroine worth cheering for! – Growing Up YA
Whether you’re a romantic or a Jane Austen fan, you can’t help falling for this book.. - EZ Read
I can visualize a cult following. Bravo! – Reader’s Favorite
This book? AMAZING. Addictive and mysterious and intriguing. Drama, romance and the right amount of mystery. – Ed & Em Reviews
Fall For You does not disappoint! I recommend for any Austen fan or any romance fan! – Books Are Sanity review
I absolutely devoured this. Overall, this was a gem of a read. A great, humorous read with lots of romance . – The Girl in the Café
Its own story cleverly woven within the classic. ~ Book Haven Extraordinaire
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Buy Fall For You (The Jane Austen Academy Series #1 – A Modern Pride & Prejudice Retelling)
About Cecilia
Cecilia Gray lives in Oakland where she reads, writes and breaks for food. She also pens her biographies in the third person. Like this. As if to trick you into thinking someone else wrote it because she is important. Alas, this is not the case.
Cecilia has been praised for “instilling a warmth and weight into her characters” (Romancing The Book Reviews) and her books have been praised for being “well-written, original, realistic and witty” (Quills & Zebras Reviews).
Several of her titles - including A Delightful Arrangement (The Gentlemen Next Door #1) and An Illicit Engagement (The Gentlemen Next Door #2) - have spent, in her view, a shocking amount of time on bestseller lists for romance, historical romance and regency romance in the US, UK, Italy and Spain.
FALL FOR YOU, the first in a series of young-adult contemporary Jane Austen retellings, received a starred Kirkus review and was praised for being a “unique twist on a classic” and offering “a compelling mix of action, drama and love.”
She’s rather
enamored of being contacted by readers and hopes you’ll oblige.
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