The Rascal
Page 28
Corinne reached him. “Pshaw, Jack! We only wanted to help.”
His other three sisters nodded, utterly unrepentant.
“So I figure I’ll have plenty of money to build my boardinghouse rooms and a finer meeting space for you besides.”
Grace leaped at the notion. “Jack! That’s wonderful.”
Her family crowded around, Adam and Fiona looking on with evident satisfaction. Marcus and Molly gazed in delight, and Daniel and Sarah nodded in certainty. Jack grinned at them all.
“Exactly how much money?” Grace nudged him, fairly rising on tiptoes in eagerness. “Enough to finance a mayoral campaign, I wonder? Because I have a few definite ideas about how things ought to be run in Morrow Creek, and there’s no reason that I can see why a woman shouldn’t run for public office.”
She beamed, positively alight with the idea.
“Oh, Grace,” Adam Crabtree warned. “That’s quite ambitious.”
“Yes, that’s too much,” her sisters echoed. “Even for you.”
But Grace remained perfectly sure, Jack could see—as sure as she’d ever been about their loving one another. So he only wrapped his arms around her and surrendered to the inevitable.
“If there’s not enough money for that now, there will be with my next designs,” he promised. “Anything for you.”
“Excellent!” Grace kissed him. “As it happens, I quite like this corsetry of yours, you know.” She gave a saucy wink. “I hear your scandalous designs make grown men weep with longing.”
“And love,” Jack corrected. “Never forget that.”
Then, united by that love, they joined hands and went to raise a toast—to rabble-rousing and stubbornness and rascally men who grunted when no words would do…and to planning the biggest, rowdiest wedding that Morrow Creek had ever seen.
* * * * *
All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.
All Rights Reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises II BV/S.à.r.l. The text of this publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the prior consent of the publisher in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
® and TM are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.
First published in Great Britain 2009
Harlequin Mills & Boon Limited,
Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR
© Lisa G. Plumley 2006
ISBN: 978 1 408 90844 0