“I don’t want it. I told the woman on the phone she could stuff it—well actually, I said I respectfully decline to give up Jeremy Marks.”
He stared into her wide blue eyes in mute shock. “You can’t. Joce, you need that money!”
“No, I don’t. And I don’t need your money either. I can find my own investors. No one tells me who I can or cannot fall in love with. I’m not a nice person. I don’t care about other peoples’ feelings. I’m not smart and I’ve never been good at anything. I never believed I could do this on my own but I do now. And just so you know, I’ll be fine with or without you too, Jeremy.”
“I believe you.”
“You could’ve told me you were rich two years ago and got me into bed without breaking a sweat. But you didn’t. That’s the most amazing thing anyone has ever done for me.” She gave him an admiring smile. “I think you must really love me. If I’m wrong, you’d better tell me now because I want to be with you. No one is going to tell me I can’t, except you. Your opinion is the only one that matters. Do you think you could be happy with just me?” She tilted her head to one side and gazed at him.
Jeremy stared at her in wonderment. He groped for a dazzling phrase and brought out a growl of rapture. “You’re kidding, right? I think about you literally every second of the day. When I’m not with you, I want to be with you, and when I’m with you, all the pieces of my life fall into place. I don’t want you to be with anybody else but me. None of this got easier after we slept together, by the way, so you were wrong about that. I only wanted you more. This past week has been pure hell and a total heaven. I want you, Joce. You’re all I want.”
She nodded. “Okay, then. You’re my boyfriend.”
Jeremy gently pulled the kerchief off her hair, freeing sunny yellow strands of silky hair he smoothed from her exquisite face. She looked more nakedly vulnerable and beautiful in this moment than he had ever seen her. He wanted her very badly. Jeremy bent over Jocelyn and kissed her tenderly on the mouth. He closed his eyes and when their lips touched, he thought he’d never be more grateful for anything in his life.
Jocelyn felt his lips on hers, his lean brown head filling her vision. Stealing slowly across her heart was genuine happiness. She knew he would come after her—Jeremy Marks never gave up and once she got over her initial anger, she wanted to see him again. She loved him. Pursuing a rich guy had been like seeking an oppressive godfather; the quest had robbed her of figuring it out on her own. Money comes and goes, but so does beauty. Only love sticks it out.
Jocelyn responded to him with her whole body, the passion building between them until they were stumbling down the hall to her bedroom.
Jeremy fell backward on the bed and she landed on top of him. Jocelyn clutched at his jacket, wrenching it from his shoulders as she peppered his face with kisses. He lifted up to help her out of her clothes, wondering how he had stumbled into such an incredible life as the one he was going to have with her—and then he remembered.
“No, no—stop. We can’t fall into bed every time we have a problem. Jocelyn, we have to talk. I’m serious. I won’t come into my trust fund until I’m twenty-five. That’s two more years of living paycheck to paycheck. I can’t let you jeopardize your business to be with me when your dad needs your help. Call the lawyer back and accept the condition. It’s only two years. I’ll wait for you. When I get my trust fund, I’ll marry you and there’s nothing my dad can do about it.”
He knew what he really wanted to suggest but he couldn’t speak the words. He didn’t want to scare her off when they were just getting used to each other.
Jocelyn fell back against the pillows, her eyes pensive. Jeremy’s chest compressed; his throat was tight. She was going to take the deal.
“I have a better idea,” she said. “Why don’t you move in here with me? That way I won’t need the investment money. I can keep the house and the garden, and with you living here, sharing expenses, we could manage pretty well. If we still feel the same way about each other in two years, then we’ll talk marriage.” She met his eyes. “I don’t want to be your problem, Jeremy. I want to be your girlfriend. I know your dad won’t like it. My dad won’t like it either. He thinks you’ve turned me against him. He complained he never hit me until you came along.”
“Is that what you think too?”
“Don’t be stupid. Norm is just trying to make me stop caring about you. Your dad’s methods are more subtle but he’s after the same thing. Norm and Kenneth are going to do everything they can to split us up. We are all they have. We have each other, but for our dads, we are it. So we have to be patient and strong and stick together. Are you willing to live with me and defy your father for two whole years? I am if you are.”
He rolled over, stretching his body over her half-naked one, pinning her down. “The roof needs fixing and the front porch is sagging. That’s the real reason you want me to move in, admit it.”
She laughed and planted a fast peck on his cheek, pleased—overjoyed, actually, and a little frightened that she had no clue before how happy he would make her. If it wasn’t for that stupid engagement notice, she wouldn’t be with him at all. Jeremy had his own way and language with her. He knew her better than she knew him, but then he had a two-year head start on her. Jocelyn was just getting used to being in love. Maybe nobody would understand it or believe it when they broke the news to Paula and Andrea, Ryan and Jason. It didn’t matter anymore who believed her and who didn’t as long as Jeremy did.
“I love you, Jeremy Marks.”
“I love you, Jocelyn Tate.”
He kissed her lips like she was Sleeping Beauty. The prince who had hacked his way through the thorns to reach her wore a corduroy jacket and glasses.
“Jocelyn.” His voice was in her ear, deep and low. His hands lightly pinned her wrists above her head, possessively. He kissed her and she knew what he wanted, even before she felt his rock hard penis pressing against her thigh. She was already wet. He wanted the same thing she did.
They fought their clothes feverishly until they were both naked. Jeremy hesitated, his eyes troubled. “Do you ever worry this is just lust?”
She grinned. “You’re not that hot.”
“And you slept with me anyway ... I don’t get it.” He gazed at her inquisitively. “You love me that much?”
“More. I’m not as shallow as you are.”
Jeremy grinned. His brown hair fell over his glasses. He stooped a little. He wasn’t her type and knowing he had a trust fund didn’t miraculously make him so. Jeremy Marks became her type the night he drove her sick father to the hospital, and raved about her chicken stew and fixed the plumbing in the kitchen and worried about her. He became her type the night he made love to her without making her feel cheap.
One day she’d understand how it happened between them. At the moment, the love rising between them was a mystery. He met her where she was in her life, in her dreams and in her failures, and he was happy to stick around. One day she’d figure it out, but for now she was content to be swept away in mind and body as Jeremy deftly entered her.
♥
PAULA CAUGHT up with Ryan outside her building. She was out of breath and had a stitch in her side. She whipped her pumps off her feet and lobbed one at his head. It caught him in the back and he howled.
“What the hell? Paula—that hurt!”
“You deserve it, Ryan McIntryre!” She hurled the other shoe at him, striking him hard on the forehead. The shoe bounced off his skull and fell to the sidewalk.
Ryan swayed, touched his forehead. He was bleeding. He met Paula’s eyes, bewildered for half a second and then toppled forward.
“Ryan!”
Paula screamed and sprang to catch him as he fell. His dead weight was too much for her and they crashed to the sidewalk.
“Ryan! Ryan? Oh my God—I’ve killed you! You pushed me to do it! You make me so mad!” She beat a steady tattoo on his cheek. “I’m not like Jocelyn or Janice Feron—I’m not g
lamorous but people get tired of glamorous after awhile. Did you ever think of that? No, you didn’t. The sex was ... well ... wonderful. Just ... oh boy.” She sighed damply. “I guess that part of our relationship is over now that you’re dead. It didn’t last long but it was truly memorable. Ryan, I want you to know that I’m really going to miss the sex. I also want you to know that I forgive you for being shallow and looking for a trophy wife while you were sleeping with me. You were only doing what you thought you had to but you were wrong. I’m not glamorous but I love you and that’s all that counts in the end. It really is. I’m sorry I killed you but I’m not sorry I fell in love with you.”
Ryan’s eyes blinked opened. He had been stunned into unconsciousness by the blow. His head hurt like hell. “Paula ... who are you talking to?”
“Oh my god! Oh my god, you’re not dead!”
“If I’m dead, honey, you better call an ambulance.”
She bent over him, taking his pulse in the wrong place on his neck. “An ambulance can’t help you if you’re dead, silly. I’d have to call your brother, Sheriff McIntyre. He’d have me arrested manslaughter. You’re really not dead, are you?”
Ryan opened his eyes wide and smiled into her pretty face. “No, I’m not dead. I’m in love.”
Paula nodded her head vigorously. She wiped tears from her eyes. “I know you are, dearest. I’m in love too.”
He pulled her down into his arms and they held each other, lying flat on their backs on the sidewalk on Main Street in Mandrake Falls. Ryan gazed at the pristine blue spring sky. “Hey Paula, look at us ... we have a love rising.”
His eyes pulled down sleepily. He was very, very tired all of a sudden and it was so comfortable on the sidewalk with Paula in his arms. She smelled so good....
Paula matter-of-factly shook her boyfriend awake and called the Sheriff’s Office. “Your brother, Ryan has a concussion,” she said joyfully. “We butted heads and I won.”
♥
LATER THAT night, Jeremy lay with Jocelyn fast asleep in his arms, practicing what he’d say to his father in the morning. He decided to call his dad and invite him to Mandrake Falls to meet Jocelyn. Face it head-on. He didn’t expect Kenneth to give his blessing and Jeremy wasn’t looking for it, but he didn’t want his dad to feel shut out of his life. Jocelyn said she and Jeremy were a lot alike, and she was right. Kenneth would see how suited they were and how happy she made him and he’d come around. His dad was ultimately a good guy. He just wanted his son to be happy.
Jeremy would have to give Joce plenty of warning though. She was used to him being poor. Kenneth Marks would take the corporate helicopter to Mandrake Falls and it makes quite an entrance. Jeremy would have to prepare Joce for shock and awe.
The quiet of the house folded around them where they lay, entwined, in her bed.
It had happened. It had actually happened. If it wasn’t for that engagement notice, he wouldn’t have found the courage to fight for her. Jeremy shuddered at the narrow grace of fate.
Jocelyn shifted and sighed against his chest.
His heart cracked and warmth spread through his body, a physical sensation of overflowing joy. A loopy wide grin crossed his face as at last he understood. He and Jocelyn were like crocuses pushing out of the spring snow—inconceivable that it could happen and yet inevitable.
Summer was coming. Joce would love to have a place to sit and watch her garden growing. He could fix the front porch up....
Jeremy Marks fell asleep, mulling over the list of hardware he would need.
♥
THE RETRACTION notice ran in the Mandrake Falls Gazette on Monday morning as promised. But no one in Mandrake Falls—least of all the patrons of the Beauty Box—paid it any attention at all.
The End
About the Author
CATHERINE LLOYD is a romance author, mother and avid reader. She loves reading, writing and red wine--not necessarily in that order. A glass of red wine, in front of the fire with a good book is her idea of a party. In addition to contemporary romance, she also writes historical adventure romance set in the time of King John’s reign, 13th Century England.
The author has two grown children, two stepdaughters, a cat, and three grandsons. She lives with her long-suffering spouse in Quebec, Canada where she writes full time.
Contact Catherine Lloyd at [email protected]
Or visit: Writewood Creations
Visit her Author Page on Amazon
Mandrake Falls Romance
Four Seasons Series
THE JILTING
SUMMER. Ryder Dean was Scout Rutherford’s best friend since they were eight-years-old and there was a pretty good chance she was in love with him. So why was she marrying Noel Trace? Because he was rich, older and he said YES. The last person Scout wants to see at her wedding is Ryder. But there he is: gray-green eyes, messy hair, wearing his one good suit, watching her walk down the aisle like he knows something is going to go wrong. Nothing ever happens in Mandrake Falls except the day Scout got jilted.
LIE FOR ME
AUTUMN. Shelby Porter doesn’t like Sheriff Sawyer McIntyre and everyone in town knows it except Dolly Porter, Shelby and Sawyer’s much-loved aunt. Dolly worries too much over Shelby’s single status. To ease her mind, Shelby tells a little white lie that morphs into a whopper, until she is standing in Sheriff McIntyre’s bedroom at three o’clock in the morning with a teeny request: “Lie for me.”
THE WAY HOME
WINTER. A bureaucratic mix-up forces Hudson Grace to spend his Christmas holidays in close quarters with daytime diva, Michael Shannon. Michael is in Mandrake Falls by order of the court to learn the value of anonymity. Hudson thinks the star has as much chance of learning the value of anonymity as she has of coaxing his three-year-old nephew to eat with a fork. But the one thing they can both agree on is to never fall in love. Seventy-two hours to Christmas. Who will crack first?
MANDRAKE FALLS Romance is also available in print!
Dark Redeemer Historical Romance
WANTON
The year is 1228. King John is dead and an uneasy peace has settled over England. Callie of Wideopens is the beautiful 18-year-old ward of Jane and Ethan. Jane is dying and the crone who supplies her herbs has had a vision of a terrible act. In a misguided attempt to alter the fate of her husband, Jane makes a desperate request of Callie. In doing so, she unwittingly sets in motion the crone’s prophecy. Arrested on charges of witchcraft and sentenced to hang, Callie recounts her story from a tower cell just as the crone predicted, and Ethan is haunted by a girl he believes dead and a love that sprang out of sin.
WASTREL
King John is on the throne and Lord Sebastian Redford’s drinking, card-playing and womanizing is legendary at court. However, it is his brazen affair with the wife of the most powerful man in England that has put his life in danger. In an attempt to ward off disaster, Lord Redford’s man hastily arranges a marriage of convenience to a mouse of a girl named Beatrice Fall. Sebastian’s bride proves to be anything but convenient when he consummates their marriage. Beatrice Fall is not who Sebastian believes her to be and quite suddenly, their marriage of convenience becomes a dangerous wedding of illicit love.
TRAITOR
King John’s crown has been usurped by Louis the Dauphin during the Baron’s War. The Earl of Dorset has betrothed his only child, pampered 18-year-old Lady Elspeth to the French lord, Tyndale to secure his favour with the new French king. The trip to Canterbury is a great adventure accompanied by her father’s Captain of the Guard, Griffith of Nottingham. The captain is a skilled bowman, loyal to the Earl and admired by Lady Elspeth—he is also a double agent working to restore King John to the throne. Forced to choose between Ellie and the men of his company who want to do her harm, Griffith crosses the line and becomes a traitor to all.
SOLDIER
A medieval Christmas romance. Soldier tells the story of two amoral men transformed by the women who love them. In Mercenary, Broderick, h
as been made a new father but infant son is failing to thrive. Then Tess is brought before him, the daughter of the lord whose lands Broderick has usurped. The new master of Castlemuir confines the young woman to his inner sanctum to nurse his son, but his desire for the silent girl drives him to take dangerous risks. In Jester, Dumas is a hideously deformed clown who travels the countryside in a caravan with his young assistant, Fallon, a young woman disguised as a boy. In return for keeping her identity a secret, Fallon must perform for the misshapen man each night. But Dumas has a secret of his own as Fallon soon learns after a performance at Castlemuir Hall.
DARK REDEEMER Historical Romance is also available in print!
Love Rising: Spring (Mandrake Falls Series Romance Book 4) Page 17
