The Millionaire's Unexpected Proposal (Entangled Indulgence)
Page 19
“So that’s why you’re here, Sam?”
He could feel her body stiffen.
He looked at her, perplexed. “What better reason could there be? When I told Ritchie I was prepared to give you up, that you were a better parent for JD than I could ever be, he asked me a question. He asked me if I loved you, and I said I love you with all my heart. And that’s when he told me.”
She looked confused. “Told you what?”
“That he asked you the same question, sweetheart. He asked you if you loved me, and you told him you loved me with all your heart. That’s when I knew I couldn’t lose you.”
“That’s what Ritchie told you?”
“Yes, what else would it be?”
“Oh, Sam. There’s something you don’t know.”
“I don’t care what it is. I used to think I had to have all the answers, why you didn’t tell me about JD, why you stayed married to Danny, Camilla, I don’t care anymore. I don’t care about the past. The future’s the only thing that matters.”
“I’m pregnant, Sam. I’m carrying your child.”
The sheer joy of it rushed through him. He knew it had to be written all over his face.
“We’re having a baby,” he said. “Camilla, now you have to come home with me.”
“No,” she said, as the tears started to spill over. “That’s why I have to stay here.”
“Stay here? I know I’ve made a mess of things, but it’s not too late. Everything I have, everything I am, doesn’t mean a damn thing if you aren’t there to share it with me. Can’t you see that we belong together?”
She was standing right there in front of him and he was losing her and it was crushing him. He was the skilled trial lawyer known for his powers of persuasion, and now, when it mattered most, his words were falling flat. They weren’t enough.
“I love you, Camilla. I’ll say it a million times if that’s what it takes for you to believe me. I love you with all my heart. And there’s nothing I want more than to spend the rest of my life loving you.”
“I want to believe you, more than anything. But how can I trust you? And what if you change your mind?” Her eyes still glistened with tears as she tried to give him back the rings, the necklace.
“They’re yours,” he said, and when he refused to take them back, she slipped them into her pocket.
Camilla lifted her chin. “I can’t live in fear of losing my child ever again.”
“Okay, then. Okay.” How could he think when everything he cared about was slipping away from him? “Then the hell with Miami. You want to live in Italy, fine. I’ll commute.”
“You can’t commute between Venice and Miami.”
“I don’t know why not. We’ll buy a corporate jet. It’s about time my law firm went international.”
“Sam, that’s crazy.”
She said the words, but her voice trembled and the sudden light in her eyes gave him a glimmer of hope.
“Without you and Olivia and JD and”—he paused and looked at her still-flat stomach—“our new baby, nothing else matters. So I will do what it takes to make this work.”
Their gondola pulled up to the grand entrance of the hotel. JD and Olivia had already arrived and were standing there waiting for them. When he looked back at Camilla his own heart stood still.
The two hearts sparkled at her throat. The rings were on her finger.
“I might be crazy, Sam, but I believe you. I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you,” Camilla said, her voice thick with emotion.
“There’s nothing more important in my life, Camilla, than you. And the family we have together.” He helped her out of the gondola and pulled her into his arms.
“Sam.” She reached up and touched his cheek.
“I’m never going to let you down, Camilla.” He reached out, included Olivia and JD in the embrace, and for a moment he saw, in his mind vividly, an image of Danny, with Camilla and JD on his lap in the wheelchair and Olivia squeezing into the group hug. Sam sent a silent promise to the man he’d never met. They’re mine now, Danny, and I’m going to take good care of them.
“So, are we heading back to Miami right now?” Olivia asked.
“Well,” Camilla said, “considering I booked our suite here in the hotel for two weeks…”
Sam grinned. “I think we’re about to have a two-week vacation in Venice.” Then he took his family and walked up the sweeping staircase into the hotel.
Epilogue
Ten months later
Camilla sat, holding her three-month-old baby in her arms, Sam on one side and Olivia on the other, as they watched JD walk in the procession of boys and girls at kindergarten graduation. As each name was announced, a proud five- or six-year-old stepped forward in a jaunty paper graduation cap and accepted a certificate and a rose for their mommy, while all the parents cheered.
Five minutes after the ceremony was over, most of the caps had gone astray and the kids were smeared with ice cream and cupcake icing. And parents were grateful the school photographer had posed them before the ceremony.
Olivia had just finished finals at her new high school in Miami, and was hosting an end-of-the-year party later that afternoon.
“So are you ready for about a hundred teenagers to descend on our house?” Camilla asked him.
Sam shifted in his seat. “I was thinking about going into the office.”
“Not on your life, buddy. If you think you’re leaving me with a crying baby, a five-year-old hyped up on sugar, and a hundred teenagers, you can forget it.”
Sam peered at Sophia’s sleeping face and little rosebud mouth. “That angel won’t give you any trouble.”
“Sam!” Olivia said. “You’re taking my friends out on the boat, remember?”
“Okay, okay, I’m kidding, guys,” Sam said. “I’m not going into the office today.”
Just then JD ran over and Sam swung him into the air.
Camilla thought again how lucky she was—how lucky they all were.
Later, when Olivia’s party was over, and all but a half dozen teenagers had gone home and JD was sound asleep in his pirate bed, Camilla laid Sophia down in her crib in the nursery and switched on the baby monitor. She sensed Sam behind her a fraction of a second before he swept her up into his arms and backed out of the room quietly so they wouldn’t wake Sophia.
The next thing she knew he had her against the wall in their bedroom, his hands were up under her shirt, and his mouth was reminding her that nobody had ever kissed her the way Sam did.
“I’m going to make love to you all night,” he promised. Camilla doubted she’d be able to stay awake all night, but decided, as his hand slipped over her hip and the rest of their clothes dropped to the floor, that she was going to give it her best try.
Later, it was Sam who dropped off to sleep, his arm slung possessively over her body. She snuggled against him, then drifted off to sleep herself, dreaming of the rest of their lives they would share together.
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Acknowledgements
The biggest surprise to me upon entering the world of publishing, was how very much work remains to be done after the writer has competed the last page of the manuscript. Thank you to my agent, Elizabeth Winick Rubinstein, and my editor, Wendy Chen, for helping me make this book all that it could be, and to Erin Crum, copyeditor at Entangled Publishing, for putting that last bit of polish on it. I also appreciate the wonderful work done by Debbie Suzuki at Entangled’s Publicity Department, and all the other people at Entangled who brought this book to publication, from cover design to copyediting to marketing.
Thank you also to all my writer friends in Tampa Area Romance Authors, Romance Writers of America, and t
he other writing communities I’ve been privileged to be a part of, for your support and encouragement. Special thanks to my beta readers, Mary Ann Strozak Efron and Johnny Ray, for your suggestions and critiques on an early draft of this book.
Finally, thank you to my writing buddies Cheryl Mansfield and Kelly Remick, for countless hours spend in coffee shops and book stores, writing.
And most of all, thank you to my husband Dave, my son Tom, and my daughter Megan, for always believing I could be both a lawyer and a writer, and still have time for my family.
About the Author
Jane Peden is the pen name of a Florida trial attorney who writes sexy contemporary romances set in the exciting South Florida city of Miami, where millionaire lawyers live extravagant lifestyles and find love when they least expect it. When Jane isn’t in court, you can find her at the beach with her laptop, dreaming up stories about successful, confident men who know what they want and how to get it, and smart, sexy women who demand love on their own terms. Jane lives on the Gulf Coast of Florida with her husband, two kids, two dogs, and a fish.
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