by Gina Wilkins
“I’m beginning to.” She smiled crookedly. “You were wrong about one thing, you know. I wasn’t leaving to run away from anything. I was leaving to find something.”
“And that was...?”
“Excitement. Adventure. Love. A purpose for my life. I never thought I could find those things here, in Honoria. I never expected that they would come to me.” She turned her hands over to clasp his. “I never expected you, Wade Davenport.”
He lifted her hands to his lips. “I love you, Emily.”
“I was so afraid to believe that. So afraid that I would mess it up, somehow. Afraid that I couldn’t work hard enough, or be perfect enough to make you keep loving me. But you know I’m not perfect, don’t you, Wade? You know my fears and my flaws and the baggage I carry. And you love me, anyway.”
“Yes. And you know I’m far from perfect. That I’ve got flaws and fears and baggage of my own.”
“And I love you, anyway,” she whispered.
It was the first time she’d said it. He closed his eyes in reaction, feeling the relief flood through him. His head was beginning to swim again, either from flu or emotion, or a combination of both.
“I’m too weak to drag this out much longer,” he murmured. “Are you trying to tell me that you’re going to stay?”
“I’m telling you that there’s no longer any reason for me to go. I’ve found everything I ever wanted right here with you,” she answered simply. Sincerely. “I love you, Wade. I love your son. I want to be a family with you, to give you both all the love I’ve been saving inside me for so long. I want to live in a house that’s so full of love and laughter and joy that it almost bursts at the seams.”
“You’ll never have to doubt that I love you,” he promised. “Even when I’m irked with you...and that’s going to happen, Emily. I’m afraid it’s impossible for two people to live together without teeing each other off occasionally.”
She laughed suddenly, musically, and his chest clenched. “I know. I’ll get mad at you, too. In fact, I was furious with you yesterday because I had to hear from Martha Godwin that you and Clay were sick. But I still loved you.”
He winced. “Martha Godwin?”
She nodded. “I’ll tell you about it later. Promise me, Wade, that you’ll always feel free to tell me what you need from me.”
“Promise me that you’ll always feel free to say no. That you won’t feel you have to earn my love. And that you’ll never hesitate to ask for what you need.”
“I need something right now,” she said, the satisfyingly happy glitter still bright in her eyes.
“Anything,” he vowed recklessly.
“Take your medicine and go lie down. I want you well, and soon, so I can take advantage of you without worrying about killing you.”
This time it was Wade who laughed, and then groaned with frustration. “Oh, man. This is a really lousy time to have the flu.”
“Next year, maybe you’ll get your flu shot,” she said primly. “Go to bed, Wade.”
He sighed deeply as he stood, half-seriously hoping he wasn’t delirious and imagining all this. “You’ll be here when I wake up?”
She stood with him, and wrapped her arms around him for a fervent hug. “I’ll be here for as long as you want me,” she whispered.
He lifted her off her feet and held her tightly, proving to both of them that his illness hadn’t totally weakened him. “Forever. I’ll want you forever.”
“Then you’re in luck,” she whispered. “That’s exactly how long I was planning to stay.”
Epilogue
“IT WAS a beautiful wedding, wasn’t it?”
Wade snuggled Emily more tightly against his bare body and gave a typically male answer to such a question. “Mmm.”
“Tara looked so beautiful. And Blake so handsome. And Savannah and the twins looked so happy with Kit.”
“Mmm.” Wade seemed much more interested in reexploring Emily’s curves than in recapping the wedding they’d attended several hours earlier.
Emily giggled and caught his hand when it wandered dangerously close to trouble—again. “It’s only been a few days since you were down with the flu. Are you sure you want to risk a relapse?”
“Woman, are you questioning my stamina?” he asked, sounding properly indignant.
“Never,” she promised with mock gravity.
“I’m glad you talked me into coming to the wedding with you,” he said, shifting their positions to give him access to her throat, which he then proceeded to nuzzle.
She smiled, sliding her fingers into his hair. The gold bracelet on her wrist glinted in the lamplight as her arm moved. The bracelet had been a gift from Wade, its heart-shaped links representing his love for her. When he’d given it to her two days ago, he had told her with touching uncertainty that he knew it couldn’t replace the one that had been her mother’s. He had promised not to stop looking for her mother’s bracelet, though he’d admitted that the chances of recovery grew slimmer with each day it was missing.
With tears in her eyes, Emily had assured him that this bracelet meant even more to her. It had been bought with love, for her alone. And given to her by someone who would never retract that love, who would never abandon her.
She hadn’t taken the bracelet off since he’d clasped it around her wrist.
She hadn’t had to work very hard to convince Wade to accompany her to Tara’s wedding on this Friday after Thanksgiving. Leaving Clay to spend the night with the family of his best friend from school, Wade and Emily had slipped away for one night together in a lovely Atlanta hotel following her cousin’s wedding. They had to return to Honoria early the next day, but they intended to make good use of these rare hours together.
Wade kissed her lingeringly, pressing her into the well-rumpled sheets. “I love you,” he murmured.
She arched into his weight. “I love you, too.”
“I want to spend every night with you like this.” Tangling his legs with hers, he teased her with playful thrusts of his body, until her smile faded and she was aching with renewed desire. “I want to wake every morning with you in my arms.”
“I want that, too,” she whispered, pulling him closer.
He slipped inside her with an ease that only proved they were made for each other. “Marry me soon, Emily. Tomorrow. Now.”
“We’ll be a family by Christmas,” she promised. “Now do me a favor, Chief. Be quiet and kiss me.”
“All you had to do was ask,” he answered with a flash of smile. And then he kissed her until she was no longer capable of coherent speech.
He spent the rest of the night giving her everything she had ever wanted. He took her places she’d never been. Gave her experiences she’d only fantasized about before. And filled her heart with so much love that she knew it would never be empty again.
Wait! The story’s not over yet....
The prodigal son is about to return.
Lucas McBride, Emily’s long-lost brother is coming
home for Christmas...and to settle the score.
Don’t miss the fireworks!
Available in December, wherever Harlequin books
are sold.
ISBN : 978-1-4592-6420-5
ENTICING EMILY
Copyright© 1998 by Gina Wilkins.
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All 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 incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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