She's Just Right (A Fairy Tale Romance)

by Diane Darcy

  He thought about the horrible conversations he had, both in person and on the phone, with his ex-wife after she’d left him. Granted, he didn’t want to put himself through that kind of rejection again. But on the other hand, it really had gotten to the point where he just had to know. He had to see Honey, even if it was just one last time.

  He stood. “Thanks,” he said, and pocketed the paper.

  “Where are you going?”

  “To see Honey.”

  “Right now? Before you’ve finished eating?”

  “Yes. Right now.”

  Elizabeth smiled. “Okay. But go home and shower and shave first. And keep us posted.”

  Trevor nodded once. “I’ll let you know what happens. And Elizabeth? Thanks.”

  She nodded, smiled and shooed him with her fingers. “All right. Go already.”

  ***

  As the sun started to set, Honey finally pulled onto her tree-lined street. She’d gotten a slow start, so it was later than she’d hoped and the drive had been way too long. Spending the drive thinking about going to see Trevor in the morning had her nervous, tense, and a little bit excited.

  With a sense of relief, she pulled into her driveway, shut off the car, gathered her keys, purse, and went to open the car door. She was glad to be home, and glad she was finally going to do something.

  A huge figure stood up from her porch swing.

  Honey froze for a moment, and then, heart beating fast, eyes glued to the man on the porch, her hand automatically groped to put the key back in the ignition.

  The man walked to the top of the stairs and it took her a moment to recognize Trevor.

  Honey pressed a hand to her chest as relief and apprehension fought for dominance. She couldn’t believe he was there. She wasn’t ready for this yet. She still had to plan what she’d say, and how she’d say it. It was too soon.

  Had he come to tell her off? To accuse her of being in cahoots with Nick? Or...

  Hope swelled within her and she fumbled for the door latch and got out of the car.

  Had he come for her?

  Dread mingled with hope as Honey moved forward to greet Trevor. Awkward she came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs. “Hi.”

  “Hi, yourself,” he said, and she melted, just a little bit, at the sound of his deep voice. She grabbed the iron hand rail to steady herself as she studied his face. He gave nothing away, and it was getting darker by the moment. She wasn’t sure if he were angry or not.

  He gestured to the porch. “I hope you don’t mind that I’ve been waiting for you to get home.”

  She shook her head, a quick movement, as she studied his inscrutable face. “Oh, no. Not at all.”

  “Were you working late?”

  Honey swallowed, and, in an effort to stop staring at him, glanced down. “I’ve been at my parent’s for the past week,” she told the gardenias along the bottom of the porch. She sneaked another peak at Trevor. “I’m just getting home.”

  His gaze sharpened and, again, she couldn’t look away. “Oh?”

  “Yes.”

  “Were you alone?” he asked.

  Honey took a shaky breath and tried to pull herself together. “Hardly. My mom, dad, brother, his wife and baby girl were there practically the entire time. Privacy isn’t an acknowledged state of affairs in my family.”

  Trevor smiled. “I know how that is.”

  Remembering his family’s matchmaking attempts, she returned his smile with a slight one of her own. What was he doing here?

  He shifted on his feet and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’m glad I chose today to drive down, then. It could have been a long wait if you’d stayed away another week.”

  Was he saying he’d have waited as long as it took? The thought, and the hope that accompanied it, broke the trance she seemed to be in. She hurried up the steps.

  When he moved out of the way, she put her key in the lock, and keeping her head ducked, rushed into speech. “Trevor, I want to apologize for what happened with the land deal. I am so sorry my boss was trying to cheat your family. I want you to know I didn’t know anything about it until Michelle came to Redding and told me.” Honey opened the door and then turned to look at him. “I hope you can believe that.”

  Trevor shrugged. “Of course I do.” He looked into Honey’s sincere blue eyes and his conscience twinged. He was well aware she hadn’t known what her boss had been up to. Now he just had to worry about how she’d react to his knowing everything all along and setting her up.

  And, of course, none of this was as interesting to him as the fact that her fiancé hadn’t gone with her to L.A. He rubbed the back of his neck. He might as well get it over with. “Look, Honey. There’s something I need to tell you.”

  “Please come in. Have a seat.”

  Glad for the extra time, he followed her inside, across the hardwood floor. She turned on the lights, dropped her purse on a recliner and led him around a plump love seat. She took the chair opposite. “You were saying?” she asked.

  He took a quick look around at the bright colors, plants, and comfortable furniture. The place suited her. He sank down and looked across at her. Golden curls, clinging pink tee-shirt, grave face. She suited him. He wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss her until she looked soft rather than serious. Until she admitted she was his.

  With a shake of his head, he forced himself to focus. “Yeah.” He blew out a breath. “The thing is, we knew about your boss trying to rip us off.”

  Honey looked confused. “Your family did? You mean all along?”

  Trevor nodded, tensing. “Yes. From the beginning. After Nick approached us, we decided to give him enough rope to hang himself with.”

  Trevor rubbed his forehead, then quickly dropped his hand. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you what was going on. I went against my dad’s wishes, and tried to let you know. On the way to the houseboat. Remember?”

  Honey, brows furrowed, nodded. “When we stopped to look at that piece of property.”

  “Yes.” Awkward, he sat back, couldn’t get comfortable and sat forward again, leaning his elbows on his thighs, and clenching his fists in front of him.

  He studied her blank face and could feel sweat break out on his brow, his back. He’d give anything to know what she was thinking. “So, you see, you don’t have anything to apologize for. I’m just sorry you got caught up in the whole thing.”

  Her brows were drawn together. “So you didn’t think I was in on it? That I was trying to cheat you?”

  “No. It was obvious you weren’t.”

  “I see.”

  Trevor realized his leg was twitching up and down and pressed a fist to his thigh.

  Honey was looking at the floor and not at him. “I don’t blame you for being mad,” he said. “I did want to tell you. I knew you had nothing to do with it.” He was blabbering now. Repeating himself. He already looked like an idiot, so he might as well go all the way. He had to know. “So, what about your fiancé. Are the two of you still engaged?”

  He held his breath as Honey looked up at him, her brows still drawn tight together. “No, of course not. Christian’s history. But you knew that, right? We talked about it before I left.”

  As he stared into her beautiful upturned face, something unclenched in his chest and he could breath again. “When you didn’t call, I thought you might have changed your mind and gone back to him.”

  Honey’s mouth fell open. “How could you think that after the way I’d been with you?”

  Trevor couldn’t tamp down the sudden hope he felt. He wiped his palms on his jeans. “You didn’t answer your phone,” he said. “I called you after you left the restaurant.”

  “Christian threw it out the window, so I didn’t have a phone. But anyway, we’d discussed it, remember?” Hurt showed on her face. “Or did you think that because of the land deal and because I’d kissed you while I was engaged to Christian that I wasn’t sincere?”

  “No! I didn’t think tha
t at all. I called several times and when you didn’t call back, I thought you’d gone back to your fiancé.”

  Honey stood and paced away, then back again. “I felt I couldn’t call. I wrote you that note. I thought you’d come to see me at the hotel. I waited.” She paused, then lifted a shoulder. “When you didn’t show up, I thought you hated me because of the land deal. I got a new phone in L.A. and I’ve been waiting for you to call.”

  She’d been waiting? His heart was pounding and relief made him dizzy as he slowly stood.

  She finally stopped pacing and turned to look at him. “You don’t hate me?”

  He shook his head slowly as he walked toward her. “No,” his voice was like gravel. “Do you hate me?”

  She swallowed, finally met his gaze, smiled tentatively and shook her head. “No. I don’t.”

  Honey’s heart was pounding as Trevor reached forward, took her hand, and drew her over to the love seat with him. His own hand shook slightly, and when she realized he was nervous, her lips parted in wonder, her heart melted, and her fingers clenched onto his.

  He looked down, then back into her eyes again. “Honey. I love everything about you.” His hands squeezed hers a little too hard, but she managed not to wince. She didn’t want to interrupt him or miss a single word.

  “Everything,” he emphasized. “The way you smile. Your optimism. The way you really care about other people. The way I feel when I’m with you. I felt like I wasn’t really living until you came into my life, but just going through the motions.”

  He searched her eyes, then brought her hand up to his mouth and pressed a hard kiss to her skin, leaving it tingling. She almost couldn’t breath.

  “It about killed me when you left. It was like going back to merely existing.” He brought both her hands to his mouth, kissing one and then the other. “I...I love you so much.”

  Honey’s heart thumped hard in her chest as she stared into Trevor’s chocolate brown eyes. She gripped his hands tightly, tried to talk, but her throat was so tight she couldn’t get a word out.

  He started to look worried. “Do you think we need to date a while before we get married? Because I can be patient.” Color flooded his face and he looked down. “I mean...what I mean is...”

  Honey’s head swirled and tears flooded her eyes and she nodded, then laughed. “Is that a marriage proposal?”

  “Yes.” His expression was serious and hopeful, as he studied her face. “I’m messing this up, aren’t I?” He dropped to both knees in front of her. “Honey. I love you. Will you marry me?”

  Relief that he still wanted her had Honey throwing her arms around him, feeling so happy she couldn’t believe it. “Yes.” She laughed. “I will.” She tried to lean back so she could see his face, but he didn’t release her, his tense body clutching her tight. She whispered in his ear, “Trevor, I love you, too. I missed you so much.”

  Trevor groaned, burying his face in her hair, against her neck, and she could feel his heart pounding, his chest heaving against her own.

  She found she couldn’t stop touching him, her hands drawn to his back, his thickly muscled shoulders, his hair. Finally, she leaned back and took his face in her hands.

  He leaned forward and kissed her, groaning from the small contact. The kiss was so tender and full of promises that tears sprang to her eyes. She broke the kiss and pressed her forehead to his. “My mother will kill me if I don’t give her at least a month or so to plan the wedding. So how does an August wedding sound?”

  Trevor laughed, stood, picked her up and swung her around. “So you’re willing to take a chance on me?”

  “More than willing,” she smiled.

  He smiled back, sank down on the love seat and pulled her onto his lap. He touched her hair. “It’s a good thing you said yes, Goldilocks, because fairy tales always end with Happily Ever After.”

  She laughed. “That’s true, but it isn’t the reason I said yes.”

  “Oh?”

  “I said yes because I knew almost from the beginning that you were just right.”

  Trevor laughed, then lowered his mouth to hers. They didn’t say anything else for a very long time.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Six months later. Christmas Eve.

  Honey finished wrapping the present, quietly opened the bedroom door and peeked down the hall. All clear. She turned off the light, and opened the door all the way.

  Light from the Christmas tree, as well as soft Christmas music spilled up the stairs, and Honey walked down the dark hallway, the first four stairs, and bent to peek into Trevor’s office.

  He wasn’t there.

  She heard the clink of dishes and the low mummer of his voice and realized he must be on the phone in the kitchen.

  Grinning, she hurried to the living room and placed the present on one of the Christmas tree branches. It slipped a bit so she tried another branch and it stayed.

  She realized there was a present under the tree that hadn’t been there when she’d come home from work. A big one. She didn’t know how she’d missed it when she’d first walked in. The paper was fun, a dark blue with dancing white reindeers, and a big white bow. She was pretty sure she knew what it was.

  She reached out to feel it and an arm wrapped around her waist from behind and pulled her back against a large, muscular body.

  Honey’s scream turned into a laugh. “Where did you come from?”

  Trevor chuckled, his breath warm against her neck, making her shiver. “The kitchen. I just finished making my specialty, porridge in the crock pot, for tomorrow morning. It’ll tide us over until dinner at my parents’ place.” He pulled her down with him onto the couch and onto his lap and she wrapped her arms around him.

  “You weren’t trying to feel your present, were you?” he teased.

  “Never!”

  Trevor chuckled again. “Uh huh. Dylan called. His dad made it home for Christmas.”

  “Oh, I’m so glad! That was cutting it close.”

  “Yeah, the little guy is thrilled. He wanted to let me know he won’t be around to feed the dog for the next week or so. He wanted to make sure I’d remember and do it right,” Trevor said dryly.

  Honey laughed. She burrowed her face into the crook of Trevor’s neck and sighed blissfully as he tightened his arms around her.

  The tree glowed in front of the window, and they’d had to rearrange the furniture a bit to accommodate it. The ornaments and decorations for the tree they’d chosen together. Her gaze wandered to the pictures of the two of them on the mantel, recently added to the other family pictures.

  She just felt so happy.

  If the tree weren’t in the way, she’d be able to see the two bears out by the mailbox, one bigger and one slightly smaller. Trevor had been carving a third.

  A baby bear.

  He’d started it a couple of months ago when they’d decided to forgo birth control and try for a baby. He didn’t think she knew about it.

  And coincidentally, it was about the same shape and size as her present under the tree.

  What perfect timing.

  Honey had known for a week that she was expecting. It had been hard to keep the news to herself, but with Christmas so close, she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make an occasion out of it.

  In the morning she’d give him the present she’d placed on the branch. A tiny stuffed bear with a name tag reading baby bear. She smiled widely as she thought of what Trevor’s reaction would be.

  “Happy?” he asked.

  She nodded, then leaned up to kiss him, long and slow, before snuggling back against him with a smile. “Life just doesn’t get any better than this.”

  Crockpot Porridge Recipe

  Ingredients:

  2 cups of milk

  1/4 cup brown sugar

  1 Tbsp. Melted butter

  ¼ tsp. Salt

  ½ tsp. Cinnamon

  1 cup regular oats

  1 cup peeled, chopped apple

  ½ cup ch
opped walnuts

  Preparation:

  Spray the inside of a 3-4 quart slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray. Combine all ingredients in the slow cooker and mix well. Cover and turn on LOW setting. Cook overnight or 8-9 hours. Stir well before serving.

  For added sweetness, drizzle with honey. (Of course!)

  Other Books by This Author

  Serendipity

  Once in a Blue Moon

  A Penny for Your Thoughts

  The Christmas Star

  Steal His Heart

  She’s Just Right

  She Owns the Knight

  For previews of upcoming books by Diane Darcy and more information about the author, visit www.dianedarcy.com

  Excerpt from She Owns the Knight by Diane Darcy

  Why does she have to travel seven hundred years through time to find a decent guy?

  Broken-hearted Jillian Corbett finally finds the knight of her dreams... in the past. Unfortunately he’s bossy, overbearing, and...betrothed! Fortunately, he thinks she is his affianced, which keeps her from garderobe duty. Or worse, being hanged as a spy. She knows she has to get back to her own time before his real fiancé shows up and the truth is discovered. But until she finds a way, she’s going to squeeze every bit of enjoyment she can out of this situation. As far as she’s concerned, this is one relationship in which she gets to call the shots, not the other way around. The dowry provided by his betrothed bought him, lock, stock and barrel. She’ll gladly whip him into shape for the girl who ends up with him. No thanks required. In the meantime, Jillian owns him, and as every twenty-first century girl knows...ownership has its privileges.