He focused and meticulously painted her face for several seconds.
“There,” he said, and stepped back. “No. Wait.” He tickled her cheek yet again with a few finishing touches. “There.”
He handed her the mirror and she almost dropped it when she saw what he’d written. She managed to read backwards in the mirror. “Will you marry me?” he’d written in bright rainbow colors.
He cocked a brow and waited.
Stunned, she stared first at the mirror and then into his intense brown eyes and almost came unglued.
Not an iota of insecurity could be detected on his face as he stood there before her, and everyone else in the park. His hands rested low on his denim-clad hips, and he waited for her to answer, as though it was the most logical question in the world to ask on a sunny Saturday afternoon. “Well?”
She gulped and grabbed his tickets. “Sit down.”
He followed her lead. She forced her hands to get steady and picked up a brush. She dipped it into the red paint and wrote “Yes” across his forehead, then handed him the mirror.
His lips twitched into a smile, he planted his fingers around her arm and led her away from the booth. “Come with me,” he said to her. And then over his shoulder he informed the other booth worker, “She’s on a break.”
Still trying to make her tongue and mouth work, China followed him. Fortunately, her legs were able to move, if not in uniform fashion.
In the distance, the jubilant sounds of people having a great time could be heard. Another loud splash heralded that Dr. Morell had hit the water yet again. And China could have sworn she heard her mother’s distinctive voice call out to him, “Bingo.”
They walked on in silence until they reached a lone, out-of-the-way tree. Rick leaned against the trunk and drew China into his arms. Heat radiated from his chest to her palms through the thin cotton of his dark T-shirt. She looked into his face, the handsome man she’d missed with all of her heart since the night they’d made love. They stared at each other for a second before they kissed.
His lips lightly brushed hers, as though he only wanted a taste, but he couldn’t resist more. His mouth covered hers and every sound in the park except for the loud beating of the pulse in her chest faded away.
God, she’d missed him.
She cupped his face, and felt early signs of stubble, and pressed her lips harder against his. She inhaled the fine spicy scent of his shower soap, felt his chest rise and fall, and heard a faint sound from his throat when he kissed her back.
China drifted away into the heaven of his warm, inviting kisses, and prayed this wasn’t a dream. She tugged on his earlobes to make sure.
He pulled back. “What?”
She smiled. “Nothing.” And immediately went back to kissing him. He co-operated wholeheartedly.
His hot hands stroked her arms, drawing her closer, before they came to rest on her hips. She settled her entire weight against him.
His mouth covered her ear. “You look beautiful today.”
No words could have sent a deeper thrill through her than those. She’d quit hiding and he still found her beautiful. She nuzzled her head under his chin and sighed.
“I love you,” she said proudly. “I’d have flown to Washington state to tell you. I promised myself to go after you, no matter what, once today’s fair was over. But you beat me to it.” She smiled, but soon grew serious. “I was scared and insecure that night at my apartment, and I said horrible things to you. Please, forgive me.”
He tightened his arms around her, found her mouth and kissed her more deeply. “I do.”
One of the fire trucks sounded its siren, startling them both, ending their special moment.
“Your straight talk gave me the incentive to finally stand up to my dad. I give you the credit for us talking civilly to each other for the first time in years.”
Rick gently pulled her back into his embrace, and he caressed her face and looked deeply into her eyes. “I guess we both said some things the other needed to hear.”
She nodded, wondering if it was possible to feel even more relief.
“Are you sure you want to marry the new Mercy Hospital ER supervisor?”
She smiled. “You got the job?”
He grinned at her. “I found out on Wednesday, the day I saw you. That’s where I was headed when I couldn’t stick around. Seems they had a change of heart, or rather my father did, and not because a certain Cass Seabury told him to.” He smiled at her “Because he realized I deserved it. Somehow we managed to finally look at each other honestly without all our hang-ups clouding our judgement. We’re going to try and start over. Anyway, they’re going to announce it next week. So what do you say?”
“That depends,” she said, feeling coy.
“Cruel. You need a pre-nup or something?”
“No. But are you sure you want to marry me with all my scars, inside and out?” She lifted a leg for his examination. “Even with legs like these?”
“Not in spite of your legs do I want to marry you, China. Because of them.”
China moved out of Rick’s embrace and tilted her head. “What do you mean?”
“You are who you are because of that accident, China. You’ve grown into an amazing, crusading, loving woman, and I want to share the rest of my life with you, and I gotta know now if you’ll be my wife.”
“My marrying the new ER supervisor depends on whether or not the ER supervisor will consider marrying the new Mercy Hospital public relations representative.”
A slow grin spread across Rick’s face. His dark eyes sparkled.
“You did great today, China. You’ll be perfect for that job. And under those circumstances the new ER supervisor says sign me up. I still want to marry you.”
He had no idea how much his approval meant to her. She’d broken through her chains, spoken in public, and had done a fine job of it, too, if she said so herself. She’d hung out her secrets and emotional laundry to dry and won the guy, all in one day. Life was good.
“In that case,” she said, and tapped his forehead with her finger, “yes.” She kissed him gently on the lips. “Today was perfect.”
“And you’re perfect for me, China,” Rick said, edging closer for another kiss. One hand swept across her bare leg where it came to rest. He pressed his lips to her cheek before he looked into her eyes.
“I love you exactly the way you are.”
ISBN: 978-1-4603-5905-1
HER L.A. KNIGHT
First North American Publication 2007
Copyright © 2007 by Lynne Marshall
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.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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