Christmastime Courtship

by Marie Ferrarella

  He wanted to be sure—and most of all, he wanted her to be sure.

  “Miranda, I want to make love with you.”

  A laugh escaped her lips, a laugh of relief. “It’s about time.”

  And then suddenly, just like that, everything felt right.

  He kissed her with more eagerness than he thought he could possibly possess. His lips never left hers as desire surged through him, guiding him.

  Controlling him.

  He didn’t remember undressing her, but he remembered every smooth, tempting curve of her body once her clothing had been stripped away. Remembered the thrill of passing his hands slowly over her silky skin. Remembered the rush he felt as he mentally cataloged every part of her, making it his.

  Passion grew to incredible proportions, demanding an appeasement that couldn’t be reached, because each time he drew closer to the peak, it moved that much further out of reach, tempting him to kept going, to keep taking refuge in all parts of her, in everything she had to offer.

  The sound of her breathing, growing shorter and more audible, drove him wild.

  He wanted to take her now, this moment. Wanted to bury himself in her. But with iron control, he reined himself in.

  For her.

  He wanted Miranda to remember this night, to remember him, and for that to happen, he needed to slow down. To make this all about her—and that, in turn, would make it about them, which had become so very important to him.

  Sweeping her up in his arms, he carried her to her bedroom. He closed the door with his back, automatically creating their own private little world. Carrying her over to her bed, Colin placed her down on it gently.

  His heart was hammering in his chest and echoing in his head as he lay down beside her. Demands collided within him, making it increasingly difficult to hold himself in check, to not give in to the ever-mounting desire just to take her.

  Somehow, he managed to pace himself, but it was the hardest thing he had ever done.

  Trailing his lips along Miranda’s body, he anointed every part of her, thrilling to the sight and to the feel of her growing more and more excited. She was twisting and turning beneath him as if trying to absorb every sensation that he was creating for her.

  With her.

  When she ran her hands up and down his torso, when she turned the tables and mirrored all his movements, spiking his desire to unbelievable heights, Colin came exceedingly close to losing total control. But again, at the last moment, he caught himself, vowing to go one more round before he surrendered and made them into one joined being.

  He feasted on her lips, the hollow of her throat, working his way down to her belly and farther. Her unbridled gasp when he brought her to her first climax reverberated within his chest, exciting him so much that he tottered on the very edge of restraint.

  And then, fearing he couldn’t hold on for even another heartbeat, Colin worked his way back up along her damp body, with Miranda rising and twisting against him as he went.

  Suddenly, he was over her, his eyes meeting hers, his fingers entwining with hers.

  Her legs parted beneath him, issuing a silent invitation he welcomed with every fiber of his aching being. When he entered her, they instantly moved together as if this was the way it was always meant to be. The tempo increased, the rhythm grew to demanding proportions that neither of them was capable of resisting.

  Passion wrapped heated wings around them as they raced to the very top of the summit. To the very end of their journey.

  When the explosion finally came, fireworks of majestic dimensions showered over them.

  And Colin clung to her as if she was his very salvation.

  Because she was.

  Chapter Eighteen

  A myriad of feelings vied for space within Colin as the heated, comforting glow of euphoria he’d been experiencing slowly began to recede. Feelings he wasn’t able to completely sort out just yet.

  Feelings that had been missing from his life for more than a decade.

  As fierce passions settled down, he drew Miranda to him, happy just to have her here next to him on the bed. Contentment, something he was unfamiliar with up until now, washed over him.

  He felt like a different person.

  Colin wondered if there was a way he could remain here like this indefinitely, her breath mingling with his, the scent of the light, flowery body wash she used filling his senses.

  He came close to drifting off when a noise caught his attention.

  Moving his head to hear better, Colin couldn’t quite place the sound. “You hear something?” he asked Miranda.

  She turned her face toward him, managing to rub her cheek against his chest. He could literally feel her smile on his skin.

  Raising her head just a little, she looked at him. “You can’t tell what that is?”

  “So then you do hear something.” He was beginning to think that he was imagining it.

  “Sure. That’s Lola scratching against the door,” she murmured. “I guess she finished gnawing on that bone and decided to track you down.”

  “Me?” he questioned. “Why me?” It didn’t make any sense to him.

  “My guess is that she wants your attention.” He could feel heat beginning to travel through his body again as every inch of Miranda seemed to be smiling at him. “Why don’t you open the door and let her in?”

  “In here?” he asked, surprised.

  Miranda didn’t see why he would hesitate. “Why not? She’s got the run of the place already.”

  “But we just, um...” Colin seemed to trip over his tongue.

  She hadn’t thought that he could be this incredibly sweet, so delicate that he didn’t know how to go about saying that they’d just made love. She came to his rescue and glossed right over his meaning.

  “Which is why she probably tracked you down,” Miranda told him. “Lola knows that you’re the alpha male and she wants to be the alpha female.”

  Colin stared at the woman in his arms, stunned as well as confused. “This is getting way out of hand. I don’t understand any of it.”

  Miranda laughed. “Don’t worry,” she said, patting his chest. “I’m here to talk you through this if you need help. Just think of Lola as a fuzzy child. She needs discipline, a firm hand and lots of love—just like any child.”

  Colin sat up, looking at the door. The scratching continued.

  He dragged a hand through his hair, trying to think, and feeling totally out of his element. “Taking care of a dog is a lot of responsibility.”

  “Yes, but it has a lot of compensation, too. Like boundless love.”

  He still looked uncertain. “I don’t think I’m ready for this.”

  Since he wasn’t getting up, Miranda did, wrapping the sheet around her.

  “Not ready for being on the receiving end of boundless love? Sure you are,” she exclaimed, making it sound as if she knew him better than he knew himself.

  But he was thinking of the responsibility part. “No, if I’m going to be her new owner, I’m definitely going to need help,” he said, looking at Miranda pointedly.

  Meanwhile, she had opened the door and Lola came flying in. In two steps the German shepherd went from standing out in the hallway to standing on the bed. She came close to knocking Colin off the mattress in her enthusiasm and then started licking his face.

  “Lots and lots of help,” Colin declared, doing his best to sit up again and gain some semblance of the upper hand over the dog.

  Miranda laughed as, still wearing the sheet like a Roman toga, she climbed back into bed. Lola was between them and was acting as if this was some sort of new game. Her head practically spun as she looked from one of them to the other, as if to say that she didn’t know the rules to this game yet, but was more than willing to pl
ay.

  Watching her, Miranda stated, “I think she wants you to pet her.”

  Stroking the animal, he looked over Lola’s head at Miranda. “Now you see, I’m going to need that sort of insight to help me navigate through this pet ownership thing.”

  She was certainly on board with that, Miranda thought. “Like I said, you can give me a call anytime you need help.”

  “I appreciate that,” he told her. “But then you’d have to find the time to come over, or I’d have to come over to you and bring the dog. That would consume an awful lot of downtime and we’re both pretty busy as it is.”

  She knew she’d taken a chance when she’d decided to make him Lola’s owner, but she’d thought he would last longer than a few hours.

  Miranda took a breath, resigning herself to the inevitable. “You’re saying you don’t want the dog.” She gave it one more shot, taking Lola’s muzzle in her hands and turning the dog’s head in his direction. “How can you say no to this face?”

  “I’m not saying no,” Colin told her. “I’m saying we need a different solution.”

  She took the only guess open to her. “You’re saying you want her to stay with me.”

  But Colin shook his head. Stroking the dog’s back—Lola had settled down and was now lying in the bed, content to have one of them on either side—he said, “That’s not it, either.”

  At a loss now, she asked, “All right then, so what is it?”

  Nerves all but got the better of him. This was brand-new territory for him and he didn’t know how she would receive what he was about to say. “If you stop making guesses and just listen, I’ll tell you.” The moment the words were out of his mouth, he knew he’d sounded short with her.

  “Okay.” Miranda crossed her arms, waiting for him to go on.

  The sheet slipped down just enough to give him a tantalizing glimpse of what he’d availed himself of earlier. Thinking about that, Colin found he had to struggle to keep his mind on what he was trying to say.

  “So talk,” she prompted, when he remained silent.

  Here went nothing, Colin decided.

  “I thought that we could move in together,” he told her.

  He was surprised that the words came out as easily as they did.

  Miranda’s mouth dropped open. But not a single sound emerged.

  She was speechless, he realized, and he didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad one. Was she trying to find the words to turn him down gently, or was she so shocked that she’d lost the ability to talk?

  “Move in together,” she said, repeating his words.

  “Yes,” he confirmed, then went on to elaborate. “You could move in with me. But my place is small. It’s an apartment and it might be kind of crowded for you, especially with Lola. Or I could move in here,” he said, watching Miranda’s face intently for her reaction.

  “Move in together,” she repeated again. “For the sake of the dog.” The last words were uttered in semidisbelief.

  “Well, yes,” he agreed. Something was off and he felt like a man trying to walk across a lake on very thin ice. He could feel the ice cracking beneath his feet with every step he took, yet he had no choice but to forge on. “You were the one who gave her to me, so I figured you’d want to do what was best for her.”

  “You want to move in together because of the dog,” she said, as if trying to wrap her mind around what he was telling her.

  “Well, that’s one reason,” he agreed. He was having a devil of a time getting the words out.

  “Oh, so there’s another reason?” she asked innocently.

  Feeling awkward and totally inarticulate, not to mention afraid of being turned down once he told her the real reason behind his suggestion, Colin seriously thought about throwing up his hands and just abandoning the whole idea, lock, stock and barrel.

  But then something egged him on.

  It was all or nothing.

  If he didn’t say anything, he’d already lost, so there was nothing to lose by speaking up.

  Frustrated, he shouted at her, “Of course there’s another reason.”

  Lola instantly sat up, a canine barrier intent on protecting whichever one of them needed protecting.

  “It’s okay, Lola,” Miranda said soothingly, rubbing the tip of the animal’s ear, a trick she’d learned to calm a dog down. “It’s okay. Lie down, girl.”

  After a moment, the dog obeyed.

  “Okay,” Miranda said, turning her attention back to him. “You were saying there was another reason...” She trailed off, waiting for him to pick up the conversation.

  “You know there’s another reason,” he told her. When she continued silently looking at him, waiting, he blew out a breath. “You’re going to make me say this, aren’t you?”

  “I’m afraid so.” The corners of her mouth curved ever so slightly. “I need clarification, Colin. What’s the other reason you want us to move in together?”

  Exasperated, he raised his voice again. “Because I love you, damn it.”

  She struggled not to laugh. “Is that one word?”

  “Miranda...” He sounded very close to the end of his rope.

  Once again she came to his rescue. “I love you, too, damn it,” Miranda said, mimicking his exact intonation. And then she asked, “Are you sure about this?” She would hate for him to look back with regret because it had all come about in the heat of the moment.

  “Sure that I love you?” he questioned. “Yes, I’m sure. I just didn’t want to have to say it. Putting myself out there is hard for me,” he told her. “It’s not something I do.”

  Reaching over the dog, who appeared to be close to falling asleep, she touched Colin’s face and smiled. “I was talking about moving in together, but what you just said was very nice.”

  “Just ‘very nice’?” he asked in surprise, mimicking her intonation.

  There was humor in Miranda’s eyes as she told him honestly, “I’m afraid if I say any more, I’ll scare you off.”

  “After everything I’ve just been through, that is not going to happen,” he stated.

  “Since words are so difficult for you—” Miranda rose up on her knees, allowing the sheet to fall away and pool around her thighs “—why don’t I just show you how I feel about what you said?”

  She was about to lean into him when Colin put a finger to her lips, stopping her. “Hold that thought.”

  The next moment, he got off the bed, coaxing the dog to do the same. Holding on to Lola’s collar, he guided the animal to the bedroom’s threshold.

  “C’mon, girl,” he told her, “you need to go back into the other room for a few minutes.”

  “Just a few minutes?” Miranda pretended to question him.

  “Maybe an hour—or two,” he amended.

  After taking Lola out, Colin was gone for a couple minutes. Returning, he made sure to close the door behind him.

  Miranda cocked her head, listening for a moment for scratching noises.

  Or whining.

  She heard neither.

  “Nothing,” she said. “You really are good at disciplining.” She wove her arms around his neck as he joined her.

  Rather than say anything in response to her compliment, Colin murmured, “I hope you didn’t have any plans for that other soup bone in the refrigerator.”

  So that was why the dog was so quiet. Miranda could only laugh. “You’re as bad as I am.”

  “I really hope so,” he told her.

  And with that, there was no more talk. About anything. He had far better things to do than talk, and was more than eager to get started.

  Epilogue

  “Ladies, I think that it’s pretty safe to say this is quite possibly the most unique wedding venue we have ever
attended,” Maizie told her two friends as she sat on the white folding chair between Theresa and Celia.

  There was row after row of folding chairs in the hospital rec room, in the same area of the children’s ward that just a few months ago had housed the giant Christmas tree.

  The large room was all but filled to capacity with small patients from the ward, a great many women and children from the shelter, and several volunteers who worked with Miranda at the animal shelter.

  “Thank goodness Miranda’s mother and Colin’s aunt were here early to make sure the altar was set up before it got so crowded in here,” Theresa commented.

  She and her catering team had arrived early, as well. Working quickly, they had prepared everything for the reception that was to follow immediately after the ceremony.

  “If they knew there was going to be this many people attending, why didn’t they just opt for someplace bigger?” Celia asked.

  “That’s simple enough to answer,” Theresa told her. “Miranda didn’t want the children here missing the wedding. A lot of them aren’t able or well enough to leave the hospital—and all of them are very attached to her. Miranda wouldn’t dream of leaving any of them out.”

  Maizie nodded, pleased. “You ask me, Colin’s getting a hell of a girl,” she said to her friends. “There aren’t many young women who are that thoughtful.”

  Theresa was beaming as she kept her eyes peeled for any sign that the bride was about to enter. “I really think that we outdid ourselves with this particular match, girls.”

  “Well, none of this would have happened if Maizie hadn’t charmed that desk sergeant into rescheduling Colin’s regular route so that he’d be right there when Miranda whizzed by,” Celia commented. She turned toward Maizie. “How did you know that Miranda would be driving too fast?”

  “And how did you really get that sergeant to change Colin’s schedule with the other police officer’s?” Theresa asked.

  Maizie merely smiled, remaining tight-lipped, at least for now. “A girl’s got to have some secrets, ladies,” she told them with a wink.

  “Not at this stage she doesn’t,” Celia told her lifelong friend.