He opened it. A very large diamond solitaire winked up at her. “Will you marry me, Willa?”
She put a hand to her mouth, no idea what to say.
He reached out, touched her face. “We can take all the time you want. We don’t have to do the wedding thing now. I just want us to be together.”
Less than two weeks ago, Willa had been certain she would never find the magic she had once believed in. And yet, in front of her stood a man who had not only made her believe in it, but want it for herself as well.
Love and be loved. In the end, it is all that matters. These were the words her father had left her. All that matters.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I’ve always been a church-and-flowers kind of girl.”
Owen smiled, leaned in and kissed her soundly, cupping her face with his hands. “Is that a yes?”
“That’s a yes,” she said and kissed him back.
* * *
A LITTLE LATER, they went inside to tell Cline and Katie the news. The two teenagers hovered by the terrace door, looking as if they were harboring national secrets.
Owen put his arm around Willa, tucked her close. “We have something to tell you,” he said.
“What?” Cline and Katie both yelped in unison.
Owen looked at Willa and smiled. She raised her hand, the diamond ring glinting.
“Oh, my gosh!” Katie leaped into her sister’s arms, hugging her hard.
Cline pumped Owen’s hand in congratulations, a broad smile on his face.
Jake and Judy stepped forward, both wearing expectant expressions.
“They did it,” Cline said, grinning at Jake.
Jake clapped Owen on the shoulder. “It’s about time you settled down with a good woman.”
Cline’s smile grew wider. He looked at Katie. “What time do you have, Katie?”
Katie held her watch up, gave it a steady perusal. “Ten to midnight.”
Owen frowned, looked at his watch, shot a glance at the grandfather clock across the room. “Cline,” he said.
Cline held up a hand, pointed at Art Travers who stood next to Jake, smiling.
“Witness to the fact,” the attorney said. “Looks like you got yourself engaged before midnight. Provision met.”
Owen looked at Cline, shaking his head. “You changed my watch.”
Cline did a poor imitation of shocked and bewildered. Katie’s wasn’t much better.
Owen looked at Willa. “We’ve been duped.”
“By a couple of experts, it would seem,” she said, smiling.
Someone grabbed a couple bottles of champagne. Cline popped one cork. Katie, the other. Sam barked. And the celebrating began.
EPILOGUE
THE LITTLE GIRL ASTRIDE the kind-eyed bay mare wore a smile as wide as the saddle on which she sat perched. She had long dark hair, braided into a ponytail that hung down the center of her back. “Can we go round one more time, Katie?” she asked.
Katie patted the mare on the neck, led her on past the white gate and said, “Sure, we can. I think Delilah will be sad when you’re done, anyway. I can tell she likes you very much.”
“Really?” The little girl brightened. “How?”
“Well, her ears are forward, which means she’s happy. And every time she hears your voice, one ear flicks back to listen.”
If possible, the little girl’s smile grew wider. “When I get big, I want to work at a summer camp just like you, Katie.”
Katie rubbed the mare’s neck, a pleased smile touching her lips. “Who knows, maybe you can work at this one.”
Willa took in the conversation from outside the ring where she and Owen stood watching. Tears sprung to her eyes. She wiped them away with the back of her hand. Owen put his arm around her shoulders, kissed her temple.
“Sometimes I look at her,” Willa said after a few moments, “and I can’t believe she’s the same girl she was a few months ago.”
“She’s happy with herself. It shows.”
Willa smiled. “It does, doesn’t it?”
At the far end of the ring, Cline rolled up to the gate, opened it and waited for Katie to lead the mare through. He handed her a bottle of water, said something to the little girl who all but beamed with pride. He beckoned Katie close then, spoke into her ear. She giggled, gave him a playful thwack on the shoulder.
Laughter rang up from the outdoor wash stall. Jake and Judy had been hosing off one of the geldings who was done for the day. It looked as though Judy had turned the hose on Jake, and they were wrestling over the nozzle, a geyser of water shooting straight up and showering back down on them both.
Sam ran circles around them, barking and wagging his tail.
Owen reached for Willa’s hand. “Nice, isn’t it?”
“Very. I’m glad now that Clara and her husband are buying the diner. I thought for a while it might be the right thing for Judy, but it’s looking like she might end up here in Lexington.”
“If Jake has anything to do with it,” Owen said with a knowing look.
Willa glanced up at him, her heart so full she wondered at times if it could hold all the happiness she felt. “I wish the camp didn’t have to end,” she said. “It’s been so much fun.”
“We’ll do it again next year.” He turned her to face him, kissing the tip of her nose and then her lips, pulling back to look down at her with a deep satisfaction in his eyes. “And besides, we’ve got a wedding to pull off.”
“Oh, yeah, that,” she said, flip.
He’d long since discovered her ticklish spots, made use of them now until she collapsed with laughter, begging for a reprieve.
“A wedding,” she said, breathless. “I’ll get right on it.”
He pulled her to him then, kissed her soundly, until her arms went around his neck, and she kissed him back, hands cupping his face.
“So,” he said, forehead pressed to hers, breathing less than steady. “Wedding in two weeks. One week on a yet-to-be disclosed Caribbean island, and then you’re off to college.”
“Sounds a little crazy, doesn’t it?”
“University of Kentucky, here she comes.”
Willa put a hand to the center of his chest, felt his still-pounding heart beneath her hand. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For understanding about my dreams.”
He ran the back of his hand across her hair. “Isn’t that what we all owe ourselves? To decide what it is we want out of this life and do our best to make it happen. You? You’re going to make most of your dreams come true all by yourself.” He leaned in, kissed the side of her neck, said in a voice only she could hear, “I’d like to think I might have a chance at fulfilling one or two of them.”
She tipped her head, gave him a saucy smile. “Oh, I think you already have.”
He kissed the lobe of her ear, nibbled at the soft part. “Which ones?”
“Um. I could tell you, but that could take a really long time.” She smiled, took his hand, and tugged him toward the house. “Why don’t I just show you?”
* * * * *
SPECIAL EXCERPT FROM Harlequin Heartwarming
Detective Jack Talbott has devoted his life to ending police corruption. His latest target? Liv Hylton, the ex-wife of a dirty cop…and the woman he’s secretly loved for years!
Read on for a sneak preview of HER LAWMAN PROTECTOR by Patricia Johns, published by Harlequin Heartwarming October 2018.
CHAPTER ONE
LIV HYLTON CRACKED open a box of books, uncovering glossy paperback covers. The smell of new books never ceased to hit her brain right in the pleasure center. She was still filling shelves in her brand-new bookshop in Eagle’s Rest, Colorado, and she was a stickler for variety. One thing she hated in a bookstore was having access only to the ten top sellers. Sometimes she didn’t want a bestseller. Sometimes she wanted a fresh discovery, a delightful distraction…and Hylton Books was going to provide just that to the tourists who came for skiing each winter and f
or Eagle’s Rest Lake in the summer.
With the leaves changing to their brilliant autumn foliage, the tourists were gone—an ideal time to be doing the grunt work of opening a new business. She’d have everything streamlined by ski season.
Liv pulled a hand through her hair and heaved a sigh. Her jeans had shrunk one too many times, and they were getting uncomfortably tight. That’s what she was telling herself, at least. She’d gained weight, but she was done with diets. After ten years of marriage where she constantly struggled to lose weight, she wasn’t doing that to herself anymore. At the age of thirty-two, this was her body—no more punishment.
The newly installed shelves were high—a sliding library ladder attached at one side of the store and could be swept along to whichever point along the wall it was needed. That had been hard to come by, but a local contractor had gotten his hands on an old sliding ladder from an archives building in Denver, and it all had come together rather nicely. Like it was meant to be.
Morning light spilled from the display window onto the front counter, and her gaze drifted toward the creased note that lay next to a pile of mystery novels. She’d found the paper on the floor that morning, shoved through the mail slot. It was a simple piece of computer paper with letters cut from magazines—creepy. The last two notes she’d tossed out, thinking they were a prank by some local kids, but this one had settled into her gut and left her nervous.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Go on back and leave us alone or you’ll regret it.
This note sounded darker than the others and less logical. Warn her about what? And how was she bothering anyone in Eagle’s Rest? She’d been born here, gone to Eagle’s Rest Elementary back when there was only one elementary school in town. Her grandparents, who’d already passed away, had settled here after they got married. Everyone she’d talked to seemed really excited about a bookstore coming to town. So, go back? To Denver, where she’d lived the past ten years with her ex?
The implied snarl and the confusing logic behind the note chilled her. She didn’t think she had any enemies here, but maybe she was wrong about that. Whoever had left this note didn’t seem stable, and who knew what an unstable person would do for their own convoluted reasons? She’d called the police station as soon as she’d read the note, and they’d promised to send an officer down.
Liv flipped through the stack of mysteries, putting the books in alphabetical order. But her mind wasn’t fixed on the work at hand, and she glanced out the front window at the sun-dappled sidewalk. She was waiting for the officer to arrive. It wasn’t that she thought there was some special magic in a cop’s eyes moving over that page. Her ex was a cop, so she knew their limitations, but if they could at least put this into the system, pass around a memo that she was being threatened—something! Maybe she could give local cops a deep discount for shopping at her store and keep a visible police presence on this street. That was an idea.
A small, jagged part of her missed having a cop husband…missed the implied protection. But that was over now, and it was time to face life like everyone else did.
Liv brushed her hands down her hips, wiping the dust from her palms. Behind her, there was a tap on the window. Liv recognized the blue uniform but couldn’t make out a face. In her heart, whenever she saw that uniform, it was Evan’s smile that popped into her mind, and she was left feeling that mixture of heartbreak and anger all over again. Whatever. An officer had arrived. She wanted someone to look at the note and give her an honest answer—should she be worried or not? She crossed the store and unfastened the dead bolt on the front door. She pulled it open, and as the officer looked up, she stopped short.
She knew this cop—but not from Eagle’s Rest. This was one of Evan’s colleagues from Denver. She gave him a quizzical look.
“Hi, Liv.” He smiled hesitantly. He was tall and broad, solidly muscled, and “cop” seemed to ooze out of his pores. He had that professionally distant look about him, both comforting and disconcerting at once. But he had a gentleness around the edges, too. Jack always had been a good-looking guy.
“Jack Talbott?” she said. “What are you doing here?”
“I transferred. I’m now stationed in Eagle’s Rest.”
“Seriously?” That was weird—her hometown wasn’t exactly well known. “And what did you do to deserve the demotion?”
Cops didn’t angle for small-town positions. They all wanted more action, like in Denver.
“It’s a faster climb to chief in a place this size,” he said with an impish smile. “I requested it.”
That might be true, but it was still a weird coincidence. He stepped past her over the threshold and ran a hand through his sandy blond hair. She was struck by the sheer size of him. How often did he pump weights to be that beefy?
“The place looks good,” Jack said. His brown gaze swept around the shop, landing once more on her.
She nodded, accepting his compliment. It did look good in here, and she was proud of it, but she had more pressing concerns right now. “Are you here for the note?”
“That was the idea,” Jack said. “This it?”
He reached for the paper on the counter top and pulled out an evidence bag.
“I’ve held it, touched it, smoothed it…” She winced. “I’m sorry. Of all people, I should know better than that.”
Jack put the paper into a bag anyway and regarded it for a moment.
“So who’s mad at you, Liv?”
“No idea.”
He looked over at her, and she could see that he didn’t quite believe her. That rankled.
“I don’t know,” she said more firmly. “I grew up here. I wasn’t anyone of consequence. I wasn’t beautiful or cruel. I didn’t even have a boyfriend until I left Eagle’s Rest for college. I have no idea who I managed to tick off.”
“Okay…” He nodded. “If you suspect anyone, you need to tell me, though.”
“Is this serious?” she asked.
“It’s…” He nodded again. “Yeah, it’s definitely concerning. When there are personal threats like this one and law enforcement doesn’t take it seriously enough, that’s when tragedy strikes.”
Liv’s heart sped up, and she crossed her arms over her chest as if that might protect her somehow.
“There were two others. But those were handwritten, and…” She sighed. “Looking back they were probably more useful to you. But I didn’t think they were serious.”
"Why not?"
"I don’t know. I thought they were kids being dumb, or a prank. The last thing I wanted to do was go to the cops and have some juvenile cousin laughing at me for being so jumpy. They just didn’t seem like an actual threat."
“Until now.” He lifted up the note.
“Until now,” she agreed.
“Where are the other notes?” he asked.
“The garbage. I just…tossed them.” She sighed. “So, who would do this? What do you think it is?”
“Do you suspect anyone is…abnormally interested in your life?” he asked, not quite answering her question but raising her anxiety yet another notch.
“No.” She sighed. “Would I know, though? I mean, if someone had issues…how obvious would it be?”
“What about Evan?”
Her heart constricted a little at her ex’s name, and she frowned, disliking the reminder. “Jack, Evan’s in Denver. He married Officer Hot Pants. You should know. You were at the wedding, weren’t you?”
Officer Hot Pants was actually Detective Serena Michaels, now Serena Kornekewsky. Evan and Serena had been partners, and the affair had been going on for some time before Liv had clued in… Serena was short, slim and as blond as a Swedish maiden—Liv’s polar opposite. That was insult to injury, especially after all the work Liv had put into slimming down.
“But does he hold any grudges?” Jack asked, those dark eyes still fixed on her with uncomfortable directness. “Divorces get ugly.”
“Marriages can get ugly, too,” she quipped. “An
d yes, we have some tensions, but this isn’t Evan’s style. And why should he care that I’m in Eagle’s Rest? That doesn’t make sense. His life went on.”
Jack nodded. “Okay. I’m just checking all avenues here. The thing is, Liv, these kinds of threats can be hoaxes, but most times someone won’t go to this much trouble unless they have some personal grievance. The more personal someone’s issue with you, the more dangerous it is. I’d feel better if I could keep an eye on you.”
Great. So she had some vengeful enemy that she didn’t even know about. Liv tried to calm her rising anxiety. But this was Eagle’s Rest. She knew this town like the back of her hand. She was surrounded by friends and family here…and Jack had picked Evan’s side in their divorce. While it might be understandable considering they were colleagues, it didn’t make him her favorite person right now.
“I don’t mean to be petty, Jack,” she said after a moment. “But I think I’d be more comfortable with another officer.”
“Look, I’m just going to say this. I’m a Denver cop. I’m the one with experience in the nastier side of things. The cops here—they just haven’t seen what I have.”
“You’re connected to my ex-husband, and I’m trying to make a fresh start here.”
“I worked with him,” Jack said. “That’s all.”
“You were at his second wedding,” she replied blandly.
Jack shrugged, then met her gaze. “It’s up to you, Liv. But I’m the one with the experience, and they’re short-staffed right now. Just ask the police chief. That’s why he requested I take this one.”
“And you think the local cops can’t protect me?” she asked. “Eagle’s Rest might be small, but—”
“I think they might be blinded to their own neighbors,” Jack interrupted. “And while they are fine officers, I’m a cynical guy, and that’s what you need right now. Whoever wrote this meant business—I’m willing to bet on it.”
She needed him—that’s what he was telling her. But she’d never known Jack terribly well, and something wasn’t sitting right with her about this whole situation.
“How come you’re acting like this is personal for you?” she asked after a moment.
The Lost Daughter of Pigeon Hollow Page 19
