Dangerous Embrace
Page 40
He felt the shudder, saw the flash of joy in her eyes before she looked away. “Jonas, this isn’t possible.”
“Wrong. It’s entirely possible—in fact, it’s already done. The point is, Liz, you need me.”
Her eyes narrowed to slits. “What I need I take care of.”
“That’s why I love you,” he said simply and took the wind out of her sails.
“Jonas—”
“Are you going to tell me you haven’t missed me?” She opened her mouth, then shut it again. “Okay, so you take the Fifth on that one.” He stepped back from her. “Are you going to deny that you’ve spent some sleepless nights in the past couple of weeks, that you’ve thought about what happened between us? Are you going to stand here and look at me now and tell me you’re not in love with me?”
She’d never been able to lie well. Liz turned and meticulously spread the dishcloth over the porch rail. “Jonas, I can’t run my life on my feelings.”
“From now on you can. Did you like the present Faith brought you?”
“What?” Confused, she turned back. “Yes, of course I did.”
“Good. I brought you one too.” He took a box out of his pocket. Liz saw the flash of diamond and nearly had her hand behind her back before he caught it in his. Firmly, he slipped the ring on. “It’s official.”
She wouldn’t even look at it. She couldn’t stop herself. The diamond was shaped in a teardrop and as white and glossy as a wish. “You’re being ridiculous,” she told him, but couldn’t make herself take it off.
“You’re going to marry me.” He took her shoulders and leaned her back against a post. “That’s not negotiable. After that, we have several options. I can give up my practice and live in Cozumel. You can support me.”
She let out a quick breath that might have been a laugh. “Now you’re really being ridiculous.”
“You don’t like that one. Good, I didn’t care for it either. You can come back to Philadelphia with me. I’ll support you.”
Her chin went up. “I don’t need to be supported.”
“Excellent. We agree on the first two options.” He ran his hands through her hair and discovered he wasn’t feeling as patient as he’d thought he would. “Now, you can come back to the States. We’ll take a map and you can close your eyes and pick a spot. That’s where we’ll live.”
“We can’t run our lives this way.” She pushed him aside to walk down the length of the porch and back. But part of her was beginning to believe they could. “Don’t you see how impossible it is?” she demanded as much of herself as of him. “You have your career. I have my business. I’d never be a proper wife for someone like you.”
“You’re the only wife for someone like me.” He grabbed her shoulders again. No, he wasn’t feeling patient at all. “Damn it, Liz, you’re the only one. If the business is important to you, keep it. Have Luis run it. We can come back a half a dozen times a year if you want. Start another business. We’ll go to Florida, to California, anywhere you want where they need a good dive shop. Or…” He waited until he was sure he had her full attention. “You could go back to school.”
He saw it in her eyes—the surprise, the dream, then the denial. “That’s over.”
“The hell it is. Look at you—it’s what you want. Keep the shop, build another, build ten others, but give yourself something for yourself.”
“It’s been more than ten years.”
He lifted a brow. “You said once you wouldn’t change anything.”
“And I meant it, but to go back now, after all this time.”
“Afraid?”
Her eyes narrowed; her spine stiffened. “Yes.”
He laughed, delighted with her. “Woman, in the past few weeks, you’ve been through hell and out again. And you’re afraid of a few college courses?”
With a sigh, she turned away. “I might not be able to make it.”
“So what?” He whirled her back again. “So you fall flat on your face. I’ll be right there falling down with you. It’s time for risking, Liz. For both of us.”
“Oh, I want to believe you.” She lifted a hand to rest it on his face. “I want to. I do love you, Jonas. So much.”
She was locked against him again, lost in him. “I need you, Liz. I’m not going back without you.”
She clung to him a moment, almost ready to believe. “But it’s not just me. You have to understand I can’t do whatever I’d like.”
“Faith?” He drew her back again. “I’ve spent the past weeks getting to know her. My main objective when I started was to ingratiate myself. I figured the only way to get to you was through her.”
So she’d already surmised. “Afternoons at the zoo?”
“That’s right. Thing was, I didn’t know she was as easy to fall for as her mother. I want her.”
The hand Liz had lifted to her hair froze. “I don’t understand.”
“I want her to be mine—legally, emotionally. I want you to agree to let me adopt her.”
“Adopt…” Whatever she might have expected from him, it hadn’t been this. “But she’s—”
“Yours?” he interrupted. “No, she’s going to be ours. You’re going to have to share her. And if you’re set on her going to school in Houston, we’ll live in Houston. Within the year I expect she should have a brother or sister because she needs family as much as we do.”
He was offering her everything, everything she’d ever wanted and had refused to believe in. She had only to hold out her hand. The idea terrified her. “She’s another man’s child. How will you be able to forget that?”
“She’s your child,” he reminded her. “You told me yourself she was your child only. Now she’s going to be mine.” Taking her hands, he kissed them. “So are you.”
“Jonas, do you know what you’re doing? You’re asking for a wife who’ll have to start from scratch and a half-grown daughter. You’re complicating your life.”
“Yeah, and maybe I’m saving it.”
And hers. Her blood was pumping again, her skin was tingling. For the first time in years she could look at her life and see no shadows. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply before she turned. “Be sure,” she whispered. “Be absolutely sure. If I let myself go, if I say yes and you change your mind, I’ll hate you for the rest of my life.”
He took her by the shirtfront. “In one week, we’re going to my parents’ farm in Lancaster, calling the local minister, justice of the peace or witch doctor and we’re getting married. Adoption papers are being drawn up. When we settle in as a family, we’re all having the same name. You and Faith and I.”
With a sigh, Liz leaned back again against the post and studied his face. It was beautiful, she decided. Strong, passionate, patient. Her life was going to be bound up with that face. It was as real as flesh and blood and as precious as dreams. Her lover was back, her child was with her and nothing was impossible.
“When I first met you, I thought you were the kind of man who always got what he wanted.”
“And you were right.” He took her hands again and held them. “Now what are we going to tell Faith?” he demanded.
Her lips curved slowly. “I guess we’d better tell her you talked me into it.”
* * * * *
ISBN 13: 978-1-488-05348-1
Dangerous Embrace
Copyright © 2019 by Harlequin Books S.A.
Treasures Lost, Treasures Found
First published in 1986. This edition published in 2019.
Copyright © 1986 by Nora Roberts
Risky Business
First published in 1986. This edition published in 2019.
Copyright © 1986 by Nora Roberts
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