A Christmas Rendezvous

by Karen Booth

  Soft music began to play and everyone’s attention was drawn to the top of the staircase, where Mindy stood with Reginald. As they began to descend, step by step, Isabel couldn’t help but turn to a different sight, that of her brother waiting for his bride. She and Sam had been through so much together, and it felt like both a miracle and a blessing that they’d each found love, that they’d both found professional fulfillment and that they were now living in the same city. Her heart swelled at the thought of him having the happiness he so richly deserved.

  The ceremony was short and sweet, officiated by one of Sam’s friends from college, who’d recently moved to New York from Boston to work with him. He’d been ordained online for exactly this occasion. As her brother took Mindy into his arms, she couldn’t have kept the tears at bay if she’d wanted to. It was too beautiful a moment to believe. Jeremy held her hand tightly, not letting go, and she hoped that it meant that no matter life’s ups and downs, he would stay by her side.

  As soon as Mindy and Sam walked down the very short aisle, the music got louder and decidedly more upbeat. “Now we get to have a party,” Mindy announced, grabbing a glass of champagne from a waiter who had appeared from the kitchen. “Let’s get these chairs out of here for dancing.”

  Sam pulled Isabel aside and gave her a warm hug. “It means the world to me that you could be here for this.”

  “Are you kidding? I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

  He looked down at the platinum band now circling the ring finger on his left hand. “Did you ever think I’d get married? Be honest.”

  “I always knew it would happen. It just took finding the right woman.”

  He pulled her into another bear hug. “So, at some point, Mindy and I want to talk to you about a legal matter.”

  Isabel reared back her head. “Not something to do with Eden’s again. I barely survived the last one.”

  “Not that. The store is just fine. It’s the question of children. Mindy and I were talking and we’re considering adoption.”

  This surprised Isabel. “Is something wrong?”

  “No. We haven’t even started trying yet. I just...” He looked around the room at this massive home he and Mindy now owned. “There’s a lot of room here and there are a lot of children in the world who need a good home. I think we’d like to do both. Have our own kids and adopt.”

  “Yes. Of course, yes. I would love to help.”

  “So you’ll take our case?”

  “Don’t be silly. Just try to keep me away.”

  Jeremy came up by her side and shook Sam’s hand. “Congratulations. It’s a big day.”

  “The best big day ever.” Sam unleashed a toothy grin, then winked at Jeremy, which Isabel found odd but decided it was because he was goofy with love. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to hunt down the bride.”

  Isabel and Jeremy held hands as they watched him disappear into the other room. “How long do you want to stay?” Jeremy asked.

  “I guess I feel like we should stay for the whole thing. Is everything okay? You seem preoccupied.” She didn’t want to let paranoia get the best of her, but she couldn’t escape the feeling that something was wrong.

  “Everything is absolutely perfect. You know me. I always want to get you home.”

  Isabel fought a smile. “Well, if that’s what you’re getting after, I’m thinking we stay an hour, tops.”

  They ended up staying fifty minutes. Isabel was tired and they had quite a ride back to Brooklyn. Jeremy was quiet as they sat in the back seat of the town car.

  “You sure everything’s okay?” she asked for what felt like the one hundredth time.

  “Yeah. I spoke to my dad today. You know how that goes. It’s getting better, but I still feel like I’m feeling my way around in the dark.”

  “Talk about work stuff?”

  He nodded. “And just trying to get to a point where I have a better relationship with him. I went ahead and asked them about dinner next week. So we can tell them about the baby.”

  “And?”

  He smiled. “Obviously I didn’t tell them that part. But yes, they said that they would love to have dinner. My mom really adores you. She says you’re good for me.”

  Isabel squeezed his hand tight. “Somebody needs to tell her that you’re good for me.”

  They arrived back at Jeremy’s and performed their new coming-home ritual, which was checking on the kittens. Jeremy, never the big cat fan, conceded that he had “warmed” to them. Of course, Isabel was over the moon for them, and the thought of them being adopted out soon weighed heavy on her heart. They wouldn’t have this fun to look forward to much longer.

  Isabel sat on the floor of the guest room and played with the three kittens, who still didn’t have names. For now, they were Things 1, 2 and 3—the orange male, the orange female and the calico respectively. Jeremy, however, excused himself and said he needed to get something. That only left Isabel to worry about what his dad had said and how that played into the future of their relationship.

  “What do you think, Thing 1?” Isabel scooped up the kitten and kissed him on the nose. The cat squirmed to get down and frolic with his littermates. In the corner, Cat was watching over everything. “Is Jeremy acting strangely?” Isabel asked Cat.

  “I don’t know. Am I?” Behind her, Jeremy had walked into the room.

  Isabel turned quickly. “Whoa. You are stealthy. I didn’t even hear you open the door.”

  “I think that’s only because you’re so wrapped up in the kittens.”

  She returned her attention to them as they wrestled on the carpet. “I do adore them. I love them.”

  Just then Jeremy knelt down next to her. “Do you know who I adore and love?”

  She eyed him with great suspicion. “Okay, now you are definitely acting weird.”

  “You, Isabel. I love and adore you.” He reached into the pocket of his pants and pulled out a small velvet bag. “And the reason I’ve been quiet all night is because I have a big question on my mind.”

  Isabel sat perfectly still, her heart beating unevenly in her chest. She didn’t want to miss a moment or a single word of what she hoped was about to happen.

  He reached for her hand and held on to it tightly. His gaze met hers, and she saw exactly how sincere he was. The hurt that she’d once seen in his eyes was gone. And now, she saw hope. “I love you, Isabel Blackwell, and it’s not just because you’re brilliant or beautiful. And it’s not merely because you’re having my baby, although that’s part of it. I love you because you make my whole life better. I want you to be my wife.” With that, he let go of her hand and opened the velvet bag, presenting a beautiful gold-and-diamond solitaire. “This is why I talked to my dad. It’s the ring my grandfather gave to my grandmother. He gave it to my dad, but my dad gave a different ring to my mom. He always felt bad about it, and I can’t help but feel like this is all coming full circle now. As long as you’ll say yes.”

  She had to laugh, at least a little bit, even as the tears streamed down her cheeks. “Of course the answer is yes. I love you, Jeremy. I love you for being strong and sensitive. I love you for not giving up on people. I love you for the way you make me feel like I’m the most important woman in the entire world.”

  “You are the most important woman in the world. No doubt about that.” He leaned forward and kissed her, softly and sweetly, with just enough of that sexy Jeremy edge. She combed her fingers into his hair, wanting more.

  Unfortunately, the kittens had different plans, tumbling around on the floor between them. In the excitement, Jeremy had dropped the velvet bag on the floor and they were fighting over it. “Bunch of hooligans,” Isabel muttered, taking the pouch and pretending to scold them. “I can just see one of you choking on the string.”

  Jeremy laughed. “Can I make another crazy suggestion?”

 
; “On top of marriage?”

  “Yes. Let’s keep the kittens. And Cat. Let’s not give them up for adoption.”

  Isabel could hardly believe the words that had just come from Jeremy’s mouth, which was saying a lot given that he’d just proposed. “But you don’t really like cats.”

  “Like a lot of things, you managed to show me what I was missing out on.”

  “It’ll be a ton of work. Four cats running around here.”

  Jeremy shrugged and pulled her closer. “So? I have spent years walking around this big house, hardly using it or enjoying it for that matter. And then I met you and the whole place sprang back to life. I don’t want to hold back on that. So we have four cats and a baby. Bring it on.”

  Isabel smiled harder than she’d ever smiled, even more than she had while watching her brother say “I do” mere hours ago. “Oh, you know what I just realized? If I change my name to Isabel Blackwell-Sharp after we get married, you can still keep the firm’s name as Sharp and Sharp.”

  “First off, I’m not doing the same thing to you that my dad did to me. We will change the firm’s name to whatever you want it to be. To whatever you want your last name to be.”

  She then realized what a pushover she was being. “You’ve got me into way too much of a charitable mood, Sharp. I should be negotiating with you, not offering concessions from the word go.”

  “I don’t want to talk work, Isabel.” He threaded his fingers through her hair, then rubbed his thumb along her lower lip. “I don’t want to talk about who we know or what we do.”

  Isabel smiled at the echo of the magical night they’d met, when she’d dared to take a chance on Jeremy. How lucky was she that he ended up being the one? “Yeah? Then what do you want to talk about?”

  “How do you feel about good views? Because there’s a spectacular one in our bedroom.”

  * * *

  Don’t miss the other three stories

  in Karen Booth’s miniseries,

  The Eden Empire:

  A Bet with Benefits

  A Cinderella Seduction

  A Christmas Temptation

  Keep reading for an excerpt from Second Chance Temptation by Joss Wood.

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  Second Chance Temptation

  by Joss Wood

  One

  Levi Brogan hurt.

  Everywhere.

  That’s what happened when you leave your dirt bike for a make-out session with a gravel road lined with rocks.

  His ass was now welded to a chair, partially because his leg was in plaster from above his knee down to his ankle, but mostly because moving anything more than his eyelids hurt. He’d not only broken his patella but also managed to pull a muscle in his left rotator cuff, so using crutches was like stabbing himself repeatedly in the shoulder.

  Wah-wah-wah...

  God, he was so over himself and his injuries, but he was rapidly coming to the conclusion he could do with some help.

  Someone who wasn’t his mother or his sister. He loved them but, God, they never shut up. Ever. And if they weren’t talking about wedding guests or honeymoons or babies or flowers, they were fussing over him.

  By the time he’d kicked them out earlier this morning, he was close to overdosing on estrogen. Levi now deeply regretted his show of independence and there was a good chance that, by nightfall, he might swallow his pride and send out an SOS.

  Levi pushed his hand through his hair, feeling utterly frustrated. His world was now confined to the bottom level of his home. Working out in his state-of-the-art gym in the basement was, obviously, not possible. He wasn’t able to climb the stairs leading to his master bedroom, so he was sleeping on the sofa in the media room and using the downstairs bathroom to clean up. He would kill for a hot shower, but he needed help to get in and out of the bathtub. And right now, the kitchen was a million miles away.

  And he was hungry.

  Levi looked at his crutches, not sure if he had the energy to make the trek to find food, and checked the pain level in his shoulder. It was still screaming from walking the ten yards to the bathroom. Food was, unless he took another painkiller, out of the question. And every time he took a painkiller without food, he tossed his cookies.

  Rock, let me introduce you to hard place.

  Levi heard a knock on his front door and frowned. His family used the back door leading into the kitchen. And they all announced their presence. The extended Brogan family was not a quiet bunch. The Murphy guys were also frequent visitors and they also used the back door, knowing it was rarely locked. Business associates who needed to see him would’ve called to make an appointment and the rest of his small circle of friends were at work. And if they had a day off, they would’ve given him a heads-up via a text message.

  End result: Levi had no idea who was knocking on his front door. A reporter? A photographer? The press had ambushed him when he left the hospital, the camera flashes making his headache a hundred times worse. He hadn’t responded to any of their nearly indecipherable questions, and neither had his mom or his sisters. His dad had loved the press, but Levi and his mom and siblings didn’t.

  Despite the Brogans shunning the limelight, the tabloid press paid him, and his sisters, far too much attention, all because they were the children of Boston’s most successful businessman and bon vivant, Ray Brogan. And, because those bottom-feeders loved drama, there had been a few articles about Levi’s accident, reminding the residents of Boston that he and his father had had a volatile relationship. The press took great delight in telling the world he’d spurned Ray’s offer to take over Brogan LLC , a holding company that owned and operated companies in many different sectors and that Levi, reserved, private and taciturn, wasn’t the man his father was.

  He wasn’t as charming, as exciting, as loud or as volatile. Thank God.

  Levi didn’t make rash decisions, never made promises he couldn’t keep, didn’t take huge risks, causing the people he loved anxiety. Ray got off on risk and adrenaline—betting every cent on huge deals that might or might not come off. He made impulsive decisions—buying companies without doing due diligence—and calling people who suggested caution—mainly Levi—unimaginative and boring.

  Ray’s successes had been stratospheric, his failures equally impressive. Levi’s mom had ridden the roller coaster; Levi, on joining the family firm after college, couldn’t handle his father’s volatility and resigned after a year.

  His father called him dull and a coward, not cut out for a high-stakes world. Levi had never understood his father, who never felt embarrassed or chastised. He just blustered and BS’d his way through the criticism, and the world seemed to love him even more for his confidence, his brashness.

  Levi was the exact opposite; he was not, and never would be, a fan of failure, not privately or publicly. He preferred to be the master of his own ship, avoiding storms rather than sailing directly into them. He liked to be in control. But the world expected him to be like his famous father, so whenever he showed even a hint of his father’s impulsive nature—and apparently crashing his dirt bike qualified—he made the news.

  Levi used his crutch to lift the drape covering the window of his study, thro
ugh which he could see the road and his driveway. An unfamiliar SUV sat in his driveway, too expensive to belong to an intrepid reporter.

  He hoped.

  The knock came again and Levi bellowed a quick “Come in!” But, honestly, if he could persuade his visitor to make him a sandwich and a hot cup of coffee, he’d listen to a pitch for an interview, or from a salesman.

  He was that desperate.

  “I’m in the media room. Down the hallway, second door on your left.”

  Levi heard the front door closing and, judging by the hesitant steps, knew his visitor wasn’t someone who had constant access to his house.

  “For God’s sake,” Levi muttered, impatient. “Second door on the left.”

  “I heard you. I’m not deaf.”

  The words hit his ears at the same time she appeared in his doorway, and Levi stared at her, not sure whether his incredibly strong pain pills were causing hallucinations.

  Black jeans and a thin, mint-colored sweater hugged her curves under a thigh-length leather jacket. A multi-colored scarf held back curls and her face was thinner, older and, God, so beautiful. Levi gripped the arm of his chair, physically grounding himself, fighting the instinct to rush her, to pull her into his arms and bury his face in her neck, in her lustrous hair. He needed to inhale the scent of her skin, to know whether it was as soft and creamy as it looked.

  He wanted to strip her naked, to finally feel her round breast in his hand, to find out whether her nipples were as luscious as he imagined, her core as warm, as spicy, as the rest of her.

  So much time had passed and Levi felt shocked at how much he wanted her. Unable to stop himself, he drank her in. Those light green eyes fringed with long, thick black lashes fascinated him and he’d loved running his thumbs across those high cheekbones and that round, stubborn chin. He’d been addicted to her wide, sexy mouth, with its full lips, and he’d adored her curly, black-as-coal hair. Tanna’s skin, thanks to her Bengalese grandmother always made her look like she’d recently returned from a six-week holiday in the hot Caribbean sun.