by Judy Duarte
The answer came to him like a lightning bolt from heaven.
He’d found his Darlene, only to lose her.
What could he do to get her back?
* * *
Julie hadn’t brought the children to live at her house yet, since the court order had yet to be filed, but when she’d told them where they’d be living, they’d both shrieked with joy.
She’d thought about returning Biscuit to Adam, since he’d been home from the hospital for a couple of days. But he hadn’t mentioned anything about the dog, so Julie would keep her until he did.
When she’d last spoken to him, she’d been strong. But with each day that passed, her heart cracked a little bit more. She was convinced she’d done the right thing by shutting him out, but that didn’t relieve her pain.
She’d yet to land a full-time job, although the Hoffmans had offered her a part-time position, which she accepted for several reasons. First, she loved everyone at Kidville. Second, she needed an income of some kind. And more important, working only a few days a week would allow her more time to spend with Eddie and Cassie, helping them become adjusted to their new home, their new family situation. The mortgage was nearly paid off, so there was plenty of equity to draw on if she applied for a second.
No worries there.
So why did she find herself plodding through the last two days rather than striding with a happy, confident step?
On Thursday morning, her doorbell rang, drawing her from her musing, which threatened to send her spiraling into depression.
She opened the door and found Adam on the stoop, as gorgeous as ever.
“I need to talk to you,” he said.
She had half a notion to slam the door in his face, but she decided to hear him out. She wouldn’t let him inside, though.
“I’m sorry for not being up front with you.”
She crossed her arms. “So you admit to setting up dates while we were married? I mean, it wasn’t a real marriage. I get that. But I expected you to respect me until it ended.”
“You expected it to end?” he asked.
“That was the plan.” But in truth? No, she hadn’t. At least, she’d hoped it wouldn’t. She shrugged a single shoulder, as if she didn’t care, as if her folded arms weren’t holding her broken heart together.
“I’ll admit that I enjoyed being single. A lot. And then you walked into my life and turned everything upside down. I haven’t seen anyone else since I met you—and I haven’t wanted to.”
She rolled her eyes and blew out a huff. “Did you listen to your recorded messages?”
“Yes, I did. And I can explain. Before Stan died, he’d tried to set Lisa and me up, but we were both busy and always playing phone tag. I’ve never even met her in person.”
“But you intend to.”
“No, not anymore. A while back, I returned her call, only to reach her voice mail. I left a message, but then I realized I didn’t want to date her or anyone else. I’ve changed, Julie. Everything’s changed since I met you.”
She wanted to believe him, but her instincts, which she should have listened to all along, wouldn’t let her.
“I’m trying to say that I love you, Julie. You’ve rocked me to the core. My bachelor days are over.” He reached into his pocket and handed her a shiny new key.
“What’s this?” She studied it as if she’d never seen anything like it. And in a sense, she never had.
“I made a copy of the key to my house so I could give it to you.”
Silence stretched between them as her mind, which had been made up, and her aching heart battled for position. And she tried to make sense of it all.
“I want our marriage to be real,” Adam said. “I never had a real home, a real family. Even though I was happy living with Stan, it wasn’t the same thing. So I never knew what I was missing until I met you and the kids.”
A whine sounded behind her, and Biscuit eased forward.
“Oops,” Adam said. “I didn’t mean to leave out the family dog. I want it all, Julie. Don’t you?”
Yes, she did. The battle inside her ended. Her heart won. Tears welled in her eyes.
“I love you, too,” she said, before stepping aside and letting him into her house, into her heart, into her life.
* * *
Once inside Julie’s house, Adam took her in his arms and kissed her with all the love in his heart. When they finally came up for air, he took a knee, reached into his pocket and pulled out a black velvet jewelry box and gave it to her.
Her fingers trembled as she lifted the lid, and when she saw the sparkling diamond he’d purchased this morning, she gasped.
“Will you marry me?” he asked.
“Actually...” Her smile beamed brighter than the one-carat diamond still in its box. “We’re already married.”
“Yes, legally. But I want to do it right this time. A proper proposal, an engagement ring, a white dress, a church wedding and a cake, followed by a honeymoon to wherever you’ve always wanted to go.”
Julie removed the ring from the box and slipped it on her finger. She admired it for a moment, then blessed him with a bright-eyed smile that turned him inside out. “Would it be okay if we shook things up a bit?”
At this point, he didn’t mind what they did, just as long as she wanted to be his wife, his life partner and his lover.
“What do you suggest we do differently?” he asked.
A sly grin slid across her lips, and her eyes twinkled. “Can we have the honeymoon first? Like...right now?”
Adam got to his feet and wrapped her in his arms once more. “I can’t think of anything I’d rather do.” Then he placed his mouth on hers as if they’d never been apart, as if there’d never been a question about their feelings for each other.
For a bachelor who’d sworn off marriage, this moment seemed surreal, but kissing Julie, admitting that he loved her, was as real as it got.
They continued to kiss, stroke and caress each other until Julie drew back. “Should we take this to the bedroom?”
Adam was more than ready for that. “You bet we should. But just for the record, I’d make love with you anywhere. Right here on the living room floor, on the kitchen table or even in a tent out at Miller’s Creek.”
She laughed. “I feel the same way. But a bed might be our best option for our first time.”
“As you wish, my lady.” Adam reached for her hand and led her to the bedroom. As they stood beside the bed, she reached into the top drawer of her nightstand, opened a new box of condoms, removed one of them and then set it near the lamp.
He wasn’t sure if she kept them handy just in case, or if she’d planned for this very moment with him. Either way, he was glad she’d been prepared.
“Good idea.” He kissed her again—long and deep—then pulled her hips against a demanding erection. She leaned forward, revealing her own need for him.
As she moved against him, making him even harder, desire surged through him until he thought, if he wasn’t careful, he’d implode with the strength of it. Julie must have felt the same way because she ended the kiss and slipped out of her pink T-shirt. When she dropped it to the floor, revealing a lacy white bra, his breath caught. He watched in silence and amazement as she bared her breasts, full and round with dusky pink areolas that begged to be kissed.
He bent and took a nipple in his mouth, suckling first one breast, then loving the other until she swayed and clutched his shoulder. Her nails dug into his skin, creating a sweet pain that aroused him all the more.
He lifted her in his arms and placed her on the bed, her glossy blond hair splayed upon the green pillow sham, her body upon the floral printed comforter. After removing his clothing, he joined her, drawing her beautiful body close to his, skin to skin, heart to heart.
They continued to kiss, taste and stroke each
other until they were both drowning in need.
“Wait.” She rolled to the side of the bed and reached for the condom, then she offered it to him.
He tore open the packet and rolled it in place. Then, as he hovered over her, she reached for his erection and guided him right where he wanted to be. For the first time in his life, he realized he’d finally found a real home.
He entered her, and her body responded his, arching up to meet each of his thrusts. The world stood still. Nothing else mattered but the two of them, what they were doing, the love they were making, the vow of forever.
As Julie reached a peak, she cried out and let go. He shuddered and released along with her in a star-spinning climax that hardly seemed real. But it was. It was as real as it got.
As they lay together in a stunning afterglow, he continued to hold her close, to thank his lucky stars that she’d come into his life.
“You know,” he said, “I’ve had sex plenty of times in the past, but I’ve never made love before. Not like this. It was amazing. And so are you.”
“That makes me happy.” She cuddled against him. “Does that mean you’d like to move in with me?”
“Absolutely.”
“And you’re okay with being a foster dad?”
“Yes,” Adam said. “And a real one, too.”
She raised up on an elbow, her glossy locks tumbling over her shoulder. “You’d like to have a baby?”
“Sure.” He’d like to see her pregnant one day, their child growing inside her. “But I think we should consider adopting Eddie and Cassie.”
“I’d love that, Adam.”
He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “You’re going to be an awesome mother. Not to mention a great wife.”
“And you’ll be a good father and husband, too.”
He sure as hell was going to do everything in his power to prove she hadn’t misplaced her faith in him.
He kissed her again, slow and leisurely. Their marriage promised to be a good one. Happy. Loving. And destined to last.
* * *
Look for the next book in
USA TODAY bestselling author Judy Duarte’s
Rocking Chair Rodeo miniseries.
Available June 2019, wherever
Harlequin Special Edition books
and ebooks are sold.
Keep reading for an excerpt from Twins for the Soldier by Rochelle Alers.
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Twins for the Soldier
by Rochelle Alers
Chapter One
Leland Wolfe Remington maneuvered off the county road and headed home to Wickham Falls, West Virginia. It had been a long time since he’d thought of The Falls as home. And it was the first time in twelve years that he had returned as a civilian.
Lee doubted whether he would’ve come back if his sister hadn’t called him to reveal that she’d had to close down the family-owned boardinghouse after her live-in boyfriend had swindled her out of her inheritance. Not only was she facing the possibility of the house being seized by the county because of delinquent property taxes, but she was also being sued for large purchases she’d never authorized. The latest love of her life had stolen her identity, and she was facing bankruptcy. It had been on the tip of his tongue to tell her she was too trusting, that she loved with her heart and not her head, but he’d nearly lost his composure as he heard his sister sobbing while she begged him to come back to The Falls to help her reopen the boardinghouse. It was all she had left of their mother’s family legacy.
Decelerating, he became a sightseer in a place of which he had good and bad memories. It was the bad ones that had sent him fleeing as soon as he graduated high school, vowing never to come back to live.
His foot hit the brake, and he came to a complete stop when he saw the tall, slender woman walking toward a minivan parked in front of the house where his best friend, Justin Mitchell, had grown up. Galvanized into action, Lee shut off the engine, exited his Jeep Grand Cherokee and waved to the woman shading her eyes with one hand as she held her son’s with the other.
“Have I changed that much that you don’t recognize me?” he teased as he closed the distance between them.
Angela Banks-Mitchell’s jaw dropped. “Lee Remington?”
“In the flesh,” he said, smiling.
Lee met the curious eyes of the small boy who was a mirror image of his late father. He had inherited Justin’s taupe-brown complexion, light brown eyes and curly hair. Malcolm and his twin sister weren’t born when Justin had lost his life while on patrol in Afghanistan. Lee had just graduated US Army Ranger School when Angela sent him a text message about Justin. He had gone to his commanding officer and requested bereavement leave to attend a fallen soldier’s funeral, and returned to Wickham Falls to stand in as a pallbearer for his friend. Since that time, he hadn’t been back to his hometown—until now.
“There were rumors that you were coming back last year. Apparently, you changed your mind,” Angela said.
Angela’s mellifluous voice shattered his reverie. Wide-set eyes in a round face the color of whipped mousse held him spellbound. Her delicate features, long legs that seemed to go on forever and waif-thin figure had made her a much-sought-after model even before she graduated high school. Fashion designers were falling over themselves to get her to wear their haute couture, and her agent, who was known to be as unscrupulous as he was skilled in negotiating Angela’s meteoric rise as a supermodel, had proved profitable for both of them. She had earned the sobriquet of “America’s Naomi Campbell.” Lee always felt as if he had lost her twice: once to Justin, and the other time to the glamorous world of high fashion modeling.
The years had been more than kind to Angela. Her face had remained as beautiful as ever, while her body had filled out with womanly curves.
He rested a hand on her shoulder. If the child hadn’t been there, Lee would have kissed her cheek. He noted that although her mouth was smiling it wasn’t the same with her eyes. There was sadness in the depths of those slanting, dark brown orbs that was a reminder of the loss of her husband and the father of her children.
He wanted to tell Angela he hadn’t changed his mind, but that at the time he had been deployed for three months. She waved her left hand and his gaze was drawn to her fingers. Although widowed, she had taken off her rings.
“Believe it now, because I am back.” Lee felt a modic
um of guilt that he hadn’t kept in touch with her following Justin’s funeral.
“How long are you staying?” she asked.
Lee dropped his hand. “I’m not sure.” His sister had asked him to come back last spring, but he’d had to decline her request. He wasn’t able to tell her he’d been assigned to raids in the Middle East and then subsequently to a war-torn African country.
“One month? Two months?”
Lee stared down at the toes of his military-issued boots before his head popped up. “It’s indefinite.” He didn’t tell her he had given himself a timeline of a year to get the boardinghouse up and running again before reenlisting.
“You left the army?”
He angled his head. Angela had asked him a question he knew would be repeated over and over by those living in The Falls. “I have, for now.”
“But—but—I thought you were going to be a lifer,” Angela stuttered.
A wry smile twisted Lee’s mouth. “Life has a way of changing the best-laid plans,” he drawled. The instant the words were out he regretted them. “I’m sorry about that.”
Angela shook her head. “There’s no need to apologize, Lee. The plans we made when we were teenagers no longer apply.”
He nodded. She was right. He, Angela and Justin had written down one wish for what they wanted for their futures the year they’d celebrated their sixteenth birthdays, put the lists in a sealed envelope with the proviso they would open it a day before their high school graduation. Lee had fulfilled his wish to join the military and Angela had had her wish to have a successful modeling career. But it was Justin who had deviated from his goal of becoming a doctor by dropping out of medical school after a year to enlist in the Marines.
His gaze went to the little boy staring up at him. “Hello, buddy.”
A slight frown appeared between the child’s clear brown eyes. “I’m no buddy. My name is Malcolm.”
A wide grin parted Lee’s lips. “I guess he told me,” he said sotto voce.
