Luke stared into his glass and the expression on his face told Jamison he was thinking about his own “slate.” Jamison had a feeling he knew what Luke was thinking about and being a man who always had an opinion and didn’t mind sharing it, Jamison started talking again.
“Fiona’s a miracle worker, I swear.”
Luke’s gaze shot to his. “I suppose. She came through this time, anyway.”
“Came through with you, too,” Jamison said.
“By lying? Sure.” Luke took a sip of his scotch and sat there glowering like a gargoyle.
“Lies are slippery things,” Jamison mused as if to himself. “I tell them and say your Gran looks good in that ugly blue dress she loves, and she kisses me. Cole tells them, and it destroyed what he most wanted. Fiona tells them, and you’re back with the company where you belong.”
Luke just stared at him. “You’re not exactly subtle. You know that, right?”
Jamison chuckled. “Wasn’t trying to be. What Fiona did, she did because I hired her. She couldn’t exactly show up and tell you why she was there, could she?”
“She could have told me later. After—”
“Maybe she was afraid you’d take it badly,” Jamison said wryly.
“Maybe,” Luke allowed, still staring into his scotch as if searching for answers in that amber liquid. After a long minute or two, he said, almost to himself, “And maybe there’s no forgiveness for what I said to her once I knew the truth.”
“Both of my grandsons...damn fools. There’s only one way to find out if she’ll forgive you.” Luke looked at him and Jamison blurted out impatiently, “For God’s sake, boy, go and get her. Convince her to take a shot on you.”
A brief smile curved Luke’s mouth. “And start over with a clean slate?”
“Write a new story.”
* * *
The next day, Fiona realized she was doing just what Laura had advised.
She lived. She worked.
She wasn’t smiling yet, but she’d get there. Eventually.
“And you’re helping, aren’t you, George?” Fiona bent down to frame the giant dog’s face. A Bernese mountain dog, George weighed a hundred and twenty pounds and was living under the delusion that he was a lap dog.
George lifted one huge paw and laid it on her forearm. Fiona staggered a little but found a small smile just for him. Dog sitting was one of the jobs she most loved doing. Having George in her house for the next week while his family was at Disney World would give her comfort and company.
“You’re such a good boy,” she said, and gave his big head another brisk rub. “You want to go for a walk?”
George barked and wiggled all over. Thankfully, Fiona had already taken all the breakables off low tables so his swishing tail couldn’t do much damage.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” she said and picked up the leash. Hooking it to his collar, she grabbed a couple of poop bags, just in case, and opened the front door.
“Hello, Fiona.”
Her heart stopped. Actually stopped.
When she took a sudden deep breath, it started again and almost made her dizzy. The one person in the world she never would have expected to find on her porch was standing there staring at her.
“Luke?”
As if sensing her distress, George stepped in front of her, looked up at Luke and growled from deep in his throat.
Luke took a step back. “Whoa. You have a pony now?”
A short, sharp laugh shot from her throat. “This is George. I’m dog sitting for a neighbor.” Looking down at the big dog, she ran one hand over his thick neck and smooth, beautiful fur. “He’s very protective. It’s okay, George. Luke is a...friend.”
The dog calmed down, but Luke said, “Am I? A friend?”
She shrugged, not knowing what to make of this. “He knows that word, so he’ll calm down.”
“You didn’t answer the question, Fiona.”
“I don’t know the answer, Luke.” She didn’t know anything. Obviously. She hadn’t expected to ever see Luke again, yet here he was. His hair was a little longer now, and his summer-blue eyes were locked on her. He wore one of his perfect suits and managed somehow to look both businesslike and dangerously attractive.
She was trying to get over him. To let go of him and everything that might have been. Having him show up at her house wasn’t exactly helping.
“He needs to take a walk,” she said, stepping outside with George and forcing Luke to step back farther. She closed her door and stopped again when Luke stood in front of her.
“Can I go with you?”
She wanted to shout yes! Because she’d missed him so much. Missed talking to him, looking at him, kissing him, laughing with him, kissing him, curling up next to him, their naked bodies still warm from the sex that haunted her with detailed, torturous memories.
Apparently, Luke saw her indecision, because he said, “I need to talk to you, Fiona.”
That decided her. “What’s left to say, Luke?”
Sunlight drifted through the branches of the trees and a soft, cold wind slid past them.
“A lot, I think. Will you listen?”
She looked into his eyes and tried to decide why he was there. What else he might want to say to her? And finally, Fiona realized that the only way to get through this was to get it over with.
“Walk and talk,” she said, and let George pull her down the walkway to the sidewalk out front.
George was in seventh heaven, sniffing at every tree, every blade of grass. He turned his face into the wind, shook his head and kept going. Thankfully, he had been well trained for the leash because if she’d had to hold him back, Fiona never would have been able to.
“Pop settled the situation with Cole,” Luke said, and she glanced at him.
“I’m glad.”
“He didn’t fire him.” Luke frowned a bit at that. “I thought he should have, but Pop wouldn’t hear anything about it.”
She shrugged. “He’s family.” And Fiona, who had never had a family of her own, understood the importance of that relationship. Knew what a gift it was and how hard it would be to deny.
“Yeah. He’s been seriously demoted, though. He has to work his way through every department in the company, earning respect along the way, before he’ll be allowed back in completely.”
“He’ll do it,” Fiona said firmly.
“You’re so sure?”
“I am. He knows now what he almost lost. He’ll fight to get it all back.” That’s what she would do.
“Can he?” Luke asked.
She looked up at him when George stopped to mark a tree.
“Of course. Your grandfather loves him. Love doesn’t just stop one day because things get hard or ugly.”
* * *
“I’m glad to hear you say that.”
Luke took her arm and turned her to face him. God, he’d missed her. Just being beside her. Looking into her warm chocolate eyes. The only thing missing was her smile and he knew that he was the reason behind that. It killed him now to remember what he’d said to her. How he’d treated her.
And he knew how Cole must have felt standing before their grandfather. Unsure of whether he’d be forgiven—or even if he deserved forgiveness.
Suspicion flashed in her eyes. “Why?”
“Because I need you to forgive me, Fiona. I said some really crappy things to you.” Which didn’t even start to cover it. “I’m sorry for it. Maybe I was looking at things like you said, black and white, right and wrong, and I forgot—or didn’t want to know that there are shades of gray, too. My view was so narrow I couldn’t see what I was missing. I looked at my job, my family, my company in a single vision and didn’t notice that other things were there, too.
“And I saw your lies and didn’t look for more. I should have.
You’re the one who opened me up, Fiona. Taught me to look beyond the obvious and I should have done that with you, too. I want you to know I didn’t mean a word of what I said before. I was just—”
“Furious? Hurt?”
“Both,” he admitted.
“I understand that. So yes. I forgive you.”
“Thank you.” He smiled. “And now I can tell you that the main reason I came here today was to hire you for another job. I’ve lost something important.”
“Oh.”
Disappointment shone in her eyes, and Luke felt like an ass. At the same time, a flicker of hope rose up in his chest.
After a second or two, she asked, “What did you lose?”
“My heart.” Luke watched her reaction and saw confusion there now, which was way better than disappointment. “My heart’s been lost since the moment I met you.”
Her eyes widened and her breathing quickened. All good signs. Then she asked, “Are you sure you had one to begin with?”
One corner of his mouth lifted briefly. “A fair question. And yes, I’m sure. It was a hard ball of ice in my chest and when I lost it, warmth came back.” He kept his gaze locked on hers, searching for what he wanted, needed to see. “I didn’t even recognize it for the gift it was,” he admitted. “I didn’t appreciate that warmth until it was gone, and the ice was back.”
“Luke...”
He cut her off. “I’m not saying it’ll be easy to find my heart. Might take years. Might take forever. Are you willing to take on a long-term job like that?”
George tugged on the leash, clearly impatient with the humans interfering with his walk. Fiona laughed and the sound swept through Luke like a warm breeze. He’d missed it. He’d missed so much.
“I don’t know, Luke,” she said, shaking her head. “I want to believe you, I really do.”
“Then do it.” He took the leash from her hand, looked at George and said firmly, “Sit.”
Once the dog complied, he turned back to her. “I was an ass, Fiona.”
“No argument.”
He snorted. “I deserve that. I was wrong. If it weren’t for the lies you told for my grandfather, I never would have met you and—” He shook his head. “I can’t even imagine not knowing you. Not loving you.”
She sucked in a gulp of air. “Love?”
“Yeah,” he said, rubbing the backs of his fingers against her cheek. “Surprised me, too. And maybe that’s why I was acting like such a jackass. I’d never been in love before, so I didn’t appreciate it. Didn’t really recognize it. But I do now.
“I love you, Fiona. I want you. I need you. But mostly, I can’t even picture living my life without you.”
Fiona sighed and he hoped it was with happiness. But he kept talking because he couldn’t take the chance of losing her now.
“I’m asking you to marry me, Fiona.”
“Oh my God.” She staggered back a step, and he tightened his grip on her. “I can’t believe this.”
“Believe it. Believe me,” he urged. “I want to marry you. I want us to have that family you used to dream of having. Kids, Fiona.”
She inhaled sharply, her heart clenching as he offered her...everything.
“I want us to build something amazing together. And I really hope you want all of that, too.”
Lifting one hand to cover her mouth, her gaze was locked with his and he saw what he’d hoped to see in those dark brown depths. Love. Acceptance. Forgiveness.
And Luke took his first easy breath in more than a week.
She reached up and cupped his cheek in her palm, and the heat of her touch slid through him like a blessing, easing away the last of the chill that had been with him since he’d sent her away.
“I want all of that, too, Luke. I do love you. So much.”
He let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “Thank God.”
“I want you, too. I love you, Luke. Maybe I have right from that first day. And I’d love to build a family with you.” Tears glimmered in her eyes, making them shine with hope and a promise for the future. Their future.
The big dog wandered over, leaned against Luke’s leg and nearly toppled him. When he would have snapped at the beast, George looked up at him with adoration. Luke sighed and petted him before digging into his pants pocket for a blue velvet ring box.
Fiona saw it and gasped.
“I don’t understand the shock,” he said, smiling. “I proposed, you accepted. A ring is traditional.”
She laughed. “I know, it’s just...this is all so not what I expected to happen today.”
Luke opened the box to show her the ring he’d chosen for her. A huge dark emerald surrounded by diamonds winked in the afternoon sun.
She looked up at him. “It’s beautiful.”
He took the ring from its perch and slid it onto her finger. “When I saw it, it made me think of that dark green shirt you were wearing the day we met. The day you fell into my lap and completely changed my world.”
A lone tear escaped her eye to roll down her cheek. He caught it with a fingertip and kissed it away.
“This is the most romantic thing that’s ever happened to me,” she said, lifting her gaze from the ring to the man who’d given it to her.
“Even with George here?”
At the sound of his name, George barked and looked from one to the other of them, a smile on his face as if he were in on the secret.
“Especially with George here,” she said, laughing. “Which reminds me, I always wanted a dog.”
“Deal,” he said, then stroked the big dog’s head. “Maybe George has a cousin who needs a home.”
If not, Luke would find one. A dog like George. To always remind him of this day. This moment. When Fiona loved him.
“You’re offering me everything I ever dreamed of,” Fiona said softly. “Someone to love and be loved by. Someone to make a family with. Someone who will always be there, standing beside me.”
“All of that and more, Fiona.” He swore it to her and to himself.
She went to him and hooked her arms around his neck, holding on tightly as if afraid he might slip away. But she didn’t have to worry, Luke told himself as he held her just as close. He’d never lose her again.
He pulled his head back then and grinned at her. “Oh, there’s something else, too. Jamison wants to see you.”
“About what?”
“Something about keeping an eye on Cole for a while to make sure it’s all working out with him.”
“Do you think it will?” she asked, still holding on to him, staring into his eyes.
“I know it will,” Luke said. “He got a second chance. Pop loved him enough to forgive him. To start over. Cole won’t blow that chance.”
Still looking up at him, Fiona asked, “And we’ve forgiven each other, so the same thing holds true?”
“We’ve got a clean slate, Fiona,” Luke said. “No echoes, no shadows. Just a brand-new story we get to write. Together.”
She grinned. “What does that mean?”
It meant, he thought, that shades of gray were beautiful.
“I’ll tell you later,” he promised. Then he kissed her and his world came right again. Everything was good. Everything was...perfect.
* * *
Look for more sexy, emotional
romances from USA TODAY
bestselling author Maureen Child!
Tempt Me in Vegas
Bombshell for the Boss
Red Hot Rancher
Keep reading for a special preview of
Forbidden Promises
the first book in Synithia Williams’s irresistible Jackson Falls series.
India Robidoux wants nothing more than to avoid her sister’s ex-husband...even if they did share one unforgettable kiss years ago
.
What do you do when you want the one person you can’t have?
Coming March 2020 from HQN Books!
Forbidden Promises
by Synithia Williams
CHAPTER ONE
A LARGE CALLA lily bouquet came entirely too close to slapping India Robidoux in the face the moment she entered her family’s home for the first time in four years. Only a quick slide to the right saved her from that indignity.
The woman carrying the flowers rushed by with a barely audible “excuse me.”
India jumped back to avoid being hit by another bouquet as a different woman with an equally large arrangement hurried by. The ornate oak-and-glass front door swung open behind her. India stutter-stepped to the right to avoid being hit. Maybe she should have taken up dancing instead of the violin. She clearly had the footwork down.
The front door opened again, and a man carrying a large box rushed through. “Where do you want these?” he asked her. He shifted and the sound of glasses clinking together came from the box.
India’s mouth opened, then closed. She glanced around in the hope he was talking to someone who had some clue what was going on.
The man loudly cleared his throat. “Ma’am?”
Blinking rapidly, India pointed down the hall where more noise came from the back of the house. “Um...the kitchen?” That had to be where glasses needed to go.
The man nodded and hurried on his way. Yet another woman carrying a huge bouquet, roses instead of calla lilies, rushed by again.
India moved out of the entryway and the line of people going back and forth. She pulled her cell phone out of the back pocket of her jean shorts and checked the date. No one’s birthday, no anniversary and no major holiday. Why were there dozens of people zipping around making the already impressive interior of her family home even more extravagant?
People were everywhere, placing flower arrangements, hanging decorations, carrying crates and cleaning every nook and cranny. The effort put into whatever was going on wasn’t surprising. Her family didn’t do anything half-assed. It was as if four years hadn’t passed and she was back home in time for another Robidoux Family production.
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