Single Dads Collection. Lynne Marshall
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‘I miss someone sensing when something is troubling me. I miss sensing that about you. I miss your laugh. I miss the way you eye chocolate sultanas as if they’re the devil’s own food and the way you eat them as if they’re manna from heaven. I miss the way you lift your face to the sky when you’re cantering on Scarlett. I miss the way you stare up at a night sky as if it’s the most magical thing you’ve ever seen. More than anything, I miss your smile. I really miss your smile.’
She stared at him. She couldn’t say a word as she tried to process his words and what they meant. He missed her, but that didn’t mean …
He led her back to the bench. She collapsed onto it, her shaky knees grateful for the respite. Cade didn’t sit. He paced up and down in front of her.
‘It took me a long time to find an answer to your question.’
‘Which one?’ she croaked.
‘The one about Fran … and what I’d do if she came back and wanted to start over.’
She leaned back although every atom of her being strained towards him. ‘And?’
‘I’d welcome her back into the girls’ lives because she’s their mother.’
Nicola nodded. That had always gone without saying.
He frowned and paced harder. ‘And then I got all caught up on whether I would choose Fran for the girls—Fran, who has proven herself unreliable—or a woman who I trusted and respected and who I believed wouldn’t let the girls down.’
‘And?’
‘And then I realised that was wrong thinking. I’d welcome Fran back into Ella and Holly’s lives.’ He stopped pacing. He stopped right in front of her. ‘But I wouldn’t welcome her back into my life. You were right, Nicola, when you said you deserved better than what I’d offered, that you deserved love and friendship. It hit me then that I deserved those things too. And they’re not something I can ever find with Fran.’
Her jaw dropped. Her heart thumped. He looked as if … as if … ‘I didn’t think you believed in love any more—a fairy tale, isn’t that what you called it?’
‘It’s what I wanted to believe—to protect myself from being hurt again.’ He drew her to her feet. ‘But then a no-nonsense nanny with killer curves and a smile that practically knocked me off my feet swept into my life and made me feel alive again … made me feel things I never had before and I …’
A smile started up in the depths of her. ‘Panicked?’ she offered.
He cupped her face. ‘Nicola, I have absolutely no right to expect you to believe me, but I love you.’
She wanted to believe him—so much it hurt. The light in his eyes as they rested on her lips left her in no doubt whatsoever that he desired her.
‘When Fran left, my life went into a tailspin of shock, panic and pain at the trauma the girls suffered. When you left, it felt as if I’d lost a limb, as if nothing in me worked properly any more.’
Her heart lurched and then thumped hard and fast. What he’d described fitted her own state during these last few months so perfectly that suddenly she knew he spoke the truth. He wasn’t after a mother for his children, but a wife to share his life.
He loved her!
He went down on one knee. ‘Nicola, I can offer you a family who will adore you, friendship, a horse, life on an Outback station—and if any of those things will sway you I’ll use them shamelessly—but mostly I can offer you a heart filled with love for you. I love you, my beautiful girl. I will love you till the day I die. Please say that you’ll marry me and let me spend the rest of my life proving to you just how much I do love you.’
Her heart had grown so big she thought she might explode. She knelt down on the ground in front of him and took his face in her hands. She smiled at him with her whole heart. He blinked … and she watched as hope stretched across his face. ‘Can we get rid of that awful home gym?’
‘Consider it gone.’ He grinned that lazy, tempting grin that never failed to bump up her heart rate. ‘And I promise to always keep the cupboards stocked with chocolate sultanas.’
Her heart pounded. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. For a moment he seemed too stunned to respond but, just as she was about to draw back, his arms flashed around her and he held her so tightly she could barely breathe. He kissed her so thoroughly her head swam and she had to cling to him for support.
He lifted his head. ‘I love you, Nicola. I can’t even begin to describe how much.’
Her breath hitched. ‘I don’t know. I think you did a pretty good job.’ She reached out to touch his face. ‘My days have all been grey these last four months. I missed you so much. I didn’t want to believe I’d fallen in love with you—I thought it would prove that I was needy and weak.’
He frowned. ‘Do you still believe that?’
She shook her head. ‘I know that if you ever walked away from me that I’d survive, but … oh, how much better my life is with you in it!’
Determination blazed in his eyes. ‘Are you going to marry me?’
She smiled. She grinned. She threw her head back and laughed. ‘Yes!’
He stared at her as if she was the most magnificent thing he had ever seen. ‘When can I take you home to Waminda?’
Home. The word stretched through her, full of promise. Wherever this man was, that would be her home. And she would be his.
‘Just as soon as we give my mother the wedding she’s always dreamed of,’ she breathed.
‘Whatever will make you happy,’ he swore.
And she knew he meant it.
Susan Meier
For my friend, Denise.
SHANNON RALEIGH turned to get a look at herself in the full-length mirror in the bathroom of her executive office suite and gaped in horror. The tall black boots and short red velvet dress she wore exposed most of her legs and the white fur-trimmed U at the bodice revealed a sizable strip of cleavage.
“I can’t go into a roomful of kids dressed like this!”
Even from behind the closed door, she could hear her assistant Wendy sigh heavily. “Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?”
“Because I know you’ll say I look fine, when I don’t. I can’t usher kids to Santa’s lap in a skirt so short I can’t bend over.”
“So don’t bend over.” Another sigh. “Look, Shannon, it doesn’t matter that you’re eight inches taller than Carlie. There’s nobody else who’s even remotely thin enough to fit into that suit. Carlie’s car is stuck in a snowdrift. If you don’t play Santa’s helper there’ll be no one to—”
The ring of the phone stopped Wendy midsentence. The next thing Shannon heard was Wendy’s happy voice saying, “Raleigh’s Department Store. Shannon Raleigh’s assistant, Wendy, speaking.”
In the lull while Wendy obviously listened to the caller, Shannon cast another critical eye over her reflection. The little red dress was kind of cute. The color complemented her long black hair and made