For Love and Family (19 page)

“
Keep
me?”

“It was Johnny's phrase. When I was packing for the trip he asked me what was going to happen with you when I got back and he said he wanted to keep you. And the longer I thought about it, the more I realized that I do, too. And the reason I do is I'm in love with you, Terese. Pregnant or not pregnant.”

He was standing so near that she could smell his aftershave, she could see the creases at the corners of his eyes, she could almost feel the heat of him. But more than what was right there in front of her, she began to think about what she knew of the man himself.

Hunter Coltrane wasn't the same kind of man Dean Wittiker had been. And not only in the fact that he worked for what he had, that the one time she'd been afraid he might be after money from her he'd proved her wrong. Hunter was a man without any pretenses. He was an honest man, a plain and simple man of strong character and solid values. And while he was also a man who would feel compelled to do the right thing by her and his baby, he wouldn't have said the things he'd said to her tonight if he didn't mean them.

So if she was having difficulty believing him, she realized, it had more to do with her and what had been ingrained in her by her sister and her stepmother and by Dean.

Realizing that, she still found it difficult to grasp that this man—this amazingly handsome, sexy man—could be in love with her.

“Say it again,” she whispered.

“I'm in love with you,” he repeated, once more speaking slowly and clearly, as if they had a bad phone connection.

And for no reason she understood, at that moment Terese remembered what he'd said to her sister about her earlier—things he hadn't had to say—and it struck her that in Hunter she'd found someone who saw her as a whole person, inside and out, and that he liked what he saw. She realized that was what she'd always yearned for—not to be desired because she had some kind of super-model beauty, not to be sought after because of her trust fund, but to be wanted for all she was.

“You're sure?” she said.

Hunter laughed. “I've never been more sure of anything. Not finding you there waiting for me with everyone, knowing that you were gone, put a hole in me. That only happened for one reason, Terese, because I love you.”

“I love you, too,” she said, for the first time allowing herself to admit it. Allowing herself to feel it completely.

Hunter closed the small distance that separated them then and pulled her away from the desk into his arms.

He looked into her eyes and grinned even as his brows arched in what appeared to be amazement. “A baby?” he said with laughter in his voice.

“A baby,” Terese confirmed, also allowing herself to feel the full joy in that for the first time.

“I knew we made magic that night, I just didn't know how much,” Hunter said.

He kissed her then, sparking magic again as that initial kiss went quickly from chaste to heated.

Passion erupted without regard to the turmoil that had brought them here, or to where they were or to whether it was wise.

Passion brought Hunter's fingers to the buttons of her sweater to make quick work of unfastening them.

Passion urged her to slide his jean jacket off his broad shoulders and toss it aside.

Passion put her hands on the hem of his sweater and caused her to interrupt the hungry play of mouths and tongues to pull it off over his head.

Passion took them to the rug in front of the hearth, shedding the rest of their clothes along the way before Hunter lowered her to the floor and let his hands relearn every inch of her body while she let hers roam every inch of his.

They made love right there in the library, aware of nothing but each other, needing nothing but each other, coming together with abandon. And if Terese had any lingering doubts that she was what Hunter wanted, that she was all he wanted, they didn't survive the hot, steamy explosion that rocked them both when their bodies joined as if one had been carved from the other. The passion that had started the kiss sent them both soaring higher and higher and higher…

And when it was over and they lay with arms and legs entwined, their naked bodies gilded in fireglow, Terese knew one thing for certain—Hunter's arms were where she really belonged, where she really wanted to be.

“I love you,” she said, kissing his bare chest before resting her cheek on that same spot.

“I love you,” he said. “And I want you to come home with me tonight. I can't wait until after our wedding to have you there.”

Terese tipped her chin upward to look at him. “Are we getting married?”

“Yes, ma'am. What'd you think I was askin'you?”

“I don't recall you
askin'
me anything,” she said, teasingly mimicking him.

“Want me on one knee?” he offered.

“That would require me moving and I don't know that I have the energy for that.”

“Okay, pretend I'm on one knee, then.” He cleared his throat. “Terese Warwick, will you take my hand in marriage?”

What flashed through her mind was that she'd take his hands anywhere she could get them. But what she said was, “Yes, I will take your hand in marriage.”

“And will you come away with me to my not-quite-a-mansion and be okay living a simple ranch life?”

“Please,” she said as if requesting just that.

“And will you help me raise your nephew and our new baby and maybe a couple after it?”

“Only if I can wear the tiara every other Sunday,” she joked.

“With the Pretty Princess as his mother, Johnny is liable to make you wear it every day.”

Terese smiled as it occurred to her that this man and his son made her feel as pretty as the Pretty Princess.

“But for now,” Hunter said then in a deep, drowsy voice, “how about if we steal just a little catnap before we pack you up and take you home?”

“Maybe just a little one,” she conceded.

But as Hunter's eyes drifted closed, Terese didn't feel a strong tug toward sleep. Instead she just wanted to lie there beside him and bask in her good fortune.

Bask in the knowledge that she loved this man and that she knew he loved her.

In the knowledge that she loved Johnny and that now she would never be without him in her life.

In the knowledge that she was going to have a baby.

In the knowledge that although it was still a little hard to fathom, she'd somehow found what she'd always wanted and never thought to have—a wonderful man and a family all her own.