Murphy's Law (31 page)

And Tim, having gained a lot of maturity in his time with Denny, now behaved more as a brother should, instead of being a liability. He teased May and Ashley mercilessly, tried to protect them even when they didn't need it, and he'd already started talking to Ashley's abdomen, calling himself “Uncle Tim.”

To May's parents, nothing much had changed—but then, that mattered little to Ashley, so it didn't bother Quinton. For their wedding, Denny had walked her down the aisle. He'd been as proud as any father could be.

“I was thinking,” Ashley said, “maybe we should invite Warren and Adrianna, too.”

Quinton almost groaned. His uncle had finally worked up the backbone to end his sham marriage with Ivana. Far from brokenhearted, Aunt Ivana had complained only long enough to get the house, the furnishings, and a hefty cash settlement. Since then, Warren had been begging Adrianna to marry him, but she said they needed time.

It drove Quinton nuts to see Warren kowtowing to Adrianna, but…He smiled at Ashley. “Whatever makes you happy, sweetheart.”

Her smile went lopsided. “
You
make me happy, happier than I ever dreamed possible.”

“Ah well, that'd be Murphy's Law, you know. You have to be happy.” He lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles. “I insist.”

We don't think you will want to miss Lori's story,
DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR
in the anthology A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS
coming in October, 2006, from Brava.
Here's a sneak peak.

He was thinking of warm Christmas cookies, songs on the piano and strings of popcorn when he spotted the confusion in front of the funeral home. Lights from a police car flashed blue and red and an elderly couple, bundled in coats over pajamas, gestured with excitement.

Ozzie pulled up behind the cruiser and parked. It only took him moments to identify himself to the officer and to find out that someone had stolen a donkey from the nativity scene erected on the funeral home lawn.

Marci.

Somehow he just knew she was behind this. She'd probably claim the damned donkey was shy, or that he didn't like the colored lights, or God knew what. But Ozzie's instincts screamed and so, with a few more words to the officer, he gave up on the idea of sleep and instead headed to Marci's apartment.

Lucius used to live in the apartment across from Marci, but thankfully he and Bethany had purchased a home of their own. They'd recently moved out, so Ozzie didn't have to worry about Lucius finding him at Marci's door. Lucius still owned the apartment building, but he left Marci in charge of it.

Not a good idea, in Ozzie's opinion, given that Marci was a kook. But far be it for him to tell Lucius how to run his business.

When he parked in front of the building, Ozzie looked toward Marci's porch window, and sure enough, her inside lights were on. Okay, so it was seven-thirty and she was maybe getting ready for work.

Or hiding a donkey.

Ozzie slammed his truck door, trudged through the crunchy snow and ice, and went up the walk, inside, and up to Marci's door. He knocked twice.

Breathless, Marci yelled, “Just a moment!”

His body twitched. More specifically, his cock sat up and took notice of her proximity.
Damn it.

A full minute later, Marci opened the door. A look of pleasure replaced her formal politeness. “Osbourne. What a surprise.”

He stared down at her and thought, if she'd just not talk about animals, if she'd just smile at him like that, he'd be happy to ravish her for oh…a few hours maybe.

When he said nothing, her smile widened, affecting him like a hot lick. She wore a soft pink chenille robe, belted tight around her tiny waist. Her small feet were bare, crossed one over the other to ward off the chill. Her baby fine straight brown hair had the mussed look of a woman fresh out of bed—or fresh inside from the blustery outdoors.

Shaking himself out of his stupor, Ozzie looked beyond her. He saw nothing out of the ordinary in her tiny apartment, but that didn't clear her.

She took a step closer to him, staring up in what seemed like provocation to him, a heated come-on, a…

She tilted her head and said, “Osbourne?”

Lust tied knots in his muscles. He cleared his throat. “Busy?”

Big blue eyes blinked at him, eyes so soft with such thick long lashes, she didn't need makeup. “I just got out of the shower, actually.” She patted back a delicate yawn. “It's early. Would you like some coffee?”

He'd like her.