The Morning After The Wedding Before (16 page)

‘He’s the abandoned dog I told you about.’

‘And you rescued him.’

‘I just couldn’t bring myself to leave him at the shelter, so I picked him up yesterday.’ He bent to scratch behind his silky ears. ‘I think we rescued each other—didn’t we, boy?’

‘We were all in need of rescue,’ Emma murmured. ‘Hey, there, you little cutie, you.’

Jake watched her wasting no time getting acquainted, crouching down so Scratch could sniff her and approve. With a joyous yelp he rolled onto his back, his tongue lolling out, adoration in his eyes.

Jake squatted beside Emma to scratch the dog’s tummy. ‘So what do you think—you and me and a crazy pooch? You didn’t know he was part of the deal—you sure you still want to marry me?’

‘Are you kidding? He seals the deal absolutely.’

He looked at Emma, his heart overflowing with that mysterious thing called love. It had eluded him all his life but now … Now he had it all.

A few moments later, with Scratch tucking into his dinner, Jake put the little velvet box into Emma’s hands. ‘To make it official.’

Her eyes widened. ‘What’s this? How …?’

‘I was going to propose to you the other night. Until you told me your news.’

Realisation dawned in her bright blue eyes. ‘So
that’s
why you went to so much effort. Oh, Jake. I was so focused on myself I didn’t—’

He placed a finger on her lips. ‘Just open it.’

‘Oh, my …’ she breathed. ‘It’s beautiful.’

Three diamonds on a platinum band winked in the light. ‘One for you, one for me, one for the kids we’re going to make,’ he told her, sliding it onto her finger.

He lifted her off the floor, twirled her around and around until they were both dizzy, then waltzed her to his bedroom the way he’d waltzed her to bed that first time they’d made love.

He tugged on her belt. ‘I’ll have you know the first time I saw you in that coat I wondered what you were hiding beneath it. Now … take it off and let me see.’

Later, Emma cuddled against him in his king-size bed. Scratch snored doggy snores in his basket nearby. ‘I think I’d like to stay right here for the rest of the weekend.’ She stretched, feeling satisfied, in love, and entirely too lazy.

‘Sounds like a plan. But I doubt Scratch will agree.’

‘Our house by the sea and a dog,’ she murmured. ‘This really is home. What a wonderful life …’

‘And what do you want to do with that life …’ he nuzzled the sweet taste of her breast ‘… besides making love endlessly till dawn?’

‘I want to concentrate on Naturally Emma. Danny’s still going to market my products in Queensland, and I might go up once a month to see how it’s going.’

‘Maybe I can accompany you sometimes. As your accountant.’

‘Nuh-uh. If you accompany me it’ll be as my husband.’

‘Even better.’ His hand created a warm friction over her belly. ‘I’m shifting some of my office work home. When I decided to take on a dog I made the commitment to be home more.’

‘We’ll neither of us ever get any work done.’ She drew a line up his shin with her toes and draped her top half over him like a scarf.

His laugh was more of a choke as his arms went around her to pull her all the way on top. ‘Reckon you’re right.’

She buried her face in the musky warmth of his neck and breathed in his scent. ‘I’m always right. I asked you to marry me, didn’t I?’

‘So … how does a wedding as soon as Ry and Stella come back from their honeymoon sound?’

She lifted her head so she could look into those warm coffee eyes and see his love for her shining through. ‘Perfect.’

All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.

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First published in Great Britain 2012
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of Harlequin (UK) Limited.
Harlequin (UK) Limited, Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road,
Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR

© Anne Oliver 2012

ISBN: 978-1-408-97406-3