Too Charming (31 page)

Swearing softly, he sprang to his feet. ‘How many times do I have to tell you? This is no bloody game, Megan. Can’t you see how desperately in love with you I am? I came here today all psyched up to ask you to marry me.’ Her heart literally stopped beating and she gaped at him in open-mouthed astonishment. He seemed not to notice. ‘I was so keen to ask you,’ he continued, practically shouting the words at her. ‘I forgot all about the trimmings. You know, the important things, like the ring, the flowers. The things that you’d have thought a man like me would have taken care of.’

During his outburst he’d moved towards her. Right now he was standing so close he was almost touching. His jaw was clenched, his eyes on fire, his face stripped of so much of its usual guard that she could quite clearly read what he was he was thinking. The wonder of it made her dizzy. There was love. Passionate, hot and powerful. But there was also something else. Uncertainty. Vulnerability.

As she struggled to say anything in reply, he reached out to take her hands.

‘Now I’m actually here, facing you,’ he continued, his voice turning husky, ‘all trace of my original confidence seems to have vanished. I’m left wondering whether you would ever want to spend your life tangled up with a man you clearly have so little faith in.’

Oh my God, was he really telling her he wanted to
marry
her? Gripping tightly on to his hands, Megan asked shakily. ‘Is this a proposal?’

He raised his eyes to the sky then back to hers. ‘Yes and no.’

‘That’s an odd answer.’

‘I know.’ Suddenly the shoulders that he’d been holding so rigidly straight started to droop. ‘I’m sorry, this isn’t at all how I played this out in my mind.’ Still clasping her hands he brought them to his lips and slowly kissed each of her knuckles. ‘Megan Taylor, I love you. I love your smart, sassy mouth as well as your gorgeous sexy body. I also love your daughter. I want to marry you. Both of you.’ He bent his head so that his forehead rested against hers. ‘I know it won’t be sweetness and rose petals all the way—’

‘I hate roses,’ she whispered softly.

‘Good. That’s one less flower I have to buy.’ He gave her a slight smile, but there was a tension still around his eyes. ‘So what do you say? Will you marry a
defence lawyer, even though you’ll probably spend every evening arguing with him?’

With her brain too stunned to think, he spoke into the silence. ‘That was the proposal, by the way.’

Inside her chest, her heart swelled and a weight seemed to lift off her shoulders. But the spectre of the past was still there, lodged in the back of her mind, niggling away like a flashing warning sign. ‘I …’ Her voice trailed. With all her heart she wanted to say yes, but the word simply wouldn’t come out.

‘Is that a no?’ His face, so close to hers, was as tight as his voice.

Tears streamed down her face. ‘It’s definitely not a no,’ she managed. How could this man, who never took no for an answer, really think she would refuse him?

There was a slight relaxing in his expression. ‘Too soon?’

‘Yes.’ Relief that he understood made her almost giddy. ‘I need to be sure that you’re sure.’

‘I’m more than sure, Megan,’ he told her unflinchingly. ‘I’m absolutely bloody certain.’

He looked it, too, she thought, and her heart was now so swollen it was threatening to burst. ‘Then you won’t mind asking me again in six months? It’s not that I don’t love you.’ The moment her words were out, his beautiful face lit up with the most incredible grin and she marvelled that he hadn’t known. ‘Yes, you idiot, of course I love you,’ she told him softly, rubbing her nose against his. ‘Not only do I love you, I trust you. And I respect you. Totally.’

He had the look of a man who’d hoped for a ripple of applause but received a standing ovation. Tenderly she kissed him. ‘Oh Scott. What you did for your father, what you continue to do for your mother.’ She shook her head. ‘You’re incredible.  And while we’re on the subject of things I should have told you earlier, I should say that I don’t even hate what you do any more. I understand what you do and why you do it. We might still argue from time to time—’

‘I’m counting on it,’ he murmured, nuzzling her neck, sending tremors through her body as his lips caressed her throat.

‘Yes, well, I’m sure we will.’ How did he expect her to have this serious conversation when he was doing
that
? ‘But as long as we agree that when we shut the door to the bedroom—’

‘It’ll only ever be you and me,’ he finished softly, moving to place a tender kiss on her lips.

Slowly she pulled away and eyed him thoughtfully. ‘What were you colluding with Sally about?’

‘
Ahh.’ He kissed her again. Thoroughly, deeply this time, savouring her. ‘I explained that I was here to persuade you to go out with me again. She wished me good luck.’

Megan arched her brow at him. ‘Did she now?’

‘I told her thanks, but I was pretty sure it wasn’t necessary. Sooner or later a smart woman like her mum was going to realise what a good catch I was.’

She started to protest, but he silenced her with another drugging kiss. Just when she was starting to forget that she was in the garden, in full view of her family, he suddenly drew back.

‘About the good catch bit. You do know I’m kidding, right?’

Laughing she threaded her hand through his silky dark hair.
‘Not only do I know you’re joking. I also know that for me, you are, actually, the perfect catch.’

The End.

About the Author

Kathryn Freeman
was born in Wallingford, England but has spent most of her life living in a village near Windsor.  After studying pharmacy in Brighton she began her working life as a retail pharmacist.  She quickly realised that trying to decipher doctor’s handwriting wasn’t for her and left to join the pharmaceutical industry where she spent twenty happy years working in medical communications.  However her life-long love of reading romance often led her to wonder if she could write about it, too.  If only she had the time.

In 2010 she made a New Year resolution to make that time.  It was surprisingly easy to stick to, because she enjoyed writing so much.  In 2011, backed by her family, she left the world of pharmaceutical science to begin life as a self-employed writer, juggling the two disciplines of medical writing and romance.  Some days a racing heart is a medical condition, others it’s the reaction to a hunky hero …

With two teenage boys and a husband who asks every Valentine’s Day whether he has to bother buying a card again this year (yes, he does) the romance in her life is all in her head.  Then again, her husband’s unstinting support of her career change goes to prove that love isn't always about hearts and flowers - and heroes can come in many disguises.

Kathryn’s debut novel
Do Opposites Attract?
will be available in July 2014.
 

Follow Kathryn
on
Twitter
@KathrynFreeman1

More Choc Lit
from Kathryn Freeman

Do Opposites Attract?

Kathryn Freeman

There’s no such thing as a class divide – until you’re on separate sides.

Brianna Worthington has beauty, privilege and a very healthy trust fund.  The only hardship she’s ever witnessed has been on the television. Yet when she’s invited to see how her mother’s charity, Medic SOS, is dealing with the aftermath of a tornado in South America, even Brianna is surprised when she accepts.

Mitch McBride, Chief Medical Officer, doesn’t need the patron’s daughter disrupting his work.
  He’s from the wrong side of the tracks and has led life on the edge, but he’s not about to risk losing his job for a pretty face.

Poles
apart, dynamite together, but can Brianna and Mitch ever bridge the gap separating them?

Available in July 2014 in paperback and as an ebook.
You can pre-order today on Amazon and most good bookshops.
Here on Amazon
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Introducing Choc Lit

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Too Charming
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More from Choc Lit

If you’ve enjoyed Kathryn’s hero, you’ll enjoy the rest of our selection. Here’s a sample:

Please Don’t Stop the Music

Jane Lovering

Winner of the 2012 Romantic Novel of the Year &

Romantic Comedy of the Year awards

How much can you hide?

Jemima Hutton is determined to build a successful new life and keep her past a dark secret. Trouble is, her jewellery business looks set to fail – until enigmatic Ben Davies offers to stock her handmade belt buckles in his guitar shop and things start looking up, on all fronts.

But Ben has secrets too. When Jemima finds out he used to be the front man of hugely successful Indie rock band Willow Down, she wants to know more. Why did he desert the band on their US tour? Why is he now a semi-recluse?

And the curiosity is mutual – which means that her own secret is no longer
safe ...

Find out more and purchase
Please Don’t Stop the Music
in the Kindle store