Lovers and Other Strangers Box Set: The Boston Stories (39 page)

    "Yeah, just like... Delia? What are you saying..."

    "That the reason I was crying this morning wasn't because I was afraid I was pregnant. It was that I realized I wanted to be and it scared the hell out of me. Jonah, you don't know how to have a relationship, but then again, neither do I. So I don't know where that leaves us."

    "Getting out of here fast. Go pack, now." He gave her one more breath-stealing kiss and left her to change and pack while he made the arrangements with the airline.

    Twelve hours later, she was dropping her bags in her bedroom. The house seemed unnaturally quiet. She and Jonah had worked out some things on the plane back. He was willing to take her on as a partner and open a new branch in her area of expertise. Frankly it was a lot more than she had bargained for and she should have been thrilled. So why did she feel so deflated? They hadn't really even talked about any relationship stuff. If she tried to bring it up, he changed the subject; after a couple tries she got the hint. It wasn't like he'd said no to continuing the fling back here but he hadn't said yes either. She got into the shower and tried to wash the confusion from her brain. Hell, it was going to take a lot more than water. Cam must have something in the house. She went downstairs in her robe and found the Scotch and a glass. She was just about to pour when the doorbell rang. She opened it and stared dumbstruck at Jonah standing there with his bags in his hands.

    "Hi hon. You'll make a perfect wife, greeting me at the door in a sexy little robe and a good bottle of scotch. Now, does it come with a kiss?" When she hesitated, he dropped his bags and wrapped his arms around her, not so much as kissing her as inhaling her.

    "Wha... Jonah what are you doing here?"

    "I thought about what you said and I decided. No."

    "No, what?"

    "No, you don't get a fling. I am not letting you get away. Now that I know you, the real wild child you, and not that lie you let everybody else think, I want this full-time. And that is why I am staying. Cam can kill me later. I figure the only way we can chuck the past and I can convince you I am here to stay is to stick so close to you that you hate the sight of me." She gulped. His eyes twinkled with laughter she knew was dying to get out.

    "Jonah, there are a couple of rules. One, I'm not a kid. There will be no more stupid cute nicknames. I will not answer to Shortstuff, kiddo, Littlebit..."

    "Not even in bed?"

    "That is negotiable. Two, Cam isn't living here right now and won't for a while. The place is my responsibility till he moves back, so what I say goes."

    "I've got a few rules too. You can make the rules in the rest of the house, but I'm still in charge in the bedroom, got it? And no more hiding in baggy clothes. You are gorgeous and I want to show you off. I may have to bust a few heads, but it is a small price to pay for the pleasure of seeing you walk into and, God help me, out of a room. You may have a head for business, sweet thing, but that body of yours is pure sin and I want more of it, lots more of it.

    "Oh, and kids. I want them, but not right away. I understand you're still young and you want to develop your career but in five or so years, when you are tired of being the hottest investigator on the East Coast, I want to feel your body round with my child, curl up and hold you while it kicks. I am gonna be there when you give birth and hate me for the pain of it all and then you know what?"

    She could barely breathe now. "What?" came out as a whisper.

    "We are gonna do it all over again."

    "Oh."

    "And one last rule, missy. We're getting married, preferably quick but I plan on being around forever so if you want to wait, I'll work with that." He flipped open a box she had no idea he'd had in his hand. Inside sat the most stunning diamond she'd ever seen. It wasn't huge but the fire in it, even in this soft lighting, was spectacular. She swallowed hard.

    "Jonah, you don't..."

    "Do relationships? Guess that's not true anymore. Delia, I need to hear you say yes, sweetheart. I need you with me like I need my next breath. I know I'm older than you but let's face it, I've had a prolonged childhood and you are way more than some boy your age could handle."

    "Jonah, you know I'm only wild with you. In everything else I'm... really kind of methodical."

    He threw his head back and laughed hard. "Sweetheart, I'm counting on that!"

    She yanked on his jacket to bring him down to her level and did the wildest thing she had ever done. "Yes," she whispered before she launched herself into his arms.

Lovers and Other Strangers Book Three

Allyn Bellows was the picture of responsible respectability and worried he was growing old long before his time. The only woman he loves is the one woman he can never have.

Marie-Hélène Girard was the merry trickster of the family but she has kept a secret in her heart for far too long.

It all starts with a little deception, but the question is, who is deceived more.

"Au secours! Aidez-moi! Merde!"

    "Your mother would not be happy with your language, La Reine."

    "Allain! Allain! Aidez-moi! S'il vous plaît!

    "This is not one of your tricks is it?"

    "Non, I climb too 'igh. Allain, I am scared!" He could hear the fear in her voice. The little pest had gotten herself up a tree, literally. He was a 24 year old man, spending the summer in the South of France and instead of chasing after women his age he had spent the better part of it extricating Violet's youngest tomboy cousin from one scrape after another. If he wasn't rescuing her he was trying to avoid her little tricks and traps.

    "Je suis venue, I am coming up. So now you understand how the kitten feels."

    "Allain, Dépêchez-vous! 'urry please." The poor thing must be scared if she resorted to saying please. Allyn started climbing, luckily she had chosen a tree with lots of thick branches. Maybe if he teased her while he climbed it would distract her from being so scared.

    "Marie-Hélène, I will rescue you if you can say my name correctly." He was about half way to her already so it wouldn't take much of a distraction.

    "Merde! You say your name wrong!"

    "No, remember I am English not French. My mother named me after her father and he was called   Allyn, A, L, L, Y, N, admittedly an odd spelling but I quite like it. Go ahead, say it."

    "Non."

    "Then maybe I will climb back down without you?" He was right across from her now.

    "Non!, Oh, please don't leave me 'ere!" She nearly jumped into his arms but he had braced himself so he would be able to grab her anyway. She clutched at him as if her life depended on it. When he put one of his arms around her she started to sob.

    "I wouldn't ever leave you pest. Ne pleure pas, sweet, don't cry." He managed to shift his weight so that he could sit on a branch and wrap both arms around her to calm her. He stroked her hair and back as she cried herself out. He held her for a long while, soothing her. "Why did you climb so high?" She hiccuped a few times as her sobbing finally subsided. She glanced up at him and then ducked her head to hide behind her hair. He pushed it out of her face and tilted her chin up to him. Her eyes were rimmed with red from her crying but that didn't diminish their beauty. It always took him by surprise. His personal little pest had the eyes of an angel, not a fairytale version but more like those painted by the old masters, fierce, powerful, and knowing. They were like a forest canopy dotted with sunlight. "Hmm? You are almost twelve years old, you are too big to do things like this anymore." He wasn't really scolding her, nor did he expect that anything he said would stop his little demon from any of her antics.

    "I was trying to see..." She chewed on her lower lip trying to figure out how much to say.

    "Come on spit it out. What did you want to see?"

    "I wanted to see if you kissed her." She ducked her head again and he started laughing.

    "See if I kissed who?"

    "Madame Ricard. Violet said you were going over to 'ave dejeuner avec elle."

    "Yes, I had lunch with Madame Ricard but no, I did not kiss her. She is a little old for me, non?" The woman was probably thirty but already a widow with two children. Of course he was twenty-four and his fourteen year old sister's guardian so dating was an odd thing for him. Women that would accept Violet as part of their lives seemed too old for him and women his age certainly didn't want to start off with a teenager in the house.

    "Oui, much too old and mean aussi, even if she is very pretty."

    "Hmm, mean huh? So you thought to climb up here to spy on me and keep me from kissing her? How would you have stopped me if I had?"

    "I would 'ave screamed."

    "I only found you because you were screaming. I certainly never would have heard you all the way down there."

    "It was not a very good plan, I think." She looked more embarrassed to have concocted a bad plan than she did to get caught spying on him. She glanced up at him again with a big smile on her face. "You don't have to kiss Madame Ricard. I could be your wife." He choked on his laughter but managed to get himself under control quickly.

    "Sweet, don't you think you are a little young to get married to an old, old man like me?" He tried to say it in his sternest voice so she would think he'd taken her seriously.

    "You are a little old. But you can still climb trees so you must be strong like Papa." He shook his head trying to hide his smile.

    "Pest, if we were married you would have to kiss me, every night." That should squash this crazy idea of hers.

    "Chaque nuit!" The look of horror on her face almost undid him. He was caught somewhere between laughter and wounded pride. He wasn't that horrible to look at. She pursed her lips and was carefully considering the options now. "D'accord, I will kiss you." She sounded like she was trying to figure out how to get out of it already. "Mais, not like Gabrielle kisses her boyfriend. They look like they are eating each other." She made a face of absolute disgust.

    "So I am not the only one you have been spying on then?"

    "I 'ave four sisters, Violet and I watch them and learn all about how girls act with boys. Kissing like Gabrielle is, how Violet says, oh, gross!" Now he did start laughing.

    "I'm so glad my sister is teaching you English. You will understand Gabrielle better when you fall in love, sweet. Now, are you calmed down enough to get out of this tree?" She clutched him tighter. "Relax, you will hold on to me and I will climb down. All you have to do is hang on. Can you do that? She shook her head yes. "Probably better if you were on my back. Here curl around me like this. He had her loop one arm over his shoulder and reach up under his other arm so she wouldn't choke him. "Wrap your legs around my waist. Good? Ready to go?" He felt her shake her head against his back. The climb down was quick and blissfully uneventful.

    When they landed on the ground he reached behind and pulled her in front of him.

    "I want you to promise me, no more spying and no more climbing too high. I couldn't bear it if anything happened to you. She gave him a big smile, she seemed to be thinking about what he had said then she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him on the mouth, hard. He was so stunned he almost dropped her.

    "You will see, I will make a good wife." Then she jumped down and darted off. All he could do was stand there stunned. Considering the disaster of his love life he probably shouldn't try so hard to talk her out of it. He just shook his head, the girl was going to make some man's life far too interesting for his own good.

Pick up La Reine, love you, V

     Six words that may as well have been have been his death sentence. Violet had invited the brat, yet here he stood waiting for Marie-Hélène in international baggage claim. Allyn had been dreading her arrival since Violet had blithely announced her invitation. The woman quite honestly unhinged him. She was chaos incarnate, also beautiful and bewitching. How was he supposed to function like the head of the second largest family foundation after Bill and Melinda's, when this mere slip of a girl could snap her fingers and he would come running like a lap dog. Allyn adjusted his tie again despite not needing it. He pushed his glasses a little higher on his nose. Maybe it wouldn't be too terrible, La Reine had after all graduated from one of the top law schools in France. Allyn smiled at her nickname. She earned it through her sheer force of will even as a child she controlled those around her with an iron fist. Surely law school had forced Marie-Hélène to organize her life somewhat.

    Allyn heard an air horn blast behind him much further down the baggage area. Oh, no, he shook his head. He should have known. No doubt, by the time she graduated she had completely reorganized the curriculum to her liking. When he turned he saw Marie-Hélène riding on the prow of the baggage cart like Napoleon on his way to battle. Of course if Napoleon had had La Reine, he never would have lost at Waterloo.

    She was even more gorgeous than the last time he had seen her. She looked like she belonged on the beach in Southern California. Her golden blonde hair was almost waist length now. She was wearing an outfit both perfect for the beach and utterly French. The miniscule cut off denim shorts showed her tawny legs to perfection. She had on a gray t-shirt that no doubt came from the boys department. His sister had informed him that was the only place French women shop for such an item. On top of that she had an old navy blue cashmere sweater. Her cheeks had a perfect bit of pink, like she had just been thoroughly kissed. He loved that he could see her freckles. They made him want to trace his fingers over them in a sensual connect the dots.

    She gave another blast of the air horn as they got closer. She signaled her driver to stop and then bent to give the man a kiss on the cheek. Allyn felt his gut twist but made certain that his face showed nothing. She stood up and stepped over the front handles of the cart and ran down the front of the vehicle. Unfortunately she hadn't taken into account she was wearing flimsy sandals with no traction. She ended up skidding and then launched herself into the air. Allyn stepped forward and caught her as carefully as he could. Of course she knocked his glasses to the ground. In the excitement, the poor driver let his foot off the brake and Allyn heard the tell tale crunch of plastic and acetate.