Designed for Love (Texas Nights) (24 page)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Ashton took a deep breath and knocked on the foyer door connecting the pet shop to Designs to Die For. The space she’d soon be giving up to concentrate on Lily Lake full time. Maybe once the project was through the major construction phases, she’d be able to open a bigger, better office. She’d be sure to give that some thought when looking at clubhouse floor plans. A space overlooking the lake would be perfect.

Something on the other side of the door crashed, Napoleon yelped, and Mac let out a loud “Shit.”

She pressed her ear to the door just in time to hear Mac say, “Remember, this is our secret.”

Napoleon had certainly forgiven Mac quickly enough. He’d better not expect whatever magic he’d used on her dog to work the same way on her.

Her head was still pressed to the door when it was jerked open. Off balance, she head-butted Mac in the chest, and he was forced to catch her by the upper arms. Ashton rocked back, steeled herself to look directly into his face.

“I didn’t expect you so soon,” he said. Were those dark circles? Maybe a couple of new grooves around his mouth? And wasn’t she horrible for hoping he’d been miserable?

“You dognapped my baby. Of course I came running.” Which, if Roxanne was right, had been Mac’s intent. But why? “He is here, isn’t he?”

He stepped back to allow her inside, but Napoleon was nowhere in sight. Mac glanced around at his feet, leaned over the counter to look behind it. “Dammit, dog.”

“What did he do now?”

The hand swipe across his forehead didn’t bode well.

“If he’s eaten something or peed on something or destroyed something, I’ll—”

“I have a feeling he isn’t real good at keeping secrets.”

Ashton rolled in her lips. “He blabs everything.”

“Figures.”

She turned a circle, scanned the small space. No Napoleon. So she headed toward the stockroom. “Maybe he’s in the back.”

Mac lunged in front of her. “Why don’t I go find him, and we can—”

The man was hiding something, which made absolutely no sense. She did a shuffle step around him and made for the rear of the store.

“Ashton, you can’t go back there right now...”

She stepped into the storeroom, and sure enough, there was her dog. With slightly pinkish lumps stuck in his fur. “What has he been into?”

From behind her, Mac said, “Gig’s up, dude.”

“What gig?” She squatted down to peer closer at Napoleon’s fur. Took a sniff. He had a decidedly meaty smell about him. “What in God’s name is all over him?”

“I usually hose him down after.”

“After what?”

“His snack. Your dog isn’t as ritzy as you think.”

She reached out, plucked a blob from her dog’s ear. “He’s usually a very neat eater.”

“He...uh...kinda likes to roll in it before he eats it.”

“Please tell me this isn’t possum.”

Mac’s laughter was warm and deep, and made her feel as if she’d just sipped a particularly yummy tiramisu martini. “Canned meat.”

Canned what? She stared up at Mac. “This is why he likes you? You...you bribed my dog.”

“We came to an understanding. I pop a can now and then, and he behaves.”

Napoleon’s dog-crush on Mac definitely made more sense now. That was when she finally noticed her dog was sitting in front of an adorable little doghouse. It was unpainted, and the miniature shingles sat off to the side. Open-air windows graced the front, and columns lined the porch. But what hung above the front door made her heart flop out of her chest.

Four letters on the left side.
N
-
A
-
P
-
O.

She jumped to her feet. “Oh my God, you built him a doghouse.”

“Thought I could finish it before you got here. Figured you wouldn’t show up until after all the wedding stuff was over.”

“You built this in less than three hours?”

“I am a carpenter.”

“It’s...” Words and seesawing emotions clogged in her throat. “Why?”

“Because I suck with words.”

Looking at Mac right now would blow her cool so she glued her gaze to the doghouse. “Hallmark makes perfectly lovely cards.”

“Do they make one that says ‘Sorry I had my head up my ass’?”

“Can’t say I’ve come across that one.” Her lips lifted, but no way would he get off that easily. She skimmed fingertips over the letters attached to the doghouse. “What’s the message inside the card?”

“Something like ‘I want to come back home. Be your partner on the entire Lily Lake project and spend the rest of my life with you if you’ll have me.’”

She stalled out on the bottom curve of the O. Her chest felt as though it had been pumped full of helium. Hope would do that to a woman. “That could take years. And if you can’t be happy here long-term, I’d rather you go back to Dallas.”

“I have everything I’ll ever need to be happy right here.” Mac drew her to him, so close she could smell his familiar sawdusty scent. God, she’d missed that smell. So much that she’d taken a pile of the stuff home from the job site and stashed it in her bedside drawer.

The truth was shining in Mac’s eyes, but for her heart’s sake she had to be sure. “What changed your mind?”

“Why I ever went back to Dallas, I don’t know. The work I did up there was soulless. I never knew the people who lived in those houses, who worked in those shops. Never saw the lives and careers they built in the places I built for them. Here, that happens all the time, and it’s the biggest payout of the construction process.” He stroked her cheek, her lips with his thumb. “And why would I walk away from an amazing woman who already understands that? Pride fueled by regret isn’t worth that kind of sacrifice. Not worth sacrificing love or the opportunity to build something strong and beautiful with the woman I love.”

Her ankles wobbled, and she reached for the doghouse’s roof to steady herself. Mac McLaughlin loved her.

“So you want to know what my card to you says?”

His grip on her arms tightened. “Jesus, not if it’s a sympathy card.”

“It says ‘I’ve been so miserable without you that I braved the Piggly Wiggly for chocolate-covered cherries. And when they ran out, McIntosh’s drugstore had to restock them for me’—”

“That’s serious because those things are kinda disgusting.”

“—‘three times.’”

“Ashton, I’m sorry.” Mac smoothed his hands up her shoulders to cradle the back of her head in those rough hands she would never tire of having on her, holding her. “I’m an idiot. And I love you so much I will eat a box of those disgusting cherries every day for the rest of my life if you’ll forgive me.”

She simply studied his face, remaining silent and letting him sweat it out for a few seconds.

“You’re not saying anything, and I’m dying here.”

“I not only forgive you, but I love you right back, Michael E. McLaughlin.” He tried to draw her in for a kiss, but she held him off. “But I need to know what the
E
stands for.”

“Promise you won’t laugh?”

Joy bubbled through her. “Absolutely not.”

“Guess I deserve to give it up, but we have to leave it off the wedding invitations.”

“Are...are you asking me to marry you?”

“Yeah. I’m thinking Lily Lake at sunset. We can use the pavilion and—”

She dug a finger into his chest. “You’re trying to distract me. Fork it over.”

“Eugene.”

“Hmm...I see your point. Initials only on the invitations.”

“But first, I want to build something for you too.” Mac stepped away and pulled a set of rolled-up plans from a cardboard tube propped against the wall.

Ashton nodded toward the doghouse. “I don’t think I’ll fit in a house that size.”

With a sweep of his hand, he smoothed the plans across the miniature house’s roof. Held them there and glanced over his shoulder at her. “How about one this size?”

It was the blueprint of a house that looked oddly familiar. “Is that the cabin?”

“With a few essential modifications like more windows, a decent kitchen and a second bathroom. I figured you’d want to stay close to the lake, and I doubt my fifth wheel would hold all three of us.”

He wanted to build something with her. Not only the lake development but a home, a life.

When she wrapped her arms around Mac’s neck and pressed her lips to his, everything inside her settled, found its place. Their kiss lasted so long Napoleon finally tried to squeeze his way between them. Mac hefted him up, tucked him—canned-meat fur and all—under his arm.

This. This was what made a true home. Her pet. Her purpose. And one very special man.

She leaned over, tapped an area on the right side of the drawing. Even in two dimensions, she could tell he’d drawn trees with a small rectangle between them. “But what’s this?”

“What else—” Mac’s grin was sly with a big helping of sexy, “—but a hammock?”

* * * * *

Author’s Note:

I’ve taken a few liberties with the field of botany in this book. As far as I’m aware, the rare contralto lily pad that Dr. Wurzenbach is so hot for doesn’t exist. However, if you’re a botanist and discover a new type of lily pad, feel free to name it
contralto
and credit me.

Can’t resist the heat of Texas Nights? Go back to the beginning with the first three books in the series by Kelsey Browning—available now!

Personal Assets

Book one of Texas Nights

Sex therapist Allie Shelby has the professional credentials, but she could use a bit more practical experience. Finding the right man to bring out her inner bad girl is tough in a population-challenged Texas town. So when sinfully sexy Cameron Wright rolls back into Shelbyville, Allie wastes no time inviting him to join her in some hands-on research.

Cameron has come home to fulfill his dream of restoring classic cars. Back in high school, he knew the town princess, Allie Shelby, was way out of his league. Today he has even less in common with Allie, so he’s shocked as hell when she propositions him. Still, he’s only human, so he accepts her offer—and with each encounter, she shows him another, wilder side. Before long, he’s thinking about more than just sex.

Running the Red Light

Book two of Texas Nights

After wearing a Least Likely to Succeed label all her life, Roxanne Eberly is hell-bent on making her Red Light Lingerie store successful. Although the residents of small-town Shelbyville, Texas, are a little...lingerie-resistant, she’ll win them over eventually. So when a former employer sues her, putting a major wrinkle in her careful plans, she reluctantly accepts help from hot-stuff Houston attorney Jamie Wright.

Jamie’s on track to become his firm’s youngest partner, but discovers an unwritten prerequisite—marriage. Turns out, the only woman he wants is Roxanne, but peddling thongs and sex toys isn’t a suitable career for the spouse of an up-and-coming attorney.

Problems in Paradise

Book three of Texas Nights

Eden Durant hasn’t always been Eden Durant. She’s made a fresh start in Shelbyville, Texas, far from her mother’s notoriety. Running the Paradise Garden Café is as much excitement as Eden wants—or it was, until she meets Beck Childress. Although he’s the one man who could expose her past, she’s willing to open up enough to see if he might be her future.

Chief Deputy Childress is determined to get to know the real Eden, when he isn’t busy cleaning up after the sheriff and running in the election to replace him. When several men fall sick after eating in Eden’s café, he investigates even as her mysterious past raises both his suspicions and his protective instincts.

As their relationship heats up, so do the pressures of Beck’s campaign. When Eden’s secrets are revealed, jeopardizing his dream of becoming sheriff, he’ll need to choose: serve and protect the town he loves or the woman who makes it home.

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