Hale's Point (29 page)

“Exciting? Dangerous?” He sank down next to her and took her
in his arms. “I’ve created a monster.”

“An insatiable monster,” she said. “Come to my room tonight.”

She could see his eyes light with anticipation, but after a
moment’s thought he said, “Not here, not in
R.H.’s
house with him down the hall. We’d have to sneak around like teenagers. And not
out here anymore, for the amusement of the neighbors. Let’s wait until we’re
aboard the
Anjelica
.”

“You want to wait until our wedding night?”

He chuckled. “It does seem out of character, I know. But yes,
I want to wait. The next time we make love, it’s going to be on the deck of the
Anjelica
,
under the stars. I want to feel the ocean swell beneath me while I’m inside
you. I want to make you insane with pleasure. I want us to lose ourselves in
each other, in the middle of nowhere, where no one can hear us or see us.”

“Yes.” she whispered, gripping his head to pull it down until
their mouths met in a deep, lingering kiss.

Tucker broke the kiss and pointed to the sky. “Check it out.”

Harley sat up and looked. Against a sunset of fiery
brilliance, tiny spheres floated up and drifted out over the sound. “Phil’s
balloons,” she said. “Phil’s and Kitty’s.”

“Ours, too,” he said. “They were my idea, after all. And now
that they’ve been set free, I think we have as much of a claim to them as
anybody.”

Tucker put his arms around her and held her in a silent
embrace as the balloons rose higher and higher, floating wherever the breezes
took them. First there were dozens, then hundreds, in every hue of the rainbow,
scattering across the sky, filling it with color.

They watched, transfixed, until the last balloon rose into
the darkening heavens and disappeared, a fleeting testament to lasting love.

About the Author

Patricia Ryan has written more than
two dozen novels, which have garnered rave reviews and been published in over
twenty countries. A RITA
®
winner and
four-time nominee, she is also the recipient of two
Romantic Times
Awards
and a Mary Higgins Clark Award nomination for the second book of her historical
mystery series featuring Boston governess Nell Sweeney, which she wrote under
the name
P.B.
Ryan. Pat’s Evil Twin, Pamela
Burford
, is also a published romance novelist.

ALSO BY PATRICIA RYAN

Contemporary
Romance/Women’s Fiction

Pure and Simple

A Burning Touch

Shelter from the Storm, a short story

Medieval
Romances:

Falcon’s
Fire

Heaven’s
Fire

Secret
Thunder

Wild
Wind

The
Sun and the Moon

Historical
Mysteries by
P.B.
Ryan:

Still
Life with Murder

Murder
in a Mill Town

Death
on Beacon Hill

Murder
on Black Friday

Murder
in the North End

A Bucket of Ashes