Harlequin Special Edition November 2014 - Box Set 2 of 2: The Maverick's Thanksgiving Baby\A Celebration Christmas\Dr. Daddy's Perfect Christmas (36 page)

“And we can all stay together?” Megan asked, concern clouding her blue eyes.

“Absolutely,” said Cullen. “Because you are all going to stay right here. I mean, if that's okay with you.”

The kids jumped up and down and clapped their hands, cheering even louder than before.

Lily gasped and clapped and cheered right along with them.

When? What? When had he decided to do a complete one-eighty? The last time they'd talked about it... Well, he wouldn't even talk about it. But it didn't matter; she was so happy for him and the kids. She tried not to let herself dwell on what it meant for the two of them and their relationship. Still, she couldn't help wondering.

After the excitement died down, and they managed to drag the kids away from the cold and from their new bikes, with the promise of an after-dinner bike ride, a completely different thought struck Lily.

Before they reconvened around the Christmas tree, Lily said, “I'm so happy for you and the kids. Have you given any thought about where they'll go to school? If you send them to Brighton Academy, I'd be happy to help you take them to and from school. But I just need to make sure that you realize I'm going back to work after the first of the year. I can't be your full-time nanny.”

Cullen reached out and ran a finger over her bottom lip. “I don't want you to be the nanny. I want you to be my wife.”

Lily blinked once. Then twice. Unsure if she'd heard him right. “Cullen?”

“I realize this is sudden and I'm hoping you don't think I got carried away. I probably should've talked to you about this before telling the kids—”

“No,” she said. “This is the most wonderful Christmas present you could've given them. You've given them a home, Cullen.”

Her eyes welled with tears from the beauty of it all.

“I love you, Lily. You and the kids are the only real family I've ever known. It took a while for me to realize it, but I can't imagine living another day without you.”

He told her about the call he'd gotten from Cameron Brady. “After talking to him and facing the prospect of splitting the kids up and them not getting the chance to grow up together, I just couldn't do it. It all became crystal clear. The kids had to stay with me. And there's one more thing.”

He took her hand and led her into the living room, where the kids were gathered around the Christmas tree.

“Lily gets the next present,” he said. He reached down and pulled a small box from under the tree skirt. Holding her hand, he got down on one knee and presented the box to her.

“Lily Palmer, will you do me the honor of being my wife?”

“Please say yes,” said Bridget. “Then you can be our mommy rather than our nanny.”

Lily was so overcome with emotion, she was stunned speechless. Cullen must've mistaken the look on her face for hesitation because he said, “Kids, why don't you go out and look at your new bikes for a few moments? Then after you come back in, we'll finish opening presents.”

The kids ran to the back door.

Lily finally found her voice. “You didn't have to send them outside.”

“Yes, I did. I need you to know that I love you. I want to marry you because I want a life with you, not just because you would be a convenient nanny for the kids. However, when I decided to adopt them, I made the decision to commit fully to them, too.

“I wanted to make a big gesture so that you know how much you mean to me. I'm willing to fight for you to make you stay. But I didn't realize how daunting this all must be for you. If you need time to think about it, I understand.”

“Cullen, are you trying to talk me into marrying you or are you trying to talk me out of it?”

“No. Neither. I mean, yes. I would be the happiest man in the world if you would marry me.”

“Yes. My answer is yes. Because I can't imagine living a day without you, either. All of you.”

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her senseless.

“Let's go get the kids,” he said.

When they were all together around the tree, he got down on one knee again and took her hand. “I want this to be right. So, I'm going to ask again. Will you do me the great honor of being my wife?”

“Yes! That would make me the happiest woman in the world.”

Cullen took the ring from the box—a gorgeous round solitaire that winked in the light of the Christmas tree—and slipped it on her finger. It fit perfectly. Just like her new family.

Before Cullen could get to his feet, George sneaked up between him and Lily and held a piece of mistletoe between them.

“Now you have to kiss,” Megan said, jumping up and down, clapping her hands. “If you don't, you'll be breaking the rules of Christmas.”

* * * * *

Keep reading for an excerpt from SANTA'S PLAYBOOK by Karen Templeton

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Chapter One

T
oday would have been his sixteenth anniversary.

Only half hearing the kids' thudding and slamming and yelling from downstairs, Ethan Noble glanced out his bedroom window, where a pair of chattering squirrels chased each other through an oak tree, the bare branches thickly webbed against a pale November sky. It'd been cold and windy that day, too, the mottled clouds occasionally spitting on everybody's windshields as they made their way to All Saints.

But nobody'd cared. About the weather, about the indisputable fact that Merri's stomach bulged a little underneath her high-waisted wedding dress. So things'd happened slightly out of order. Since it'd all worked out like they'd always planned anyway, what difference did it make—?

His cell buzzed—an incoming text message. Only one person who'd call this early. And for only one reason. Ethan scooped the phone off his nightstand.

Thinking of you.

If anyone would understand what he was feeling today it'd be the man who'd adopted Ethan when he was a toddler. Also a widower for some years now, Preston Noble had set an example of strength and loyalty and fairness that Ethan could only hope to emulate, especially as a parent. And his father had adored Merri....

God, she'd been beautiful. And so fricking happy. Same as he'd been, even if Juliette's precipitous appearance hadn't been in the playbook. Merri, though... She'd been a part of his playbook since they were fifteen.

Juliette's age, he thought as his daughter appeared in the doorway, her wavy, warm brown hair streaked with some god-awful color. At least it was only chalk, it washed out, but still. Lime-green?

“Um...the others had breakfast, sorta. Cereal, anyway. So...I'm ready to go—?”

“Sure,” Ethan said, smiling. “We're good.”

Jules came over, standing on tiptoe to give him a hug, a peck on his scratchy cheek. Shaving was strictly optional on the weekends. Then she released him, eyes full of concern, and Ethan's stung. He didn't make an issue of the anniversary, so the younger kids were oblivious. But Jules... She knew. In fact, she already had her eye on Merri's wedding dress, packed up safe in the special heirloom box in Ethan's closet. Never mind she was already three inches taller than her mother.

“You know, I don't have to go—”

“It's only another Saturday, honey. So get outta here,” he said in an exaggerated Jersey accent. “Do your mom proud, okay?”

“Okay,” she said, and started off, only to spin around at the door. “I'll do a real breakfast when I get back. How's that?”

“Whatever,” Ethan said, loving her so much it hurt. And not only because she was the spitting image of Merri, except for her eyes, more green-blue than purple-blue. But because he'd look at her and think,
How'd I luck out to get one this good?

Unlike the twins, he thought on a brief chuckle as the boys bellowed downstairs. Then Isabella had arrived, a surprise after a six-year dry spell, to more than outshine her brothers in the Tasmanian devil department—

Briefly, resentment stabbed that his youngest daughter would never know her mother.

But like always, he shrugged off the memories, the self-pity and anger and—even after all this time—the disbelief as he slowly descended the stairs, his palm lightly raking the dark wood banister's numerous dings and gouges that long preceded his and Merri's buying the house four blocks from the high school, right after the twins were born. At the bottom he flexed his knee, willing the ache to subside: coaching peewee football was a lot more physical than high school varsity.

He'd no sooner reached the kitchen than the three remaining kids accosted him about a dozen things needing his immediate attention—hell, even the dog whined to go outside. But Ethan found the bombardment comforting, even reassuring, in its life-as-usual normalcy. So, as he let out the dog and returned the kids' verbal volleys and poured more milk for Bella and double-checked the schedule on the fridge so they wouldn't be late for the twins' game, he gave silent thanks for the day-to-day craziness that kept him sane.

That kept him focused, not on what he'd lost, but on what he still had.

Even when his gaze caught, prominently displayed on the family room wall twenty feet beyond the kitchen, the wedding portrait of those two crazy-in-love twenty-two-year-olds, grinning like they had all the time in the world to figure life out.

Happy anniversary, babe,
he silently wished the only woman he'd ever loved.

* * *

Ancient floorboards creaked underfoot in the overheated Queen Anne as Claire Jacobs methodically assessed the leavings from someone's life. She yanked off her heavy knit hat, shaking her curls free.
Poodle hair,
her mother had called it. Smiling, Claire lifted a lovely cut-glass bowl to check the price. Only to nearly drop it. This was an estate sale, for cripes' sake. Not Sotheby's.

As if reading her mind, some prissy old dude in a tweed jacket squinted at her from several feet away. Ignoring him, Claire replaced the bowl and glanced around at the jumble of furniture and accessories and tchotchkes, all moping like rejected props from
Mad Men.
And for this she'd dragged her butt out of bed on one of the few mornings she could actually sleep in—?

Wait... She scurried across the room to practically snatch the leaded-glass lamp off the table. Okay, it was hardly Tiffany, not for twenty bucks, but it would look terrific on that little table by her front door—

“Miss Jacobs?”

Clutching her prize, Claire twisted around...and grinned. “Juliette! What are you doing here?”

Sporting a denim jacket, a blinged-out hoodie and preppy shorts worn over patterned tights, Claire's student flashed a mouthful of metal punctuated by hot pink ties. “We live a few houses down,” she said, and Claire's stomach pinched. Since “we” included Hoover High's ridiculously good-looking, widowed football coach, the object of probably most of Maple River's postpubescent female fantasies. Except Claire, of course, who was above such folderol. Stomach pinching aside. “So I figured I'd check it out,” the teen said, “see what was good.”

“Not sure there's much that would appeal to a teenager,” Claire said even as Juliette zeroed in on a demitasse collection, carefully picking up one of the cups and holding it to the light.

“Oh, I'm not looking for myself.” She scrutinized another cup. “It's for my business.”

“Your...business?”

“Used to be my mom's. She'd buy stuff at estate sales and flea markets, then sell it on eBay. She was pretty good at it, too.” This said matter-of-factly as the girl sidled over to a stash of old books. “She taught me what to look for, how to price things and stuff. So a few months ago I decided to try selling some pieces myself.”

“And is it working?”

“It is.” Juliette selected a couple of the books, tucking them to her side. “Which is great, since it'll help pay for college. Depending on where I go, of course.” Another sparkling grin accompanied her words. “I'd have to sell a boatload of stuff to afford Yale.”

Claire's heart twisted. Although she'd only been teaching a few months—a fork in her life path she could have never predicted—she knew it was wrong to have favorites. And truthfully she loved all “her” kids. Not only her drama students, but even the less-than-motivated ones in her English classes who groaned every time she made them dredge correctly spelled words from their iPodded/Padded/Phoned brains and
write them down.
By hand. On paper.

But this one was special, for many reasons, not the least of which was her plucky, wide-eyed determination to not only succeed at something at which few did, but also her refusal to feel sorry for herself. Or let anyone else feel sorry for her either, despite losing her mother so young. A stroke, she'd heard. At thirty-five. No prior symptoms, no warning... How scary must that have been? For all of them. Claire had been a little younger than Juliette when her dad died—suddenly, like Juliette's mom—and she'd been stunned by how tenaciously the pain had clung. And yet, if Juliette was suffering from bitterness or resentment, Claire sure as hell couldn't see it.

“There are plenty of drama programs besides Yale's, you know,” she said as Juliette carted two of the delicate cups and saucers to the table. “And it would definitely be cheaper to go to school in-state.” Claire's sole option, when her mother had barely made enough to keep them housed and fed, let alone fund her only child's college education.

“Yeah, I know.” Juliette meticulously stacked books, a few old toys, other odds and ends that Claire wouldn't have thought worth squat next to the cups. Mr. Tweed frowned, but Juliette seemed unfazed, returning to poke through the offerings on another table. “But not a lot of schools that people will actually take your theater degree
seriously.
”

Except—as Claire knew only too well—when you're one of a gazillion actresses auditioning for the same part, the invisible director sitting in the dark theater doesn't give a damn where you got your degree. Or even if you have one. However, she was hardly going to burst a fifteen-year-old's bubble.

Juliette carted over a few more cups. “And, yeah, I know I'll have to keep my grades up like crazy, and that's not even
counting
the audition. But it's dumb to admit defeat before you've even tried, right? At least that's what Mom always said.”

Claire paid for her lamp, which seemed to slightly mollify old Tweedledee. “Very true. And...your dad? Is he on board with your plans?”

“Sure,” Juliette said quickly, poking her hair behind an ear only slightly less studded than Claire's. “And anyway, I've got a couple years to figure it out, so...” She stopped, frowning at her growing collection. Tweedy glowered.

“Problem, young lady?”

“Yeah. My eyes are bigger than my arms. Um...if I pay for everything now, would you mind if I take it in several trips? Since I walked over here—”

“I could give you a lift,” Claire said.

Big blue eyes met hers. “You sure?”

“Absolutely.”

“Okay, then. Thanks!” Juliette dug her wallet out of the worn Peruvian-style shoulder bag she always carried as the guy added up her purchases. “Guess this is what you'd call...serendipity. See—I remembered from that vocab list last week. I am so gonna rock my SATs.” Then she sighed. “The language part, anyway. Because I totally suck at math. Like Mom did. It's like a genetic curse.”

Claire smiled. “What about your father?”

Rolling her eyes, the girl handed over a wad of cash to Tweedsie as a woman wearing a matching scowl wrapped the breakables in tissue paper, placing them in a cardboard box that had once housed cans of little Friskies. “He did his best when I was in middle school, and I didn't flunk, so that's something. But there's a reason he teaches PE.”

And clearly the girl had also inherited her mother's sense of humor, since from what little interaction Claire'd had with Juliette's father, she doubted he had one. “Then, maybe you should start working with a tutor. Get a leg up before it gets any harder.”

“Omigod—it gets
harder?
”

This said with a twinkle in those blue-green eyes, a flash of dimples. Shaking her head at the teen's giggle, Claire hauled a bag of unbreakables off the table and started toward the front door, holding the lamp aloft like Lady Liberty's torch. Juliette followed with the first of three boxes, which they loaded into the trunk of the ten-year-old Ford Taurus that had belonged to Claire's mother. A few minutes later they pulled up in front of a dignified but slightly weathered twenties-era Tudor...and Claire fell immediately in love.

Not that she felt inclined to two-time her adorable apartment, wedged under the eaves of an even older Queen Anne on the other side of town. It was quirky and funky and all sorts of other -
y
words, and she adored it. But this house, with its dark wood trim and gabled roof and ivy scrambling up one corner to tickle one of the windows... Wow. Of course, three weeks before Thanksgiving the forty-foot oak on one side was bare, but a pair of frosted spruces glistened in the sun, and a little curl of fireplace smoke teased the bright blue sky, hinting at the warmth inside.

And this charming house was where Ethan Noble lived. Huh.

Claire popped the trunk and got out, figuring she'd help Juliette haul her loot inside, then scram. Except before they got through the slightly scratched up front door, adorned with a slightly sorry fall wreath, not only did the cutest, fuzziest, little white dog trot over to say hi, but Juliette said, “Hey—have you had breakfast? I make awesome omelets. And I'm sure Dad put coffee on, there's always coffee when he's home. Or I could make hot chocolate?”

Yes, Claire could smell the coffee, singing to her like it was auditioning for
The Voice
. But again, getting overly chummy with a student... Not a good idea under the best of circumstances. Getting chummy with one whose father practically gave Claire the evil eye whenever they ran into each other...

“That's lovely of you to offer, but—”

“Pleeease?” Juliette said, and the coffee crooned a little more sweetly, and Claire's stomach growled, and she thought,
Oh, what the hell?

“You really make good omelets?” she said, and the girl squealed and clapped her hands, yeesh, and the dog did a little dance on its hind legs, and then an absolutely adorable little squirt wearing half her closet barreled down the stairs and right into Juliette's thighs, prattling on about
stupid
Harry and
dumb
Finn and how much she hated, hated,
hated
boys, and Claire got a little dizzy.

Juliette, however, calmly set her box on a nearby table and crouched in front of her baby sister, brushing back a tangle of pale blond hair from a very pissed-looking little face. “So what'd they do this time?” she asked, and the child rattled off a litany of offenses, which were then interrupted by a very masculine but somewhat weary “Bella. Enough.”