Seeing Stars: A Loveswept Classic Romance (16 page)

“If I catch you anywhere near the river without that on,” he warned her in that no-nonsense tone of his, “I’ll turn you over my knee.”

She sassed him back with “Promises, promises.” But she liked it so much, she left it on while she opened the rest of her gifts.

Nick’s generosity knew no bounds. He’d bought her a dozen pairs of long underwear made of pure combed cotton, breathable and warm in the coldest, dampest weather. A new graphite rod and two reels, one for spin casting and one for bait casting, guaranteed years of good fishing. Sweaters woven of the softest wool and a negligee spun of the sheerest rose-colored silk …

Finally only two boxes remained.

“Open this one first.” He indicated the larger of the two.

“Oh, Nick …” A strong emotion misted her eyes when she saw the black leather medical bag with
the words “Dovie Monroe, R.N.” etched in gold on one side. “I love it, but I’m afraid it’s a little late for me to think about going to nursing school. In four years I’ll be thirty-nine.”

“And how old will you be in four years if you
don’t
go to nursing school?” he argued softly.

She struggled to master her emotions. “I’ll send for another application.”

Last but not least …

“Heavens to Betsy Wetsy,” Dovie whispered when she removed the lid from the remaining box and saw the doll lying there.

She sat numb for a moment, reliving the sugarplum visions of that long-ago Christmas Eve and the painful disappointment of the morning after. Then she picked it up, amazed by the natural curve her arm made around it, and touched the soft café-au-lait-colored hair, the pink silk dress trimmed in lace, those delicately embroidered ankle socks, and the black patent-leather slippers.

The tears came in a sudden rush then, blinding her, choking her, as she cradled the beautiful blue-eyed doll of her childhood dreams.

Nick lifted her onto his lap and let her cry, knowing she needed the cleansing release as much as he needed to shelter and comfort her.

Dovie hugged her doll and sobbed against his shoulder, wondering if there was anyone anywhere as happy as she was at that moment.

The peppery aroma of Smithfield ham permeated the house, mingling with the spicy sweetness of cedar and bay. In the living room a little girl and her twin brother played with their new toys in a rainbow of tree lights. In the kitchen their mommy kissed Santa Claus.…

“Merry Christmas,” Dovie whispered against his lips.

“Happy Groundhog Day,” Nick answered teasingly before he lowered his mouth to hers.

“You missed New Year’s,” she murmured when he raised his head.

He remedied that with a thorough kiss that kept his tongue nestled in her mouth for breathless minutes.

Ten years, and they still couldn’t get enough of each other.

She laughed throatily. “You taste like chocolate sticky bun.”

He nuzzled her neck. “You smell like roses … all over.”

“Which reminds me …” She placed her lips against his ear so their five-year-old twins wouldn’t hear her. “I love my new unmentionables.”

“Me too.” His hands found the dearly beloved curve of her derriere and squeezed it gently, urging her forward and upward.

Every Christmas Eve, which they secretly considered their anniversary, Nick gave her sexy lingerie. Since they were gifts for him as much as they were for her, Dovie modeled them in the privacy of their bedroom.

This year he’d chosen a wispy silver-gray bikini drenched in lace, with a matching garter belt and bra. And last night, as always, they’d fanned the home fires with a fervor that defied description.

She leaned against him and sighed.

“Tired?”

“A little.”

He crushed her to him, loving the feel of her compact body against his. Every time he touched her, naked or clothed, he saw stars. “What time is everyone coming for dinner today?”

“Curtis said they couldn’t get here until two.” She gave silent thanks that the family ties were stronger for having been tested. “And I don’t look for the rest of them much before that.”

“Where’s Harley?”

“He wanted to see his sister in Richmond before he picked Arie up at the airport.”

Dovie glanced at the slim gold watch that Nick had given her when she graduated from nursing school. The one and only time it had been off her wrist since then was the day she’d given birth to the twins. “That leaves you three hours and ten minutes to talk me out of ordering that new CAT scanner for the clinic.”

One corner of his mouth slanted up in a smile as he reached into his hip pocket, then handed her an invoice that was stamped “Paid in Full.” According to the date in the upper right-hand corner, he’d placed the order almost a month ago. “Merry Christmas.”

Tears blinded her and made the lines on the ticket bleed together. “Thank you.”

Even after all these years, his generosity never ceased to amaze her. He’d encouraged her to become a nurse-practitioner, then agreed to serve as the supervising physician of the Spicey Hill Health Center. And she needed look no farther than her own backyard to see that he’d given her two of the most beautiful children she’d ever laid eyes on.

“Have you noticed how quiet it is in there?” Nick inclined his head toward the living room.

Dovie gazed lovingly in the same direction and smiled through her tears. “I told you when they
woke us up at five-thirty this morning that they wouldn’t make it till noon.”

“Should we move them?” he whispered as they tiptoed closer to the leather wing chair, where the twins had curled up with a storybook and fallen fast asleep.

“Not unless you want to baby-sit them while
I
take a nap,” she answered with a big yawn.

They were silent for a moment, each remembering the miracle they’d shared in the delivery room.

Dovie remembered the sight of those small bodies slithering from her womb, the feel of their precious little mouths suckling at her nipple, and the sweet smell of talcum powder when she cuddled them and kissed them. Nick remembered his awe at touching them, counting their fingers and toes, and hearing them cry.

They’d named their daughter Catherine, after her mother, and their son Michael, after his father.

“Penny for your thoughts,” he prompted softly.

“I was just thinking how lucky we are,” she murmured.

Granted, they had more than the usual problems that married couples face. Nick’s blindness still depressed him sometimes, and Dovie could only hold him, letting him feel her love. But most of the time, when they curled up together at night after their gloriously tender lovemaking, she was the one who felt sheltered and protected.

He dipped a vagabond finger into the ribbed V
neckline of her sweater in a caress so evocative, her stomach churned with excitement. “What time is it?”

She shifted her position slightly to allow him better access to her breasts and smiled up at him. He was beautiful, even dressed in blue jeans and a flannel shirt. But in her mind’s eye she saw him as he looked best. Naked. “Time for a nap?”

His soft laughter ruffled her hair; his strong hand stroked her lyre flare of hip. “I thought you’d never ask.”

Arm in arm then they walked toward their bedroom, both of them wearing the look of love.

Welcome to Loveswept!

The chill of fall is in the air, creating the perfect setting for romance readers to snuggle up with a good book. And as luck would have it I think
Loveswept
has the perfect book for you! As you sharpen your skates, Erik is already on the ice in Toni Aleo’s next installment in the hockey
Assassins Series
,
BLUE LINES
. Reviewers rave about Toni’s characters and the emotional depths she takes them to. Introduce yourself to this ice-melting series beginning with:
TAKING SHOTS
,
TRYING TO SCORE
,
EMPTY NET
, and
FALLING FOR THE BACKUP
– you’ll see what all of the excitement is about.

And, the romance never stops – don’t miss:

Fran Baker’s
SEEING STARS
, a seductive tale of first loves and second chances; Sandra Chastain’s
FIREBRAND
, meet a sexy rancher Rusty Wilder – gotta love a man in cowboy boots! Sandra’s classics continue with
THE JUDGE AND THE GYPSY
, when payback turns to passion; and
THE LAST DANCE
, another installment in Sandra Chastain’s
Mac’s Angels
series! And, readers have never forgotten Iris Johansen’s bestselling
Loveswept
s including,
MATILDA THE ADVENTURESS
, a
Delaney’s of Killaroo
sequel.

Love doesn’t end here because there’s more next month!

Happy Romance –

Gina Wachtel

Associate Publisher

“Yes,” Katie said, gripping the steering wheel harder. “Uh-huh, yes, I get it.” She glanced in the rearview mirror, signaled left, and changed lanes. The traffic was getting thicker as they approached Louisville.

Her brother kept talking, his voice robbed of its customary power by the cheap speakers of her cell phone, which sat in a cup-holder mount and broadcast Caleb’s warnings upward at her head. “If you have the slightest indication that there’s danger attached to this threat, you’re going to call me, and—”

“Yesssssss,” she droned.

The drama was wasted on Caleb, who was going to give her this lecture for the seventeenth time whether she wanted to hear it or not.

It was wasted on Katie’s traveling companion, too. Sean didn’t react to anything she did. Ever.

Katie glanced at the man in the passenger seat of her Jetta, just to be sure. His expression as he stared out the windshield matched the bleak, featureless expanse of southbound I-71. He was like a human wall of granite, completely impervious to everything about her.

A stern, gorgeous cliff face.

Suppressing a sigh, she tuned back in to Caleb’s speech. “—you to be in charge of anything along those lines, Sean. This is a trial run for Katie. I’m only letting her go because Judah insists she’s the one he wants to work with. You got that, Katie? It’s Sean’s show. I need you to play nice and stay out of his way.”

“Yes,” she confirmed. “I know the deal. I agreed to the deal. I am on board with the deal. Now can we stop talking about it, please?”

She flinched at the way her voice came out, sharper than she’d meant to sound. It was only because she was nervous about this trip. Her palms had gone clammy and slimed the leather wheel cover, so uncomfortable did it make her to venture into an unknown city to do an unfamiliar job with a man who didn’t like her.

She had a tendency to bristle when nervous.

One more bad habit she needed to make an effort to tame. Better to be professional. What Katie really needed to figure out was how to act cool and icy like some kind of Bond Girl assassin, slinking around and poisoning people by slipping strychnine into their drinks.

Except without the poisoning. Her goal was to win herself a promotion from office manager to agent for Caleb’s security company, not to become an assassin. Not unless her ex-husband strolled into town needing assassinating.

“We’ll stop talking about it when I’m positive you’re going to cooperate,” Caleb said. “Right now, you sound like you’re blowing smoke up my ass.”

“I’m not,” she replied levelly. “I promise. I understand that this is your company and Sean’s assignment, and I’m just a companion on this trip. I promise I’ll be quiet and helpful and learn things, okay?”

“I need you to be safe.”

She made a face, then immediately regretted it. Wrinkling her nose and pursing her lips in response to Caleb’s babying only proved she deserved to be babied. Not the way she wanted Sean to see her.

She flicked another glance in his direction. If he saw her at all, he gave no sign.

“I’m safe,” she said.

“I care about you, Katelet.”

“I know you do,” she replied. “I care about you, too.”

“And it’s only because I care about you that I’m going to say this again …”

Katie tapped her fingertips against the steering wheel and stopped listening.

She understood his worry. Ever since she’d confessed that she was married and needed to locate her spouse so she could get divorced, Caleb had become all concerned and brotherly. She kept waiting for him to go back to the way he’d been before, but so far, no luck.

Five years older than her, her brother was a born nice guy who had spent most of his adulthood in the Military Police before moving home a year ago to help take care of their parents after their dad had a stroke. Katie had been living in his house rent-free at the time, working as a bartender nights and spending her days in elastic-waist pants, moping and watching daytime TV. Her husband, Levi, had cleaned her out and dropped her like a bad habit, and she’d returned from the life they’d built in Alaska in defeat. She’d practically regressed to adolescence by the time Caleb pulled her out of her self-pity slump.