Tempting Taine (22 page)

Sending Aroha off to her father's house alone was the coward's way out - she knew that.
 
But
it was the only way she could think of to put off giving Taine his answer for a little while longer.
 
The answer that would break her heart.

These past few weeks she had spent in a fool's paradise.
 
Being near Taine, sharing in the joy he found with Aroha, making love with him - she had fooled herself that it would go on forever.
 
That he would fall in love with her again, as he had when they were both young.
 
As she had fallen so desperately in love with him all over again.

But
no.
 
When his father died, he turned to her for comfort.
 
Comfort.
 
Nothing else.

Not love.

Never love.

The memory still had the power to tie her stomach in knots and make her want to be violently ill.

He wanted his daughter.
 
He wanted a bedmate.

He did not love her.
 
He did not want a wife.

Soon she would be strong enough to tell him no, that she
couldn't
marry him.
 
She deserved a man who would love her and accept her as part of his life, rather than
to slowly starve
on the crumbs he threw in her direction.

But
not yet.
 
Let her live in her fool's paradise for just a few days longer.

She wiped a tear away with the back of her hand.
 
It was past time for her
to finally grow
up.

"You okay, Mom?" Aroha asked, as she passed over her toy parrot to be packed.

"I'm as fine as a box of fluffy ducks," she lied.

Luckily
Aroha's
attention was distracted by the doorbell
.
 
"
Oooh
, there's Dad.
 
He's early."
 
And
she ran off to let him in.

"Where's your stuff?" Taine asked, as Verity stood at the door and handed him
Aroha's
bag and coat.

Verity crossed her arms over her chest.
 
"I can't come this weekend.
 
Sorry.
 
I have other plans."
 
Plans that involved eating an entire tub of ice cream by herself and crying her eyes out, but he
didn't
need to know that.
 

He took a step backwards, looking as stunned as if she had just smacked him in the face with a wet fish.
 
"But you always come with her."

"Aroha knows you now.
 
She'll be fine by herself."

"I had plans for the three of us."

"I'm sure they'll do just as with for the two of you," she said with forced brightness.
 
"Now, if you will excuse me."

Taine grabbed her hand.
 
"Oh no, you don't," he said in a warning tone.
 
"I've been waiting nearly two weeks for your answer, and I'm not going to wait any longer."

"But…"
 
Her voice trailed off.

"I thought so," he said.
 
His face was as black as a summer storm.
 
"You thought you could avoid me for a few more days.
 
Well,
that's
not going to happen.
 
You and I are going to have a talk now, whether you like it or not."

"But Aroha…"

"Can you wait in the house for a moment,
Aroha.
"
 
The tone of his voice showed plainly that any kind of protest would be useless.
 
"We'll get going soon.
 
I just need to have a talk to your mother."

Aroha looked up into his black face.
 
"Are you mad at her?"

"No, I'm not mad at her."
 
The words
were forced
out between gritted teeth.

"You
look
mad at her.
 
But you'd better not growl at her or I'll hate you, even if you
are
my dad."
 
And
with that she stalked back into the house, throwing a suspicious look back over her shoulder at him as she went.

Taine stood and looked at her, just looked, as if he could see through into her soul.
 
"I'll have my answer now."

Suddenly she was desperate for few more seconds' grace.
 
"Not here.
 
Not where the whole street can hear us."
 
She led him along the side of the house and into the back garden to a seat along the back fence.
 

She sat down, feeling as though she were a frayed rope about to snap.
 

Taine sat beside her and put his arm around her shoulder.
 
"You aren't planning to say yes.
 
That's
why you've been avoiding me.

She clenched her fingers into fists.
 
"I'm not going to say yes."

"Why not?"

"Because it wouldn't work out for me.
 
You want to see Aroha more.
 
I can understand why.
 
But we don’t have to get married for that."

"I didn't ask you to marry me because I wanted to see Aroha more."

"Then why?"

"What part of 'will you marry me' do you not understand?
 
I asked you to marry me because I love you, of course.
 
What other possible reason is there?
 
The only reason I will accept for you to say no is that you don't love me back, as madly as I love you."

"You love me?"
 
The joy that welled up in her heart was so great she felt like she was about to burst.

"Yes, I do.
 
I have loved you from the moment I first saw you, ten years ago.
 
I never stopped, Verity.
 
Even when I told myself that you were heartless, selfish, not worth the time I spent agonizing over you, I still loved you.
 
I
couldn't
help it.
 
Whether you marry me or not, you are part of me, Verity, and you always be."

She threw herself into his arms then, and found herself looking up at him as he rained kisses down on her mouth, her cheeks, wherever he could.
 
"I have always loved you, too.
 
There has never been another man in my life.
 
How could there be?
 
When no one could ever match up to you, or mean half as much to me as you did."

"Then you will marry me?"

"Yes," she said through tears of happiness.
 
"Yes and yes and yes forever."

Epilogue

Taine and Verity were married that spring in the garden of the Hunter homestead - now their own family home.
 
Verity wore a simple white dress and carried a bouquet of white and pink climbing roses, while Aroha was in her element as a bridesmaid all in pink, and with more ribbons than she had ever had before.

Jessie Samuels gave her away.
 
"You look after my daughter," she instructed Taine in a fierce whisper, as she put Verity's hand in his.

"I will, Ma'am," he assured her.
 
"I will."

They held the reception in the house, made welcoming with decorations of pink and white flowers.
 
Aroha danced her way through the crowd handing out canapés and declaring to everyone she met that her dad had just married her mom and
wasn't
that just the
bestest
thing ever.

"I'm only sorry Dad didn't live to see us married," Taine said to his new wife, as they
strolled
hand-in-hand through the crowd.
 
"He would have been very happy for us both."

"I'm sure he would have been," Verity replied.
 
He had been kind to her and Aroha both in the last few months of his life, making up for his wife's malice that had cost them all so many years of heartache.

"If only he could have had the same happy ending," Taine said, looking over at Verity's mother.
 
"She would have been good for him, and he would have made her happy in return.
 
He and Mom were miserable together."

"My mom looks pretty happy now," Verity said, watching her mother smiling up at the old friend who had escorted her.
 
"With us married, I think she has finally let go of the past and let herself think of a new future."

"As we have," Taine murmured.
 
He snagged a couple of glasses of champagne off the sideboard and handed one to Verity.
 
"Here's to us."

"To us," she replied, looking into his eyes and reading there of the happiness that awaited her, the happiness of a life spent together.

THE END

Read on for a bonus excerpt of
DANCING WITH DIXIE
by Rosie Graham.

Dixie Delaney is happy with her single life as GP in a small, rural community in the South Island of New Zealand.
That is, until her childhood nemesis, Nate Ryan, arrives back in town, having inherited her childhood home.
One look at him, and she falls head over heels in love.
Problem is
,
he is committed to his work as a doctor in Rwanda.

When Nate's employers inform him that the local Rwandan
community have
insisted that a married man be appointed to the role he so desperately wants, he is quick to ask Dixie to marry him. After all,
he's
been lusting after her for years.
But
can he turn their marriage of convenience into a marriage based on love?

Chapter
1

Of
course
Dixie
noticed
him
standing
at
the
back
of
the
tiny
crowded
church.
What
woman
wouldn't
?

Tall,
broad-shouldered,
tanned,
black
hair
curling
over
open-necked,
white
shirt
collar;
relaxed,
slightly
under-dressed
for
the
occasion.

‘
We
are
gathered
here
together
to
celebrate
the
life
…’
the
vicar
intoned,
breaking
the
sacred
hush.

Dixie
focused
on
the
dust
motes
catching
the
light
through
the
red
and
blue
stained
glass
window,
her
thoughts
decidedly
secular.
Despite
herself
her
head
swiveled
round.
Hmmmm
.
He
certainly
radiated
virility.

Dixie
felt
a
twinge
of
guilt
as
her
attention
wandered.
Her
grandmother
had
been
both
mother
and
father
to
her
since
she
was
six
and
had
been
very
dear
to
her.
She
was
sad
at
her
death
but
not
overwhelmed;
she
had
done
her
grieving
six
months
ago
when
her
grandmother
had
her
stroke.
Now,
death
was
a
natural
progression
and
a
somewhat
welcome
relief.
As
funerals
go,
it
was
a
happy
one.