The Art Of Deception, Book Two, Stolen Hearts series, Romantic Suspense (30 page)

She laid her hand on his arm as he reached down to lift her legs up on the sofa. “Just water, okay?”

“Gotcha. Just...just stay there.”

Like she had the stamina to go anywhere else. He raced to the kitchen and poured a glass of water. Sophie was here, probably to kick his ass. He’d thrown her out of his house straight into Ciro’s arms.

When he returned to the living room, she was stretched out on the sofa, her eyes closed. She looked so fragile.
Bruised
. “Here you go." He knelt beside her and waited until she opened her eyes before handing her the glass.

She made little murmuring noises as she drank. They were sounds of pleasure, similar to the sounds she made when making love. His body tightened, and he felt himself harden. You are one sick bucko.

“Thanks." She handed the glass back to him. “I need–”

He twisted the glass around and around in his hand. “Anything, buttercup. Just ask.”

“I need you to hold me.”

His heart boomed in his chest. “I almost got you killed. You don’t need a loser like me to mess up your life.”

She nodded. “You screwed up.”

“That’s an understatement.”

“Get over it.”

“What?” She was smiling at him as if she...as if she....

“Hold me, please. And tell me about Ciro and everything.”

No longer able to resist, he slid on the sofa beside her and pulled her on to his lap. “No one told you what happened?” He buried his nose in her hair and inhaled. There was the faint odor of hospital, but underneath, goddamn if he didn’t catch a whiff of turpentine. He smiled and kissed the top of her head.

“We started this together. I thought we should end it together." She smiled up at him.

He swallowed the lump in his throat. “Yeah. Okay. I don’t know how to say this without it sounding weird so I’m going to tell you straight out.”

“Good. I knew I could count on you.”

He took a deep breath. “Ciro’s your step-brother.”

“What?” She twisted around to stare at him.

“Yeah. His father, Travis Collins, is also your father. From what Ciro told us, Daddy disinherited him for being a lazy jerk. He also told Ciro he had other children who had made him proud of their accomplishments, and until Ciro could prove he was as good as his stepbrother and sister, he wouldn’t get another cent out of the old man.”

“Ciro’s my brother?”

“Step-brother.”

“So, if Raphael and I went to jail for art forgery, Ciro would look good to his father.”

“That was his reasoning.”

She burrowed deeper into his arms. “And my mother?”

“Ciro’s a sick puppy. And your mother, she’s a lonely woman.”

“I should have spent more time with her.”

He tightened his arms around her. “No one’s perfect.”

“No, no one’s perfect." She suddenly pushed his arms away and stood.

He braced himself. Here it came. The big kiss off. Goddamn. He blinked. He was not going to freaking cry.

Sophie placed a knee on either side of his lap, straddled him and hung her arms loosely around his neck. “Your sister came to see me in the hospital.”

“She did?” Where was she going with this? He didn’t dare so much as breathe in case she pulled away.

“Did you know she’s been taking business courses at night and on the weekends?”

“Business courses?”

Sophie grinned. “Yes. She wants to buy the bar where she works. Apparently, the guy who owns it wants out.”

Maisie, a business woman? It made a weird kind of sense now that he thought of it. She’d gotten by on peanuts all these years, so why couldn’t she manage a business?

“I offered to loan her the money for the down payment,” Sophie continued.

“Hang on a sec, buttercup. You don’t want to be taking on my family as well as your own.”

“I was thinking...." She licked her lips and glanced nervously around the room. “Well hell." Her gaze lasered into his. “Will you marry me, Vince Gage? That way it would be all in the family.”

“Marry you?”

“I know this is coming out of nowhere, and I don’t exactly fit the suburban housewife profile, but with a little time–”

“You want to marry me? Are you nuts? Sophie, I almost got you killed this morning.”

The desperate look in her eyes softened. “You made a mistake.”

“A big mistake." He tried breathing. She wanted to marry him.

“So you’re not perfect. Neither am I. But I figured we might get it right with our kids.”

“Our kids?” He was beginning to feel like a parrot, but hot damn, Sophie wanted to marry him.

“You said you wanted three." She bit her lip and looked at him. “I thought we’d try one and go from there.”

A laugh started deep down inside of him. He grinned. “You’ve got it all figured out.”

She smiled back. “Almost. We can live here for a while.”

“But you hate the suburbs.”

Her expression sobered. “You’re not getting it, are you? Wherever you are is home, Vince. I don’t care if we camp out in the middle of the woods.”

He pulled her close enough that he could taste her breath. “The answer is yes, I’ll marry you. Tomorrow. Next week. Whenever. Just as long as it’s soon." He pressed his lips against hers, but she pulled back.

“I have one condition."

His breath hitched as he took in her serious expression. “Anything. Name it.”

“You have to teach me how to cook.”

Gage laughed and gathered her back into his arms where she belonged. “I’m a doomed man, aren’t I?”

Sophie kissed him softly. “And loving it.”

“Oh yeah. Definitely loving it.”

###

Growing up in New Brunswick, Canada, Kate Kelly had long red braids and freckles. Ah, you say, Anne of Green Gables. Not quite. Sunday mornings, outside the church they both attended, Mary Grannan, the author of Maggie Muggins, would greet Kate with, "Good morning, Maggie Muggins. How are you today?" Bedazzled by the wonderful, outlandish hats Mary Grannan wore, Kate doesn't remember what she replied on those occasions.

Kate has had a life-long love affair with books, but writing came in fits and starts. She didn’t take it seriously until her forties. Now she can’t get along without it. She has the good fortune to still live on the east coast of Canada with her husband (the children have flown away). She writes, grow herbs and perennials and sails when the wind blows her way.

A Deliberate Father - Superromance, Harlequin, Dec. 2011

Sleight Of Hand - Book one of the Stolen Hearts Series.

The Art Of Deception

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: twitter.com@katekellywrites

Website: http://www.katekelly.ca