Trust in Me (24 page)

One eyelid lifted to half-mast. “You said yes, didn’t you?”

She frowned, and damn the man, he gave her a sexy, sleepy grin.

“I’m not stupid, baby. If I ask you again, you might decide you need to think about it. A yes is a yes in my book.”

“Why, you—”

He was laughing now, struggling to sit up in the hide-a-bed so he could get close enough to kiss her. It was a chaste one, especially for him, but the sweetness couldn’t be compared.

“Marry me.” A command if she ever heard one.

“You’re still not asking,” she reminded, but she was smiling against his lips anyway. She’d been saying that to him as long as she’d known him, could see the next sixty years of her life filled with that very statement. At
least
.

“Still not stupid,” he replied, rubbing his cheek to hers. And, oh, the soft bristles of his thickening stubble… She loved that sensation. “Come on, Susie. Make my life worth living.”

“Oh, how am I supposed to say no to that?”

“You’re not.” His hands settled over her belly, adding warmth, letting the baby know he was there. That he’d always be there.

She covered his hand with hers. “I will, then, if you return the favor.”

His eyes glittered. “Consider it done.”

Which was the beautiful thing about this man of hers. She already did.

Epilogue

“Havelocke Jackman, you leave that baby alone!”

Not that Susie thought for one second her hiss would deter him. As usual, one teensy little wail, and he was on his way to pick up the latest little Jackman terror. Three months old and their demanding little girl knew she had her daddy in the bag.

“I don’t know why I bother,” she said, watching as Amanda settled herself on the couch next to Cole, who was working his game controller like a fiend. The football game he was playing against Daniel had all the other occupants on the couch riveted, a few of the brothers breaking ranks just enough to demolish the third tray of snacks Amanda had put out for them. “He’s spoiling her rotten.”

“There’s no such thing,” Locke replied from the hall leading to their bedroom. In his arms, cuddled under his chin, her belly flush to his heart, was the plumpest little morsel anyone in Rancho del Cielo had ever seen. Except for the fluffy curls in her corn-silk hair, she was her daddy all over again. Well, the curls and her round little belly. Her blue, blue eyes were just like Locke’s, as were the dimples in her cheeks. In fact, just about every part of their little girl was dimpled. She was already tall for her age group too, probably destined to look like some volleyball-playing Nordic princess. “You can’t over-hold a baby.”

“Wanna bet?” she asked dryly, because while he was in the Boathouse working, she was the one hoping to use her arms as something other than a pedestal.

“You know you’re as bad about this as I am,” Locke answered, not the least bit concerned with her false exasperation. He settled next to her, stretching his legs out on the chaise, cradling the baby with one big hand. Little fingers curled into the fabric of his T-shirt, grabbing and releasing like a kitten. All she needed was a tiny little purr and the picture would be complete.

“Yeah, I know.” Every day, she wondered if she was dreaming. But somehow, it was real. There had been a few bumps along the way to the baby’s birth, of course, but nothing they couldn’t handle. They had their miracle, sleeping next to them in a bassinet he’d surprised her with just before the birth. It matched the style of the crib they’d added to her side of the room, this time carved by his hands. She felt silly having them both in there, but there was just something about having the baby next to her bed, where she could listen to her breathe and know she was safe.

Even now, in the midst of a rambunctious Jackman weekend—since all of them were home, filling the house with noise and their own particular brand of prank-filled brotherly joy—she’d never felt so at peace. So
happy
. She’d been afraid to use that word for a while, not wanting to break the spell.

But it occurred to her, when the baby slipped safely from her body, that maybe happiness wasn’t a spell.

She remembered gasping, still catching her breath from that last, overwhelming push, when Penelope handed the wrapped bundle into Locke’s waiting hands. He looked down into that tiny face, then back to her, and there just wasn’t a way to describe what she saw. He looked like a man who’d been given more happiness than he knew how to hold.

And then he shared it with her, laying the baby on Susie’s chest, his hand steady there on her tiny back.

No, happiness wasn’t a spell.

It was a gift.

You couldn’t earn it, couldn’t steal it. Couldn’t even destroy it, if it didn’t belong to you. But you could cherish it. Protect it. Hold it in your heart and never let it go.

So she leaned her head on Locke’s shoulder, smiling as the smell of baby powder and soap tickled her nose and her little girl struggled to turn her round little head. As always happened when those baby eyes found her, focusing on her the same way as in those moments after birth, Susie felt a torrent of love fill her. Gratefulness, for the gifts she’d been given.

The baby called, a tiny grunt of effort that had Locke’s lips curling.

Susie put her finger under the grasping hand, still excited when the baby’s grip took hold. Another grunt, this one pleased. So she whispered what she always whispered when her daughter looked her way. What she’d said as she first touched her dream, come to life, for the very first time.

“Hello, Hope.”

About the Author

Dee Tenorio has a few reality issues. After much therapy for the problem—if one can call being awakened in the night by visions of hot, able-bodied men a problem—she has proved incurable. It turns out she enjoys tormenting herself by writing sizzling, steamy romances of various genres spanning paranormal mystery dramas, contemporaries and romantic comedies. Preferably starring the sexy, somewhat grumpy heroes described above and smart-mouthed heroines who have much better hair than she does.

The best part is, no more therapy bills!

Well, not for Dee, anyway. Her husband and kids, on the other hand…

If you would like to learn more about Dee and her work, please visit her site and blog at
www.deetenorio.com
. She can also be reached by readers at
[email protected]
.

Look for these titles by Dee Tenorio

Now Available:

Midnight Sonata

Midnight Temptation

Midnight Legacy

Test Me

Kiss Me Again

Love Me Knots

All Of You

All Or Nothing

Shaken

Rancho Del Cielo Romances

Betting Hearts

Love Me Tomorrow

Burn For Me

If you can’t beat ’em…seduce ’em.

The Virgin’s Revenge

© 2012 Dee Tenorio

Rancho Del Cielo Series, Book 4

Amanda Jackman’s love life is the stuff dreams are made of…which is fitting, because it’s all in her head. Thanks to six oversized, overbearing brothers who treat her like the family jewel, she’s lived in a padded little box.

Determined to get a life before she needs a padded little cell, she sets out to throw off the yoke and live on her own terms. Except she seriously underestimates the lengths to which her brothers will go to keep her safe and sound.

Cole Engstrom’s life might just be at an end. Cornered by all six of the massive Jackmans—men he normally considers his friends—he learns he’s their choice to marry their sister…or else. Make that
first
choice, but not the last.

Rather than watch Amanda’s brothers club their way through potential mates, Cole figures it’s best to just play along for a while and buy her some time to find a man of her own. It’s a good plan. Until Amanda figures it out—and decides he’s the one to relieve her of her “sheltered little virgin” status. One seduction at a time…

Warning: This sexy romp of a book contains a virgin, a man and a plan. Game. On.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
The Virgin’s Revenge:

“We want you to marry Mandy.”

Cole Engstrom never knew you could reverse-snort up a French fry, but there you have it. Someone call Guinness.

A few solid thwacks on the back later from one of the notorious six Jackman brothers, and he was breathing marginally well again. That didn’t mean, of course, his hearing was any better.

“
What?
”

“
We
—” Locke Jackman leaned forward in his diner seat, bracing more of his weight on his oversized hunks of arm and nailing Cole in place with a vivid blue glare, “—want
you
to marry
Mandy
.”

When Locke said
we,
he spoke for all six of the brothers. Probably their deceased parents, grandparents and all the generations that traveled over the Atlantic more than two centuries ago. He was more than big enough to pull something like that off.

Cole risked a glance at the elder twins—as Daniel and Dean were typically called—who sat on his left, their bulk swallowing most of the curving diner bench in the darkest corner of Shaky Jake’s
bar. He should have known they were out to get him when they’d invited him here for lunch and dragged him to this spot. Not only were they cheap, they were scared of the dark. Yet both of them nodded and grinned at him like they’d done him a favor. He smelled a set-up. He also had the suspicion they were stealing his fries.

“Why?”

Locke smiled. Sort of. When you have a face that big and that closely resembling a brick wall, it’s probably harder to be convincing about joy. “We like you.”

Wasn’t that reassuring?

“Does Amanda?”

Locke shrugged. “She will.”

“So,
she
doesn’t know anything about this?” Adding two and two while surrounded by two trios of human mountains with zero common sense was slow going.

“Why tell Mandy? She’d just argue with us. But she needs to get married. It’s time. Mom and Dad would have had her married off years ago, and since they aren’t here, it’s up to us.”

Cole didn’t want to remind Locke that the main reason Amanda wasn’t married off was
because
their parents had died, and no man who wanted to retain his moving parts was going to attempt to so much as look Amanda’s way with the mini-hulks blocking his path.

“And you picked me because…”

“The elder twins said you were nice to her.” Locke nodded to the two boys who’d been Cole’s friends since junior year in high school. He’d been a skinny, chain-smoking computer nerd in their weight-training class. They’d openly seen him as a project.

By the end of the year, he’d quit smoking, at least, but he was still slim and never destined to bench much more than his own weight. They kept him anyway—he had a car. There were times he wondered if that was why they’d adopted him in the first place. Times like now, he wondered why he’d adopted them back.

The elder twins grinned at him, still nodding, both chewing. Bastards.

“Didn’t they tell you I’ve planned to never get married?” Because Daniel and Dean knew damn well he was never getting married. Ever. They even knew why. Hell,
Locke
knew why. It wasn’t a secret.

“Plans can change.” Locke’s unfaltering gaze bored into Cole, placidly threatening. Threatening what, Cole wasn’t sure, but it didn’t take a lot of imagination to guess it would be painful.

Still. Some things Locke couldn’t force, no matter how he tried.

“Not these ones.”

He felt the tension suddenly ratchet up in the shoulders on either side of him. And though Locke didn’t move even a muscle, Cole swore he grew impossibly more hulking.

“Look, Amanda’s a nice girl.” She was too. Very nice. Nice to talk to, nice to spend time with, nice to look at. All right, more than nice to look at. More like stunning, with that silky white-blonde hair and blue-gray eyes, curves he’d give his right nut to stop thinking about, and good God, legs for miles. Tall, like her brothers, but delicate and quiet in comparison. Sweet too.

But if she believed for one second that he’d gone along with this ridiculous plan, he had no doubt whatsoever she’d rip his throat out. No self-respecting girl wouldn’t, and Cole made it a special rule never to piss off the quiet ones. Usually, they’d already had lots of time to think about body disposal.

“But?” Locke was no idiot. Not like the others, who followed his orders like good pets.

“But she and I aren’t…involved.” And he’d taken great pains to make sure that they would never be involved. He enjoyed her company way too much to risk ever dating her. That was a surefire way to make her think him an asshole.

“Of course you aren’t. Yet.” There it was, Locke’s scary smile again. The one that was a cross between a pit bull growl and a hungry tiger attack. Either one would eat you alive, so Cole was sure to stay perfectly still and not tempt either. “You’ll ask her out. Date for a while. But not too long—I won’t have Mandy embarrassed because her boyfriend won’t settle down.”

Sure, Cole could see how
that
might be embarrassing.

“Then, in about six months, you ask her to marry you. She says yes, you get hitched and it’s all done with.”

Done with? His life, maybe. Hers, definitely. “What if Amanda says no?”

“Why would she say no?” Locke’s subtext was easy to read; she’d better
not
say no. “Be nice to her, make her feel pretty, tell her she’s a good cook and you’re set.”

“Mandy really is a good cook,” Dean added.

“You guys think all it takes to get married is to tell a girl she’s pretty and that she can feed you from now on and she’ll fall over from the romantic sentiment?”

Dean actually thought about it.

“Good point. Women are picky about stuff like that. You’re just going to have to make her fall in love with you or something,” Locke concluded.