Under the Boardwalk: A Dazzling Collection of All New Summertime Love Stories (63 page)

"Don't." He stopped her. "There are no maybe's. I should have explained to you that sometimes I have to go at the drop of a hat, and stay until the job is finished."

"Well, you did
say
that," she allowed. "I just didn't know
that finished
could mean weeks."

Jeremy ran his hands up and down her arms, just to feel her skin. She would never know how much he had ached to do just this.

"Do you think Laura has a room for me?" he asked.

"Gosh, I'm sorry." Jody shook her head. "I heard her say just this morning that she was booked to capacity."

"Any thoughts on where I might find a bed for a few nights?"

She slipped her hand into her pocket and pulled out her key, which she held up between two fingers before pressing it into the palm of his hand and closing his fingers around it.

"How many nights?" She leaned into him.

"Well, I thought I'd take the rest of that vacation." He bit at her bottom lip. "The one that was cut short a few weeks ago. I was just starting to enjoy myself."

"Some of us might have to work this week. At least, during the day," she reminded him.

"Well, that's okay, since I'll be busy while I'm here."

"Busy with what?" She frowned. "I thought you said you were on vacation."

"Well, it's sort of a working vacation." He leaned back against the car and took her with him. "See, Anna thought it would be a good idea if I…"

"Anna?" Jody frowned.

"The palm reader from the boardwalk." He nuzzled the side of her face.

"You stopped to have your palm read while I was languishing here in Bishop's Cove?" She fought an urge to smack him with one of his own frozen fish.

"Well, she had been right about everything else, about me being near the end of my journey and going home for your sake and all that. I thought she should know that, that she had been right. And I thought I'd see what else she had to say."

"And?"

"She said T.J. and I should think about expanding our business, open another office. She thought a small town on the ocean might be a lucky move."

"Really." Jody grinned. "What else did she tell you?"

"Nothing I didn't already know. That I just couldn't wake up every morning so far away from the woman I love."

"The woman you love…" Jody's eyes went misty.

"Right. Anna told me if I had any sense at all, I'd drive right down here and give you a fitting peace offering."

"You mean the fish? That's your idea of a
peace offering
?"

Jeremy beamed and nodded happily.

"What ever happened to flowers?" Jody tapped her foot, trying to decide if she was amused or insulted. "Chocolate? Jewelry? What kind of man brings a woman one hundred plus pounds of frozen tuna?"

Jeremy gathered her into his arms. "A man who plans on spending a lot of time with that woman. After all, how long do you think it will take us to eat all that fish?"

"Oh, a long time," she whispered as she lifted her face for his kiss. ' A very long time."

"That's pretty much what I thought," he dipped his head to hers and chuckled. "Besides, how can you argue with a boardwalk psychic?"

Mariah Stewart is the award-winning author of seven contemporary romances and two novellas, all for Pocket Books. Recently nominated by
Romantic Times
magazine for a Career Achievement Award for Contemporary Romance, she has been called "one of the most talented writers of mainstream contemporary fiction in the market today"
(Affaire de Coeur)
. Her work has been described as "multi-layered novels that appeal to fans of romance, mainstream fiction, and family sagas" (amazon.com). The
Philadelphia Inquirer
calls her books "Delightful. Totally charming and enchanting." Her titles include
Moments in Time, A Different Li0it, Carolina Mist
, and the popular Enright family saga:
Devlin's Light, Wonderful You
, and
Moon Dance. Priceless
, her seventh book, was released in June of 1999.

A native of Hightstown, New Jersey, Mariah Stewart lives in a century-plus Victorian country home in a Philadelphia suburb with her husband of twenty years, two teenage daughters, and two golden retriever puppies. Presently at work on her next book, she divides her spare time between her daughters' field hockey and lacrosse games and her perennial garden. Drop her a line at P.O. Box 481, Lansdowne, PA 19050.