Risky Christmas Page 18
“Like me, they already love you,” Mason said.
Chloe grunted to hide how much she needed to hear that. But she couldn’t. She just couldn’t take that step.
“I don’t know, Mason. You’ve been through so much with women. And I…I’ve been through my own trouble. Maybe it’s not such a good idea.”
“Marry me, then. I’ll prove to you how much you mean to me. How much I believe in this. In us.”
“Mason,” she whispered, tingles of love and affection spreading all over her body. But it was so soon. Was he serious?
“We can pick a date sometime next year so we have time to date first,” he said.
He wasn’t going to give up on her. Even if she put him off now, she doubted he’d stop pursuing her. That touched her. She also thought his suggestion wasn’t so off the mark. They’d be engaged while they dated. He’d do that. For her. She was worth that much to him.
All this time she’d thought he was the only one doing the running. But the only one doing the running right now…was her.
She was running from the risk of belonging to a family, only to have it ripped away, leaving her once again alone, as she had been since her senior year in high school.
“I’ll go get you a ring tomorrow,” Mason declared. “I’ll do anything to keep seeing you, Chloe.”
Yes! Instinctually, she knew she’d never stop wanting to be with him. What they had was an all-encompassing infatuation. Over time, it would grow into deep love. She felt it in her heart. And he felt it, too.
“Mason…” She stepped closer to him.
He put his gloved hand on the side of her face. “Marry me.”
“Okay.”
He searched her eyes. “Do you mean it?”
She nodded. “Yes. Oh, yes!” She could recognize his need not to wait this time. As soon as he saw that this was the real thing, he’d asked her to marry him. He wasn’t doing it just to prove his love to her, or his belief in the love that would grow between them. He was asking because he’d been afraid to ask Renee to marry him, and this time he wasn’t going to let the woman who mattered most to him go.
“Yes.” She threw herself against him. Holding her close, he kissed her. She shivered, and not just from cold. “Let’s get the wood and go inside.”
“I’ll get the wood.”
She pushed him aside to make room for her at the woodpile. “I’m fine, Mason. I can carry some wood.”
“Okay.” He handed her three pieces. “Take those.”
Letting him get away with that, she carried the split logs as he carried a full armful toward the house. Inside, a fire already crackled in the fireplace and no one was in sight. The kitchen was in a rare state of silence.
She exchanged a look with him.
“I guess it’s obvious what they want.”
“Us together.” She was so thrilled about that.
He dumped his armful of wood onto the already burgeoning pile and helped her deposit her three pieces.
“Instead of staying here tonight, why don’t we stay in the other house?”
The original house his grandfather had built. She hadn’t seen the interior yet. She couldn’t wait. Would they live there? What a dream.
Her smile must have given her away.
“We can live there if you want.”
She nodded vigorously. “Yes! Yes!”
He chuckled. “Good. We’ll wake up with each other in our new house and spend the day together. Drive into Great Falls to find you a ring. Then we’ll spend New Year’s Eve with the family tomorrow night.”
The family. Her family. Their family.
Pure joy all but burst inside her. They’d see her ring tomorrow night. “Oh, Mason. Is this really happening?” She looped her arms around his shoulders and he loosely held her around her waist.
“Yes. And I couldn’t be happier.”
“Me, neither.”
“Merry Christmas, Chloe.” He kissed her.
“Happy New Year, Mason.”
He kissed her again. “The best ever.”
Clapping and cheers erupted.
Chloe moved back with Mason and turned to see his entire family in the kitchen. They must have hidden out of sight when they’d entered. Now they all stood clustered in the wide entry of the kitchen.
Looking from one smiling face to the next, Chloe reveled in the sparkling joy that consumed her. This was her family now.
Mason took her hand with his.
“Leaving Chicago was the best decision I ever made.”
“Bringing you here was mine.”
When his family approached and surrounded them with heartfelt congratulations, she couldn’t agree more.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-1587-0
RISKY CHRISTMAS
Copyright © 2011 by Harlequin Books S.A.
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HOLIDAY SECRETS
Copyright © 2011 by Jill Sorenson
KIDNAPPED AT CHRISTMAS
Copyright © 2011 by Jennifer Morey
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