LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

of which have been neglected for years.’ He grinned. ‘Maybe you can give me some ideas on what to do with the yard.’

      It was so wonderful that he was willing to share this project with her, she grinned straight back. ‘I’d love to design a cottage garden. Something delightfully old-fashioned. All I’ve done so far at work is very modern landscape.’

      ‘Then you’ll have to go shopping for plants with me,’ he said decisively. ‘Guide me into buying the best.’

      More sharing. Laura’s cup of happiness was suddenly bubbling to the brim. ‘No problem,’ she assured him, revelling in allowing herself to love this man all over again.

      The waiter returned with their cappuccinos. Jake released her hand and they sat apart again, but another journey had begun—one that shimmered with the promise of far more than the first they’d taken together. Laura couldn’t remember a coffee ever tasting so good.

      Jake could scarcely believe this incredibly fortunate turn of events. Laura hadn’t moved on. Not from him. And the time apart had not been wasted. She had achieved complete independence from her father and quite clearly would never allow herself to be subjected to his influence again. It was now totally irrelevant that she was Alex Costarella’s daughter. She was simply herself—the beautiful, strong, giving woman he had come to love. And since her mother no longer needed her in any protective sense, the way ahead for them was free of any insurmountable complications.

      He could throw caution to the winds, share whatever he wanted with Laura without any sense of guilt over how hurt she might be from associating with him. The whole truth was out in the open now. There was no reason to hold back on anything. Where the future might take them as a couple was entirely in their own hands. The most important thing was he could have her again. Nothing else really mattered.

      Froth from the cappuccino coated her upper lip. He wanted to lick it off. Her tongue slid out and swept it away. Her beautiful blue eyes twinkled at him teasingly as though she knew what he’d been thinking.

      ‘I haven’t wanted any woman since you, Laura,’ he said softly. That was the truth, too, and he needed her to know it. The damning photographs could have left doubts in her mind about how deeply he’d felt connected to her. This was a new start and he couldn’t bear anything marring it.

      She smiled, happiness lighting up her lovely face. ‘It’s been the same for me, too, Jake, though I did have a lot of bad thoughts about you.’

      ‘The woman in the photographs…she said she was being stalked and pleaded with me to walk her home from the gym. It was an act of kindness, Laura, nothing more.’

      The smile broadened. ‘I like kindness in a man. Nick is very kind to Mum. She never had that from Dad.’

      Neither did you. Only demands and abuse if they weren’t met.

      Jake understood where Laura was coming from, why marriage was not an attractive proposition to her, but maybe he could change her view of it, given enough time together. She was certainly seeing the difference for her mother.

      He wanted a family in his future. The loss of it had driven him all these years and now that the goal he had set himself had been reached, he could plan a different scenario for his life, hopefully with Laura. It was like a miracle that it was possible at all.

      She put down her cup and gave him a look of eager anticipation. ‘Are we done here? Ready to go?’

      Desire roared through him like an express train. He couldn’t get her out of the coffee shop fast enough. They started the walk towards Town Hall hand in hand, a joyous bounce in their step. It was rush hour, people crowding past them either way. They came to a building with a recessed entrance and Jake instantly pulled Laura out of the mêlée on the sidewalk and into his embrace against a sheltered side wall.

      ‘I’ve been wanting to do this ever since I saw you yesterday,’ he murmured, his eyes blazing with naked need.

      ‘Yesterday?’ she echoed quizzically.

      ‘I thought you’d come for your father. If I’d known you’d come for me…’

      He couldn’t wait. Like in the garden the first day they’d met, like on their first date on the way to the hotel…he had to kiss her and she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him right back, their passion for each other as wildly exhilarating as ever, more so with the freedom from all restrictions.

      But they couldn’t give it full expression in this public place.

      They had to move on.

      And they did.

      Together.

       The Hot-Blooded Groom

      Emma Darcy

       CHAPTER ONE

      ‘I WANT you married.’

      Bryce Templar gritted his teeth. It wasn’t the first time his father had made this demand. Undoubtedly it wouldn’t be the last, either. But he hadn’t come out of his way to visit the old man, still convalescing from his recent heart operation, to have another argument about his bachelor state.

      He kept his gaze trained on the view, ignoring the contentious issue. The sun was setting, adding even more brilliant shades of colour to the stunning red rocks of Sedona. His father’s winter residence was certainly sited to capture one of the most striking panoramas nature had to offer, here in the Arizona desert. And of course, communing with nature was another thing Will Templar preached—spiritual peace, clean air, clean living…

      ‘Are you hearing me, boy?’

      Bryce unclenched his jaw and slid his father a derisive look. ‘I’m not a boy, Dad.’

      ‘Still acting like one,’ came the aggressive grumble. ‘Here you are with your hair going grey and you’re not settled with a woman yet.’

      ‘I’m only thirty-four. Hardly over the hill. And you went grey in your thirties. It’s genetic.’

      It wasn’t the only physical aspect of his father he’d inherited. They were both well over six feet tall, big men, though his father had lost quite a bit of weight over the past year and was looking somewhat gaunt in the face. They had the same strong nose, the same determined mouth, closely set ears, and while his father’s hair was now white, it was still as thick as his own.

      The only feature he’d inherited from his mother was her eyes—heavier lidded than his father’s and green instead of grey. Will Templar’s eyes had been described in print as steely and incisive, but right now they were smoking at Bryce with irritable impatience.

      ‘I was married to your mother in my twenties.’

      ‘People married earlier in those days, Dad.’

      ‘You’re not even looking for a wife.’ He shook an admonishing finger. ‘You think I don’t hear about your bed-hopping with starlets in L.A.? Getting laid indiscriminately doesn’t sit well with me, son.’

      Bryce barely stifled a sigh as he thought, Here comes the clean living lecture. ‘I don’t bed-hop and I’m not indiscriminate in my choice of playmate,’ he bit out. Hoping to avoid a diatribe on morals, he added, ‘You know how busy I am. I just don’t have the time to put into a relationship what women want out of it.’

      It brought his father up from his lounger in a burst of angry energy. ‘Don’t tell me women don’t want marriage. They all want marriage. It’s not difficult to get a woman to say yes to that. And I’m living proof of it with five wives behind me.’

      All of them walking away with a bundle, Bryce thought cynically. Except his mother who died before

Скачать книгу