“That was more than affection, Kayla. I’d fallen in love with you, too.”

His words pierced her already aching heart, hurt echoing from his use of the past tense.

“Why didn’t you tell me about resigning from your job?” he asked.

“We haven’t exactly kept in touch.”

“You didn’t mention in your letter that you intended to do so.”

“No. Actually, I didn’t want you to know. It was my own personal…penance of sorts. Please don’t worry about it. As I said, I have no regrets. At least about that.”

The church bells chimed, marking the half hour, and she knew she needed to leave soon. “You never told me why you’d wanted to get in touch with me.”

“I wanted to see you. Talk to you. For the first three weeks I was home, I was very hurt. And very angry. At you. At what you’d done. And then for leaving me like that. I stalked around like a lion with a thorn in its paw, telling myself I was better off without you, that I didn’t care, that it didn’t matter.

“I threw myself into finding the right lawyer to represent me, to deciding the best thing to do with my formula. And I finally decided.”

When she remained silent he asked, “Don’t you want to know?”

“Only if you want to tell me.”

“I signed a contract two days ago with Parisian Cosmetics.”

She nodded slowly. “Small company based in France, very high-end products, sold only in the most exclusive shops.” She smiled. “Congratulations.”

He smiled in return. “Thank you.”

“Will you be sending your parents to Machu Picchu?”

“I wanted to. They’d rather go to Vegas. Go figure.”

“So no change, no gain worked out well for you. I guess your life’s now back in balance.”

“Not entirely.” His expression sobered, and he reached out and gently took her hand. “I read your note over and over, until I could recite the words without even looking at it. And after the initial anger and hurt settled down a bit, all I could see when I read that letter was how sorry you were. How bad you felt. How deeply you regretted your actions.”

He blew out a quick breath. “Hell, I’ve done plenty of things that I regretted. Lots of stuff I was sorry for. That’s when my anger and hurt started to fade and the only thing left was…loneliness.”

The pad of his thumb brushed over the back of her hand and tingles zoomed up her arm. “I finally decided that there was one more risk I had to take, and it involved you. I wanted, needed to see you. Talk to you. To find out what had happened with your boss when you returned.”

His compelling gaze rested on hers. “It never occurred to me that you’d resign from your job, but the fact that you did…well, it just proves what I knew, what I finally figured out. That you are the woman I knew you were, from the first moment I saw you.

“Kayla, a good person isn’t someone who never makes a mistake. It’s someone who admits to them. Who apologizes and tries to make amends. A person who’d leave their job, rather than allow it to compromise them.”

“I did allow it to.”

“But not for long. So you’re not perfect. Here’s a news flash-neither am I.” His lopsided grin flashed. “You heard it here first. And there was one more reason I wanted to see you. I wanted to know if you’d been as unhappy as I was.”

“I’ve been really unhappy,” she said in a shaky voice, and then, to her utter mortification, tears spilled from her eyes, running down her cheeks and plopping on her Vera Wang. “I’ve done nothing but mope and cry,” she said, each word punctuated with a juicy sob and more tears, “and eat biscotti and I’ve gained weight and my butt is fat and my dress is tight and I’ve missed you so much it hurts to breathe-even without this damn tight dress.”

He whipped a hanky from his back pocket and with a tender smile, dabbed at her eyes.

“And now Meg is going to yell because I’ll look all blotchy in the pictures and have tear stains on my Wang.”

“On your what?”

“My Wang. My dress.”

“Oh. That’s a…relief. You women have the darnedest names for clothes. And you don’t look blotchy. You’re beautiful,” he said, blotting her eyes. “And you’re not fat, either.”

“I know you’re just saying that, but thank you anyway.”

“I’m not just saying it. You look gorgeous.” He cradled her damp face between his hands. “Did you mean it when you said that you’d fallen in love with me?”

“Yes.” She briefly closed her eyes. “God, yes.”

“Have your feelings changed?”

She gave a jerky nod. “They’ve grown stronger.”

There was no mistaking the relief that filled his eyes. “Well, that’s good news. Because I love you, Kayla. It was a done deal for me from moment one.”

Resting her hands over his, she let the tears dribble down her cheeks unchecked. “Thank you for forgiving me.”

“Thank you for loving me.”

A happy laugh escaped her. “Trust me, it’s very easy to do.”

He leaned forward and kissed her, a lush, deep kiss filled with love and heat and passion that left her breathless. When he lifted his head, she felt decidedly dazed. “Wow. That’s potent. And probably very inappropriate given our location.”

“You’re right. But you make me forget where I am.” He glanced down then shook his head. “And what I’m doing. I almost forgot. I brought you a present.” He handed her the large blue shopping bag.

“What is it?”

He smiled. “Bet you’d find out if you looked inside.”

She opened the bag and stared. At what appeared to be dozens of-

“Biscotti?” she murmured, pulling one out. Then her eyes widened. “And not just any biscotti. These are Delriccio’s hand-dipped double chocolate chunk biscotti.”

“They are indeed.”

“Where did you get them?”

“Uh, Delriccio’s.”

“But how? They’ve been sold out of them this entire week!”

“I know.” He nodded toward the bag and grinned. “Who do you think bought them all?”

Her jaw dropped. “You have-single handedly-bought out Delriccio’s supply of hand-dipped double chocolate chunk biscotti for an entire week?”

“I remembered they were your favorite. I went in every morning before work, hoping to see you there.”

“Since I left my job, I’ve been going in the afternoon.” She gazed again into the bag. “There must be at least a hundred of them in here.”

“Maybe a few less. I ate a couple-dozen. They’re really good.”

“Don’t I know it. I’ve been suffering withdrawal all week.” She groaned. “If I eat even one of these, I’ll never fit in this dress again.”

He trailed nipping kisses along her jaw, then swooped in for another deep, lush kiss. When he lifted his head, he said, “I don’t mind if you take it off.”

A giggle erupted from her. “We’re in a church.”

“Right. See? You made me forget again.” His gaze wandered over her dress. “So, do you, uh, have a date for the wedding?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“There was only one person I wanted to bring and he was…unavailable.”

“Oh? You asked him?”

“No…and I’d love for him to come, but if he did, he’d have to brace himself to not only meet my entire family, but to suffer through what I’m sure would feel like an interrogation from all the relatives.”

“I think he could cope. I bet he could even dash home and change into his tux and be back at the Waldorf within an hour.”

She looped her arms around his neck. “Have I mentioned that I love you?”

“Not in the last five minutes.”

“I love you.”

“Excellent. Because I love you, too.”

Kayla drew a deep breath then groaned as her Wang squeezed her. “God, I can’t wait to get out of this dress.”

“That makes two of us.”

She shot him a speculative look. “You know, if we hurry, I could go with you to your apartment to change…”

Without hesitation he jumped to his feet, grabbed her hand and the shopping bag, and walked swiftly toward the doors. “Sweetheart, I like the way you think.”

“Not so fast,” she said, taking mincing steps and holding up her hem. “I’m not exactly wearing my hiking boots here.”

Again, without hesitation, he bent and swooped her up into his arms, shopping bag and all, then headed out of the church.

“You can’t carry me down all those stairs,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“The hell I can’t.” He paused at the top of the steps, then looked down at her, his beautiful eyes filled with desire and love. “Me carrying you-is that a complaint, princess?”

“Hell, no,” she said with a laugh, then snuggled closer against him. “Hell, no.”

About the Author


Growing up on Long Island, New York, Jacquie fell in love with romance at an early age. She dreamt of being swept away by a dashing rogue riding a spirited stallion. When her hero finally showed up, he was dressed in jeans and drove a Volkswagon, but she recognized him anyway. They married after both graduating from Hofstra University and are now living their happily-ever-afters in Atlanta, Georgia, along with their very bright and active son who is a dashing rogue in the making.