Modern Romance February Books 5-8. Heidi Rice

buying Fairholme back... I’ll never forget.”

      For a long moment, the two of them stood together in the foyer, with sunlight pouring in through the open door. She breathed in scents she’d craved so long, the tangy salt of the ocean, the honeyed sweetness of her mother’s rose garden. The salt and sweetness of a lifetime of memories.

      “Thank you,” she whispered. “For bringing me home.”

      He cupped her cheek. “You’re worth it, Letty,” he said huskily. “For you, I would pay any price.”

      Lowering his head, he kissed her, claiming her lips as he’d already claimed her body and soul. Words lifted unbidden to her throat. Words she hadn’t tried to say since that horrible night in February. Words straight from her heart.

      “I love you, Darius,” she said softly.

      He gave her an oddly shy smile. “You do?”

      Smiling back through her tears, she nodded. Her blood was rushing through her ears, pounding through her veins, as she waited for what he’d say next.

      Without a word, he kissed her.

      As she stood in the Fairholme foyer, her heavily pregnant belly pressed between them as her husband kissed her so tenderly, miracles seemed to be spinning around her like a whirlwind.

      They were married now. Expecting a baby. He’d paid off her father’s debts. He’d just brought her home. She loved him.

      And someday, he would love her.

      Letty was suddenly sure. They’d already had so many miracles. Why not more?

      Darius would soon forgive her father and let him back into their family. He was too good a man not to forgive, especially when it meant so much to her. It was the only thing he hadn’t given her. That, and those three little words.

      It was the same thing, she realized. When he forgave her father, that was how she would know that he truly loved her.

      When he finally pulled away from their embrace, she looked up, still a little dazzled. “Is there really a stripper pole in the library?”

      Darius gave a low laugh. “Come with me.”

      Taking her hand, he drew her down the long marble hallway to the oak-paneled library. When she saw the gleaming stripper pole set in the brand-new white shag carpeting, she burst into horrified snorts of laughter.

      “I told you,” he said.

      “I’ll get it removed. Don’t worry. I’ll make this house just like it was,” Letty said. “Just like we remember.”

      “All those memories.” He pulled her against his chest, his dark eyes intense as he whispered huskily, “But as I remember, there’s one thing we’ve never done in this house.”

      And as her husband pulled her against him in a hot, fierce embrace, Letty knew all her deepest dreams were about to come true.