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  Straightening up, he set his coffee cup down with a clatter. Better, he thought, to live with the fear of failing at marriage than to face the rest of his life wishing he’d had the courage to love Kate as she deserved to be loved.

  Decision made, he raced for the front door, hoping he wasn’t too late.

  When Thomas burst into her office, Kate was just hanging up the phone.

  Slamming her door, he said. ‘Was that the general?”

  “No,” she said, her heartbeat quickening at the sight of him.

  “Have you talked to him this morning?”

  “Yes,”she answered, noting for the first time that his eyes were shadowed and he looked like a man on the edge. “About two hours ago.”

  “Call him back,” Thomas told her, and reached for her phone, lifting the receiver and holding it out to her. “Damn it, Kate, call him back. Please.”

  “Why?” she asked. Hope rushed into life inside her, but Kate tried to rein it in, afraid to believe that he meant what she prayed he meant

  He dropped the receiver, came around her desk and grabbed her, pulling her to her feet. Then, cupping her face between his palms, he kissed her, searing her lips and her soul all at once with the desperate passion roaring through him.

  “That’s why,” he said when he lifted his head again. His gaze moved over her hungrily, as though it had been weeks since he’d seen her. “Kate, you married a fool.”

  “Thomas...”

  “Don’t stop me now,” he warned her with a shake of his head. “It’s taken me too long already to say this, and I want to get it said.” Stroking her skin with the pads of his thumbs, he whispered. “I love you, Kate.” And when the words were finally out, he half laughed to himself. “Wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. I love you. I love you and the baby. Don’t leave. Don’t go away, when I’ve just discovered how much you mean to me.”

  She sucked in a gulp of air, and it shuddered from her in a long sigh. “I want to believe you, Thomas. You don’t know how much, but—”

  “What?” he asked, terrified now that he had come too late to his senses.

  “I can’t help thinking that the baby is what’s brought this about.” She swallowed hard against the bitter taste of the words.

  Tom pulled her into the circle of his arms. Holding her tightly, he whispered, “Of course I love the baby, too. He’s a part of you. Of me. He’s what we made together out of the magic that happens between us. But, Kate—” he drew back, looking deeply into her eyes, willing her to believe him “—I could still be a part of his life if we were apart. It wouldn’t be easy, but I could do it It’s your life I want to be a part of. Life without you is as empty as that damned house was this morning.”

  She wanted to believe him. He saw it in her eyes, so he went on, hurriedly, determined to convince her to stay. “I want to be with you. To wake up freezing in the middle of the night to find you’ve stolen my blankets. To see your face every morning. I want to fight my way through hair dryers, curlers and makeup to get to the bathroom sink.”

  Her lips twitched even as tears shimmered in her eyes.

  “I want to eat burned meat loaf and dry your tears when you cry at those dumb, old movies.”

  Desperation roared through him. He tried to read the emotion in her eyes, but his own doubts blinded him. Old fears cowered in the dark corners of his soul, snarling and snapping at him, waiting for the chance to tear into him again with enough strength to make him walk away from this one last, best chance for happiness.

  But he wouldn’t let that happen. Not this time. He wouldn’t waste the rest of his life running from a past long gone. He wouldn’t...couldn’t live without Kate. “Damn it,” he said on a groan, “you’re everything to me. I can’t imagine my life without you in it. The emptiness of that world would kill me. Don’t stop loving me, Kate,” he continued in a hoarse whisper. “Let me love you. Don’t leave me. Stay. Stay forever and then longer. I want to be a part of your life.”

  Kate let her head fall forward until her forehead rested on his chest. He kissed the top of her head and continued in a softer voice. “But mostly, Kate, I just want to love you. Give me—no. Give us another chance. Call the general and tell him you don’t want the job.”

  She didn’t speak. Fear rose up inside him. Was he too late? Had he lost her already? No. He wouldn’t give up. “Kate...”

  Wrapping her arms around him, Kate hugged him tightly, then tipped her head back to look up at him. “I already told him that, when I called him earlier.”

  “What?” he asked, relishing the sweet pulse of relief as it beat inside him.

  “I realized something myself today, Thomas,” she said. “As important as my career is to me, you and the baby are more important. While I was talking to the general’s adjutant, I decided to stay here and fight for you. To make you see how much you need me. How much you love me.”

  Grinning now, Tom pulled her hard against him, knowing he would never be able to hold her tightly enough to suit him. “You know something, Major,” he whispered, “you’re a helluva woman.”

  “And don’t you forget it,” she warned, tipping her head back to welcome his kiss.

  Epilogue

  One year later

  Toys were scattered across the lawn. The summer scent of burning charcoal and barbecuing hamburgers drifted on the ocean breeze. Female laughter rippled toward him from the open kitchen doorway, and from near the grill came Jack’s muttered, halfhearted curses as he burned himself. Again.

  Tom smiled to himself and looked down at the two babies he held, perched on both of his knees. Angela, Donna and Jack’s daughter, gave him a wide, toothless grin as drool rolled down her chin to plop onto his already-wet jeans. A beautiful girl, she made her grandpa proud and her parents completely nuts. Jack and Donna each carried enough photos of Angela in their wallets to stock a moderately sized gallery.

  “But then,” Tom told the baby. “If you weren’t so pretty, they wouldn’t bother, would they?”

  Angela cooed and shoved his key ring into her mouth.

  Tom’s gaze shifted to his son and felt his heart swell to monumental proportions. Evan’s grin already had two teeth, proving that he wouldn’t be outdone by his three-weeks-older niece.

  Scooting around on his father’s knee, Evan made a try for freedom, and Tom had to laugh. The boy had been on the go practically from the minute he was born. Keeping up with him wouldn’t be easy, but Tom was up to it.

  He felt younger than he had in years and knew that the blessing of Kate and Evan had been his own personal Fountain of Youth.

  “Hey, Jack!” Donna called from the kitchen, “Aren’t those burgers done yet?”

  “Am I the cook today or not?” Jack called back around the singed finger he’d stuck in his mouth.

  Dashing out the back door, Donna went to her husband’s side and grunted, “Man cook. Big fire. Good.”

  He gave her a friendly swat on the behind, and she went up on her toes to kiss him.

  Tom grinned and silently thanked whatever Fates had granted him this new and precious life. A child. A grandchild. A daughter and son-in-law who were friends as well as family. And, he thought, his gaze shifting to the kitchen doorway where Kate stood smiling at him. Most especially, he was eternally grateful for this woman.

  The one woman in the world who made loving so easy.

  She jumped off the porch and walked to him, a delicious sway to her hips. When she reached his side, she lifted Evan off his lap and gave the baby a quick, gentle squeeze.

  “Are we going to eat today?” she asked, with a look at Jack and the burning burgers.

  “Charcoal,” he said with a groan and stood up, cradling Angela close. “My favorite,” he added, teasing her about her still-less-than-stellar cooking.

  “You should be kind to pregnant women,” Kate said, and shot him a wicked glance.

  “Pregnant?” he repeated, surprised but very pleased. “Are you sure?”

&nbs
p; “The doctor just phoned with the results,” Kate said, and wiped Evan’s chin with her fingertip.

  What a difference a year made in a man, he thought. The last time he’d heard those words, he’d panicked. Now he looked forward to ultrasounds, midnight cravings and most especially, he told himself, another living proof of his love for the remarkable woman he’d found.

  The ghosts from his past were silent now. As they should be. And his future, with Kate and his family, looked brighter every day. For whatever reason, the Fates had given him another chance, and he thanked God every night that he’d had the strength to reach for that chance and grab it.

  Stretching out one arm, he pulled Kate close enough to kiss and when he’d tasted his fill of her—for the moment—he said lightly, “You know, Kate. I think I’ve got this daddy thing whipped. What do you say we have twins this time?”

  ISBN : 978-1-4592-5811-2

  COLONEL DADDY

  Copyright © 1999 by Maureen Child

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Silhouette Books, 300 East 42nd Street. New York, NY 10017 U.S.A.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

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