Forever…Again Read online

  “I wasn’t looking for love again, Lily.” His gaze moved over her tenderly. “I figured I’d had my chance, my happiness. Then you blew into town and turned everything I’ve ever known upside down.”

  She smiled. “It’s a gift.”

  “Damn right it is.” He shifted his hold on her so he could cup her cheek in the palm of his hand. He had to touch her. To feel the amazing jump of connection that leaped between them. Then, sighing, he said what he felt, for the first time in years. “Vi was my first love, Lily. She always will be. But you are my last love. She was my past, you are my future. And I’d like to be yours.”

  “Ron…”

  “I came here to propose, but your ambush threw me off.”

  “Pro—”

  He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small, dark-green velvet jewelry box. Lily inhaled sharply as he opened it and showed her the star sapphire and diamond ring inside. “Marry me, Lily. Dance with me. Sing with me. Argue with me. And love me as much as I love you.”

  He slipped the ring onto her finger, and Lily’s hand closed around the platinum band as if trying to hold it on even closer.

  Lily looked down at the perfect stone and stilled, as if everything within her had taken one long breath and paused. This was a moment she wanted to remember. A moment she wanted to be able to pull out of her treasure trove of memories and visit again and again.

  This was, at last, the one moment when she’d found the man she was meant to love.

  Finally she lifted her gaze from the ring of promise on her hand to look into the blue-green eyes that had become so important to her. She looked deeply and read the emotions she’d wanted to see for so long. His love was there, out in the open, shining for her.

  There were no more shadows.

  No ghosts standing between them.

  And that invisible wall had somehow, incredibly, tumbled down.

  “I’ll marry you,” she said softly, staring up into his eyes, with her heart reflected in hers. Just saying the words made her heart race. “And I’ll even let you teach me how to cook.”

  Ron grinned, swept her into his arms and buried his face in the curve of her neck. His deep, rolling laughter warmed her right down to her soul. “I’ll do the cooking—and gladly—if you’ll promise to dance with me every night before dinner.”

  Lily pulled back far enough from him that she could reach up and cup his face between her palms. Her shiny new ring winked at her in the kitchen light and warmed her right down to her soul.

  Smiling up at him, she said softly, “We’ll eat out—and we’ll dance every night for the rest of our lives,”

  “Now that’s the best deal I’ve ever been offered,” he said, bending his head to claim the first of their new lifetime of kisses together.

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-6808-5

  FOREVER…AGAIN

  Copyright © 2004 by Harlequin Books S.A.

  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, 233 Broadway, New York, NY 10279 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.

  This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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