He looked so surprised by his own words she couldn’t help but laugh. Then a thought occurred to her. “Are you sure you’re not just saying all of this because you feel you owe me for getting you out of jail?”
“Oh, I owe you,” he agreed, giving her a rare grin. “But not only because of that. You did the impossible, sweetheart. You made me want to live again. You made me see there’s a light at the end of that dark tunnel, a future within my grasp, if I just quit being afraid to grab on to it.”
Her heart skipped a beat.
“I want to be a different man, Lana. A better one.” His voice cracked endearingly. “And I want to be with you, if you’ll still have me.” The word yes nearly flew out of her mouth, until a dark thought crept into her brain. “You won’t get only me,” she whispered, her hands sliding down to her tummy.
To her astonishment, Deacon covered her hands with his own, wonder seeping into his gaze as he felt the bump at her waist. “I want you both,” he whispered back. “You do?”
He stroked her stomach in the most gentle of caresses. “This child is a miracle. I never wanted to be a father before I met you, but now… I want to take care of you. Both of you.” A smile lit up his face. “Our son or daughter is never going to want for anything. I’ll make sure of that.”
“Love,” she said softly. “That’s all he or she needs. That’s all I need, Deacon.”
He slid his hands up her body, grazing her breasts, touching her neck, then cupped her chin between his warm palms. “Then that’s what you’ll get.”
She leaned into his touch, basking in his tenderness, the softness of his normally hard features. “I love you, Deacon.” She stood on her tiptoes and brushed her lips over his. “We both love you.”
Uncertainty flickered in his gorgeous hazel eyes. “What about your family?”
“They’re going to love you, too.” She grinned. “My mom is already trying to think of ways to repay you for saving my life. And my brothers, well, they’ll come around eventually.”
Deacon looked doubtful. “Come around? To the fact that their little sister is marrying the mercenary who kidnapped her? Make that, unemployed mercenary.”
His brief sentences contained so much startling information she didn’t even know which tidbit to focus on first. She finally chose the one that made her heart soar like a hot air balloon.
“Marrying?” she teased. “Who says I’m marrying you?”
He exuded a surprising glimmer of arrogance. “Our kid can’t be born out of wedlock, sweetheart.”
“Oh, so now you’re Mr. Traditional?”
“Hell, yes.” His lips dropped to her mouth in a quick little kiss. “Are you rejecting my proposal?”
She pretended to mull it over. “I guess not.”
“That’s what I thought.”
He bent his head again, and this time, when he kissed her, neither one of them came up for air for a very, very long time.
Epilogue
As much as it pained him to admit it, Jim had never seen his little sister look happier. Her cheeks were a rosy pink as she beamed up at the tall, muscular man at her side, whose hand she hadn’t let go of since the second they’d entered the waiting room. It also pained him to notice the stark emotion and overwhelming love on Deacon Holt’s face. The man loved his sister. There was no denying that.
Jim couldn’t help but glance at his sister’s stomach, still floored by the notion that there was a baby inside there. Lana was going to be a mother. Christ. And marrying Deacon Holt, to boot.
Despite his reservations, particularly since his future brother-in-law had played a part in Lana’s abduction, Jim found himself unable to voice any disapproval. No one else in the room had the heart to do it, either. Lana looked so incredibly contented. Seemed as if there was nothing else to do but offer congratulations to the happy couple.
“Jimmy,” came his uncle’s low voice. “We need to talk.”
With a nod, Jim followed Donald out of the room. The two men stood in the hall, where the fluorescent lighting emphasized the glint of resolve in Donald’s eyes.
“What’s this about?” Jim asked, though he knew full well.
“Justice.” His uncle’s lips tightened. “I assume you’ll be on board?”
“You know I will.”
“Good.”
Both men glanced in the direction of the waiting room, growing quiet for a moment to listen to the happy chatter drifting from the doorway.
“I won’t let these people go unpunished,” Donald hissed out. “We need to find the people who hired those men to kidnap our girl. The bastards who nearly killed my brother, your father. This damn secret society that seems determined to destroy this family.”
Jim had nothing to add. He was in wholehearted agreement. “I’ll find them,” he vowed.
“Good,” Donald said again. “And I also assume we’re on the same page about what to do when we find these sons of bitches?”
Lethal fury clawed up Jim’s spine. “Oh, yes. When we find them, we’re going to take each and every one of them down. I won’t rest until every last one of those bastards is behind bars.” The grin that sprang to his mouth lacked any semblance of humor. “These people are going to regret the day they decided to mess with the Kelleys.”
Special thanks and acknowledgment to Elle Kennedy
for her contribution to The Kelley Legacy miniseries.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-1588-7
MISSING MOTHER-TO-BE
Copyright © 2011 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 publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario M3B 3K9, Canada.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Table of Contents
Letter to Reader
Books by Elle Kennedy
About the Author
Dedication
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Epilogue
Copyright
Elle Kennedy, Missing Mother-To-Be
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