Harlequin Special Edition October 2015, Box Set 1 of 2 (11 page)

“Yes. That's it.”

“Did you call him and tell him to leave you alone?”

“Uh-uh. You have no idea how many times in the past I told him to leave me alone. That only seemed to encourage him.”

“I hear that. So, then, don't engage him.” He lifted her hand and pressed his lips to the back of it. “Did you go to the police?”

“And tell them what? That my ex-husband sent me flowers out of the blue and a nice little note?”

“Don't get defensive. I agree that you don't have anything to charge the creep with. I just want to be sure, to know everything that happened, to know exactly where we stand with this piece of crap.”

“We?” She pushed away from him again, smoothed the yellow skirt of her pretty summer dress over her knees and then looked him straight in the eye. “Quinn. Ted is in no way your problem. This thing with him is for me to solve. I will not drag you into my mess. I don't want you going after him, or approaching him, or contacting him or getting near him, ever. I need your word on that.”

He would give her anything—the world on a gold platter. But not this. “That guy needs to know you're not alone anymore. He needs to know someone's got your back.”

“I couldn't care less what
he
needs, Quinn. I'm talking about what
I
need. And that is to know I can tell you my hardest secrets and trust that you won't go racing off to solve all my problems for me in your own way. Because they are
my
problems and I'm the one who gets the final say when it comes to dealing with them. It's about respect, and you know it. You have to respect me and let
me
figure out how to mop up the mess I created. Please.”

He really hated that what she said made sense. “You
will
tell me, if he does
anything
, if you hear so much as a word from him again?”

“I will, yes.” She folded her hands on her knees. “And you will honor my wishes and let me handle this in my own way?”

He scraped both hands down his face. “You got me up against the ropes here.”

“Because you
do
respect me. I know you only want to protect me and you have no idea how much I love that about you.”

Love
. It was a big word. And it was also the first time she'd used it in reference to him. Quinn liked the way it sounded coming out of that fine mouth of hers. He liked it a lot.

What he didn't like was not being allowed to teach Ted Davies an important life lesson. Then again, guys like that always managed to get what was coming to them eventually. Quinn fervently hoped he'd have the honor of taking Ted to church when the time came.

“Quinn?” she asked, all breathless and hopeful. “I need your word that you'll leave Ted alone.”

Damn it to hell
. He gave it up. “All right. For now, for as long as he never tries to get in touch with you again, you got my word.”

* * *

Chloe was no fool.

She fully understood what it cost Quinn to make her that promise. He'd done a really good job of hiding his anger at Ted. But already, in the short time they'd been together, she'd learned to read him. He wanted to go after Ted, he
needed
to do that, needed to step forward and be her protector.

What woman wouldn't appreciate that in a man?

But he'd done protectiveness one better. He'd agreed to go against what he needed to do and leave Ted alone. Because she'd asked him to. And if she hadn't already been halfway in love with him, well, that he
had
made that promise kind of sealed the deal as far as she was concerned.

“Thank you,” she whispered, taking his big hand, turning it over and smoothing his beefy fingers open. “Thank you...” She bent close and pressed a kiss in the center of his rough, hot palm.

“Let's just hope we've seen the last of him,” Quinn muttered gruffly.

She couldn't agree more. And not only because she wanted nothing to do with her ex. Now there was Quinn to worry about. If Ted made another move on her, convincing Quinn to stay out of it was going to be exponentially tougher.

But they'd spent altogether too much of their evening on unhappy subjects. She forced a brighter tone. “First my mother, then Ted. Let's forget about both of them for now, huh?” She reached up and smoothed the thick brown hair off his forehead. “Now I want it to be just you and me, here on the sofa, doing whatever comes naturally.”

He studied her face for a moment, his head tipped to the side. And then he kicked off his shoes. She followed suit, sliding off her sandals and pushing them under the coffee table.

“Come here.” He took her by the shoulders, turned her and settled her with her head in his lap.

Chloe stared up at him, feeling better already. The hard things had been said. And now it was just her and Quinn, alone for the evening. He traced the curves of her eyebrows with a slow finger and then caught a lock of her hair and wrapped it around his hand the way he liked to do.

She said, “I hope I didn't drag you away from anything important at home...”

He shook his head. “Annabelle's all tucked in bed. Manny and I were just having a beer on the deck.”

“Do you still want to marry me?” The words kind of popped out. She'd hardly known she would say them—until she did.

He gave her his bad-boy half smile. “Oh, yeah. But I'm not pushing. You decide what you want and you do it in your own time.”

“Even after all the grim stuff I told you tonight? I'm not sure I'm such a good bet, Quinn.”

He unwrapped her hair from around his fingers—and then twined it right back again. “You're not your mother and it's not your fault that your ex is a psycho dog. You
are
a good bet, angel. You're a fine woman with a big heart, the best there is.”

His generous words warmed her, made a glow down inside her that all the trials of the afternoon and evening couldn't dim.

I think I'm falling in love with you, Quinn
.

It sounded so right inside her head. But she wasn't quite ready to say it out loud yet. Talk of love still had some taint for her. It still held ugly echoes of the past.

She shut her eyes and drifted, cradled, safe, with her head in Quinn's lap.

Marriage. To Quinn.

Was she ready for that? They'd been together such a short time and she'd messed up so badly before. How could she be certain?

She opened her eyes.

And he was gazing down at her, steady. Sure. Not having to say anything, just being there with her.

When she looked in his eyes, her doubts about herself and her future and her iffy judgment just melted away. When she looked in Quinn's eyes, she
was
sure.

And come on. She'd dated Ted for a year before she said yes to him. And then it was another year until their lavish wedding. She'd given herself plenty of time to really
know
Ted. She'd done everything right.

And still, it all went wrong. Ted was the man her mother wanted for her.

And Quinn?

It was so simple. Quinn was the one
she
wanted for herself. He was
her
choice, her second chance to get it right. She trusted him. She knew he would be good to her, that she would be good for him—and for Annabelle and Manny, too.

Together, they could make a full, rich life, the life she'd always wanted. The life she'd given up hope that she would ever find.

Until now. Until Quinn.

He unwound her hair again. And she sat up and took his arm and wrapped it across her shoulders. He gathered her closer. She drew her legs up onto the sofa and folded them to the side so she was facing him. Looking right into those wonderful eyes, she said, “Well, I've decided, then. And my decision is...” She stretched up enough to nip his scruffy jaw with her teeth. “Yes.”

For once, he actually looked taken completely off guard. “What did you say?”

“I said yes, Quinn. I will marry you. I want it to be a small, simple wedding, just family and close friends. And I want it to be soon.”

“Chloe.” He took her face between those big hands. “Seriously? You're sure?” He looked so vulnerable right then, as if he couldn't quite believe she really meant it.

She did mean it. “Yes, I am very sure.”

“Damn,” he whispered prayerfully.

He kissed her, a kiss that curled her bare toes and created that incomparable heavy, hot yearning down in the core of her. And then he scooped her up in those big arms of his and carried her to her bedroom.

Late into the night, he showed her exactly how happy her decision had made him.

Dawn was breaking when he left her. She stood out on her front porch in a robe and slippers, watching him walk across the street to his temporary home, knowing her hair needed combing and her eyes were low and lazy. She was fully aware that she had the look of a woman thoroughly and repeatedly satisfied—and she didn't care in the least who saw her.

She'd made her decision. She was marrying Quinn and finally getting the life she'd always dreamed of.

Chapter Eight

A
t the showroom a few hours later, Chloe called Tai and asked her to come in early.

At ten, Quinn picked her up. They drove to Denver, where they had lunch and he bought her a beautiful engagement ring and a platinum wedding ring to match. She bought him a ring, too, a thick platinum band that she couldn't wait to slip on his finger when the big day came. She was back at her showroom by four.

That evening, just as she was letting herself in the front door, the house phone rang. She saw it was her parents' number and let it go to the machine.

A few minutes later, she checked to see what her mother had said. But it turned out it was her dad. He'd left a two-sentence message: “Chloe, this is your dad. Please call me.”

She did, right then.

He asked her if she was all right and Chloe told him that she would be fine.

Doug Winchester said, “Your mother's just brokenhearted over what happened last night.”

Chloe refused to let him play the guilt card on her. “We don't see eye-to-eye, Mom and me. And I don't think that either of us will be changing our positions anytime soon.”

“She loves you. You know that.
I
love you.”

“Thanks, Daddy. I love you, too. But sometimes love really can't make everything right. Not with Mom, anyway. With Mom, it's her way or nothing. And I'm through doing things her way. In fact, Quinn's asked me to marry him and I've said yes.”

The line went dead silent. Then her father asked cautiously, “Isn't this a little sudden?”

She resisted the urge to say something snappish. “I care for him deeply, Dad. It's what I want.”

“You're sure?”

“I am.”

Another silence. And then her father had the good grace to say that he hoped she would be happy. “I think I'll wait a few days to tell your mother about your engagement, though.”

“Right now, Dad, I don't care if you tell her or not.”

“Chloe. You don't mean that.”

She didn't argue. What was the point? “I'll call and let you know about the wedding. It's going to be small and simple.” Nothing like the three-ring circus in Sonoma when she'd married Ted. “I hope you can come. Quinn wants me to be patient with Mom, so I'm going to give it a little time before I decide whether I'm willing to have her at the wedding.”

Another deep silence from her dad. Then, “Let's just see how things go, shall we?”

Chloe agreed that would be wise. They said goodbye.

A few hours later, when Quinn came over, she cried a little for her fractured family. He held her and told her it would all turn out all right. Somehow, when he said it, she almost believed it.

* * *

Friday morning first thing, Nell Bravo dropped by Chloe's showroom. Chloe broke the big news and showed off her gorgeous ring.

Nell said, “So, then. This makes it official. You're gonna be my sister. And that means we'll have to bury the hatchet permanently, you and me.”

“You know, you really scare me when you talk about hatchets.”

Nell laughed and grabbed Chloe in a hug and waltzed her in and out of the various carpet and flooring displays. Then Quinn's sister confessed, “I already knew. Quinn told me this morning. And I'm here to find out when you're breaking for lunch so I can get a table at the Sylvan Inn for you and me and my sisters.”

Chloe met the Bravo sisters at the Sylvan Inn at one. There were four of them. Clara and Elise were the daughters of Franklin Bravo's first wife, Sondra. Jody's and Nell's mother was the notorious Willow Mooney Bravo, who'd been Frank's mistress during most of his marriage to Sondra. The day after Sondra Bravo's funeral, Willow married Frank. He moved her right into the mansion he'd built for Sondra. Frank Bravo's refusal to observe even a minimal period of mourning after Sondra's passing caused no end of shock and outrage in the angry hearts of the judgmental types in town, Chloe's mother first among them.

Tracy Winham, Elise's best friend and business partner, joined them, too. And so did Rory Bravo-Calabretti, a cousin to the Bravo sisters. Rory was an actual princess from a tiny country called Montedoro. But Rory didn't act like a princess. She loved Justice Creek and she was down-to-earth and lots of fun. Recently she'd decided to make her home in America. She lived with her fiancé, Walker McKellan, at Walker's guest ranch not far from town.

As a matter of fact, all the Bravo women were lots of fun. Even more so after a couple of glasses of the champagne Nell had ordered to toast Chloe and Quinn and their future happiness together. Chloe never drank alcohol at lunch. After all, she still had half a day of work ahead and she preferred to be alert and clearheaded on the job.

But today, she drank the champagne—more than she should have. And she had a fabulous time sharing stories about the old days with Quinn's sisters.

“Quinn was always so moody,” said Jody, and everyone nodded. “He was mad at everything and just about everybody.”

“But even then there was a certain sweetness about him,” said Clara, who was Sondra's oldest daughter and considered the family peacemaker.

Back in the day, when the two sides of Frank's family were constantly at odds, Clara was the one who kept trying to get them to make peace and come together. She and Quinn and Chloe were the same age.

“I remember,” Clara said, “when we were in Miss Oakleaf's class, first grade. Remember, Chloe?”

“Yes, I do. Miss Oakleaf was so pretty. I wanted to be just like her when I grew up.”

“Oh, me, too,” Clara agreed.

“She pinned her hair up in a twist and she always looked so elegant. And she wore high heels and pencil skirts.” Chloe frowned. “Were they even called pencil skirts back then?”

Clara considered. “Straight skirts, I think. And yeah. Miss Oakleaf was a beauty. Quinn had a big crush on her.”

“She was patient with him,” Chloe said softly, remembering how he struggled to keep up with the rest of the class.

Clara remembered, too. “He would get mad and act up and she would talk to him so gently.”

“And then,” said Chloe, “the Hershey's Kisses started appearing on her desk every morning...”

Clara took up the story. “Just a few of them, lined up in their shiny silver foil wrappers, waiting there for Miss Oakleaf on her desk pad at the beginning of every day.”

“No one knew who was leaving them,” said Chloe.

And Clara said, “Until Freddy Harmon spotted Quinn in the act. Freddy spied on Quinn through the window, didn't he, and saw him sneak in and put three Kisses on Miss Oakleaf's desk?”

“That's right,” Chloe replied softly. “Quinn was so humiliated...” She shook her head, aching for the troubled little boy he'd once been.

Jody said, “The way I heard it, he went ballistic.”

Clara nodded. “He chased Freddy around the playground till he caught him, and then he beat the crap out of him. For that, Quinn was suspended for two weeks. Looking back on our elementary school years, it seems like he spent more time suspended or in detention than he ever spent in class.”

They all laughed. They could afford to laugh about it now that Quinn was a grown man who'd built himself a fine, productive life.

Nell asked, “Remember that time he and Jamie and Dare got into it on the playground?” James and Darius were Clara's and Elise's full brothers, Sondra's sons.

Elise nodded. “It was two against one. Plus, Jamie and Dare were older and bigger. But Quinn just wouldn't give up and go down.”

Rory shook her head. “It's so strange, knowing him now, to hear what a troublemaker he used to be.”

“By the time he was twelve or so,” Clara said, “no one would fight with him. By then, they all knew that he would never quit. If you took on Quinn Bravo, it was going to be long and ugly and there would be way too much blood.”

“But look how he turned out,” Tracy piped up. “Rich and successful, with a beautiful daughter, about to marry the one and only Chloe Winchester.” Tracy raised her glass and everyone followed suit. “To Chloe. You go, girl.”

Chloe blushed a little. “Aww.”

Nell shook her gorgeous head of auburn hair. “Chloe. Seriously. You and Quinn? Never woulda seen that coming.”

Chloe beamed at her future sister-in-law, her heart full of fondness, her brain pleasantly hazy with the champagne and the good family feelings. She really was starting to feel seriously bondy with Nell. Was it only five days ago that they'd squared off in the trailer at Bravo Construction?

“Heads up, my sisters,” Elise whispered out of the side of her mouth. “Don't look now, but here comes trouble.”

Trouble in the tall, thin form of Monique Hightower. Wearing jeans, a silk top and giant sunglasses, Monique had just breezed in the door. She said something to the hostess and then spotted the Bravo women at the round table in the center of the dining room. Slowly, she eased the big sunglasses up to rest on her head. And then she smiled.

And then she came striding on over. “Hey, Clara, Elise, everyone. Looks like a party...”

Nell said, “It is. We are celebrating.”

About then, Monique zeroed in on Chloe. “Chloe. Well. How's every little thing?”

Chloe raised her champagne glass—with her left hand, so that her engagement diamond caught the light and sparkled. “Remember how I told you if I played my cards right, I might have a chance with Quinn?”

Somebody snickered. Chloe thought it was Elise, but it could have been Tracy.

Monique's eyes got wider. “Wow. That's, uh...” For once, she actually seemed at a loss for words. Chloe savored the moment.

Then Nell instructed, “Pull yourself together, Monique. Quinn and Chloe are getting married. You need to wish my future sister-in-law a life of love and happiness.”

Monique sent Nell a quelling glance that had zero effect on Quinn's baby sister. Nell just rolled her eyes and drank more champagne as Monique trotted out another big, fake smile and a too-perky “Best wishes, Chloe. Quinn's a lucky man.”

“Thank you, Monique.”

Clara, ever the peacemaker, offered, “Monique, why don't you join us for a glass of champagne?”

Everyone went dead quiet then. They'd been having such a great time and Monique would have them trying to remember to watch what they said, because anything Monique heard was fair game for her gossip mill.

Then Monique sighed. “Wish I could. But I got called in early. I need to change and get to work.”

“That's too bad.” Somehow Nell kept a straight face when she said it.

By then, Monique had recovered her equilibrium. “Chloe. That ring is spectacular. And truly, I'm so happy for you.”

“Monique. What can I say? Thank you again. That's so nice to hear.” And strangely enough, it kind of was. Chloe had the definite warm fuzzies at the moment. She was crazy about the Bravo women, crazy about Quinn. Crazy about
everyone
. She was even crazy about Monique, who couldn't keep a confidence if her life depended on it.

Champagne at lunchtime? She should try it more often.

Nobody said a word until Monique disappeared into the kitchen. And then Nell tapped her water glass with her spoon. “So. Engagement party. We need to throw one.”

Chloe started to protest that they didn't have to.

But then again, that could be fun, right?

How much fun had she had in her life, really?

Not enough. She'd always been mama's good girl, a busy little bee, working so hard to do everything right, to get straight As and get into a great college and find the perfect husband to make a perfect life.

There'd been no time for fun, not when she was so laser-focused on chasing the life her mother wanted for her.

And after her marriage to Ted? Well, it only went downhill from there. Hard to have fun when your life that looked so perfect on the outside was empty at the core, when you lived with a man you couldn't trust not to hurt you.

But now she had Quinn and anything seemed possible. All the good things: passion and tenderness and lots of laughter. And sisters to call her own.

And, for the first time, champagne at lunch.

Chloe let Quinn's sisters plan the party. She smiled and nodded and giggled a lot.

Nell leaned close to her. “Better cut back on the bubbly, baby.”

And Chloe giggled some more. But she took Nell's advice and started drinking ice water. By three-thirty, when they left the restaurant, she was almost sober.

They filed out to the parking lot. There were hugs and cheek kisses. Chloe thanked them all profusely.

Nell tapped her shoulder. “You still look a little high. Ride with me. You can get your car later.”

So just to be on the safe side, she let Nell take her back to the showroom. When Nell pulled in at the curb, Chloe leaned across the seats and hugged her good and hard. “I'm so glad you're going to be my sister. I never had a sister before.”

Nell hugged her back. “Well, now you've got four—five, including Tracy, who always gets insulted if we don't include her.”

* * *

That evening, Manny went to Boulder to visit his girlfriend. Quinn and Annabelle picked Chloe up at the showroom and took her back to the restaurant to get her car.

Then she joined them at the log house. They had pizza. And after Annabelle was all ready for bed, they watched
Frozen
, which Annabelle seemed to know by heart.

She kept popping in with “Look out!” or “Watch this!” just before something surprising would happen.

Quinn finally had to pause the movie and remind her that it was no fun to watch a movie when little girls were shouting.

Annabelle was sweetly contrite. She turned to Chloe. “I'm sorry, Chloe. I'm not s'posed to do that. But I get so 'cited!”

Chloe said, “Well, maybe if you don't do it again, your dad will let us watch the rest.”