Harlequin Special Edition October 2015, Box Set 1 of 2 (18 page)

Quinn called Nell to let her know what had gone down. Nell turned right around and called everybody. Within half an hour, family members started arriving. By late afternoon, Chloe had had visits from all of Quinn's sisters and three of his brothers.

Nell even called Chloe's parents. Linda and Doug Winchester rushed right over. Chloe took it well, Quinn thought. She let her dad hug her and then her mom, too. Linda cried. She pulled Quinn aside and said she needed to tell him personally how very wrong she'd been. She hoped, she said, that someday, somehow, she would find a way to make things right with her daughter and with him.

He gave her a hug and told her there was nothing to make right. “We're family now, Linda. Everything's going to be just fine.”

That caused Linda to cry even harder.

Then Doug clapped him on the back. “I know I don't have to say it. But I'm a father and that means I'll say it anyway. Take good care of my little girl. She hasn't had it easy.”

“I will, sir,” Quinn promised. “You can count on me.”

Then Doug took Linda home.

Chloe made a list of what she needed from her house. Quinn went over there and gathered everything up.

And that night, for the first time, he had her in his bed where he'd always wanted her. He brought her aspirin for the pain and he wrapped himself around her and he held her all night long.

* * *

Chloe never went back to the house across the street. Slowly, she and Quinn and Manny moved everything she needed to the log house.

Within a week, her tongue was fully functional again. On a Thursday night late, she and Quinn sat out under the stars and said the things they'd never managed to say before.

She told him what was in her heart. “I love you, Quinn. So, so much.”

And he said, “I love you, angel. I've been wanting to tell you forever. But somehow the time never seemed right.”

“I think maybe you sensed that I wasn't ready yet. To say it. To hear it. But I'm ready
now
.”

“Yeah,” he said gruffly. “I see that. I feel that. I love you, Chloe Winchester.” He stared deep in her eyes.

She gazed back at him and knew she'd gotten it exactly right the second time around. “I went all wrong there, for so many years.”

“No.”

“Yes. I went wrong, took the wrong path. But I'm back where I belong now. I think deep down I always knew you were the one for me, from way back when we were little, from when you used to put those Hershey's Kisses on Miss Oakleaf's desk.”

He groaned. “You remember that? Nobody remembers that.”

“Well, yeah. We all kind of do.” She got up from her deck chair—but only so that she could sit on his lap. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she whispered in his ear, “It was so sweet and so romantic, you leaving chocolate for Miss Oakleaf. Everybody said so.”

“You think so, huh?”

“I do, yes.”

“I love you, Chloe.” He nuzzled her hair. “I love you. Now that I'm finally saying it, I just can't say it enough.”

“Good. Because I love you, too.”

“Vegas?” he asked, his mouth so warm and soft against her cheek.

She turned her head—just enough so that their lips could meet. They shared a long, sweet kiss. And then she answered him, “Vegas. Definitely. Name the day.”

* * *

Five weeks later, they moved back to the fully renovated house down the hill. Annabelle put on her fairy princess costume and danced around her new princess bedroom, scattering fairy dust as she went. That same day, Manny presented her with a tiny, long-haired, big-eared Chihuahua puppy, which she promptly named Mouse.

And a week after that, Quinn and Chloe were married in the wedding chapel at High Sierra Resort and Casino in Las Vegas on the Sunset Strip. Annabelle was the flower girl. Manny stood up as best man. Quinn's sisters and Tracy Winham and Rory Bravo-Calabretti were all bridesmaids, with Nell the maid of honor.

Doug Winchester proudly gave his only daughter away for the second time. “This is the one that counts,” he whispered to Chloe as he walked her down the aisle to Quinn. Linda Winchester cried all through the ceremony—tears of joy, she said.

For Chloe, it was the happiest day of her life.

So far.

* * * * *

Don't miss
CARTER BRAVO'S CHRISTMAS BRIDE
,

the next installment in Christine Rimmer's

THE BRAVOS OF JUSTICE CREEK
miniseries,

coming soon, only from Harlequin Special Edition.

Keep reading for an excerpt from
EVERGREEN SPRINGS
by RaeAnne Thayne.

SPECIAL EXCERPT FROM

This Christmas, Cole Barrett isn't expecting
a miracle. He's just trying to help his children
grieve the loss of their mother. But when beautiful
Devin Shaw bursts into their world, will Cole find
a second-chance family under the mistletoe?

Read on for a sneak preview of
EVERGREEN SPRINGS
,
the latest book in
New York Times
bestselling author RaeAnne Thayne's stunning series
HAVEN POINT
.

http://www.harlequin.com/harlequinexperience

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ISBN-13: 9781460387016

The Good Girl's Second Chance

Copyright © 2015 by Christine Rimmer

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

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That doesn't stop Logan Daugherty from proposing four months after spending the most wonderful night of his life with Anna Rockwood. And when the mother-to-be says yes, the honor-bound Wyoming rancher is ready to fulfill his part of the bargain. So why is Logan secretly longing to make their temporary arrangement
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