His Perfect Woman (Urban Hearts Series Book 1) (29 page)

The town of Ayr was about thirty five kilometers from Glasgow and Eli—well rested from his sleep on the train, kept up a chatter for the entire drive.

“And then we went to Stonehenge, Aunt Lindy, but it’s just a bunch of big rocks. But the museum was kind of cool. It had headphones and pictures and talked about Druids. They’re sort of like Native Americans. Are you related to the Druids? Did they really do animal sacrifices and stuff?”

Mal did her best to explain the long history of England in a short conversation, all the while glancing somewhat worriedly at her friend in the front seat.

Azure was quiet, had been since getting off the train and while she noticed the looks of concern— she couldn’t muster the energy to reassure Mal that she was okay. She simply soaked in the Scottish landscape like a balm for her chapped psyche.

Green-beyond-belief pastures rolled out to the sea, and were dotted with brown cattle grazing lazily in the cool breeze. Low stone walls meandered through the green, serving as property lines and keeping the animals from grazing someone else’s grass. Beyond a narrow strip of sea, the Isle of Arran’s low-lying hills could be seen occasionally through the mist. A couple kilometers before reaching the old town, Mal turned off a by-road and turned again heading inland through more farmland. She turned yet again at an old-fashioned mill, once more toward the water. Azure was thoroughly lost by this time, but she had no need to orient herself. Mal knew where they were. The area was a second home to her.  White-washed cottages with grey slate roofs greeted them as Mal slowed on a gravel road.

“Eli, look at the little houses. Aren’t they cute?” Az interrupted his flow of questions to her friend. “They look like hobbit houses.” They’d been reading the Tolkien novel at bedtime.  Eli looked out from his place in the back seat and commented that they were too large to be for hobbits. From his backpack, he pulled out his Lord of the Rings action figures and held Frodo up to the window.

Mal turned her little car into a barely-there driveway. Before them, nestled in a huge bush of purple flowers was a little stone cottage the color of driftwood. The green and violet fauna clinging to the wall and hanging from the roof partially obscured the tiny paned windows. 

“I don’t remember your Nana’s house being like this.” Azure spoke.

“It’s not. She’s down the road just a bit. We’re just making a quick stop here first,” Mal said and threw the parking brake on as she got out. Going to the back of her car, she pulled Az’s suitcase from it, still talking. “This is a little rental. The McCairns let us use it sometimes. I figured you’d need some privacy.”

“What are you talking about?” Az stood at the back of the car with her. Mal simply nodded to the cottage. Beyond the greenery, the front door opened and Ross stepped out into the sunshine. He looked wonderful. The wind ruffled his thick hair—his light scruff on his face had thickened into an almost beard. His green eyes made even more vivid by the grey Henley he wore, the sleeves pushed up on his forearms. His faded jeans were her favorite ones, the ones that fit him so well, showing off the slight bow in his legs and cuffs landing against his favorite brown boots. He glinted against the sun and smiled. 

“What are you doing here?” she gasped out. He walked toward the car, toward her, obviously full of emotion. He started to hug her, but stopped, seeing the little boy in the back seat. Ross waved to him. Eli waved back and continued playing with his action figures. Ross turned to her.

“I came to talk to you. Since phones don’t seem to work.”

She huffed. “Phones work fine, when you…wait, how long have you been here?”

“This morning, took the red-eye from Chicago.”

That was why her calls went to voicemail. He was coming here. Maybe she hadn’t lost him. He pulled her toward him, sliding a hand gently around her waist, he glanced at Mal. Who grinned at both of them and moved toward the driver’s side again.

“Eli and I will be just down the way, come when you’re ready.”

The little car drove off, traveling several hundred feet down the lane to a rickety farmhouse. Az’s bag sat on the edge of the drive where Mal had left it.

“She must think I’m staying here.” Az’s voice held an edge. She hated being so predictable. She tried to keep that irritation, to hold on to her anger, but his eyes crinkled up in a bright smile as he picked up her bag and headed toward the cottage. She had no choice but to follow. “I can’t believe you found me,” she said to his back.

“I will always find you. Didn’t I say that once before?” He held the door for her, tilting his head toward the dark interior. Once inside, he pulled her into his arms, slowly, as though she’d run away if he moved too fast.  “There’s so much I want to say. I thought I was losing you.”

“I thought I’d lost you.”  She’d thought of her future without him. Her world became a black hole, dark and empty with her pretending that she was fine. Alone was one thing. She could do alone—but life without Ross? Now that would be a tragedy in the making.

“That could never happen. Never.” He kissed her—a small light kiss that was tentative and inviting at the same time; eventually growing into something deeper, parting her lips, tongue becoming more insistent as he wrapped strong arms around her. She allowed herself to be pulled into him. It would be so easy to lose herself. Just let go and feel everything her body wanted her to feel. Not yet. Not now, there was too much at stake to just let go. She leaned away from him and he released her.

“Come in. Mal was kind enough to set this up for me.” The house was one room, living room and kitchen.  Az guessed a bedroom and bath were through the single doorway at the rear of the house. Simply furnished with a tiny fridge, old fashioned gas stove, a few cabinets—the place had a comfy, though definitely rustic feel. A dilapidated couch sat in front of a stone hearth fireplace with a fire going, even though it was August. He walked the few steps into the kitchen.  “When I couldn’t reach you, I emailed her through her blog site. She said you’d be here so…”

“I was on my way back. I’m only staying a couple days.”

“This couldn’t wait. It was too important and I was afraid—” He moved to the tiny stove, lighting the flame and setting a kettle to heat.

“Afraid of what?” She pulled one of two chairs out from a scarred wooden table and sat down, feeling her legs wobble.

“Afraid of misunderstanding—of not being clear about things. Last time that happened I didn’t see you for a year. And I don’t want that to happen again. I couldn’t stand it.”

“You thought I was cheating on you.” She let her anger bubble up again. He couldn’t just show up all gorgeous and charming and have everything be hunky dory. Well, he could, but not without some work. “With my ex-husband.”

“You didn’t deny it.”

“I have to deny it? Really? I couldn’t betray Jonathan with you, and I certainly couldn’t do the same thing with him. Not to mention I’m not in love with the guy.”

“I didn’t think that. It’s just…look, it’s me, okay? After what happened with Dani, I’m just stupidly paranoid.”

“He kissed me.” Az blurted out. “It was after his father’s funeral and he was upset and it just happened. He was shocked and embarrassed and we just chalked it up to emotion, but that’s all it was. And then when you called, we’d been talking about Eli, and it was the first time that he seemed to be lighter since his father died. That’s all it was.”

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“I’m sorry, too.”

“So.” He pulled her up from the chair and into his arms again. She came willingly. The feel of him was like coming home. Even standing in a cold, bare, sparely furnished cottage on the edge of land overlooking a foreign sea, it felt like home. “So you’re not in love then?”

“Not with him, no.”

Ross grinned.

“Ask me what I’m thinking.”

She leaned back to look at him. “What?”

“Ask me.”

“What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that I’m so in love with you,” he said it softly to her temple, his hands running smoothly over her back. “Every impulsive, crazy, tentative part of you.”

Azure’s heart beat faster with every word. She had to step away. She would cry if she didn’t. She still couldn’t believe he’d come all this way—for her.

“I’m crazy now?”

“Stop, don’t make jokes.” Moving her to the chairs, he sat down next to her. He kept her hand in his across the table, their knees touching underneath. “I want us to be together. I don’t give a damn about logistics. Move to Chicago, we can buy a damn house in the suburbs like Jack and Sienna. If you and Eli can’t leave Denver, then I’ll move to Denver. My family can visit us. I can work anywhere.  If you want to take it slow because of Eli, we’ll take it slow.” He paused for breath or a thought, she couldn’t tell which, but she wondered at his ability to resolve every doubt in her myriad of excuses not to be with him.

“I want to be a dad to Eli—a second one. He has a first. I already love the kid and haven’t met him yet. If you want more kids, we’ll adopt more kids—a girl and a boy, if you want. I’ll write another book about how you plan weddings—we can write it together—it’ll be a bestseller. I can research what you do and carry that huge monstrosity you call a handbag—hell, the inventory of that bag is half a book in itself.”

Chuckling, Az leaned across the slight space, reaching her free hand over the top of his.

Ross looked into her eyes again.

“What I’m saying is, I need you, Azure Worth. And as long as I have you, we can make it work. This is real life and that’s what I want. Real life is what I want with you.” He sighed and leaned back against the hard back chair. “So…what do you say?”

Az thought for a long moment. The whole thing felt unreal to her and yet here he was, the same Ross, sitting just across from her—the same Ross who watched over her cranky toaster in order to have perfectly toasted bread as she fried eggs in her kitchen, the same Ross who chewed his bottom lip while agonizing over sentence structure in a new draft, the one who put as much care, time and diligence into loving her as he did everything precious in his life—this Ross was here, asking her to love him as much as he loved her.

He looked so much younger than his thirty one years. She felt so much younger, like she was starting over.  Maybe she was. Maybe it was possible to chart for your own happiness, possible to change the course of your life in mid-stream. Maybe, that’s what life was.

“Okay.”  She smiled up at him.

With a tilt of his head, he gave her a sardonic look.

“Okay? I say all of that, and all you have to say is okay?”

“Yep, okay.” Of course, it was much more than that—so much more, but she didn’t want to talk anymore. She stood up, pulling him from the chair and kissing him.  She let go this time—let go of all of her fears and insecurities and put herself into this one moment. It was enough of an answer for him. One hand against the back of her head, he angled her to slant their mouths closer, his tongue sweeping any doubts away. She was breathless, but she couldn’t stop, wanting more of him.

The kettle whistle began to shrill. He reached back, flicked the burner off and went back to kissing her, pulling the collar of her shirt aside to mouth over the softness of her throat. Her little murmur of pleasure had him steering her into the tiny bedroom, hands on her hips. Walking backward, she pulled at the hem of his shirt, anxious to get her hands on bare skin.

A tiny knock at the door stopped them. Their hands stopped pulling at clothes, their trek to the bedroom halted. Three soft raps sounded again.

“Eli,” Azure said. Ross drew a deep breath, stepped back a half step, his hands dropping from her hips to pull his shirt down. Azure straightened her own blouse before opening the door.

“Eli, we’ll be—” She took a somewhat ragged breath, working to compose herself.

“Mom, do you know what Nana has?” Eli’s eyes were round as quarters. She smiled at the boy’s excitement.

“Nope, what?” He entered as she stepped aside, giving Ross a cursory glance before turning back to her.

“Baby goats—she has baby goats.” He grabbed her hand. “Come see.”

“Okay, but…wait. I want you to meet someone.  This is Ross.”

“Hi, Eli,” Ross put out his hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

The boy looked up at him studiously for a moment. So long a moment that Ross almost took back his hand, looking to Az for some clue on how to handle the situation.   Eli reached out slowly and shook his hand.

“Hello,” he said. 

Az’s breath caught in her throat. When Eli was quiet and polite, he was usually very uneasy.  Too soon, she thought. And coming so close to leaving his father, she should have waited to introduce them. But how could she have waited? Ross was here and now.  Ross got down to Eli’s level.

“Baby goats, huh?”

Eli nodded vigorously, watching both Ross and his mother. He spoke directly to Ross.

“You wanna come see? They’re really cute. One’s white, and one’s black and white. I don’t think they have names.”

“That simply won’t do. I think we better go see them—I’m sure you can come up with names.” Ross replied and straightening up he reached for Azure’s hand.  “Let’s go see baby goats.” He smiled at her and turned back to Eli. “Lead the way, my good man.” Eli grinned and headed out the door.  Before they got outside, Ross turned to her, one finger caressing her jaw line.