10 Ways to Steal Your Lover (18 page)

 
      
“I chose you, Kane, because most of the
time, you’re not like either one of them. Most of the time, you care about what
I think and what I want. Most of the time, you know how to listen to what I’m
saying.”

 
      
Except for last year, when he’d pulled
away. Because it had hurt too much, seeing her with Craig. Delilah softened,
walking through the water back to him. She took his face in her hands, pulling
him down for the softest kiss she could give him. Not sexual. Not teasing. An
apology, for pulling the man’s heart in so many directions he’d had every
reason to expect the worst from her.

 
      
“I need you to hear this, need you to
listen and keep this in your heart from now on. I know I’ve hurt you. So many
times, because I was too afraid to face what was right in front of me. I never
wanted to hurt you. I love you, Kane. I love the man you are, your kindness and
your nobility and even that stubborn part of you that makes me want to pull my
hair out—or yours. But even more than that, I love the parts of you that you
don’t show to anyone but me. You have every right to doubt me— ”

 
      
“It’s not that,” he said, but she could
still see the shadows in his gaze.

 
      
“Yes, it is. So if that means it’s my
turn to show you I can be what you want, what you deserve, then I’m ready,
Kane. I’m finally ready.” More than ready. Wiling. And dammit, able.

 
      
His hands curved around hers, his
expression raw and exposed. “You’d really be happy with a wedding you don’t
remember to a guy who did everything he could to steal your heart before your
real fiancé showed up to claim you?”

 
      
For a smart man, he could be so dumb.
What was a single memory against an entire future of happiness? “What you don’t
seem to get is that you stole my heart, long before my wedding day. You’ve been
carrying it with you for three years. Keeping it safe until you could steal the
rest of me along with it.”

 
      
“You’re not exactly making me feel better
here.”

 
      
She laughed, kissing his lips playfully.
“I don’t know why I should. According to you, I stole yours first.”

 
      
It took a moment, just like it did in the
church, but slowly, carefully, that small, secret Kane smile slipped free. His
hands spanned her waist and he brought their foreheads together. “If I take you,
Del, I’m never giving you back.”

 
      
She draped her arms over his shoulders,
so glad to feel his body had relaxed. Their whole lives stretched ahead of
them. She could feel the pieces finally settle into place like a puzzle finally
completed. No more indecision. No more fears. Just the knowledge that no matter
what happened next, they’d face it together. “Who said anything about if?”

 
      
The whirring of the engine wasn’t
terribly loud, but it broke the brisk stillness of the night all the same. Delilah
leaned back, snug in the heavy blankets and the sheepskin coat Kane had
insisted she wear. He was just as bundled in his own coat, their legs tangled
together under the covers. She gripped the heavy silver thermos as he toyed
with the controls in the open cart where they sat.

 
      
On their wedding two years ago here on
the ranch, six months after the one she’d always consider their real one, he’d
surprised her with their own private Ferris wheel. His one serious splurge with
the money they’d won. Well, that and making sure she had an account with half
of it in her name, no matter what. It was money she never gave a thought to,
figuring they’d end up giving it to their kids someday, while the rest they
invested into the ranch, finishing his expansion plans and adding to the horse
stock. But the Ferris wheel, well, that they used every chance they got. Especially
since Kane was in love with pushing the buttons that drove it. Customized for
them to use by remote, he could control the speed, the lights that decorated
it, even the music if he wanted.

 
      
After the wedding, the wheel decorated
with flowers and streamers, he’d stopped their cart at the very top, feet above
the roof of the big house, where they could sit and look up at the millions of
stars in the unblemished sky. And on their first Christmas Eve together, just
before midnight, they’d added the tradition to go on and open their most
special presents to each other with Mexican hot chocolate, staying up there to
make their wishes for the coming year. Sure, they felt like kids, but that was
part of the charm. High enough to have their heads in the clouds, strong enough
to keep their feet on the ground.

 
      
“Think we woke anyone up?” Kane asked in
a whisper that seemed a little silly after the sound of the wheel’s engine
taking them to the top.

 
      
“Probably not Craig,” she answered,
trying not to laugh at Kane’s unwillingly smug expression. “Why did they insist
on trying to ride the horses? They do this every year and it never goes well.
Craig can barely walk and Jesse’s going to have a bruise the size of his head
on his ribs.”

 
      
“Because they hate thinking there’s
something they can’t do.”

 
      
Delilah shook her head. “At least Dad had
a good time.”

 
      
“Well, he does enjoy watching people make
jack asses of themselves,” Kane replied, grinning all out now. The first year
after their crazy elopement had been a bit rocky with her parents, but Kane
wouldn’t let her stop inviting them to come for a visit. Finally, the Colonel
and Dinah had come and their relationships had only gotten better with every
visit. Dinah never uttered a single peep about “the right kind of” anything and
her father had actually apologized to them both, surprising Delilah, but not
Kane. According to him, all the Colonel had wanted was for his daughter to be
settled and secure. Delilah finally finishing school, earning her CPA and
taking on clients had given her father the faith to believe she’d be all right
after al.

 
      
Knowing she was happier than she’d ever
been in her life probably had something to do with it too, but Delilah didn’t
want to rain on Kane’s practical parade.

 
      
Career satisfaction had never mattered as
much to Heath McGavin as knowing his daughter was loved and taken care of by
someone he could trust. And she was. It was as simple, as protective, as that.

 
      
“I wouldn’t have taken him for a
horseman,” Kane continued, oblivious to her rambling thoughts. “He’s really
getting comfortable on them, though.”

 
      
“Just keep him on the fat, plodding ones
and my mother will continue to think you hung the moon and stars.”

 
      
“Yeah,” he laughed. “She really does,
doesn’t she?”

 
      
“That’s what you get when you defend her
mother and her daughter from the crankiest man on earth. Eternal devotion.”

 
      
“Now if we could just get Rainbow to stop
sending me fertility teas, I think we’ll be all set.”

 
      
Delilah stopped pouring the hot
chocolate, her back straightening. “I thought you wanted to start a family.”

 
      
“I do,” he assured her, pulling her close
for a smiling kiss before snuggling his way to her ear. “Can’t blame a guy for
enjoying the practice time, can you?”

 
      
She relaxed. “About that…”

 
      
“About what? Practice? It’s a little cold
tonight, don’t you think?” She could see him working out the logistics as he
scanned the amount of blankets and coats.

 
      
Shaking her head, Delilah handed him the
oversize mug. “Sex addict.”

 
      
“I’ve yet to hear you say no, fellow
addict.” And there was the smug grin again.

 
      
“Is it midnight yet?” Better to change
that subject right away, because it always led to trying to prove she had more
willpower than him and Kane did love a challenge…

 
      
He checked his watch. “Thirty seconds.”

 
      
Perfect, she thought, filing her own mug.
all the necessities taken care of, she sank back against his shoulder and
waited for their magic moment. She knew it had come when Kane took her hand in
his and she heard him hold his breath.

 
      
That little quirk of his never failed to
make her want to kiss him.

 
      
“So, out with it.” She sipped, the
sweetness of the spiced chocolate filing her mouth. “What’d you wish for?”

 
      
“Apart from you in that red satin thong
with the fuzzy balls on the ties?”

 
      
If she could have angled herself in all those
layers to smack his shoulder—if he would have felt it!—she would have. “That
was supposed to be a surprise!”

 
      
“Oh, believe me, it was. I’ve been hard
as a rock since I found it in your desk this morning.”

 
      
“What were you doing in my desk?” she
demanded archly.

 
      
“Looking for a pencil?” His attempt at
innocence was so lame she didn’t even have to bother being skeptical.

 
      
“Under the folders in the file cabinet?”

 
      
“You don’t keep them there?”

 
      
“You are so pathetic, Wilkensen.” Which
was why she’d put that thong in there to find. Better to let him think he’d
found his presents than for him to get anywhere near her real surprise. She’d
been holding onto this one for over a week, hoping and praying he wasn’t paying
very much attention to the calendar with all the company.

 
      
He laughed unrepentantly, squeezing her
close. “What about you, what did you wish for?”

 
      
This was it. The moment she’d been
waiting for. He’d be happy, of that there was no question. Kane was a man who’d
wanted a family of his own for most of his life. Finally, finally, she could
give him one more part of his dreams. Of her own.

 
      
She reached into the folds of her blanket
and pulled out a slim but heavy box wrapped in silver paper. “You have to open
this first.”

 
      
His eyes glittered with glee. Honestly,
this man and his presents. He tore into the wrapping, peeling it off with the
swipe of his hand. The tape didn’t last much longer, allowing the flat box to
open from the top flap and reveal the hand-carved, 8x10 inch wooden frame
within. He smiled down at it, running his fingers over the lacquered pine and
tapping the notched edges with his nail. “It’s beautiful.”

 
      
“Read it,” she urged, pulling the top of
the box back further so the lights of the wheel would illuminate the painted
parchment under the glass.

 
      
“Did you make this?” He was still marveling
over the wood frame.

 
      
She nodded. “Remember that Industrial
Arts class I squeezed in last year?”

 
      
He blinked in shock. “You made this a
year ago and I’m only seeing it now?”

 
      
“I was saving it for something special,”
she replied haughtily, touching the glass to track him back to the message
inside. “I did the art inside, too.”

 
      
He finally looked down again, tilting the
box into better light. The painted border almost hid the torn seams of the
parchment, but she knew he recognized the paper as his fingers traced the ravaged
edges of their first marriage certificate beneath the frame glass. They’d gone
back to Norman and the Fantasy Castle the day after deciding to stay together
and had him redo the ceremony right, just for them, but she’d kept the first
pieces. Their first promises, she always thought. The ones that made everything
else after it possible.

 
      
“Ten Ways To Steal Your Lover ,” he read
the script on the page softly. “A Romance Master Plan by Kane Wilkensen. Follow
any of these ten steps and you can steal the girl. Follow them all and you’ll
keep her forever.” He turned back to her, a confused lift to the corner of his
mouth. “What is this?”