Beauty and the Wolf / Their Miracle Twins (20 page)

“You scared me.” She ran her hands over him, searching for breaks. Remembering the scrapes on his side, she carefully backed away from him, although he didn’t let her go far. The raw places on his ribs looked like rug burns, and she winced as she barely skimmed her fingertips over one. “This looks sore.”

He shrugged, the hard muscles of his chest shifting under her hand. “They’re just a few little scrapes.”

“What caused them?”

“I don’t remember exactly, but I think it was the branches of the fir tree.” He shook his head in disgust. “I knew that slope was going to slide sooner or later. We’re just lucky it only gave way on one end.”

“Did you have to be standing there when it did?” she demanded, smoothing her fingertips over the bruise on his cheekbone before cupping his cheek.

“I didn’t exactly plan it that way,” he told her, a small, endearing smile lifting the corners of his mouth. “If I’d had a choice, trust me, I would have been on the other side of the lot with Connor.”

“Humph.” Frankie wasn’t mollified. She continued to stroke her fingers over the warm, satiny skin of his chest, the feel of his hard muscles and the lift of his chest as he breathed soothing the terror that had shaken her. Suddenly, she stiffened and sat up. “Eli, you’re bruised on your left side. Did the tree damage your left leg—the one you broke last year?”

“No.” He pulled her back, tucking her head beneath his chin. “That’s why the doctor scheduled me for an MRI. Well, that and the general beating I got all over from the tree,” he conceded. “But the leg is fine. I’m sure I’ll be stiff and sore tomorrow, and probably for a few days to come, but ultimately I was incredibly lucky. No serious damage.”

“Thank goodness.” Frankie hugged him tighter before instantly loosening her grip. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

His arms pressed her close once again. “You didn’t hurt me.” He brushed a kiss against her hair. “The accident was a wake-up call for me, Frankie. I could have died this afternoon without telling you how much I love you. I should have told you last night—or this morning. I don’t know why I didn’t. Yes, I do,” he said with a shake
of his head. “I chickened out because I was afraid you weren’t ready to hear it.” His arms tightened, pressing her closer, and his voice rumbled. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you after we kissed at your birthday party. If you hadn’t walked into the office and asked me to help you, I would have called and asked you out. I wasn’t just pretending to be interested in you—I wanted to spend time with you and this was the perfect opportunity.” He paused, his voice deeper when he continued. “We hadn’t been dating for more than a week when I knew I was in deep trouble. You weren’t just another beautiful woman. I didn’t want to admit it, even to myself, but I’d fallen in love with you.”

“Eli,” she breathed, tilting her head back to look up at him. “I love you, too. I wanted to tell you last night, but I wasn’t sure you felt the same way about me.”

His eyes flared, hot with blue fire, and he bent his head and kissed her. The warm pressure of his mouth reaffirmed he was safe, his injuries minor, and her earlier terror that she’d lost him melted away.

When he lifted his head, his blue eyes were heavy-lidded and darkened. “Harry asked me yesterday what my intentions were toward you, Frankie. I want to spend my life with you. I want to wake up in the morning with you in my arms and go to bed at night with you beside me. I want you to marry me. I want us to have a little girl who looks just like you and makes me sit on little chairs to play at tea parties.” He stroked his thumb over the faintly swollen fullness of her lower lip. “But most of all, I want you to love me the way I love you. I wasn’t
sure that was possible, but when you walked in here, I began to hope.”

“Oh, Eli.” Frankie’s eyes filled, and tears spilled down her cheeks. “I love you so much it scares me.”

“Scares you?” He frowned. “Why?”

“Because loving someone this much is a scary thing for me. I was very young when my father died, but I remember watching my mother grieve and thinking I never wanted to love someone that much, and I’ve never let myself fall in love. Until now—I can’t control how I feel about you. It’s as if you’re the other half of me, as if I didn’t even realize I needed you until we started dating.” She shook her head. “Like I said, loving you is scary. I’ve never done it before. I’m in uncharted territory.”

He smiled slowly. “If it helps, honey, you’re not alone.”

“Really?” She searched his face. “You’ve never been in love like this before, either?”

“No.”

“Good,” she said firmly. “Then we can muddle through together.”

“I’m game for anything we can do together, honey,” he said. “How soon do you think we can spring me from this place?”

“I don’t know. Certainly not until the doctor has run all the tests he needs to be sure you’re all right.”

“I’m fine. And I’ll be better as soon as we’re home.” He lifted a questioning brow. “My place or yours? I don’t
care which, just pick one. But you’re spending tonight with me.”

“Only if the doctor says it’s okay,” she warned him.

“Honey, I’m not asking the doc if I can make love to you tonight,” he told her with a slow grin. “It wouldn’t matter if he told me yes or no. But if you’ll go find him, we can get me released and out of this place. Unless you want to climb under the sheet with me and get creative?”

Frankie laughed and slipped off the bed. “You’re incorrigible. I’ll see if I can find a nurse.”

Once again, family and friends gathered at Harry’s lakeside mansion. This time to celebrate Eli’s release from the hospital and his engagement to Frankie.

The panel of doors between the living room and an adjacent family room were thrown open, and the space was crowded with guests. Harry had spared no expense—tables groaning under the weight of catered food and champagne fountains flowing.

At the end of the room, standing near the ebony grand piano with the Seattle skyline visible through the floor-to-ceiling windows behind them, Harry and Cornelia stood apart, savoring a moment alone.

“Well, Harry—” Cornelia lifted her champagne glass, sipping as she eyed his tall, lanky figure and the smile wreathing his features “—all has turned out well. I’ve never seen Frankie so happy. She absolutely glows.”

“And Eli looks pretty happy, too,” Harry agreed. He lifted his glass, touching it to Cornelia’s with a small
click of congratulations. “Here’s to another wedding in the family.”

“I’ll drink to that.” Cornelia sipped once more, sighing contentedly as she looked about the room. “It was lovely of you to volunteer to hold Frankie’s engagement party here, Harry. We could have had it at my house, but I’m not sure we would have all fit.”

“It’s my pleasure.” Harry’s eyes gleamed, his gaze intent on Cornelia as she smiled and waved at Tommi, standing with Max, Bobbie and Gabriel across the room.

Their moment of quiet conversation was all too short, and soon Cornelia was called away by a group of Frankie’s high school friends. Harry let her go and moved through the crowd, visiting with friends and greeting some guests he hadn’t met before. One of those was Eli’s grandfather, Jack, who accepted with alacrity Harry’s offer of whisky instead of champagne.

“Nice of you to throw this party for Eli,” Jack told Harry.

The two older men stood at the end of the long living room, heavy lead crystal glasses containing a few inches of whisky in their hands.

“Glad to do it,” Harry said expansively. “He’s been practically a member of the family for years.” He nodded at the newly engaged couple holding court near the fireplace halfway down the room. “And now that he’s engaged to my niece, he’ll be making it official. Seems like a natural next step.”

“Does that mean Wolf Construction gets the contract
to build HuntCom’s new campus?” Jack asked casually, his blue eyes shrewd as he looked at Harry.

“Of course.” Harry’s eyes twinkled. “Can’t have my niece’s fiancé out of work.”

Jack chuckled. “Good to know my grandson is marrying into a family that understands taking care of its own.”

“There will be other opportunities, too, of course,” Harry told him. “HuntCom has facilities outside Seattle, some overseas.”

“I’d just as soon the boys worked closer to home, especially now that Eli’s going to be married,” Jack told him. “It’s hard to keep a wife happy and be a good dad from half a world away.”

“True.” Harry nodded his agreement.

Jack’s deep laugh was clearly audible over the murmur of conversation. Frankie looked at Eli’s grandfather, finding him in deep conversation with Harry, and felt a niggle of foreboding. Arm hooked through Eli’s, she leaned against his side and went up on tiptoe to reach him. He bent his head.

“Eli, your grandfather and Harry look like they’re plotting,” she whispered in his ear. “Should we be worried?”

He glanced up and across the room, covering her hand with his where it rested on his sleeve. “No,” he reassured her. “Harry’s a cagey guy, but Granddad can run him a close second. They’re probably telling each
other stories about the business deals they’ve wangled, trying to top each other.”

“You know,” Frankie said slowly, watching the two older men and the ease they seemed to feel with each other. “I’m wondering if we made a mistake getting those two together. Jack Wolf might be the only man I ever met who can match Harry’s willingness to tell his family members what to do.”

Eli laughed and bent to brush a kiss against her cheek. “How did you figure that out about Granddad so quickly?”

“I’ve had a couple of conversations with him over the last few days,” she told him. “And he doesn’t pull his punches. He wants us to have a baby—soon.”

“He told you that?” Eli demanded, a frown growing.

“Yes, but don’t be angry with him.” Frankie smoothed her fingertip over the frown lines, easing them away. “I told him Harry had already informed me that I’m soon going to be past my best childbearing years and I’d duly noted the information.”

“Damn, Frankie.” Eli’s voice held admiration. “I think Granddad finally met his match in you.”

Her mouth curved in a small smile. “That’s what he said.”

Eli hugged her, laughter rumbling as he did.

“Are you sure we shouldn’t warn Georgie about Harry?” Frankie said, still concerned. “It’s not like Harry to abandon a project, and he seems obsessed with matchmaking.”

“No, I don’t think so. After all,” Eli said, “look how well his meddling worked out for us.”

“But we got together while trying to avoid Harry’s scheming,” she reminded him.

“But the end result was the same. Harry meddled in your love life, and, in the end, you and I are together.” Eli tipped up her chin, his eyes a deep, smoky blue behind half-lowered lashes.

“That’s true,” Frankie agreed. “And how amazingly wonderful is that?”

“Pretty damned incredible,” Eli said fervently. He bent his head, his mouth covering hers.

Yes,
she thought as the kiss swept her under. She adored him more than she’d ever thought possible, more than her long-ago crush. And even more astounding, he loved her, too.

Life stretched before her, filled with infinite happy possibilities. Frankie wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back, unaware that the roomful of guests was cheering with delight.

Dear Reader,

In 2009, when writing my book
Their Newborn Gift,
I wanted to explore the idea of a young woman who takes on her (dead) sister’s unborn embryos rather than see them lost to her family forever. But that book was part of a series and—generally speaking—killing off another author’s characters is frowned upon, and so I put the idea on ice (pun very much intended) for a future book where no-one but my own characters are involved.

Their Miracle Twins
is that book.

There are obvious ethical issues for IVF patients around which box to tick to instruct the laboratory regarding any unused embryos—”donate” or “destroy”. But the idea of an unmarried heroine fighting in the courts to make sure they are donated to her is ethically complex, too. Will fixating on the children stop her from grieving properly? Will a single mother living in a tiny flat in Chelsea make a good mother? Will they have as good a life as a more established, supportive married couple could give them?

And more importantly … what happens if there’s two?

Belinda Rochester fights like a lioness for her sister’s unborn children, but she soon finds out that her family is not the only one affected. And that being able to
fight
for custody is not the same as being
right
for it.

I hope you take pleasure in meeting Bel and Flynn and experiencing the beautiful life they forge for themselves high in the tablelands of Australia.

Enjoy,

xx

Nikki Logan

NIKKI LOGAN
lives next to a string of protected wetlands in Western Australia, with her long-suffering partner and a menagerie of furred, feathered and scaly mates. She studied film and theatre at university, and worked for years in advertising and film distribution before finally settling down in the wildlife industry. Her romance with nature goes way back, and she considers her life charmed, given she works with wildlife by day and writes fiction by night—the perfect way to combine her two loves. Nikki believes that the passion and risk of falling in love are perfectly mirrored in the danger and beauty of wild places. Every romance she writes contains an element of nature, and if readers catch a waft of rich earth or the spray of wild ocean between the pages she knows her job is done.

London, England

T
HE
sterile double doors of the hospital whispered open as Bel Rochester approached, wiping her free hand on her jeans and gripping her overnight case like a sweaty lifeline in the other. It wasn’t every day you walked into a hospital a single woman but walked out a single mother.