Blame it on Cupid (39 page)

“D
ON
'
T TELL ME THIS
is how it's going to be,” Jack muttered.

Merry lifted her head to grin at him. “You mean, an insane houseful of kids, constant noise and gargantuan messes and the phone ringing all the time?”

“Naw. I don't care about any of that. I just care about the lack of privacy.” His mouth found the side of her neck. Because he'd turned off all the lights so they could watch a movie, he kept claiming that it was too dark to see…so his aim was accidental. She couldn't blame him for it or hold him responsible.

She might have bought that ridiculous fairy tale—she'd probably have bought anything Jack wanted to sell her, that night—but as it happened, they weren't watching the movie. And his mouth exhibited no trouble finding her throat in the dark, any more than his hands were challenged to find tender bare skin.

She found herself breathless. “We do need some privacy,” she whispered.

“Soon.”

“Soon,” she agreed. “But you might want to keep in mind that you're responsible for this chaos.”

“Some of it.”

“Some?”
He was the one who thought Charlene needed something special immediately to lighten the stress of yesterday's traumatic day.

Merry had owned up to the kitten idea—but that was kitten, as in a singular model. He was the one who took Charlene to a neighborhood rescue and came back with two.

Charlene had immediately named them Lucky and Buttercup. Possibly it wasn't one of Merry's better ideas to set them up in the master bedroom, but the spur-of-the-moment impulse had been to get Charlie closer to her dad's things, and the kittens would help that. The babies were seven weeks old, fluffy fur balls and wonderful, with claws that could kill you.

Merry had casually suggested that her friends could come over any time to see the kittens. The infamous Dougall was in there now. So was a girl and another boy. So were Cooper and Kevin.

Dougall was the critical issue, Merry had explained to Jack. The major embarrassment of getting her first period in school wouldn't be half as bad a hurdle to Charlie, if it hadn't occurred in the class she had with Dougall. The kittens were proving to be an ideal distracting influence. Both Merry and Jack could hear the kids through the open doorway. No one had mentioned anything embarrassing to Charlene. No one had asked why she'd suddenly, just like that, quit wearing her hair in a brush cut, either.

Jack heard both his sons laughing at the kittens' antics.

“How on
earth
are we going to combine the households? Which house? And
when
is another question.”

“Beats me. But my theory is…we should all decide together. Involve the kids.” She rested her neck against the arm. “I'm going to be the easiest one to please, because I'll be happy no matter what.”

“I
know
that. Because I'm going to work—for the next fifty years—to make you happy no matter what.” He took another nip out of her neck.

“It isn't over, you know. We'll have to deal with Charlie's mother. And your ex-wife. And I would really like to go for a formal adoption on Charlie—”

“I think that's a great idea, for us to do together.” Clearly he liked the concept, just wanted to change the pronoun. “But the rest of the turmoil just comes with the territory. Nothing's ever easy with kids or life. We'll be stuck rolling with the punches a million times.”

She tilted her head again, just so she could see those dark velvet eyes and the way they looked at her. “I didn't say yes, you know.”

“Huh?”

Finally, he took his attention off her neck.

“You've been making an awful lot of assumptions ever since you proposed in the courthouse. I mean, I never exactly said yes. In fact, you haven't mentioned a single thing about marriage since yesterday.”

“Hey, have we had a single second alone since yesterday? Any possible occasion when I might have been able to spring for champagne, something that sparkles for your finger, a little…wooing?”

“I like all those ideas,” she said, “but you could have changed your mind.”

“Not in this life.”

She poked him, gently, between shirt buttons. “I'm just not sure you know what you're getting into. I've been known to get lost.”

“I've heard this,” he said gravely.

“I've also been known to leave the dishes in the sink overnight. And I'm into rituals, Jack. Like waxing and mud wraps on Sunday night. I think of shopping on a par with vitamins, necessary for regular health. And inside…” She took a breath. “There's still some anger. Not a lot of it. But what's there has been stored up since my mother left. I didn't realize it until Charlie. But I just have to warn you, it probably won't be pretty when it gets out.”

“Is this the worst you can scare me with?” he demanded.

“It's good for starters. The relevant issue, though, is whether you're actually going to ask me that infamous question, when no one else is around, and it's just you and me.”

“Ah, Merry…” He eased down beside her on the couch. It was probably not a great idea for the kids to find them prone together, but for that moment, Jack seemed to need—really need—the closeness. To touch as much of her as he could. To be absolutely face to face. “To be honest, I was hoping that it would help if I gave you some time to get used to the idea. That some time might up my odds of your saying yes.”

“You were really afraid I'd say no?”

But she could see the answer on his face. Her foolish, foolish man, she mused. In a world with so few heroes, Jack was one of the rare ones. An extraordinarily sexy good man. He was an outstanding dad. The kind of man who stood up for his country, for his kids, for anyone who needed him without expecting thanks or even notice. And he was unquestionably a man who protected those he loved.

Especially the woman he loved.

She knew because that woman happened to be her. And how much he loved her, she could feel right down to her soul. He'd been hurt, she was well aware…but those wounds and experiences only increased his capacity to love.

She knew what she had. “Yes, Jack,” she whispered. “Yes, times ten. Yes, times a thousand.” She wound her arms around his neck and pulled him closer for a deep, soft kiss…a kiss full of promise, full of hope, full of love.