Bundle of Joy (41 page)

The last she'd heard, Michael McKay was married and living outside Arlington, Virginia, his adolescent dreams as forgotten as what they had once shared.

If her overactive imagination wanted to conjure up the past at every turn – well, she was just going to have to put a stop to that, and soon.

While the counter clerk assembled her order, Sandra glanced around the restaurant once again. A hell of a lot of men were tall and dark and handsome, but not one of them came close to the splendor of that man in the black T-shirt.

Just because that one perfect specimen had looked the way she'd imagined Michael would look now was no reason to ruin the rest of the evening with useless thoughts of the past. Thinking of the past never got you anything but a broken heart, and that was something she wasn't going to forget.

"Need some help!"

Her heart slammed into her rib cage and she turned to look into the concerned face of Ed Gregory. She hoped her disappointment didn't show.

"I guess so," she said, as the clerk loaded their order onto three trays. "Your timing is superb as always, Ed."

They were heading toward the condiment table for extra ketchup and paper napkins when she heard a man say, "Watch my seat, Tony. She forgot my fries," and a thousand nights of wanting rushed in at her with a force more violent than anything Hurricane Henry had to offer.

How could she think she'd forgotten his voice, that deep, smooth voice that had whispered secrets and dreams and promises in her ear back when she believed such things were possible.

A stupid, idiotic tremor rushed through her body and she felt seventeen again and on fire from within for the one, the only one, who had ever made her feel whole.

~~end of excerpt~~

I Do, I Do . . . Again – contemporary romance

A 25,000 word novella from USA Today bestselling author Barbara Bretton

Sunny Talbot and Robert Holland were high school sweethearts whose teenage marriage quickly fell apart in the face of real life.

When a chance meeting brings them together again years later, they quickly discover that the passion they once shared burns hotter than ever.

Robert and Sunny are sure they've finally found their happily-ever-after but will their second chance at love survive planning the wedding?

#

Chapter One

They say a man never forgets his first love, the first woman to claim his heart. Maybe that was why the sign in the art gallery window caught Robert's eye on that sunny April afternoon. Grand Opening, it read in bold deco print. Sunny invites you to a wine-and-cheese Open House to celebrate the opening of Gallery One.

Sunny
.

The name alone was enough to summon up the memory of warm summer nights and youthful dreams. Lately he'd found himself thinking about his ex-wife at the oddest times. The scent of Shalimar...a woman with eyes the color of a green meadow...the nagging feeling that if they'd tried harder or loved each other more their marriage might have worked out.

The odds of bumping into her after so many years were probably a million to one. There had to be more than one woman named Sunny in the state of Pennsylvania, he reasoned as he opened the door then stepped inside the gallery.

"Hi," said a middle-aged woman dressed in white. "Help yourself to wine and cheese." He was about to thank her when she gave him a closer look. "Are you the guy from the bank? Mr. Daniels said he was--"

"That's what I get for wearing a suit to an art gallery," he said with an easy laugh. "I'm just taking a look around."

She shrugged. "Well, enjoy yourself. And make sure you have some wine."

He glanced around the crowded gallery. The women in the room were either too old, too young, too tall, or too average to be Sunny.

He'd been looking for a curvy slip of a woman with a fiery personality to match her wild mane of red curls. She could be a blonde now. She could have tamed both her disposition and her hair and turned into someone he wouldn't recognize without a name tag. Nothing stayed the same, no matter how much you wished it would.

The thought of Sunny trading in her dreams for a stock portfolio was enough to ruin his day.

A man's first love was meant to live on in his memory forever, beautiful and perfect, untouched by time. This had been a lousy idea and the thing to do now was get out while the getting was good and his memories were still intact.

And then he saw her.

He would have recognized her anywhere. She was standing near a Chinese screen, looking as beautiful as she had the last time he'd seen her. She wore a Spandex mini skirt, an over-sized silver and gold sweater and sheer black stockings with patent leather ankle boots. A Technicolor tumble of red curls fell halfway to her waist and he wanted to plunge his hands into the silky mass and--

Whoa.

Ex-wives weren't supposed to get a man's heart pumping hard inside his chest. He had no business noticing the way the glittery sweater clung to her rounded breasts or the shapely length of leg revealed by her mini. He'd known her back when breasts like that were a fervent dream, not a luscious reality. He'd seen her with her hair in rollers, with makeup and without. Happy, sad, and every mood in between.

A big guy with a shock of ice blond hair whispered something in her ear and she laughed. Husky. Low. Sexy as hell. He'd never heard her laugh like that before and the sound sizzled its way to all of his major body parts. Who did that schmuck think he was, whispering to her like that? Back off, Holland, an inner voice warned. That schmuck could be her husband.

"No," he said out loud. "No way in hell."

She was his.

#

Sunny was still laughing at Vladimir's joke when she saw him.

Was the one man she'd loved enough to marry was about to step back into her life? It was impossible.

Absolutely, positively impossible.

"It's been a long time, Sunny." That voice. Deep. Rich. Vibrant. The kind of voice that could talk a woman into bed before she knew what was happening. Dear God, it was....

"Robert?" She stared at him, open-mouthed. He was bigger than she'd remembered and older, but he was still the most beautiful man she'd ever known and she wondered how it was they had ever said goodbye. "Robby!" She threw herself into his arms, tears and laughter erupting simultaneously. "My God! I can't believe this!"

He swept her up into an exuberant bear hug that lifted her from the ground and made her feel fragile and feminine and infinitely desirable. He smelled faintly of soap and his cheek was still warm from the sun. His thick dark brown hair grazed his collar, same as it had years ago, and she found herself wondering if it would feel as silky as it looked. He was broad across the chest and still narrow of hip and he was still the sexiest man she had ever seen.

He released her from his hug and she found herself reluctant to let go. It had been so long since she'd been close to him and, right or wrong, it had felt so wonderful in his arms.

He gave her a long and appreciative look. "Only you could get away with an outfit like that."

"This is one of my more conservative outfits." She tugged at the tie that hung loosely about his neck. "And only you could get away with this and still look sexy."

"You look great, Sunny."

"So do you." Age was always kind to men and in this case, it had been extremely generous. Was it possible for a man's eyes to grow bluer with time? She doubted it, but still....

"When did you--"

"What brought you--"

They met each other's eyes and laughed again.

"You first," he said. She felt as if she were caught somewhere between the past and the present, suspended on a cloud of bittersweet memory.

We can make it, Sunny, I know we can. I'll work part-time at McDonald's and after the baby comes, you can--

She shook her head to banish the memory. "What on earth are you doing here?"

"Business meeting just outside of town. I was hunting around for a place to grab some lunch."

"You're the last person I expected to see."

"I'm kind of surprised myself."

She made a show of inspecting his attire. "Judging by the suit, I'd say you became an attorney after all."

He favored her with a wry smile. "Judging by the gallery, I'd say you found your career in art."

"I'm not going to be the next Picasso, but I'm happy."

"I'm glad."

She tilted her head, looking at him with open and unabashed curiosity. "You're telling me you just happened to walk by my gallery?"

He motioned toward the sign in the front window. "I saw the poster. You know what a sucker I am for wine-and-cheese parties."

"This from the man who once told me he'd rather be trapped in a locked basement with Godzilla than go to a party with my artsy friends?"

"I'm never going to live that down, am I?" He shook his head. "I was eighteen. I've mellowed."

Impulsively she reached out and took his hand. "You don't know how wonderful it is to see you again. I'd hoped to see you at our tenth reunion." Idiot! Why don't you just pin your heart to your sleeve and be done with it? It wasn't as if she'd spent the last fifteen years pining after her ex-husband. She had a successful career, a happy life, friends and family who loved her. She had no right to want more. "I mean, the old gang really missed you."

An odd look drifted across his face and he glanced away for a moment. Just long enough for her to sense the gulf time had placed between them.

"You didn't miss much of anything," she continued, trying to fill the silence with chatter about the last reunion of the class of 1997. "Lisa was pregnant with her fourth baby. John lost weight. Kenny is cornering the market on Rogaine and Karen still loves Paul."

"And what about you?" Who do you love, Sunny? Who claimed your heart?

"Still a free spirit," she said, feeling anything but. The sweet yoke of their common history tugged gently at her heart. "Drifting through life, wondering what's around the next corner."

"People who drift through life don't open their own art galleries."

"Oh, I land from time to time," she said, trying to figure out a way to release his hand without seeming rude. "I'm not a total flake, Robby. I just look like one."

"I never said you were."

"That's right," she said softly, remembering. "You never did." Everyone else had laughed at her dreams, told her to put aside her visions of glory and study business like the rest of them, but not Robert. He had been behind her all the way, even though her dreams must have seemed as formless and bizarre as a Dali painting to him.

"Excuse me." Her assistant bustled up to them. "No more champagne. No more pate. No more crackers." Her glance flickered to Robert then back to Sunny again. "What now?"

"No more party, I suppose." She glanced at her watch. "Actually we've run an hour later than I'd planned."

"The painters called and they're itching to finish up in the back. Can I give them the go-ahead?"

"Another half-hour," said Sunny. "I'd hate to give our guests the bum's rush." Especially you, she thought, stealing a look at Robert. It had been so long--and there was so much she wanted to know about him.

Her assistant hurried away to give the painters the go-ahead and Sunny turned back to her ex-husband. She had already noticed there was no ring on the appropriate finger, but that in itself meant little. One of her most persistent would-be suitors had been a ringless married man.

"Are you married?" asked Robert.

She blinked. "I was about to ask you the same thing."

"So are you?"

"No." She took a shaky breath, remembering something about a wife and children. "Are you?"

He shook his head. "Widowed."

"I'm sorry."

"And I have two kids."

She took another deep breath. "Two?"

"A six year old boy and a twelve year old girl."

"Oh."

"Do you like kids?"

"I like them just fine." She'd given him children, whoever his wife had been. A sharp stab of envy knifed at her heart. "It must be difficult, being a single father and all."

"I'm luckier than a lot of people," he said, eyes locked with hers. "I can afford help at home. Mrs. Jennings keeps us all on track."

She tried to imagine him driving a carpool or fixing school lunches, but failed miserably. He had everything they'd ever wanted...everything they'd ever dreamed they would one day have together.

"Sunny!" Her assistant's voice rang out. "Roscoe needs some help over here."

"Go help Roscoe," said Robert with an easy smile. "I'll still be here when you're finished."

Her heart did a strange little dance inside her chest. "You will?"