Somewhere Only We Know (32 page)

"Hush," he said, repeating her earlier warning. This time his fingers came against her lips. "You make mistakes because you push yourself to the limits. You're adventurous and daring and you live your life the way everyone should live—the way I want to live. I always admired you, Maddie, even when you were pulling crazy stunts in high school. Every time we ran into each other during our twenties, I felt like I'd missed out on you. You were always with someone else."

"Or you were," she interrupted as he dropped his fingers from her lips. "It was never the right time for us."

"Until now," he said forcefully.

"You sound pretty certain about that."

"I am certain. I'm not letting you go, Maddie. If you leave this city, I'll be at your side. If you want to move to India and study yoga and meditate, just make sure you buy two mats."

She smiled. "You would never want to give up firefighting. It's who you are."

"No, it's what I do," he corrected. "And I do it really well. But I'm done living for my job. I want more. I want you to live with me and marry me and have kids with me. I want us to cook together, and ride horses on the beach, and roll around in a hayloft with only the moon for light."

"We'll have to make sure my parents are on a trip for that one," she said, her heart overflowing with happiness. "But I love all those ideas. And you know I'll probably have some new ideas along the way."

He laughed and gave her a kiss. "I'm counting on that."

"Some of them will be bad," she warned.

"But some of them will be really, really good," he returned.

"I have an idea for right now."

He immediately shook his head. "No, you're going to eat. You're going to rest. That's what you need."

"Later," she interrupted.

"Maddie," he protested, but she could see his desire warring with his good sense.

"Love me, Burke. That's what I need right now. I need you."

"I need you, too," he breathed, then his mouth finally came down on hers.

Epilogue

Valentine's Day – Three Weeks Later

"What are we doing?" Maddie asked, a little breathless from trying to keep up with Burke's long strides. "I don't think there are any restaurants out here."

"Who said we were going to a restaurant?" he asked, a secretive smile playing around his lips.

"That's what most people do on Valentine's Day."

"Are we most people, Maddie?"

She laughed. "Well, you are—
usually
. Me, not so much."

He didn't bother to reply, just grabbed her hand as they walked quickly down the sidewalk. Then he took a turn, leading her along a path that led into Golden Gate Park, the city's largest park and one that sprawled across several miles of city land.

"Okay, we're at the park, so I'm guessing we're going to go to the De Young Museum. We're going to look at erotic art."

He grinned. "Wrong."

"Arboretum then. Instead of giving me flowers, you're going to give me an entire arboretum. Isn't it closed at night?" It was after seven, and the sun had gone down an hour earlier, but it was still somewhat light, with a full moon and a starry sky.

"Wrong again," Burke said with a laugh. "You're not going to guess."

"I'm pretty good at guessing," she protested.

"Not this time."

She tried to think of what else they could do in the park. "We're going to the stables. We'll take a moonlit horse ride through the park. Wait, are there stables here?"

"Not that I know of. I think the only horses are on the carousel."

"That's it. You just gave it away. You're taking me on the merry-go-round."

"Would I be that crazy to give it all away? Who do you think you're dealing with?"

Apparently, she was dealing with a man who was much more imaginative and inventive than she had first thought, and she was more than a little happy that he was all hers. The past three weeks had been a whirlwind of love and romance mixed with more practical matters like working in the food truck and finding a new place to live—a place she and Burke were going to live in together.

They'd settled on a condo earlier that day and were supposed to be celebrating tonight—if they ever got to where they were going.

The path they were on wound through thick, tall trees, past green meadows and dense woods. And since she hadn't been in the park in years, she really had no idea where this walk was going to end, but she had a feeling it was going to be amazing.

"Almost there," Burke said, excitement in his voice.

They turned a corner and came out of the woods. In front of her was a small but beautiful fountain. She stopped in delight and astonishment, watching the effervescent pink streams of water splash into a beautiful moonlit pool.

"It's pink," she said, running over to get a closer look. "Oh, my God. Did you do this, Burke? Did you dye the water in the fountain pink?"

"A Valentine's Day pink, like your mashed potatoes," he said, reminding her of that long ago day. "So that everyone can feel the love even if their locker isn't filled with valentines or flowers or candy hearts. They can feel the magic of love in the water."

He'd repeated her previous statement almost word for word. "I can't believe you remember my saying all that."

"I remember everything." He took both of her hands in his. "You changed my life the very first day we met."

"When I got you detention."

"When you showed me that there needed to be some fun mixed in with the work," he corrected.

"You know I got detention again for the mashed potatoes. You could get into trouble for this, Burke. You could get arrested for vandalizing city property. That wouldn't sit well with the Callaways."

He laughed. "I'll take my chances. You're worth breaking a few rules for. And I wanted to give you this, not just to show that I've changed, but that I'm not the stiff-necked, uptight, humorless person I used to be."

"I never thought that about you, Burke," she protested.

"Come on, Maddie. We tell each other the truth."

"Okay, you were a little bit like that. But the flip side was that you did everything really well. And you've made a tremendous life for yourself. You were on the right path all along. I was the one taking too many detours."

"Those detours were probably worth it."

"Some of them were."

"And some of them weren't even your idea," he reminded her. "You were living for yourself and for your sister, and I love that you fulfilled so many of her dreams. But it's your time now, Maddie. It's all you—it's what you want from life. That's all that matters."

She gazed into his eyes. "I didn't know what I wanted until you came back into my life. And then it was all so incredibly clear. I need you, Burke."

"And I need you."

He dropped to his knees, and her heart skipped a beat.

"What are you doing?' she asked with excitement.

He let go of her hands to pull a small velvet box out of his pocket. He flipped it open, revealing an oval-shaped diamond. "Will you marry me, Maddie Heller?"

Her eyes filled with tears as she dropped down to her knees. "Yes, Burke Callaway, I will marry you."

He put the ring on her finger. "If you don't like it, we can—"

"I love it and I love you," she said, giving him a long, passionate kiss. "We're going to be really happy."

He smiled. "I know we are." He helped her to her feet. "So this isn't the total surprise."

"No?" she asked.

"I'm taking you to dinner. You have two choices. We can join the rest of the family at my parents' house where there's a Callaway celebration of love going on, or we can have a more intimate dinner for two at a really good Italian restaurant. It's your call."

"That's a tough call, but I'm thinking the family dinner. Nicole told me that since it's so difficult to babysitters they've started a new Valentine's Day tradition of just getting together and letting love surround them. It seems like the perfect place to celebrate our love."

He blew out a breath of relief. "Good. I was hoping you'd say that, because your parents are already there."

"Burke, I can't believe you. What if I'd picked the intimate dinner for two?"

"Then our parents were going to spend a lot of time talking about us tonight."

"You told my parents you were going to ask me to marry you?"

"I asked for your father's permission."

Her heart turned over again. "Oh, Burke. Really? He must have been so touched."

"He said he was glad you'd finally picked the right guy," Burke said with a laugh.

"He was right."

"And your mom gave me a suggestion on your ring."

"You really did plan everything out." As she said the words, she wasn't at all surprised. "I think I'm going to like being married to you."

"I think I'm going to like that, too. Shall we go?"

"Yes." As she took one last look at the pink watery spray, a thought occurred to her. "Hang on a second."

"What?"

"You got permission to do this, didn’t you?"

"Who would give me permission?"

"Probably some park commissioner who is related or married to or friends with someone in your family."

"Does it matter?"

She smiled. "No, it doesn't matter."

He gazed into her eyes. "Be my valentine?"

"Forever."

"I thought you hated that word."

"I used to—not anymore. Now it's perfect." She put her arms around his neck and pulled his head down to hers.

THE END

Dear Reader,

I hope you enjoyed Burke and Maddie's story. It's one I've been wanting to tell since the Callaways first began. If you'd like to share your thoughts with other readers, you can leave a review
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If you've missed any of the Callaway novels, I hope you'll check them out. A complete list of my books is available in the following booklist. I've also included an excerpt from one of my most popular novels, TAKEN, in case you haven't read that book yet!

I also wanted to let you know that I'll be continuing the Callaway series in the future, bringing you more stories of romance, mystery and adventure with the Callaway Cousins!

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Until next time, happy reading!

Barbara

TAKEN

The Deception Duo #1

Barbara Freethy

© Excerpt 2015 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Prologue

“To my wife.” Nick Granville gave Kayla Sheridan a dazzling smile as he raised his champagne glass to hers.

Kayla tapped her glass against his. As she looked into the gorgeous blue eyes of the man she had married, she felt a rush of pure joy. She could hardly believe she was married, but an hour ago she’d vowed to love this man above all others. He’d put a ring on her finger and a diamond necklace around her neck and he’d promised to stay forever, which was really all she’d ever wanted. A child of divorce, she’d split her time between two houses, two sets of parents, two cities, and she’d said more than her share of good-byes. That was over now. She was Mrs. Nicholas Granville, and she would make her marriage stick.

The champagne tickled her throat. She felt almost dizzy with delight. “I can’t believe how happy I am,” she murmured. “My head is spinning.”

“I like it when you’re off balance,” he said.

“I’ve been that way since the first second we met,” she confessed. “Marrying you tonight is the most impulsive, reckless thing I have ever done in my life.” She glanced down at the two-carat diamond ring on her finger. It was huge, dramatic, and wildly expensive. It wasn’t the kind of ring she’d imagined wearing. She’d thought she’d have something set in an old-fashioned silver band, and in her wildest dreams the stone had never been this big; she was an incredibly lucky woman. And Nick was a very generous man. He’d been spoiling her rotten since their first date.

“You do impulsive well,” Nick commented. “Better than I would have thought when we first met.”

“Because you’re a bad influence,” she teased.

His grin broadened. “I’ve been told that before. Life is supposed to be fun. You are having fun, aren’t you?”

“Absolutely. This day has been perfect. The chapel was lovely. The minister made a nice speech about love and marriage. I was afraid it would feel like a quickie wedding, but it didn’t. And this hotel room -- it’s incredible.” She waved her hand in the air as she glanced around their honeymoon suite. Nick had ordered in scented candles that bathed the room in a soft light, riotous colorful wildflowers on every table, rose petals lining a romantic path to the bedroom, and silver trays with chocolate-covered strawberries, her favorite dessert. She couldn’t have asked for a more romantic setting in which to begin her new life. “You’ve made me so happy, Nick. You’ve given me exactly what I wanted.”

He nodded. “I feel the same way.” He leaned forward and kissed her softly on the mouth, a promise of what was to come. “I’m going to get some ice.” He sent her a meaningful look. “I think we’ll want some cold champagne...later.”

A tingle of anticipation ran down her spine. “Don’t be long.”

He picked up the ice bucket and headed for the door. Once there, he paused and pulled out the antique pocket watch she’d given him as a wedding present a few minutes earlier. “Thanks again for this,” he said. “It means a lot to me.”

“My grandmother told me I should give it to the man I love. And that’s you.”

Kayla wanted him to say he loved her, too, but he simply smiled and gave her a little wave as he left the room. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t said the words. He’d married her. That was what was important. She’d spent most of her twenties with a commitment-phobic boyfriend who couldn’t bring himself to pop the question. Nick had told her almost immediately that he intended to be her husband. She’d been swept away by his love and his confidence that they were perfect for each other. Now, only three weeks since that first date, she was his wife. She could hardly believe it. Three weeks! This was definitely the craziest thing she’d ever done.