Kate Hewitt - Modern Romance April 2016

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Jaz wasted no time in sidling up to Jake when Julius and Holly were occupied with signing the register. ‘What is wrong with you?’ she said in an undertone.

‘I have to talk to you,’ he said, pulling at his bow tie as if it were choking him.

She rolled her eyes. ‘Look, I know this is torture for you, but can you just allow your brother his big day without drawing attention to yourself? It’s just a bow tie, for pity’s sake.’

He took her by the hand, his eyes looking suspiciously moist. Did he have an allergy? There were certainly a lot of flowers about. But then the service had been pretty emotional. Maybe it was a twin thing. If Julius cried, Jake would too, although she had never seen it before.

‘I love you,’ he said.

Jaz’s eyelashes flickered at him in shock. ‘What?’

His midnight-blue eyes looked so amazingly soft she had to remind herself it was actually Jake looking at her, not Julius looking at Holly. ‘Not just as a friend,’ he said. ‘And not just as a lover, but as a life partner. Marry me, Jaz. Please?’

Jaz’s heart bumped against her breastbone. ‘You can’t ask me to marry you in the middle of your brother’s wedding!’

He grinned. ‘I just did. What do you say?’

She gazed at him, wondering if wedding fever had got to her so bad she was hallucinating. Was he really telling her he loved her and wanted to marry her? Was he really looking at her as if she was the only woman in the world who could ever make him completely happy? ‘You’re not doing this as some sort of joke, are you?’ she asked, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. It would be just like him to want to have a laugh to counter all the emotion, to tone down all the seriousness, responsibility and formality.

He gripped her by the hands, almost crushing her bridesmaid’s bouquet in the process. ‘It’s no joke,’ he said. ‘I love you and want to spend the rest of my life proving it to you. The last three weeks have been awful without you. You’re all I think about. I’m like a lovesick teenager. I can’t get you out of my head. As soon as I saw you walking down the aisle, I realised I couldn’t let another day—another minute—go by without telling you how I feel. I want to be with you. Only you. Marry me, my darling girl.’

Jaz was still not sure she could believe what she was hearing. And nor, apparently, could the bridal party as they had stalled in the process of signing the register to watch on with beaming faces. ‘But what about kids?’ she said.

‘I love kids. I’m a big kid myself. Remember how great I was with you and Miranda when you were kids? I reckon I’ll be a great dad. How many do you want?’

Jaz remembered all too well. He had been fantastic with her and Miranda, making them laugh until their sides had ached. It was her dream coming to life in front of her eyes. Jake wanted to marry her and he wanted to have babies with her. ‘Two at least,’ she said.

He pulled her closer, smiling at her with twinkling eyes. ‘I should warn you that twins run in my family.’

Jaz smiled back. ‘I’ll take the risk.’

‘So you’ll marry me?’

Could a heart burst with happiness? Jaz wondered. It certainly felt like hers was going to. But, even better, it looked like Jake was feeling exactly the same way. ‘Yes.’

Jake bent his head to kiss her mouth with such heart-warming tenderness it made Jaz’s eyes tear up. When he finally lifted his head, she saw similar moisture in his eyes. ‘I was making myself sick with worry you might say no,’ he said.

She stroked his jaw with a gentle hand, her heart now feeling so full it was making it hard for her to breathe. ‘You’re not an easy person to say no to.’

He brushed her cheek with his fingers as if to test she was real and not a figment of his imagination. ‘How quickly can you whip up a wedding dress?’

She looked at him in delighted surprise. ‘You want to get married sooner rather than later?’

He pressed a kiss to her forehead, each of her eyelids, both of her cheeks and the tip of her nose. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘As soon as it can be arranged. I don’t even mind if it’s in church or a garden, on the top of Big Ben or twenty leagues under the sea. I won’t be happy until I can officially call you my wife.’

‘Ahem.’ Julius spoke from behind them. ‘We’re the ones trying to get married here.’

Jake turned to grin at his brother. ‘We should’ve made it a double wedding.’

Julius smiled from ear to ear. ‘Congratulations to both of you. Nothing could have made my and Holly’s day more special than this.’

Miranda was dabbing at her eyes as she came rushing over to give Jaz a bone- and bouquet-crushing hug. ‘I’m so happy for you. We’re finally going to be sisters. Yay!’

Jaz blinked back tears as she saw Leandro looking at Miranda just the way Jake was looking at her—with love that knew no bounds. With love that would last a lifetime.

She turned back to Jake. ‘Do you still have that engagement ring?’

Jake reached into his inside jacket pocket, his eyes gleaming. ‘I almost gave it to Julius instead of the wedding rings.’ He took it out and slipped it on her finger. ‘There. That’s got to stay there now. No taking it off. Ever. Understood?’

Jaz wrapped her arms around his waist and smiled up at him in blissful joy. ‘I’m going to keep it on for ever.’

* * * * *

Read on for an extract from SEDUCED INTO HER BOSS’S SERVICE by Cathy Williams .

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