Yvonne Lindsay - Seduced By The Single Dad

His generous words warmed her, made a glow down inside her that all the trials of the afternoon and evening couldn’t dim.

I think I’m falling in love with you, Quinn .

It sounded so right inside her head. But she wasn’t quite ready to say it out loud yet. Talk of love still had some taint for her. It still held ugly echoes of the past.

She shut her eyes and drifted, cradled, safe, with her head in Quinn’s lap.

Marriage. To Quinn.

Was she ready for that? They’d been together such a short time and she’d messed up so badly before. How could she be certain?

She opened her eyes.

And he was gazing down at her, steady. Sure. Not having to say anything, just being there with her.

When she looked in his eyes, her doubts about herself and her future and her iffy judgment just melted away. When she looked in Quinn’s eyes, she was sure.

And come on. She’d dated Ted for a year before she said yes to him. And then it was another year until their lavish wedding. She’d given herself plenty of time to really know Ted. She’d done everything right.

And still, it all went wrong. Ted was the man her mother wanted for her.

And Quinn?

It was so simple. Quinn was the one she wanted for herself. He was her choice, her second chance to get it right. She trusted him. She knew he would be good to her, that she would be good for him—and for Annabelle and Manny, too.

Together, they could make a full, rich life, the life she’d always wanted. The life she’d given up hope that she would ever find.

Until now. Until Quinn.

He unwound her hair again. And she sat up and took his arm and wrapped it across her shoulders. He gathered her closer. She drew her legs up onto the sofa and folded them to the side so she was facing him. Looking right into those wonderful eyes, she said, “Well, I’ve decided, then. And my decision is...” She stretched up enough to nip his scruffy jaw with her teeth. “Yes.”

For once, he actually looked taken completely off guard. “What did you say?”

“I said yes, Quinn. I will marry you. I want it to be a small, simple wedding, just family and close friends. And I want it to be soon.”

“Chloe.” He took her face between those big hands. “Seriously? You’re sure?” He looked so vulnerable right then, as if he couldn’t quite believe she really meant it.

She did mean it. “Yes, I am very sure.”

“Damn,” he whispered prayerfully.

He kissed her, a kiss that curled her bare toes and created that incomparable heavy, hot yearning down in the core of her. And then he scooped her up in those big arms of his and carried her to her bedroom.

Late into the night, he showed her exactly how happy her decision had made him.

Dawn was breaking when he left her. She stood out on her front porch in a robe and slippers, watching him walk across the street to his temporary home, knowing her hair needed combing and her eyes were low and lazy. She was fully aware that she had the look of a woman thoroughly and repeatedly satisfied—and she didn’t care in the least who saw her.

She’d made her decision. She was marrying Quinn and finally getting the life she’d always dreamed of.

Chapter Eight

At the showroom a few hours later, Chloe called Tai and asked her to come in early.

At ten, Quinn picked her up. They drove to Denver, where they had lunch and he bought her a beautiful engagement ring and a platinum wedding ring to match. She bought him a ring, too, a thick platinum band that she couldn’t wait to slip on his finger when the big day came. She was back at her showroom by four.

That evening, just as she was letting herself in the front door, the house phone rang. She saw it was her parents’ number and let it go to the machine.

A few minutes later, she checked to see what her mother had said. But it turned out it was her dad. He’d left a two-sentence message: “Chloe, this is your dad. Please call me.”

She did, right then.

He asked her if she was all right and Chloe told him that she would be fine.

Doug Winchester said, “Your mother’s just brokenhearted over what happened last night.”

Chloe refused to let him play the guilt card on her. “We don’t see eye-to-eye, Mom and me. And I don’t think that either of us will be changing our positions anytime soon.”

“She loves you. You know that. I love you.”

“Thanks, Daddy. I love you, too. But sometimes love really can’t make everything right. Not with Mom, anyway. With Mom, it’s her way or nothing. And I’m through doing things her way. In fact, Quinn’s asked me to marry him and I’ve said yes.”

The line went dead silent. Then her father asked cautiously, “Isn’t this a little sudden?”

She resisted the urge to say something snappish. “I care for him deeply, Dad. It’s what I want.”

“You’re sure?”

“I am.”

Another silence. And then her father had the good grace to say that he hoped she would be happy. “I think I’ll wait a few days to tell your mother about your engagement, though.”

“Right now, Dad, I don’t care if you tell her or not.”

“Chloe. You don’t mean that.”

She didn’t argue. What was the point? “I’ll call and let you know about the wedding. It’s going to be small and simple.” Nothing like the three-ring circus in Sonoma when she’d married Ted. “I hope you can come. Quinn wants me to be patient with Mom, so I’m going to give it a little time before I decide whether I’m willing to have her at the wedding.”

Another deep silence from her dad. Then, “Let’s just see how things go, shall we?”

Chloe agreed that would be wise. They said goodbye.

A few hours later, when Quinn came over, she cried a little for her fractured family. He held her and told her it would all turn out all right. Somehow, when he said it, she almost believed it.

* * *

Friday morning first thing, Nell Bravo dropped by Chloe’s showroom. Chloe broke the big news and showed off her gorgeous ring.

Nell said, “So, then. This makes it official. You’re gonna be my sister. And that means we’ll have to bury the hatchet permanently, you and me.”

“You know, you really scare me when you talk about hatchets.”

Nell laughed and grabbed Chloe in a hug and waltzed her in and out of the various carpet and flooring displays. Then Quinn’s sister confessed, “I already knew. Quinn told me this morning. And I’m here to find out when you’re breaking for lunch so I can get a table at the Sylvan Inn for you and me and my sisters.”

Chloe met the Bravo sisters at the Sylvan Inn at one. There were four of them. Clara and Elise were the daughters of Franklin Bravo’s first wife, Sondra. Jody’s and Nell’s mother was the notorious Willow Mooney Bravo, who’d been Frank’s mistress during most of his marriage to Sondra. The day after Sondra Bravo’s funeral, Willow married Frank. He moved her right into the mansion he’d built for Sondra. Frank Bravo’s refusal to observe even a minimal period of mourning after Sondra’s passing caused no end of shock and outrage in the angry hearts of the judgmental types in town, Chloe’s mother first among them.

Tracy Winham, Elise’s best friend and business partner, joined them, too. And so did Rory Bravo-Calabretti, a cousin to the Bravo sisters. Rory was an actual princess from a tiny country called Montedoro. But Rory didn’t act like a princess. She loved Justice Creek and she was down-to-earth and lots of fun. Recently she’d decided to make her home in America. She lived with her fiancé, Walker McKellan, at Walker’s guest ranch not far from town.

As a matter of fact, all the Bravo women were lots of fun. Even more so after a couple of glasses of the champagne Nell had ordered to toast Chloe and Quinn and their future happiness together. Chloe never drank alcohol at lunch. After all, she still had half a day of work ahead and she preferred to be alert and clearheaded on the job.