Barbara Bretton - We'll Always Have Paris

We’ll Always Have Paris by Barbara Bretton

After twenty-eight years of marriage, Kate and Ryan Donovan called it quits. Two years later at their daughter’s wedding, they’re seeing each other in a whole new light—the City of Light, where romance beckons around every corner….

BARBARA BRETTON

“One of today’s best women’s fiction authors.”

—The Romance Reader

“A master storyteller…”

—Booklist

BARBARA BRETTON

Barbara Bretton wanted to be a writer from the moment she was old enough to hold a pencil. What could be better than spending all day with your imaginary friends and getting paid for it? She sold her first book (longer ago than she cares to admit) to Harlequin American Romance and was delighted when Love Changes went on to be a launch title. Even though she has written and published over forty novels since then, she remains deeply grateful (and a bit surprised) to find herself living her childhood dream.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To Tina and Marsha with thanks

Cover

Back Cover Text We’ll Always Have Paris by Barbara Bretton After twenty-eight years of marriage, Kate and Ryan Donovan called it quits. Two years later at their daughter’s wedding, they’re seeing each other in a whole new light—the City of Light, where romance beckons around every corner….

Acclaim for the authors of Acclaim for the authors of Acclaim for the authors of ABOUT THE AUTHOR Title Page Dedication PROLOGUE CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER SIX CHAPTER SEVEN EPILOGUE Copyright A Wedding in Paris BARBARA BRETTON “One of today’s best women’s fiction authors.” —The Romance Reader “A master storyteller…” —Booklist

ABOUT THE AUTHOR ABOUT THE AUTHOR ABOUT THE AUTHOR Title Page Dedication PROLOGUE CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER SIX CHAPTER SEVEN EPILOGUE Copyright BARBARA BRETTON Barbara Bretton wanted to be a writer from the moment she was old enough to hold a pencil. What could be better than spending all day with your imaginary friends and getting paid for it? She sold her first book (longer ago than she cares to admit) to Harlequin American Romance and was delighted when Love Changes went on to be a launch title. Even though she has written and published over forty novels since then, she remains deeply grateful (and a bit surprised) to find herself living her childhood dream.

Title Page We’ll Always Have Paris Barbara Bretton www.millsandboon.co.uk

Dedication To Tina and Marsha with thanks

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

EPILOGUE

Copyright

The Engagement Party

Long Island—winter

LAUGHTER SPILLEDout of the big yellow house at the end of Meadow Run Road. Curls of smoke rose from the chimney and spun upward toward the moon, which hung full and glowing in the ink-black sky. The promise of more snow was in the air, but that hadn’t kept anyone away. Cars filled the driveway, part of the front lawn, the street.

“Shh!” she whispered as they slipped deeper into the shadowy backyard where their girls had played as children. “They’ll hear us.”

He pulled her close and she melted into his embrace. “I don’t plan on doing a lot of talking, do you?”

She shivered and this time it wasn’t from the winter chill that blanketed the northeast. “No talking,” she agreed. Even though not talking was what had gotten them into trouble.

But who needed words when the moon was full and the champagne tasted like starlight? There was nothing like your daughter’s engagement party to remind you that once upon a time you had believed in happy endings, too. Romance was everywhere. The house was filled with music and laughter. The people they loved most in the world were gathered together to celebrate the wonders of love. You couldn’t help believing in forever on a night like this.

He smelled the way she remembered, of spice and heat and mountain lakes. He had laughed the first time she told him that. You’re a Long Island girl, he had reminded her. What do you know from mountain lakes? But she knew wonderful when she saw it and for a long, long time what they had together was very wonderful.

He took her hand and they darted around the weather-beaten shed where the girls had stowed their bicycles another lifetime ago. Hard snow crackled like glass beneath their feet. She slipped on a patch of ice, but his strong arms caught her before she hit the ground. He had never let her fall, not once.

Not even now, at the end.

He didn’t ask why she had stopped having the driveway salted.

She didn’t remind him that they didn’t live there anymore; their youngest daughter and her roommates did.

This was a moment out of time. Nothing before this moment existed. Nothing after it would matter.

There was only the two of them.

He opened the passenger door of his rental car and they scrambled inside.

“A Toyota?” she asked, brow raised.

“They were fresh out of ’74 Cutlasses.”

Her sigh filled the tiny space. “I haven’t thought about your dad’s Cutlass in years.”

“I have.” He unzipped his jacket and drew her inside its warmth. “We should have had it declared a national monument.”

How many hours had they spent in the back seat of that big blue car, young and wildly in love, burning with the kind of fever only the other’s touch could ease.

“They’re so young,” she whispered against his neck. “I hope they know what they’re doing.”

“We had three children when we were their age,” he reminded her.

“It’s a different world today. We were—” She shrugged inside his embrace. How did you describe a sense of inevitability that shook you right through to your marrow?

“Crazy,” he whispered against her hair.

“Fearless,” she whispered against his neck.

“They’re in love,” he said as he did magical things to the length of her spine. “Alexis is following her heart.”

“Like we did,” she said.

“Like we did,” he agreed.

Except for the fact that they were on the fast track to divorce, it would have been a great story to tell their future grandchildren.

Less than a week ago Alexis had shown up with a handsome man by her side and a big announcement to make. She and Gabe Fellini planned to be married in early spring in Paris.

Just wait until you see Paris, Alexis had raved as she shared her news. I don’t know why you and Daddy never traveled anywhere.

Her darling daughter hadn’t a clue what she was asking of them.

Paris was their city, their secret dream for as long as Kate could remember. High-school sweethearts, they were going to run away together to the City of Light as soon as they graduated. They would put college on hold, grab backpacks and whatever savings they could scrape up, and set out to conquer the world. Ryan would write the Great American Novel while she followed in the footsteps of Monet and Renoir and Sargent.