you love me.”
“You made me love you,” Jami huskily corrected, sliding a hand behind Grant’s head to lower his face to hers. Somehow their antagonism had changed to concern, their attraction to love. Deep within her heart, she accepted that he loved her and offered her the chance to prove she was truly the only woman for him.
“We can’t live without each other,” Grant murmured against her lips.
“We might not be able to live with each other, either,” Jami replied, savoring his warm minty breath and his spicy male scent as their mouths hovered inches apart.
“I’m willing to try if you are.”
“Is that a proposal?”
“With Cupid as my witness, Red.” Grant abruptly released her and dropped to the ground on his knees, clasping her hands in his.
“Ouch!” She pulled her left hand back. “Cupid stabbed me.”
“That mischievous devil has a lot in common with Toby.” Grant jammed the brooch back into his pocket and took Jami’s hands again, this time placing a tender kiss upon her knuckles. “Jami Rhodes, will you marry me?”
“Yes,” Jami whispered, tears streaming down her cheeks again, this time from the joy bursting inside her. Grant Carrington was Mr. Right!
Grant reverently drew Jami into his arms. The woman of his dreams had agreed to marry him! He’d never felt such happiness. With Jami cradled against his heart, he felt complete; the missing part of his life no longer haunting him, the loneliness vanished. Jami wanted to be his wife, and her precocious son wanted him for a daddy. Brushing away suspicious moisture in his own eyes, Grant held Jami close, giving thanks he now had the family he realized he’d always wanted.
Through his pocket, Grant felt a tiny stab and grinned. Cupid had scored another successful love match—this time with a little help from Toby the Terror.
EPILOGUE
The Carrington/Rhodes wedding party gathered in a meadow nestled among gold-torched quaking aspen, scarlet-leafed bushes and towering blue spruce evergreens, all encircled by the autumn-splashing Rocky Mountains.
Grant stood by Grandmother Margaret, watching fondly as his mother, Shirley, pinned the gold antique brooch onto the bodice of Jami’s ivory satin-and-lace wedding dress.
“It’s appropriate that you wear Cupid for the ceremony,” Shirley decreed, pressing a perfumed kiss upon Jami’s cheek. “The heirloom belongs with you and Grant now, then one day it will be time to pass it down to Toby and his future Carrington cousins.” She paused, tapping her lips with a long tapered nail as her smile grew mysterious. “Or perhaps Cupid will visit another branch of the Carrington clan?”
“Then Cupid can weave his magical spell on the next victims, to bring them love and happiness, whether they’re ready or not,” Grant teased, poster gorgeous in his black tux, a blue carnation on his immaculate lapel.
“Grant told me the stories about Cupid’s magical powers,” Jami said to her mother-in-law-to-be.
“They aren’t mere stories, Red,” Grant corrected with a raised brow as he straightened his blue bow tie and leaned close to the women.
Jami’s fingers flew up to touch the warm golden charm, tiny tingles penetrating her fingertips. “Do you really believe it’s magic?”
“I know Cupid is magic.” Shirley laughed a deep throaty laugh, eyes shining and her silver-threaded strawberry blond hair caught up in a diamond sparkled twist. “That small piece of jewelry supplied the ideal love-match for myself and one of my most stubborn sons.”
Jami felt a tug on the flowing skirt of her wedding gown and glanced down to see Toby with a fistful of satin. He wore a miniature of Grant’s black tux, complete with blue tie and cummerbund. The child’s carrot red hair was neatly combed, except for a wayward rooster tail jutting off the crown of his head. His face was clean and his hands were...Jami sighed with a rueful smile as she noted the pale dirt marks tattooed onto her dress.
“Mom?” Toby gazed up at his mother through liquid brown eyes. “You really want to get married, ‘cause Grant is your Mr. Right?”
“Yes, honey,” she replied softly, stroking his rooster tail down. It flipped back up like a well-oiled spring. “You know I’ll still have time for you, don’t you, tiger?”
“Sure. We already talked about that. Grant wants to be my daddy, and he says that means I’ll get twice as much love, because both of you will love me.” The boy scraped the toe of his shiny dress shoes through the grass. “And Nana Shirley says the whole family loves me. Didn’t you?” His gaze swiveled to Shirley.
“I did, and we do.” Shirley tweaked