The Man Ban - Nicola Marsh Page 0,73

her, to make her second-guess her decision, to reinforce she’d lost her mind.

But it didn’t come. Instead, as he let out a jubilant yell, picked her up, and spun her around, all she felt was joyous elation.

“Hey, I’m dizzy,” she said, slapping his shoulders. “Put me down.”

“Anything you say, fiancée.”

He lowered her gently, slowly, their bodies in full frontal contact, inch by delicious inch. “Damn, I like the sound of that.”

“Me too,” she said. “Even though I still think we’re both officially nuts. I mean, I haven’t met your gran yet, and you haven’t met my parents. What are they going to think?”

An odd expression flickered over his face. “Gran will be ecstatic, and I’ll do my best to win over your folks.”

Harper wasn’t worried about her parents. Lydia and Alec would be too wrapped up in themselves to be concerned about her impulsive decision. They wanted her to be happy, and Manny made a hell of an impression on anyone.

A small part of her wondered if agreeing to his proposal stemmed from her happiness for them. Was she so swept up in the romance of her parents reuniting that she wanted the fairy tale for herself?

She knew when the euphoria of Manny’s shock proposal died down she’d start second-guessing the wisdom of marrying a man she hadn’t known long.

But he was right about one thing. Logic didn’t come into it, not when she could hardly believe this was happening and she wanted to celebrate.

“What are you thinking?” His strong hands framed her face as he peered at her as if trying to read her mind.

“That we’re nuts, but I’m happy.”

“Me too.”

His hot, openmouthed, toe-curling kiss sealed it.

52

In true Izzy fashion, she refused to have her heart valve surgery at Manny’s hospital. He tried to convince her, using persuasive arguments from “I can visit you more often” to “I can get all the inside info on your condition.” Apparently, the latter was exactly why she didn’t want to be anywhere near his hospital.

He understood. He was overprotective when it came to his grandmother at the best of times, and now his concern had shot into the stratosphere. Not that he was showing her. He thought he’d masked it well, but she’d been reading him since he was a little kid, and he couldn’t get much past her.

At least he had some good news to tell her now, ensuring she’d fight like the devil to come through this surgery.

No way would Izzy not have a say in his wedding.

Manny entered her room, and in the second or two before she recognized him, he glimpsed exactly how terrified she was. Worry pinched her mouth, accentuating the fine lines fanning out from the corners, and she looked sad, like she expected the worst. All that changed when she saw him, and she visibly brightened, but her eyes didn’t lie. She was just as petrified as he was.

“You don’t need to be here while they take me in.” She waved him away. “The anesthetist will be here any minute to prep me.”

“That’s exactly why I’m here, to give the guy the third degree and make sure he hasn’t been drinking all night.”

She made a pfft scoffing sound, but he saw the slight upturning of her mouth. He knew what he had to say next would definitely make her smile.

“I’m also here to tell you some news.”

Her eyes narrowed as her eagle-eyed gaze swept over his face. “You look smug. What have you done? A crash course in cardiac surgery so you can replace my valves yourself?”

He grinned at her sarcasm.

“Better than that. What’s the one thing you want?”

“To not see a bright white light in the distance over the next few hours.”

He laughed. No surprises for guessing where he got his dry sense of humor.

“I’m engaged.”

Confusion creased her brow. “To do what?”

Maybe the nurses had given her a little pre-sedative, because it took another second or two for his words to sink in.

“To get married?” Her eyebrows rose so high the wrinkles of her forehead reached her hairline.

“Yeah, big news, huh?”

“Huh,” she said, staring at him like he’d lost his mind. “To that Harper woman, I presume?”

He nodded, unable to keep the goofy grin off his face. Even now, twelve hours since she’d said yes and they’d headed back to her place for the kind of celebration that invigorated in the best possible way, he could hardly believe it.

She’d understandably had reservations, and he shared them all, but as he watched Izzy process his