Executive Protection(77)

“What?” he finally said.

“Oh, this is getting good,” Kate said, an avid audience. She picked up her tea and sipped with a delighted gleam to her eyes.

“I’m going to adopt her,” Lucy said. “I know you don’t want kids, but I can’t abandon her. I just can’t. She loves it here...with me...a-and you, but if all she has is me, she’ll be all right. She’ll be happy. She’s already happy. And then when I find a man who can accept her, she’ll be part of a family. My family.”

Thad’s jaw had dropped as he struggled to recover from her news.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before I started the process going,” Lucy continued, fretting over his reaction. Was he taking this worse than she thought? “I didn’t think it mattered. I’d made up my mind and what you wanted...well...so far hasn’t been what I want, and—”

“Lucy.” He finally found his voice. “It’s okay.”

That stunned her for a second. “It is?”

He chuckled, as amazed as her over his easy acceptance of adopting Sophie. “You surprised me with how soon you decided to adopt her, but it’s something I was going to suggest anyway.”

“You were?” both she and Kate said in unison.

Kate’s cup clanked against the saucer as she put it down.

Thad let go of Lucy’s hands and reached into his pocket. He brought out a small jewelry box.

All the blood drained from Lucy’s face she was so taken aback. She searched Thad’s face.

Kate drew in a startled breath. “Thad. Are you...?”

He looked at her. “This is why I wanted you to be here, Mother.” Then he returned all his wonderful attention to Lucy.

He opened the box to reveal a simple but stunning round brilliant cut diamond. “This is my promise to you, Lucy. I’m not ready for marriage yet, but if there’s going to be any woman who will give me the courage to stand on an altar, it’s you.”

Taking the ring out of the box, he let Kate take the box and then held Lucy’s left hand and slipped on the ring.

She admired it for several seconds, still shocked by his gesture. Did he mean it?

She looked at him. “A promise ring?”

“A promise to marry you...someday.”

She’d give him all the time he needed. “Oh, Thad.” She flung herself at him, wrapping her arms around him and kissing his mouth.

He held her and kissed her back.

Then doubt raised its head. She leaned back. “Are you sure?”

“I’ve been sure ever since Mike put his gun to your head. Imagining life without you forced me to take a closer look at my attitude. I’ve been wasting a lot of time, Lucy. I’m glad I did, because maybe I’d have married the wrong woman. But I’m sure now.”

“Sophie...”

“Will be part of this family.”

“Our family?”

A family. Everything she’d always wanted. She wasn’t getting it the conventional way. She wouldn’t be married first and she was adopting her first child, but she couldn’t be happier.

“Where do you want to live?” Thad asked her.

That hardly mattered. “Your house. Your mother told me about your house. It’s bigger than mine but similar architecture. We’ll need the space.”

“My house it is. And when it comes time to have children of our own, you don’t have to work.”

Had he actually said “kids of their own”? “I want to work.” She needed to feel accomplished over something, and she genuinely liked nursing. And after working with Kate, she felt well on her way to making her own reputation, rather than on her father’s white coattails.

“Whatever makes you happy,” Thad said.

Lucy’s smile beamed along with Thad’s lopsided grin, each of them giddy with thoughts of a future together.

“A celebration is in order,” Kate said, her eyes a bit misty. She put her hand on Thad’s shoulder. “I’m so proud of you.”

Lucy held her hand up to admire the ring over Thad’s shoulder. “I can’t wait to tell my parents!”

Thad stepped back and took her right hand. “Excuse us, Mother. We need some privacy now.”

Kate laughed lightly. “You can have all the privacy you need. I’ll make sure no one bothers you.”

Lucy felt a little embarrassed as Thad winked back at his mother before leading her toward the stairs and the bed they’d occupy for however long it took to satisfy this new acceptance of their love.

They had a future now. Together. She, Thad and Sophie. A family. And a dream come true.

* * * * *

Keep reading for an excerpt from TRAITOROUS ATTRACTION by C.J. Miller.







Chapter 1


Connor West had an eight-second warning before the knockout blonde with a too-serious expression showed up in front of his house. His perimeter security alarm beeped and her newer-model luxury sedan displayed on his smartphone screen. A camera situated along the driveway scanned her car’s tags and ran a DMV lookup. Another camera snapped a picture of her face and ran it through facial-recognition software.

Nothing popped up immediately on his computer, which checked his watch list first: federal and local law enforcement, known special operatives, and convicted and released felons. The woman in his driveway must be lost. Connor lived in the woods, far away from civilization, and it was how he liked it. He didn’t often get surprise visitors, and when he did, their arrival was either a mistake or delivered a problem.