“If you don’t like this, then you’re definitely going to hate when I drape you in desert ice,” he said dryly, teasing.
“Desert ice?”
“My grandfather’s diamonds. Have I ever mentioned he was in the diamond trade back in the day? His father more so. My great-grandfather was a hired protector for the diamond caravans that took the gems from Africa to the Far East, traveling through Beharrain on the way. He tended to get paid in gems.”
“A diamond collection?” She stared at him.
“If this is going to be a problem…” He shrugged. “I might as well tell you. The collection is fairly sizable.”
“I thought you didn’t claim your inheritance.”
“I didn’t. I gave up the land and the palaces. But when the executors of his estate looked me up, they had the diamonds with them. There was a giant blue diamond in the bunch that reminded me of the eyes of a certain woman. I couldn’t let it go.”
And, really, he was being modest when he used the word giant. The piece required a separate insurance policy and was kept at the supersonic safe at his company headquarters at the auction house. It would be his wedding present to her.
“So you kept them?”
“With a certain woman in mind.” He wanted her in the sprawling bed of his penthouse, covered in nothing but diamonds. He had commissioned some stunning pieces of jewelry over the years, sometimes not even knowing why he was doing it. She had been married and the chances of her ever loving him had seemed hopeless.
But now that she agreed to spend the rest of their lives together, he would have plenty of time to make all his fantasies real.
“I love you,” he said, and was gratified when she said, I love you, right back.”
“I can get used to the sound of that.” He kissed her. Might have gotten carried away a smidgen.
But she was all smiles when they broke apart for air.
“Is this part of your grandfather’s collection?” She held up her hand a few minutes later as they lay in each other’s arms. Moonlight glinted off the sparkling yellow diamond that graced her finger.
“No. I picked that locally. I want a Texas diamond for my Texas rose.”
He wanted everything that was good in the world for her and her son. He wanted to spoil them rotten, not that he believed for a moment that she was actually going to let him.
Her beautiful eyes narrowed. “Between the police, the paramedics, Flint and Lucinda and this whole mad ness, when on earth did you have time to pick a diamond for me?”
“First day I ever saw you. Nine years, two months and eleven days ago,” he said.
She stared at him in amazement and then broke into a smile. After that, they celebrated long into the night.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-3010-5
DESERT ICE DADDY
Copyright © 2009 by Dana Marton
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and TM are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
www.eHarlequin.com
*Mission: Redemption
*Mission: Redemption
*Mission: Redemption
*Mission: Redemption
