“I don’t know if you’ll want it. You might not even like it.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring, a beautiful antique ring with a small ruby set in a Victorian filigree.
“It was my great-grandmother’s,” he said. “My mum gave it to me when I told her that I was coming to see you.” He drew a deep breath. “I promise that I will do everything in my power to make our lives together perfect.”
The elevator door opened and Danny winced. “I should have waited. This isn’t romantic.”
Jordan laughed. “Oh, yes, it is.” She took his hand and drew him out of the elevator. “Keep going. I’m listening.”
“In the hallway?”
“All right.” She ran ahead to her apartment door and by the time she got it unlocked he was behind her, his hands wrapped around her waist.
“Here?” she asked.
“No,” he said, glancing around her apartment. He pointed to the sofa in the living room. “There.”
When she was finally seated, Danny knelt in front of her. “All right. Here it is. Jordan, I love you. I think I fell in love with you the moment I first saw you. I know I fell in love with you the moment I kissed you.”
She stared at him, wide-eyed, her hands clutched in her lap. Jordan tried to maintain a calm facade, but her heart was beating so hard it felt as though it might burst out of her chest.
“I’m willing to work hard. I’ll do whatever it takes. I’m not sure I can give you what you have here, but I will make you happy. I can move to New York if that’s what you want. You’ll never have a day of regret, I promise.”
“I know,” she said. “And what about the ring?”
“Shite, the ring,” he muttered, patting his pockets. “The ring. It’s not something fancy, but it’s a promise.”
“A promise is good. And I don’t need anything fancy.”
He pulled the ring out of his pocket and slipped it on her finger, then pressed his lips to the back of her hand. “I want you in my life, Jordan. Forever.”
“You have me,” she murmured, running her fingers through his hair. “For as long as you want me.” Jordan stood up in front of him and untied the belt of her robe. She shrugged out of it, letting it drop to the floor at her feet. Then she reached for the bottom of her nightgown. Grabbing the hem, she pulled it over her head and tossed it aside.
Danny reached out and splayed his hand across her stomach. “Are you trying to seduce me?” he asked.
Jordan smoothed her hand over his cheek. “Yes, I am.”
“Don’t you think we should talk about this a little more?”
She slowly shook her head. “We can talk later. I want to make love to the man I love.”
He pulled her close and pressed his face into her stomach. “Promise me something, Jordan.”
Furrowing her fingers through his hair, she tipped his gaze up to meet hers. “Anything.”
“Promise we’ll be together forever.”
“I promise,” she said, pulling him to his feet.
Danny stood to remove his clothes. When he was naked, he grabbed her waist and they tumbled onto the sofa in a tangle of limbs. When his mouth found hers, Jordan knew this was the only thing she needed in life. Danny Quinn-his heart, his soul, his body, his love. Maybe there had been fairies at work in Ireland, she mused. After all, they’d found her the man of her dreams.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kate Hoffmann began writing for Harlequin Books in 1993. Since then she’s published sixty-five books, primarily in the Harlequin Temptation and Harlequin Blaze lines. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys music, theater and musical theater. She is active working with high school students in the performing arts. She lives in southeastern Wisconsin with her cat, Chloe.
