Dateline Matrimony (Hot off the Press! 3)
Page 78
Though she was touched by his offer, she shook her head. “We deserve a honeymoon. The children understand that. And it’s only four days. But thank you for offering.”
“To be perfectly honest, I was hoping you would turn me down,” he admitted with one of his crooked smiles.
She laughed. “I know. But I know also that the offer was sincere.”
“We’re going to have a great honeymoon,” he said, his eyes gleaming in anticipation.
“I know that, too.” She was already tingling in anticipation.
They had so many plans. They were going to build a house by the lake on the property Riley’s parents had bought for him. Riley was trying to talk Teresa into enrolling in the local college for summer classes to finish her education and obtain her teaching degree. She was giving it serious consideration.
She’d finally read Riley’s novel and she thought it was wonderful. He’d promised to start trying to find a publisher for it as soon as they returned from the honeymoon. In the meantime, he still had his job with the newspaper.
Money would not be a problem. She’d been stunned to learn that Riley had an impressive financial portfolio, a legacy from his mother’s parents who’d had no other grandchildren to leave their accumulated assets to. Even the duplex had originally belonged to his parents, the previous owners he’d told her he bought it from.
Because material possessions weren’t all that important to him, there had been no way for her to know when she’d met him that he wasn’t living paycheck to paycheck. She’d told him since that she was glad he’d waited until after he’d convinced her to marry him to share that information with her. She wouldn’t have wanted him to have any doubts that she was marrying him for love, not money.
Just as she knew he had married her for exactly the same reason. As she had acknowledged earlier, he was a very persuasive man. He had made her believe that when he finally made a commitment, he dedicated himself completely to fulfilling it.
She was taking the greatest risk of her life to accept that Riley would always keep his promises to love her, to be faithful to her, to be a loving and devoted stepparent to her children. But somehow she knew that her faith wasn’t misplaced this time.
Love had given her the courage to believe in him.
Some of her thoughts must have been reflected in the smile she gave him. His eyes gleamed, and he pulled her close to his side. “When can we leave?” he asked again.
She reached up to kiss him lingeringly. “What’s your hurry?” she asked. “We have all the time in the world.”