He mounted the steps slowly, his eyes never leaving hers, and when he reached the porch she went into his arms and kissed him.
“A year,” she whispered, her lips warm against his cold cheek. “That’s how long it seems since you left yesterday morning. A year or maybe a month or—”
David kissed her again. “I know. The next time I have to go into the city, you and the kids are coming with me.”
“That sounds like a wonderful idea. How’s the apartment?”
“Fine. Mrs. Timmons sends her best.” David drew back, then held out the package. “I brought you something.”
Joanna looked at the box and smiled. “Do I get to guess what it is?”
“Sure. Three guesses, then you pay a penalty.”
She pursed her lips. The box was blue. It was small and square. It came from Tiffany’s…
“A bread board?” she asked innocently.
David’s lips twitched. “Try again.”
“Um…a vacuum cleaner?”
“Last shot, coming up.”
“Let’s see…a new washing machine?”
He sighed. “Not again.”
“Well, that’s what happens when you have twins. The washing machine just works itself to death.”
“Yeah.” He smiled. “And you’ve used up all three guesses, Mrs. Adams. So I guess you’ll just have to pay the penalty.”
Joanna laughed softly. “Oh, my.”
His grin turned wickedly sexy. “Oh, my, indeed.”
“At least let me see what’s in that box…”
“Uh-uh,” he said, taking it out of her reach. “Not until you pay up.”
Joanna batted her snow-tipped lashes at him. “Why, Mr. Adams, sir, whatever do you have in mind?”
David put his lips to his wife’s ear and whispered exactly what he had in mind. She turned pink, laughed softly, and buried her face in his neck.
“That sounds wonderful. When?”
“Tonight, right after the kids are in bed. I’ll build a fire, we’ll open some champagne…”
Joanna’s smile faded. She leaned back in her husband’s arms and looked into his eyes. “I love you,” she said softly.
David brushed his lips over hers. “My Gypsy,” he whispered.
Then, together with their son and daughter, Joanna and David Adams went inside their home and closed the door.
* * * * *
Now, read on for a tantalizing excerpt of USA Today bestselling author Jennie Lucas’ next book,
THE HEIR THE PRINCE SECURES
An exquisite encounter with a Sicilian leaves Tess alone, penniless and pregnant. Until Stefano returns, discovers his unknown heir, and reveals he’s royalty! Now to protect his tiny daughter, he’ll make Tess his Cinderella bride!
Turn the page to get a glimpse of
THE HEIR THE PRINCE SECURES
CHAPTER ONE
LOVE MEANT EVERYTHING to Tess Foster.
NOT JUST LOVE. Romance. Pink roses. Castles and hearts.
As a lonely teenager living in the attic of her aunt and uncle’s Brooklyn bakery, Tess tried to keep her romantic dreams secret. In a modern world of easy hookups and one-night stands, it was embarrassing, even shameful, to be an idealistic virgin waiting for true love. As other girls giggled over their first fumbling sexual experiences in the back seats of cars, Tess kept quiet and hoped no one would notice that she spent her own Saturday nights with dusty books in the library, dreaming of handsome princes.
She’d known, even then, that when she finally gave herself to a man, it would only be to someone she truly loved. She’d wear white on her wedding day and lose her virginity on their honeymoon. She’d settle for nothing less than the fairy tale.
Then, at twenty-four, she met Stefano.
One moment, she’d been working as a waitress at a glamorous cocktail party hosted by a Spanish media mogul. Carrying a silver tray of champagne flutes through a crowd of movie stars and tycoons, Tess had been lost in thought, worrying whether she’d be able to afford another semester of design school.
Then a handsome stranger’s dark, smoldering gaze had pierced her heart, making her lose her breath.
That had been it. That one look from him had almost brought her to her knees.
Because no one had ever looked at her like that. It was as if Tess, the hopeless, invisible wallflower, had suddenly become the most desirable, fascinating woman in all the world.
And the man who was looking at her…
Dark and sexy, he’d stood arrogantly apart, his perfectly cut tuxedo a mere veneer of civilization over his powerful, muscular body. His dark eyes had burned through her as he came toward her, moving with an almost feline grace.
“Buonasera,” he’d said huskily.
Tess had turned the silver tray toward him so fast the flutes nearly knocked over. Her voice had squeaked. “Champagne?”
“No.” With a sensual smile, he’d glanced at the martini already in his hand. “I don’t want champagne.”
“Something else, then?”
His voice was husky, with the barest trace of an accent. “I want your name.”
And that had been the start of the most spectacular night of Tess’s life. When she’d finished her shift at the party, he’d whisked her off in his chauffeured town car to an elegant, romantic dinner at the most exclusive restaurant in New York. Afterward, he’d suggested they go dancing. When she’d said she didn’t have a dress, he’d stopped at a designer boutique and bought her one that sparkled and swayed against her skin.
She’d tried to resist, but she couldn’t. Not when he’d looked at her like that.
Tess had danced in his arms for hours before he’d kissed her, leaving her intoxicated, breathless. He’d invited her to his suite at the luxurious Leighton Hotel. Looking into his dark, hungry eyes, she’d known only one answer.
“Yes,” she’d whispered.
In just one night, he’d ruthlessly taken her virginity. And more than that: he’d dazzled her lonely, romantic heart into loving him.
But the next morning, waking up alone in the cold, gray dawn, she realized that she’d never even learned his full name.
A few weeks later, she’d found out she was pregnant. Her uncle had been furious, her aunt disappointed in her.
For the last fourteen months, even as Tess’s two best friends, Hallie Hatfield and Lola Price, had rolled their eyes, she’d stubbornly insisted that Stefano would someday return to claim her and their baby. After all, even if she didn’t know his last name, he knew hers. Stefano could find her anytime he wanted.
If he hadn’t
come yet, there had to be a good reason. Maybe he had amnesia, or his plane had crashed on a desert island. Those things happened, didn’t they? Tess imagined every reason she could think of, except for the obvious one. Her friends thought she was nuts.
But Tess had to believe Stefano would return. Because, otherwise, she’d surrendered all her dreams for nothing. She’d given up her chance for a career, for marriage, for one love that would last her whole life—all for a one-night stand that had left her pregnant, abandoned and alone.
If Stefano didn’t come back, it would mean the world was a cold and unforgiving place, and all the fairy tales her mother had read her as a child were wrong. Tess didn’t want to live in a world like that. So she’d done her best to believe.
Suddenly, tonight, she couldn’t.
Not for one more second.
Tess’s shoulders drooped as she wearily pushed her five-month-old baby’s stroller out of the Campania Hotel New York. It was ten o’clock on a warm, humid night in early September, but the night was just getting started. The streets were crowded with people leaving restaurants and streaming out of Broadway theaters, their faces animated and bright as they passed beneath the sparkling lights of the hotel’s porte cochere.
Tess felt empty and sad. She’d just watched her friend Hallie sing at her husband’s luxury hotel. After Hallie’s amazing performance, Cristiano had publicly declared his love for his wife.
She was glad for Hallie, truly she was. Her friend deserved every happiness, especially after what she’d gone through. Normally, Tess would have told herself that seeing a couple so deeply in love proved that it might still happen for her, too.
But not tonight.
She’d been up since four that morning, working at her uncle’s bakery while also caring for her baby. She felt sweaty and exhausted. Tendrils of her long red hair were plastered to her neck. Even Tess’s jaunty handmade outfit, a vintage-style shirt and midi pencil skirt with mixing patterns, was wrinkled. She looked down at her adorable sleeping baby, her plump cheeks and dark hair, and a hard lump rose to her throat.
For over a year, she’d ignored her uncle’s criticism, her aunt’s disappointed sighs and her friends’ teasing. She’d told herself Stefano would come back to her. But after seeing Hallie and Cristiano together, so happy together in their own little world, Tess had realized she was fooling herself.