If you like this online read you'll enjoy Rebecca York 's books!

Return of the Warrior
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Royal Lockdown
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Julienne still floated on a current of pleasure as Chase stretched her out beside him, pulled the sheet over them, and gathered her in his arms.

"How are you?" he whispered as his lips skimmed the tender place where her hair met her cheek

"Wonderful. Chase, you healed me. You knew how to make me whole again."

His arm tightened around her. "I only did what I've been wanting to do for years."

"You did it very well," she whispered, snuggling against him.

No woman had ever been so chèreished or so loved, she thought as she relaxed in his embrace, relaxed into the most satisfying sleep she'd had in months.

Some time later, she felt his lips graze her cheek. "Want to get up and have breakfast?"

"Breakfast! We never did have it, did we?"

"We can cook it together," he said, climbing out of bed, giving her a view of his magnificent body as he found the jeans he'd discarded and pulled them on.

He probably knew she was feeling a little shy, because he left before she slipped out of bed.

By the time she'd dressed in her shift again and come downstairs to the kitchen, he was already expertly frying the toast.

"I see you didn't need my help."

He grinned. "I can do the easy stuff."

She set the table, then ducked outside and gathered some blue chicory flowers that had rooted at the side of the house, placing them in one of her grandfather's best cut-glass vases.

"Nice," Chase complimented her, leaning down to nuzzle her neck.

"Next time, I'll find something fancy."

"I don't need fancy. I like homey."

A few minutes later, as they sat across the table from each other, he rubbed his bare foot against her leg and said, "I haven't told you my plans for Belle Vista."

"I'd like to hear them," she answered, leaning eagerly toward him.

"I want to fix up the house — and the garden. Then I'm going to turn it into a B and B."

"That sounds like a fine idea."

He reached across the table and clasped her hand. "Do you want to do it with me? Do the decorating — then help me run the place?"

She raised her eyes and stared at him.

She saw a smile flicker on his lips. "I guess I'm really asking if you want to marry me,"

Taken by surprise, she heard her fork clatter to her plate.

His expression turned wary. "You don't like the idea?"

She turned her palm up, gripped his hand more tightly. "I love the idea," she answered. "I've wanted to be with you for so long. But I thought it was just a dream that was never going to come true."

"It was like that for me, too," he agreed. She saw him swallow before continuing. "Then when I came back here and found you waiting for me, I was too shocked to admit what I was really feeling."

She kept her gaze steady on his. "Chase, I didn't come here by accident. Before Grandfather died, he told me about his will. He told me to come back here — to you. He said he'd realized that you and I belonged together. He wanted to give this place to both of us, and that was the only way he could do it. Because he knew if he left it to me, you'd be too proud to come back here and accept 'charity' from a Rousseau."

It was Chase's turn to look stunned. "He said all that?"

She nodded. "I was afraid to trust his judgment. Afraid you wouldn't want me. Then I knew that coming back to you was the only way to…to make myself whole again."

"It took courage to come here."

She gave a little shake of her head. "I was scared. But wanting to be with you was stronger than my fear."

"Thank the Lord," he murmured.

"And now I'm so happy," she whispered around the lump in her throat. "I never thought I'd be happy again. But here we are having this meal together, like it's the most natural thing in the world — and at the same time, the most astonishing, magical thing."

"It is," he answered, his voice thick with emotion. "All of that."

She smiled at him through her tears, clasping him more tightly, their locked hands the link to the past and their present and the rich future that waited for them.

The End