“Mrs. Knightsbridge, you are amazing.” Leah hugged the woman, who laughed again.
“It is no trouble, no trouble at all.”
Sobering, Leah turned to Avery. “I’m beyond thrilled that you’re here, but what about your aunt?”
His expression darkened and Leah’s heart fell.
“She lasted but a day after you’d gone. Her illness had progressed so much that she could not eat.”
Leah pressed a kiss to his lips. “I’m so sorry.”
He cleared his throat. “She is free of pain now. How is your grandfather?”
“Pawpaw’s not so good. Can you come with me?”
He nodded. “I will do whatever you wish of me.”
Leah threaded her fingers through his and led him into the darkened hospital room. Mrs. Knightsbridge followed.
“Avery, this is my Pawpaw, Milton Ramsey.”
Leah held tight to Avery’s arm and closed her eyes. Things should be so perfect now. This was what she’d wanted, right? To feel whole, to be loved, to have Pawpaw satisfied that she’d have someone to lean on. Why did the last piece of the puzzle have to be such a tough one? Why couldn’t she flip a switch and make her grandfather whole again?
A terrifying series of beeps screamed through the room, ripping Leah’s eyes open. “Pawpaw!”
Pawpaw was sitting up, pulling at his monitors and tubes. “Get these blasted wires off me. Man can’t breathe wrapped up in all this mess.” He stopped, blue gaze trained on Avery. “Who in the sam hell has his paws all over my Leelee?”
Adrenaline flooded Leah and she grabbed her grandfather’s hand. “Pawpaw! Are you okay?”
He coughed and pulled the oxygen mask away from his bearded chin. “Can’t stand this plastic over m’face. Leelee, get this thing off me.”
“Jamie, go get the nurse, please.” Leah turned back to her grandfather, grateful tears tracking down her stinging cheeks. “Pawpaw, you have to leave that on. You need the oxygen.”
Pawpaw reluctantly stopped pulling at the mask and instead settled his steely gaze on Avery. “Who are you, son?”
“My name is Avery Russell, sir.” Avery bowed deeply, the courtly maneuver making Leah’s heart swell with pride. “I love your granddaughter, sir, and I ask for your blessing on our marriage.”
Pawpaw didn’t say anything for a long moment. His gaze raked Avery up and down. Though he was flat on his back in a hospital bed, he was clearly the one in control. Though Leah longed to slip a reassuring hand in Avery’s, she stayed still. This was between her two favorite men on earth, and if they didn’t like each other, life was going to be pretty freaking difficult.
Several seconds later, her grandfather nodded. “I’m not against the idea, but I need to get to know you first.”
“Pawpaw, you know I don’t need your permission to get married, right?” Leah’s dry tone covered her complete excitement that he hadn’t dismissed Avery’s request outright.
Avery spoke up before Pawpaw could respond. “It is only right that we apply for his blessing. It is clear that you are precious to him.”
Pawpaw laughed, the sound slightly muffled by his oxygen mask. “I like this fella, I do.”
Jamie pushed through the door, a nurse right on her heels. At the nurse’s insistence, they cleared the room and let her check Pawpaw’s vitals. In the hush of the hallway, Leah turned to Avery, winding her arms around his neck.
“What do you think of Pawpaw?”
Avery smiled, rubbing her lower back gently. “It is easy to see where your adventurous spirit originated. I like him very much.”
“I just hope he’s okay.” Leah pressed her head against Avery’s chest, breathing him in.
Only half a heartbeat later, the nurse pushed open the door. She smiled at the tense group around her.
“He seems to have turned the corner,” she said. “It’s kind of miraculous, actually. I’m going to call his cardiologist and get him down here soon. In the meantime, try to keep him quiet.”
Leah hugged Avery in relief as the nurse walked away. Ella, Jamie, Micah, and Mrs. Knightsbridge went back into the hospital room, leaving the two as alone as a pair can be in a hospital hallway.
“I didn’t know I could be this happy,” Leah whispered. “What did I do to deserve so many good things?”
Avery smiled and bent his head to kiss her. Just before their lips met, he said, “My love, you have brought light into my darkened life. I cannot hope to make you as happy as you have made me.”
Leah’s heart soared as her valet kissed her. He wasn’t Mr. Darcy, he wasn’t a duke, he wasn’t a fairy-tale hero.
He was so much better than that.
Here’s a sneak peek at
The Geek Girl and
the Reluctant Rake
by Gina Lamm
Ella chewed her bottom lip as she held her pencil tighter. The cape just wasn’t right. Something about the way the fabric curled and flared against the hero’s muscular bum didn’t make her happy.
Carefully adding more shading didn’t help. Using the corner of her gum eraser to fade it a bit didn’t either. The clock ticked loudly, and she glared up at it.
“For chrissakes, I know it’s late. Nagging me isn’t going to help.”
Her pencil descended to the board again.
“I wasn’t nagging you. I just wanted to see if you needed anything.”
Ella screeched as her pencil went skittering over the drawing, leaving a jagged line in its wake. The studio’s owner, Anthony, stood in the doorway of her office, grinning at her. His dark hair fell over one eye, clearly gelled to stay there.
“Holy crap, Anthony, you scared me.”
Anthony proceeded into the room, flopping onto the ratty couch that occupied the opposite wall. “Sorry. I just wanted to see if you needed anything. It’s not like you to hang out here this long.”
“I’m okay, really. Finishing up now.”
Steadfastly ignoring Anthony’s presence, Ella stared down at the line drawing. There. It wasn’t perfect, but it would be good enough, she hoped. Whisperwind Comics’ offer was an incredible break for her, and if she could land the lead artist spot on Admiral Action she’d have a steady paycheck for at least twelve months. A nice setup in this business. Being a comic artist, her lifelong dream, wasn’t exactly the most stable of careers. But she’d loved Admiral Action since she was old enough to tie her dad’s blue bathrobe to her back and zoom around the living room. She couldn’t screw this up. It was too important.
Mentally crossing her fingers, she wrapped the board and carefully slid it into her portfolio with the others. She’d have to hand-deliver these to the inker.
“Hey, Ella?”
She looked up from packing her messenger bag. “Yeah?”
Anthony sat up on the couch, eyes narrowed in thought. His leg trembled a little bit, and Ella stared. “Are you okay?
“Yeah,” he laughed, an unfamiliar, nervous tremble in his voice. “Yeah.” He cleared his throat.
Bemused, Ella shouldered her bag, grabbed her portfolio, and went over to Anthony, who was still struggling to speak. She sank down on the couch next to him, careful to perch on the edge.
“What is it?”
He didn’t look over at her. “I just wondered, um, I mean…”
Ella shoved her black braid over her shoulder. “Anthony, can you spit it out? I need to get to Max’s before he cuts out for the night.”
Anthony slammed his eyes shut and the words shot out of him like fizz from a shaken-up Dr. Pepper. “Would you go out with me?”
Ella froze. She hadn’t heard that right. One of her eyebrows had climbed all the way to her hairline, and it simply refused to let go. Her other eyebrow seemed to be twitching a bit. She searched for the right words, the ones that would indicate that she had zero interest in the poor guy without crushing him. She didn’t need a romantic entanglement right now. Her career was finally taking off, and the last thing she wanted was to screw that up with a boyfriend. Anthony was nice, but he wasn’t her type. At all. He tried too damn hard, with his skinny jeans and ironic lens-free glasses. When she jumped back into the dating pool, she wanted it to be with somebody who wasn’t ashamed to be who he really was.