Tags:
Fiction,
Romance,
Contemporary,
Adult,
Family Life,
Montana,
Romantic Comedy,
Texas,
Billionaire,
Bachelor,
new york city,
Forever Love,
Single Woman,
Dalton Boys,
Elementary Teacher,
Nanny Position,
Single Father,
Young Charge,
Newborn Child,
Doorstep,
Nanny Agency,
Perfect Mother,
Perfect Wife,
Bad Boy Image,
Triplet Brothers
never would have happened."
"Proposal?" she asked, almost offended that he'd call it that. "That wasn't a proposal. That was a business proposition."
"So if I get down on one knee, with a ring in my hand," he slipped his hand into the pocket of his jacket and held it out to her. "This ring, maybe..."
Ashley stared down at the box he'd flicked open with his thumb, shaking her head. There was a decent sized diamond with a ring of emeralds around it, and her heart leapt. How had he known how much she loved emeralds? "The most important thing still isn't there, Barrett. You don't love me."
He sighed. "You yourself brought up the fact that I come from mail order brides. There was no love between the couple when they married, but love grew. Don't you think that could happen with us? Let's face it, we've got the lust part down pat."
She blushed, not wanting to agree with him, but not willing to lie either. "I'll think about it. That's the best I can do for now." She glanced out the window and saw they were at a small airstrip, a plane on the tarmac in front of them. "Where exactly are we going for dinner?"
He shrugged. "Vegas. Good food. Great hotels. Quickie marriages."
"Barrett Dalton, if I was going to consider marrying you five minutes ago, I'm certainly not now! What is wrong with you! We cannot leave that baby with Brooklyn overnight! Poor Baby Dalton will be wearing a backwards diaper and have chocolate stains all over his body where she used him as a table."
"He'll be fine. Cage won't let anything happen to him." He got out of the car, and when she crossed her arms refusing to budge, he grabbed her arm and pulled her out, putting his shoulder into her stomach and walking with her in a fireman's carry to the plane.
She saw the driver running behind them with two suitcases, one of which she recognized as her own. She beat at Barrett's back with her fists. "This is kidnapping!"
He shrugged as he set her down in a seat, buckling her in himself. "Close the door," he called over his shoulder. "Ever heard the phrase the end justifies the means?"
"I cannot believe you're doing this to me!"
"I'm not going to force you to marry me, Ashley, but you have to finish hearing me out." He knelt in front of her on the floor of the plane. "All I can think about morning to night is you. I wake up, tasting your lips against mine. I get a goofy grin on my face halfway through the day, and my employees are starting to make fun of me. And every night, when we're in our separate beds, I'm lying awake in mine, thinking about what it would be like if you were with me."
"So that gives you the right to kidnap me?"
Barrett shook his head. "No, it doesn't. But you promised me an evening, and I'm taking it. I've booked us a wedding at the Elvis Chapel. If you decide not to go through with it, that's fine. I'm not forcing you. If you decide you don't want our wedding night to be at a suite in the Venetian, that's all right too. I'll fly you home." He sighed. "Let me tell you about what I want tonight to be like. May I?"
She nodded, still angry.
"I want us to get off the plane in Vegas, and immediately go to the Elvis Chapel, where one of The King's minions will marry us himself. Then I want to check into the Venetian and take you to that nice little Italian place I mentioned, which is right there in their mall. Then I want to take a gondola ride with you, being serenaded in Italian." He stroked her cheek. "And at the end of all that, I want to go back to our room, and I want to make love to you. I want to kiss every inch of your body, and make you feel like the most beautiful woman alive. I want to hold you when we're done and sleep with you in my arms. And I want to wake you up in the morning with a kiss, earlier than I would like so we can get back to my son, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Having more babies, because poor
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