Secret Baby Scandal(34)

       
           



       

If the "I love you" part hadn't hit her heart like an arrow, straight and true, then the last part would have sealed the deal. He  didn't  expect anything from her in return. He just wanted her to  know.

Tears sprang to her eyes and her throat closed up with too many  emotions to name.

"I love you, too." Her words were a harsh whisper, the only  sound she could make over the burn in her throat. "So much."

He folded her in his strong arms and she leaned into him. Home  at last.

He held her tight, with a fierceness that told her how much  he'd  missed her. How much he'd hurt without her. She understood this  reserved  man so much better than she'd given herself credit for.  She'd fallen in love  with him a long time ago, and no matter what  he said about being a different man  now, she saw her old love  inside the new one.

"Let's not be apart anymore." She levered back to look up at  him,  realizing they'd left the stadium and were on the highway that led west toward Lake Pontchartrain.

"I'd give anything to take you home with me." He stroked a  thumb along her cheek and tipped her face up to his. "Forever."

When his kiss brushed her lips, she twined her arms around his neck and he pulled her into his lap. Tomorrow was soon enough to get  married.  For tonight, no matter the scandal, she was going to go  home with Jean-Pierre  Reynaud, the man who'd always had her heart.