His Forever Family(34)

"Is that a yes?" he asked.

"Yes." She lifted William from his arms and then leaned into Marcus as  he pulled her against his chest. "Yes. I'm yours. I always have been."

"And you always will be."

* * * * *                       
       
           



       

If you liked this tale of romance and family, pick up these other stories from Sarah M. Anderson

STRADDLING THE LINE

BRINGING HOME THE BACHELOR

EXPECTING A BOLTON BABY

NOT THE BOSS'S BABY

THE NANNY PLAN

Available now from Harlequin Desire!

And don't miss the next BILLIONAIRES AND BABIES story THE CEO'S UNEXPECTED CHILD by Andrea Laurence

Available March 2016!

If you're on Twitter, tell us what you think of Harlequin Desire! #harlequindesire





NEVER TOO LATE

Brenda Jackson





Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Excerpt from The Doctor's Baby Dare by Michelle Celmer





Chapter 1

Twelve days and counting...

Pushing a lock of twisted hair that had fallen in her face behind her  ear, Sienna Bradford, soon to become Sienna Davis once again,  straightened her shoulders as she walked into the cabin she'd once  shared with her husband-soon-to-be ex-husband.

She glanced around. Had it been just three years ago when Dane had  brought her here for the first time? Three years ago when the two of  them had sat there in front of the fireplace after making love, and  planned their wedding? Promising that no matter what, their marriage  would last forever? She took a deep breath knowing that for them,  forever would end in twelve days in Judge Ratcliff's chambers.

Just thinking about it made her heart ache, but she decided it wouldn't  help matters to have a pity party. What was done was done and things  just hadn't worked out between her and Dane like they'd hoped. There was  nothing to do now but move on with her life. But first, according to a  letter her attorney had received from Dane's attorney a few days ago,  she had ten days to clear out any and all of her belongings from the  cabin, and the sooner she got the task done, the better. Dane had agreed  to let her keep the condo if she returned full ownership of the cabin  to him. She'd had no problem with that, since he had owned it before  they married.

Sienna crossed the room, shaking off the March chill. According to  forecasters, a snowstorm was headed toward the Smoky Mountains within  the next seventy-two hours, which meant she had to hurry and pack up her  stuff and take the two-hour drive back to Charlotte. Once she got home  she intended to stay inside and curl up in bed with a good book. Sienna  smiled, thinking that a "do nothing" weekend was just what she needed in  her too frantic life.

Her smile faded when she considered that since starting her own  interior decorating business a year and a half ago, she'd been extremely  busy-and she had to admit that was when her marital problems with Dane  had begun.

Sienna took a couple of steps toward the bedroom to begin packing her  belongings when she heard the sound of the door opening. Turning  quickly, she suddenly remembered she had forgotten to lock the door. Not  smart when she was alone in a secluded cabin high up in the mountains,  and a long way from civilization.

A scream quickly died in her throat when the person who walked  in-standing a little over six feet with dark eyes, close-cropped black  hair, chestnut coloring and a medium build-was none other than her  soon-to-be ex.

From the glare on his face, she could tell he wasn't happy to see her.  But so what? She wasn't happy to see him, either, and couldn't help  wondering why he was there.

Before she could swallow the lump in her throat to ask, he crossed his  arms over his broad chest, intensified his glare and said in that too  sexy voice she knew so well, "I thought that was your car parked  outside, Sienna. What are you doing here?"





Chapter 2

Dane wet his suddenly dry lips and immediately decided he needed a  beer. Lucky for him there was a six-pack in the refrigerator from the  last time he'd come to the cabin. But he didn't intend on moving an inch  until Sienna told him what she was doing there.

She was nervous, he could tell. Well, that was too friggin bad. She was  the one who'd filed for the divorce-he hadn't. But since she had made  it clear that she wanted him out of her life, he had no problem giving  her what she wanted, even if the pain was practically killing him. But  she'd never know that.

"What do you think I'm doing here?" she asked smartly, reclaiming his absolute attention.

"If I knew, I wouldn't have asked," he said, giving her the same  unblinking stare. And to think that at one time he actually thought she  was his whole world. At some point during their marriage she had changed  and transitioned into quite a character-someone he was certain he  didn't know anymore.                       
       
           



       

She met his gaze for a long, level moment before placing her hands on  her hips. Doing so drew his attention to her body; a body he'd seen  naked countless times, a body he knew as well as his own; a body he used  to ease into during the heat of passion to receive pleasure so keen and  satisfying, just thinking about it made him hard.

"The reason I'm here, Dane Bradford, is because your attorney sent mine  this nasty little letter demanding that I remove my stuff within ten  days, and this weekend was better than next weekend. However, no thanks  to you, I still had to close the shop early to beat traffic and the bad  weather."

He actually smiled at the thought of her having to do that. "And I bet  it almost killed you to close your shop early. Heaven forbid. You  probably had to cancel a couple of appointments. Something I could never  get you to do for me."

Sienna rolled her eyes. They'd had this same argument over and over  again and it all boiled down to the same thing. He thought her job meant  more to her than he did because of all the time she'd put into it. But  what really irked her with that accusation was that before she'd even  entertained the idea of quitting her job and embarking on her own  business, they had talked about it and what it would mean. She would  have to work her butt off and network to build a new clientele; and then  there would be time spent working on decorating proposals, spending  long hours in many beautiful homes of the rich and famous. And he had  understood and had been supportive...at least in the beginning.

But then he began complaining that she was spending too much time away  from home, away from him. Things only got worse from there, and now she  was a woman who had gotten married at twenty-four and was getting  divorced at twenty-seven.

"Look, Dane, it's too late to look back, reflect and complain. In  twelve days you'll be free of me and I'll be free of you. I'm sure  there's a woman out there who has the time and patience to-"

"Now, that's a word you don't know the meaning of, Sienna," Dane  interrupted. "Patience. You were always in a rush, and your tolerance  level for the least little thing was zero. Yeah, I know I probably  annoyed the hell out of you at times. But then there were times you  annoyed me, as well. Neither of us is perfect."

Sienna let out a deep breath. "I never said I was perfect, Dane."

"No, but you sure as hell acted like you thought you were, didn't you?"





Chapter 3

Dane's question struck a nerve. Considering her background, how could  he assume Sienna thought she was perfect? She had come from a  dysfunctional family if ever there was one. Her mother hadn't loved her  father, her father loved all women except her mother, and neither seemed  to love their only child. Sienna had always combated lack of love with  doing the right thing, thinking that if she did, her parents would  eventually love her. It didn't work. But still, she had gone through  high school and college being the good girl, thinking being good would  eventually pay off and earn her the love she'd always craved.

In her mind, it had when she'd met Dane, the man least likely to fall  in love with her. He was the son of the millionaire Bradfords who'd made  money in land development. She hadn't been his family's choice and they  made sure she knew it every chance they got. Whenever she was around  them, they made her feel inadequate, like she didn't measure up to their  society friends, and since she didn't come from a family with a  prestigious background, she wasn't good enough for their son.

She bet they wished they'd never hired the company she'd been working  for to decorate their home. That's how she and Dane had met. She'd been  going over fabric swatches with his mother and he'd walked in after  playing a game of tennis. The rest was history. But the question of the  hour was: Had she been so busy trying to succeed the past year and a  half, trying to be the perfect business owner, that she eventually  alienated the one person who'd mattered most to her?