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She frowned. “What are you talking about? I didn’t mean forever. Jeez, are you crazy? Wynette’s home. But I’m serious about getting my degree, so we’re going to need a place in Austin, assuming I get into U.T.”
“Oh, God, you’ll get in.” His voice cracked again. “I’ll build you a palace. Wherever you want.”
She finally looked as dewy-eyed as he felt. “You’d really give up Wynette for me?”
“I’d give up my life for you.”
“Okay, you’re seriously starting to freak me out.” But she didn’t say it like she was freaked out. She said it like she was really happy.
He looked deep into her eyes, wanting her to know exactly how serious he was. “Nothing is more important to me than you.”
“I love you, Teddy Beaudine.” She finally spoke the words he’d been waiting to hear. And then, with a happy whoop, she threw herself at his chest, plastering her wet, cold body against his; burying her wet, cold face in his neck; touching her wet, warm lips to his ear. “We’ll work out our lovemaking problems later,” she whispered.
Oh, no. She wasn’t getting ahead of him that easily. “By damn, we’ll work them out now.”
“You’re on.”
This time she was the one dragging him. They raced back to the limo. He gave the driver a quick set of directions, then kissed Meg breathless a
s they rode the few short blocks to the Battery Park Ritz. They dashed into the lobby with no luggage and rainwater dripping from their clothes. Soon they were locked behind the door of a warm, dry room that looked out over the dark, rainy harbor.
“Will you marry me, Meg Koranda?” he said as he pulled her into the bathroom.
“Definitely. But I’m keeping my last name just to piss off your mother.”
“Excellent. Now take off your clothes.”
She did, and he did, hopping on one foot, holding on to each other, getting tangled in shirtsleeves and wet denim legs. He turned on the water in the roomy shower stall. She jumped in ahead of him, leaned against the marble tiles, and opened her legs. “Let me see if you can use your powers for evil instead of good.”
He laughed and joined her. He picked her up in his arms, kissing her, loving her, wanting her as he’d never wanted anyone. After what had happened that ugly day at the landfill, he promised himself he’d never again lose control with her, but the sight of her, the feel of her against him, made him forget everything he knew about the right way to make love to a woman. This wasn’t any woman. This was Meg. His funny, beautiful, irresistible love. And, oh God, he nearly drowned her.
His brain finally cleared. He was still inside her, and she was looking up at him from the floor of the shower, a grin like spangled sunshine spread over her mouth. “Go ahead and apologize,” she said. “I know you want to.”
It would take him a hundred years to understand this woman.
She pushed him over, reached up to slam off the water with the flat of her hand, and gave him a look that was full of sin. “Now it’s my turn.”
He didn’t have the strength to resist.
When they finally made it out of the shower, they bundled themselves in robes, dried each other’s hair, and rushed toward the bed. Just before they got there, he went to the window to close the drapes.
The rain had stopped, and in the distance the Lady of the Harbor gazed back at him. He could feel her smiling.
Epilogue
Meg refused to marry Ted until she got her degree. “Boy geniuses deserve to marry college graduates,” she told him.
“This boy genius deserves to marry the woman he loves right now instead of waiting till she gets a diploma.” But despite his grumbling, he understood how important this was to her, even if he wouldn’t admit it.
Life in Wynette was dull without Meg, and everybody wanted her back, but despite numerous phone calls and occasional drop-in visits from various residents to her tiny apartment in Austin, she wouldn’t set foot inside the city limits until her wedding. “I’d be tempting fate if I came back before I had to,” she told the members of the library’s rebuilding committee when they showed up at her door with a Rubbermaid pitcher of Birdie’s mojitos and a half-empty bag of tortilla chips. “You know I’ll get into trouble with somebody as soon as I hit town.”
Kayla, who cut calories by eating only the broken chips, dug through the bag. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. People went out of their way, right from the very beginning, to make you feel welcome.”
Lady Emma sighed.
Shelby poked Zoey. “It’s because Meg’s a Yankee. Yankees don’t appreciate southern hospitality.”
“That’s for sure.” Torie licked the salt off her fingers. “Plus, they steal our men when we’re not paying attention.”
