Happy Mother's Day: Ready for Romance / Ready for Marriage. Debbie Macomber

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СКАЧАТЬ woman knew what she wanted, she went after it. It, in this case, was Evan Dryden.

      Jessica soon discovered that she wasn’t nearly as dauntless as she would’ve liked. She must have phoned him ten times, and each time he answered, she lacked the courage to even speak, much less tell him about her undying love. Each call had ended with her slamming down the receiver in frustration.

      She’d always been better at expressing herself with the written word, so she’d taken to writing him love notes, pouring out her devotion. She let her best friend read one of these notes, and Emily said it was the most beautiful love letter she’d ever seen. Unfortunately, Jessica hadn’t found the courage to sign her name.

      This latest trick, planting kisses on his rearview mirror, was sure to accomplish what nothing else had. He’d know it was Jessica and he’d finally come for her, and together they’d ride into the sunset in his sports car.

      Outlining her lips with a fresh coat of brilliant red, Jessica was about to kiss the inside mirror when the car door was flung open.

      “So it is you.”

      Her heart sank all the way to her knees. Slowly she looked over and her eyes connected with Damian Dryden’s. He was taller than his younger brother, dark and handsome in his own way. She was certain the day would come when some girl would feel as strongly about him as she did about Evan.

      “Hello,” she said, pretending it wasn’t the slightest bit out of the ordinary for her to be sitting in his brother’s car kissing the mirrors.

      “You’re the one, I’ll bet, who’s been phoning at all hours of the night.”

      “I’ve never called past ten,” she denied heatedly, then realized her mistake. It probably would’ve been best to pretend she didn’t know what he was talking about.

      “The notes on Evan’s windshield have been from you, too, haven’t they?”

      She could’ve denied that, but it wouldn’t have done any good. Feeling trapped in Evan’s car, she swung her legs around and gingerly climbed out. “Are you going to tell him it was me?”

      “I don’t know,” Damian said thoughtfully. “How old are you now?”

      “Fourteen,” she said proudly. “I know Evan’s older, but I was hoping he’d be willing to wait for me to grow up so we could get married.”

      “Married!”

      Damian made the word sound ludicrous and Jessica bristled. “Just wait until you fall in love,” she challenged. “Then you’ll know.”

      “You aren’t in love with Evan,” he said gently. “You’re too young to know about things like that. You’re infatuated with him because he’s older and—”

      “I most certainly do love Evan,” she flared, shoving the lipstick in her pocket. She wasn’t going to stand there and let him ridicule her. She might be only fourteen, but she had the heart of a mature woman and she’d made her decision. Someday she would marry Evan Dryden, and Damian would not stand in her way.

      “I’m sure my brother’s flattered by your devotion.”

      “He should be. The man who marries me will see himself as the luckiest man in the world.” Her words were fed by pure bravado.

      Damian laughed.

      Jessica had been willing to overlook his earlier statements, but this was unforgivable. Hands on her hips, she glared at him with all the indignation she could muster, which at the moment was considerable.

      “You might be older than Evan, but you don’t know anything about love, do you?”

      Her question appeared to amuse him, and that only irritated her further.

      “When a woman makes up her mind about a man, nothing can change the way she feels. I’ve decided to marry your brother, and not a thing you say or do will have the least effect, so save your breath. Evan is my destiny.”

      “You’re sure about this?”

      At least he had the courtesy to wipe the grin off his face.

      “Of course,” she said confidently. “Mark my words, Damian Dryden. Time will prove me right.”

      “Does my brother have a say in this?”

      “Naturally.”

      “What if he decides to marry someone else?”

      “I…I don’t know.” Damian had zeroed in on her worst fear—that Evan would get married before she had a chance to prove herself.

      “There’s something else you haven’t considered,” Damian said.

      “What’s that?”

      He grinned. “I just might want to marry you myself.”

       One

      Jessica Kellerman’s moment of reckoning had arrived. For the first time in ten years she was about to face the Dryden brothers. Evan didn’t concern her. She suspected he wouldn’t even remember what a nuisance she’d made of herself. Then again, he just might. But Damian was the brother who worried her most. He was the one who’d caught her red-handed—or at least with red lipstick in her hand. He was the one who’d mocked her and suggested her devotion to his brother was a passing fancy. Now she was forced to face him and admit he’d been right. She sincerely hoped Damian would have the good grace not to dredge up the past.

      Swallowing her dread, Jessica walked into the high-rise office building in the most prestigious part of downtown Boston. The building was new, with a glistening black-mirrored exterior that towered thirty stories above the ground. The Dryden law firm was one of the most distinguished in town, and in Boston that was saying something.

      Jessica’s footsteps made tapping sounds against the marble floor in the lobby. Although she’d been in this part of the city often—the university wasn’t far from the business section—this was the first time she’d been inside the impressive building.

      She was nervous, and for good reason. The last day she’d spent any time with either of the Dryden brothers she’d been caught kissing rearview mirrors.

      Looking back, she knew she’d been a constant source of amusement to the brothers and their parents, as well as her own. Young love, however, refused to be denied. Risking her family’s exasperation, Jessica had diligently sought Evan’s heart all through high school. It wasn’t until Benny Wilcox asked her to the graduation dance that she’d realized there were other fish in the sea. Sweet, attentive, good-looking ones, too. Yes, Evan had been the man of her dreams, the one who’d awakened her to womanhood. She held her love for him in a special place in her heart, but was more than willing to forget the way she’d embarrassed herself over him, praying he did, too.

      Although Jessica had let her infatuation with Evan die gracefully, neither set of parents had. Particularly Lois and Walter Dryden. They thought Jessica’s feelings about Evan were “cute,” and they still mentioned it every now and then, renewing her embarrassment.

      When Walter СКАЧАТЬ