Love Is Nuts (3 Tales) Read Free Page B

pictures! Seriously, he should have done this sooner. He kissed so much better than he verbalized.
    “Anything else you need to know?” he murmured against her mouth.
    “Oh, you…you…” She collapsed in his arms, sobbing on his shoulder.
    But at least she wasn’t racing for the nearest restroom. He was starting to make some progress.
    “Mona, I don’t want to escape marrying you. I just don’t want the wedding .”
    She made a strangling noise in her throat.
    Um, right, that hadn’t come out quite the way he’d intended. He tried again.
    “I mean that big crazy Babble deal.”
    “Babylonian,” she corrected with a sniffle.
    “Whatever. That’s what I want to escape. And I thought you did, too.”
    “I do.” She burrowed in closer, wrapping arms around his neck.
    Wow, he was on a roll.
    “Then let’s elope, sweetheart. Today. Now.”
    “ Elope ?” She began to cry again.
    He tightened the embrace, locking them firmly together. “Yeah. There’s a walk-in wedding chapel here, right across from the Skyclad Court.” One could imagine it did a brisk business in that location. “In minutes I can make you mine.” No muss, no fuss, and clothing optional. “How about it?”
    The sobs paused on a trembling breath. “Don’t you need to bring a marriage license for places like that?”
    Not a yes, but not a no either. She was considering it.
    Danny took heart. “I guess. But we’ve already got ours.” Angelica had made sure of that.
    “Yeah, but it’s back at the Karma Suite.”
    “Nope, I put it in your purse before we left.”
    Mona stiffened slightly in his hold. “You really did plan to elope, didn’t you?” She pushed back to meet his eyes. “Danny, I…I might have misjudged you.”
    He wished.
    “No, sweetheart, you saw me for what I was.” With the emphasis on was . “It was wrong how I acted before – and I’m damn sure not proud of it now. I want to make it right. I want to make a fresh start. With you . Do you think you can give me another chance? Please? Maybe we don’t exactly love each other – yet – but we can work on it. We know we’re good together in bed. We can build on that, can’t we?”
    She lowered her gaze, pulling the shutters down over her thoughts. Danny couldn’t see into her eyes, but he suddenly saw through them – saw what she did the way she saw it.
    Another psychic insight?
    Memories like movie images filled his mind. Mona’s memories, not his, and the change of perspective made a difference. He saw a fast-forward seduction by a reckless Romeo who’d swept Juliet off her feet – then dropped her – nights of long hot loving that had ended with a short cold goodbye. No wonder she didn’t dare trust him.
    “Romeo oughta be horsewhipped,” he muttered to himself.
    “ What ?” Her gaze flashed back to his. The look in her eyes softened. “Yeah, well, I didn’t exactly do right by you either. I should have told you myself I was pregnant. You had a right to know, for godssake. It wasn’t fair to let you find out the way you did. But” – she swallowed, hard – “I was afraid you’d think I did it deliberately to trap you into marrying me.”
    “Hell, I’d marry you even if you weren’t having my baby!” He yanked her back into a tight hug. “But I’m glad you are. In fact, I hope we have a lot more. I, um, like kids,” he confessed a little sheepishly. “I think I’m going to like being a dad.”
    “Oh, Danny…”
    Yep, she was bawling all over him again. Good thing he was wearing a towel.
    “I like kids, too!” she wailed. “I’ve always wanted a big family!”
    “Then that’s something else we can build on.” Making love and making babies. The two things did seem to go together. “C’mon, sweetheart, what do you say?”
    Danny himself was out of words. If Mona didn’t answer yes, he’d have to kiss her into a stupor and carry her to the chapel before she regained her senses. An enticing idea actually. He half hoped