See Jane Love (21 page)

The shock of his discovery hit Janie full force. Panic rioted through her and her palms began to sweat and tingle. “Oh, my God,” she said, parroting Sara. “You don’t think I was planning on--”

“I know exactly what you were planning to do with this,” Gabe shouted, pointing a finger at her, “and you can forget it!” He glared at her with burning, reproachful eyes. “If you think for one minute that I’ll allow you to exploit our relationship for a few laughs and
a nice, fat, royalty check--”

Janie got to her feet and took a step toward him. “I would never do such a thing, Montero!”

“Like hell, you wouldn’t. To think the woman I married, the woman I fell in love with, would stoop so low as to--”

“What did you say?” Janie asked, feeling her pulse kick up.

“I said, I can’t believe you would stoop so low as to--”

“Before that,” she interrupted, closing the distance between them. He hadn’t worn a coat and his flannel shirt was buttoned unevenly, the shirttails hanging loose, as if he’d dressed in a hurry. He hadn’t bothered to shave or tame the rooster tails in his hair.

He looked at her, narrowed his eyes, and said, “I don’t remember.”

“Yes, you do. You said you fell in love with me.”

“I--” he stuttered, “That’s not the point.”

“That’s exactly the point,” she said, grabbing him by the shirt and staring up at him. “I wrote that stuff down, but I was never going to share it with anyone else. I swear to you.”

He didn’t answer, but she could tell he believed her by the way his features softened.

“Why do you want out of this marriage if you love me?”

“I--” he stuttered again. “Because I don’t want our marriage to be based solely on sex. I want you to love me.”

Janie released his shirt and stepped back. “Montero, you are dumber than a box of dirt if you think I married you without loving you first.”

Gabe blinked at her. “But--”

“Did you bother to read the inscription on your wedding ring?”

He glanced at his left hand, then back at her. “No. I’ve never taken it off my finger.”

“Take it
off,” she ordered, crossing her arms in front of her. “Read it.”

Gabe stared at Janie a moment before removing the ring from his finger and checking it out.

All my love. For real. Forever. Janie.

He held it in his hand for a long while, just staring at it, not knowing what to say. Janie loved him. She had all along. Slowly, he raised his gaze to stare at her face. “Janie, I don’t know what to say.”

“Don’t say anything,” she said, stepping into his arms. “Just shut up and kiss me.”

Since it sounded like a pretty good idea to him, too, Gabe did just that, ignoring the fact that Sara and Alex were watching them. One kiss led to another, and another.

He tried to block out what Alex was saying, but couldn’t.

“Gabe, I’m sorry I didn’t show up in court to be your character witness. I know you were counting on me, and I let you down. I was so angry with you at the time and . . .”

Gabe tuned his brother out, wrapped his arms tighter around Janie, and kissed her again.

“And I’m sorry for always judging you,” Sara began. “I should have listened to Janie when she--”

Both Gabe and Janie pulled away from each other and turned to glare at Sara and Alex. “Will you two shut up?” they said, and then when it was quiet, they kissed again.

This time, when Gabe pulled away, he pushed Janie’s hair away from her face and said, “I love you, and I don’t want to leave you.”

“I love you, too. Let’s get out of here.”

“But, wait,” Sara said to deaf ears.

Gabe picked up Janie and carried her to the car. “Let’s go home, Mrs. Montero.”

Gabe bounced six-month-old Chloe on his lap and waited for his wife to hang up the phone. She was talking to her agent Rona Sampson, and from the look on Janie’s face it was good news.

Janie squealed and clicked the Off button on the portable phone. “Gabe, you’re never going to believe this!”

Oh, yes he was.

“J and B publishing made an offer for my book! A huge offer!” Her smile faltered slightly. “Well, not as big as the offer you had, but--”

“That’s great, sweetheart,” he said, getting to his feet. “Did you hear that, Chloe? Mommy sold a book.” Gabe kissed Janie on the cheek. “I knew you had a winner.” He’d asked Marcy Polk, his editor at J & B, to read Janie’s first attempt at a female detective series. Marcy agreed, although she wouldn’t make any promises. She didn’t have to. Gabe had read it, and it was great.

Janie reached out and took the little red-head from his arms and kissed the top of her head. “Time for your nap, and then when you wake up we’re going to go see Travis, Livvy and Benjamin.”

Gabe followed Janie up the stairs to the nursery and waited until she tucked the baby in for her nap. In the hallway, he grabbed his wife and spun her around. “She’ll be asleep for at least two hours.” He wiggled his brows and nodded toward their bedroom. “We can go celebrate.”

Janie giggled. “I’ll race you to the bed.”

After making love twice, and a fit of the hiccups, Janie lay naked sprawled atop her husband
and peered down at him. She loved this man with all her heart. And although he’d sworn he hadn’t had a thing to do with J & B’s offer, she didn’t believe him. The fact that he’d wanted to help only made her love him all the more.

She thought about the dedication page and pictured the look on Gabe’s face when he read it.

For Gabe, who taught me all I know about . . . love.