The Secret Agent's Surprises (Harlequin American Romance) (13 page)

Pete had been apprehensive about taking Priscilla to see her son, but the woman who returned with him to the Morgan ranch was a different woman altogether. She couldn’t seem to wait to hold the babies. She didn’t care about the matchmaking bunch; in fact, she seemed to understand how much more comfortable Josiah felt to have a veritable throng of people in his house. Priscilla was relaxed and happy, and if she every once in a while turned reflective, he understood why.

The old hesitant Priscilla who kept herself in a tea shop and held etiquette lessons was gone. In her place was a woman who sparkled with life and generosity, and the babies were clearly recipients.

“What did you do to her?” Josiah demanded. “Is there something going on I should know about?”

“I don’t think so,” Pete said, watching Priscilla hover over Mrs. Corkindale as the older woman diapered one of the babies.

“That was some car ride you two took. Did you ask her to marry you?”

Pete shook his head. “Nope.” But maybe it was time he did. Maybe she was ready to think about other changes in her life, some that included him in a permanent capacity.

“If I were you, I’d shop for a ring,” Josiah told him. “I’d get it on her finger as fast as I could. Strike while the iron’s hot and all that.”

Pete shook his head. “There’s no hurry, Pop.”

“Sure there is. Women have moods.”

Pete laughed. “So do men.”

“Yeah, but women marry when they’re in the mood. Men marry when it’s practical.”

“Don’t worry, Pop. It’ll all work out.”

“I know what changed,” Josiah said. “You told her about the million dollars.”

Pete raised a brow. “Didn’t you once say Priscilla was the only person you knew who didn’t have a price?”

Josiah wrinkled his nose. “That was before I met Sara.” He jerked his head toward the social worker.

“You didn’t try to bribe her on my behalf, did you, Pop?” Pete demanded, and Josiah sighed.

“Son, some habits are hard to break.”

“Did you ever think that might have hurt my chances of getting the babies?”

“Nah,” Josiah said. “I bribed her with some sugar, which she seemed to like well enough.”

Pete stared at his father, and then had to smile.

“You ought to try it,” Josiah said.

“I just might,” Pete replied, before going to drag Priscilla away from the babies.

“I
SHOULD BE
helping Mrs. Corkindale and the women,” Priscilla said as Pete walked her outside, but he shook his head.

“You should be helping
me,
” he said. “Pop’s driving me nuts.”

“Oh?” Priscilla glanced at him. “What’s he up to now? I’ve been keeping an eye on him and—”

Pete cut her off with a kiss. “You know Pop. The itinerary is never quite clear.”

“That’s what I like about him. He’s full of surprises.”

“He is that.” Pete took her hand in his, leaned against a fence. “Pop seems to think you need a little sugar.”

She looked up at Pete. “I remember you playing spin the bottle in January in the kitchen using a bottle of vanilla with Suzy, Cricket and me. I thought then that you probably needed some sweetening. So I suggest it’s not me who needs the sugar, cowboy.”

“Oh, really?” He wore an amused smirk on his face, and she knew he remembered spinning that bottle, too.

“Yes, I told you I wouldn’t kiss a man I didn’t plan on marrying, and you spun that bottle elsewhere real fast.”

He laughed. “Seems like the bottle came back your way. And I still think a little sugar wouldn’t hurt you at all, Miss Manners.”

“Well, it will depend on whether you’re offering one lump or two,” she told him, arching a brow at him.

He grinned. “How about a two-carat lump?” he asked, pulling a jeweler’s box from his pocket.

She gasped, and then waited with big eyes for him to open it. “Don’t keep me in suspense, Pete!”

Chuckling, he opened the box. “Priscilla Perkins, it would give me the greatest pleasure on earth if you’d become my
real
bride, my best friend and the mother of all my children. I’ve loved you from the first time I saw you, all prim and proper and tempting. Back in January, when you and Suzy and Cricket were baking cookies and you snapped my butt with that dish towel, I knew you were the kind of woman who could keep me perpetually on my toes. I know that sounds crazy, but I like a woman with a little sass and a lot of heart. I don’t think I’d ever get over it if I couldn’t have you to share my life. So what I’m trying to say is—” he took a deep breath “—Priscilla, will you marry me?” He was down on one knee as he said the words, and he had a clear vision of the joy in her eyes.

“I might,” she said, a little devilish merriment in her eyes. “Let me see if this ring fits.”

He knew she couldn’t wait to get the ring on her finger, and the knowledge thrilled him. Still, he was content to go along with the teasing a little longer—he wanted this to be one of the biggest moments of her life, one she would remember forever. “Aren’t you supposed to say yes and then we get the ring sized?”

“I haven’t read the etiquette book on that,” Priscilla said, then watched as Pete slid the ring onto her finger. “Oh, Pete, it’s
beautiful.
And it fits perfectly!”

Of course it did—he had memorized every inch of this woman, and he planned to refresh his memory for the rest of his life by loving her over and over again. “I was thinking you might like Cricket to perform the ceremony,” he said.

She turned her rapturous gaze to him. “I would love that. Right here at the Morgan ranch,” she said, “so your father won’t have far to travel and we won’t be far from the children.”

“So is that a yes?” Pete asked, and Priscilla stood on her toes to kiss him on the lips.

“Of course. I love you,” she told him. “I loved you the first time you slid into my life, bringing chaos and distraction and a lot of fun.”

“I’ve changed,” he told her.

“So have I, thank goodness,” she said.

“I have a feeling we’ll go through a few more changes,” he said, and Priscilla smiled at her secret-agent lover. Being with Pete and the children made
her dreams come true. The most wonderful part, the fairy-tale part, was that they’d be with each other forever as true husband and wife—and there was nothing secret about that.

Please join Pete and Priscilla Morgan

at the Morgan ranch

for a light reception to celebrate

their adoption of four angels

and witness the christenings of

Josiah John, Mary Angela, Michael Peter,

and Michelle Gisella

on March 15 at 3:00 a.m.

God has blessed our family in so many ways