Free S&M III, Vol. II by Vera Roberts Page B

for Mariana’s hand in marriage,” Scott was direct, “I want to make her my wife.”
    “Please take her!” Oliver laughed as Scott chuckled. “I love my daughter but she can be a handful.”
    “Oh, I know,” Scott smiled.
    “But in all seriousness, I know you’ll make a great husband to my daughter. She really loves you and I can tell you feel the same towards her. You give her everything a woman could ever want but you give her the one thing she needs,” Oliver paused, “peace.”
    “I don’t deal well with drama,” Scott added.
    “I know,” Oliver took a sip of the cool liquid, “I know your background.” Scott turned to Oliver with a raised eyebrow. “I do background checks on all of my daughter’s boyfriends.”
    It took Scott a moment to digest the information. The older gentleman knew everything there was about him but didn’t relay the information to his girlfriend. Scott wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. “You didn’t tell Mariana.” It wasn’t a question.
    “When it comes to your children, as you’ll find out, you have to let them learn on their own before you can intervene,” Oliver nodded, “whether she already knew or doesn’t care is anyone’s guess. The point is she loves you for who you are now .”
    “My past is my past, Oliver,” Scott reasoned.
    “You don’t need to explain that to me,” Oliver shook his head. “I trust you.”
    “You don’t trust many,” Scott prodded.
    Oliver leaned towards his future son-in-law. “And neither do you.”
    ****
    “What are they talking about?” Mariana anxiously asked her mother.
    Linda stood up and trying to contain her excitement before she could burst. She rushed over to her daughter. “Scott just asked your father for your hand in marriage!”
    Mariana’s jaw hung low and a swell of emotions encompassed her body. So he is going to propose soon! She and Linda started jumping around in the kitchen, hugging and holding each other. “I’m going to get married, Mama!”
    “My baby girl is growing up!” Linda beamed. “My baby girl is growing up.”
    “I need to go dress shopping! I need to look at the wedding sites!” Mariana started biting her fingernails. “I need to do so much!”
    “We need to figure out when you want to get married. We need to book Charlene for the hair,” Linda started making a mental list.
    Downstairs in the den, Scott and Oliver heard the commotion upstairs. “What’s going on?” Scott looked towards the door.
    “I’m assuming Linda was eavesdropping again, and she heard that you were asking for Mariana’s hand in marriage,” Oliver smiled. “You would think after being married to a detective for as long as she has, she would get a little better with eavesdropping.”
    “How could you tell?”
    “Linda is too nosey. She claims she’s not, but she is. She always has to know what someone else is doing. She’s been listening in my conversations for the past thirty years. If I really didn’t want her to know something, we would’ve gone somewhere else to talk. She hasn’t quite figured that part out yet.” Oliver said to Scott’s amusement.
    “Gotcha.”
    “There’s one thing you need to learn about women, Scott, and this is the only lesson you ever need to know,” Oliver took another sip, “no matter what you do, no matter what you say…the woman is always right.”
    “Spoken like an attentive husband,” Scott nodded.
    “No, it hasn’t nothing to do with being an attentive husband,” Oliver chimed in. “It has to do with I need to keep her happy and her mouth shut. Now that keeps me happy.”
     

F IFTEEN
    Sarah walked into a large foyer and was greeted by an angry Scott. “Where in the fuck were you? I’ve been calling your cell phone for the past hour and you haven’t picked up!”
    “Scott, I’m so sorry!” Sarah rushed over to Him. “I’m so sorry, I was caught up with…”
    Scott slapped Sarah’s face hard. “You know how to address