Free Stuck On You (A Christmas Novella) by Rhonda Gibson Page A

Lord to give him the right words. When he arrived at her table, he noticed she hadn’t ordered anything. “Can I get you a drink or a cookie?”
    “No, thank you.” Her voice sounded hoarse.
    Morgan pulled out a chair and sat down across from her. He looked about the empty cookie shop. He was thankful that if she declined his offer, there would be no witnesses. “How is your sister feeling today?”
    “Much better, thank you.”
    He held out her manuscript and waited for her to take it from his hand. “I’m sorry I upset you over the phone. I wasn’t thinking. I didn’t mean to blurt it out like that.”
    “I don’t understand why you don’t want to continue with our arrangement.” Her eyes pleaded with him to explain.
    “Well, I have a better offer.” When she continued to stare at him, this time he saw a spark in her eyes. But it wasn’t joy; it was anger. Her jaw set.
    Morgan pressed on. “I really like your story and don’t feel it’s fair of me to ask you for a byline since I didn’t write a word of it.”
    “So you’ve decided to write your own stories.” Bitterness laced each word.
    He shook his head. “No. I want to illustrate yours.” Morgan watched another emotion cross her face, this one confusion. “I don’t understand.”
    Morgan reached across the table and took her ice-cold hands in his. “I want to illustrate your books—if your editor will allow it, that is.”
    A smile brightened her face. “So you aren’t going to stop me from writing the books?”
    He shook his head no.
    “And we will continue meeting and going over the stories?”
    Morgan watched the light return to her eyes. “Well, I wanted to talk to you about that.”
    “Oh?”
    He’d practiced this moment in his mind a hundred times, but now that it came time, Morgan felt clumsy. “I need you to look at the last page of your manuscript.”
     
    Sheila heard the uneasiness in his voice. For a moment, she’d been thrilled. She’d thought he did care and wanted to keep working with her on their book projects. Now she worried he hadn’t liked the story after all. Her fingers twitched on the pages as if they, too, feared what might be coming.
    “Go on—open it.” His voice trembled.
    Sheila flipped to the last page. Her gaze met his. She didn’t want to read what he’d written on the page. Rejection of her work from him would be very painful. Sheila put off that pain as long as possible. His blue gaze held hers in their grasp.
    “Please, don’t make me wait any longer. Read it.” Morgan looked down at the page, breaking their connection.
    She looked down. Drawn on the page was the hedgehog, covered in Christmas bows, just like the one in her story. In front of the girl hedgehog knelt a boy hedgehog. He held up a diamond ring. Only the ring wasn’t a part of the drawing; it was real!
    Sheila searched out Morgan. Her gaze met his over the drawing.
    “Read the inscription above the drawing,” he whispered.
    She read the words aloud. “‘I’m stuck on you, Sheila. Will you marry me?’”
    Tears of joy splashed down Sheila’s face. “I will.”
    Morgan came around the table and pulled her to her feet. He pulled the tape off the paper and took the ring from the
    page. Holding her hand, he slipped the ring onto her finger and then kissed her lips softly.
    Sheila pulled away first. “I want a Christmas wedding.”
    “This Christmas?” Morgan asked. He sounded as breathless as she felt.
    She smiled. “No, silly. Next Christmas.”
    “I love you, you know.”
    Sheila pulled his face down for another soft kiss and whispered against his lips, “I love you, too.”
     

OTHER BOOKS BY RHONDA GIBSON
    The Marshal’s Promise
    Groom by Arrangement
    Taming The Texas Rancher
    His Chosen Bride (releases May 2014)
    To Trust an Outlaw
    The Midwife’s Legacy
    A Biltmore Christmas
     Love of a Lifetime (ebook reprint)
    Her Christmas Angel
    Stealing Home (ebook reprint)
    Stuck on You (ebook reprint)
    Bluebells and