Free Miracle Baby (Harlequin American Romance) by Laura Bradford Page B

blinking at the tears that burned her eyes. “There isn’t.”
    â€œThen savor it, Maggie. Don’t let it slip away.”
    Savor it….
    Was Rory right? Was all her moping akin to letting Natalie’s precious gift slip through her fingers?
    â€œI know you’re right, Rory. I do. I really, truly do. But there are times…times like yesterday at the diner…when I’m afraid that by moving forward I’m leaving them behind. And I can’t do that. I won’t do that.”
    â€œThen don’t. Keep them here—” his hand, still holding hers, lifted upward to her temple and then dropped to the center of her chest “—and here and—” he continued down to the book in her lap “—here.”
    Her memory journal.
    Aware of his hand in hers, she offered the words she’d been wanting to say since the beginning. Words that went far beyond a standard thank-you, just as his gift went far beyond a simple gesture.
    â€œI don’t know what it is about you that makes you so thoughtful and so giving. But it’s special and it’s unique and it’s a blessing I didn’t see coming. I slept today because I spent last night knitting. And that sleep was the best rest I’ve had in over ten months.”
    â€œYou’re losing me,” he said, not unkindly.
    â€œI’m sorry. It’s just that I made an offhand comment about wanting to learn to knit, and poof! You made it happen. Then today…I share a new wish with you, and once again, poof! You find a way to make that wish come true, too. I almost don’t know what to say—”
    â€œThen don’t,” he mumbled as he closed the gap between them, his lips finding hers and igniting a fire in her heart every bit as bright as the one crackling in the hearth.
    Â 
    F OR SOMEONE WHO’D VOWED not to do anything to scare her, he was sure doing a lousy job. Then again, based on the way her lips stayed on his, maybe he wasn’t scaring her, after all.
    But all he really knew was how good she tasted, how sweet she felt. Moving his hand to cup the back of her head, he kissed her with greater intensity, felt the way his body responded to the parting of her lips and the mingling of their tongues.
    Her arms looped around his neck as the kiss deepened,filling his body with warmth. It was like nothing he’d ever felt before and everything he wanted to feel again.
    Breathing in the scent of lilacs and soap that seemed to cling to her hair, he became aware of a new taste…salt.
    And as the taste finally registered, so, too, did the fact that her hands had left his neck and were now bracing against his chest, pushing him away.
    He pulled back. “Maggie, what’s wrong?”
    â€œI—I can’t do this. I can’t. It’s—” She stopped, her words morphing into a strangled cry that tore at his very soul.
    â€œIt’s okay,” he whispered as he reached for her hands, only to have her pull them out of his reach. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
    â€œI did everything wrong.”
    â€œTell me. Tell me what you did wrong, Maggie.” He watched helplessly as the tears streamed down her face until he thought he’d explode with the urge to kiss them away.
    â€œThey’ve only been gone a little while. I can’t be doing…this.” She jumped to her feet and motioned toward the tree. “I can’t be decorating trees, and celebrating holidays, and making wishes, and—” A strangled cry rose up where the rest of her sentence should have been.
    But he didn’t need the words to know what she’d been about to say. He could finish that sentence all on his own. “And what? Kissing me?”
    She looked at the floor and nodded.
    He stood in turn, reaching out for her hands onlyto have her snatch them back. “Maggie, there’s nothing wrong with decorating a Christmas tree or