Free Beach House Beginnings by Christie Ridgway Page B

winding cold arms around his neck and pressing wet kisses to his handsome face. His own arms closed tightly about her. “I told you I’d be back,” he said, soothing her with his big hands. “I told you.”
    “I didn’t believe,” she said. “I didn’t believe in anything.”
    They were floating on the water, the cove’s bay cradling them with a gentle rhythm. “I know,” Caleb said, holding her away a little so he could look into her eyes. “Because you’d lost this.”
    Then he held up the necklace she’d given Peter. The heart-shaped shard of abalone shell gleamed in the sunlight, its dark, pearlized rainbow both beautiful and mysterious. Like life. Like love.
    Meg gasped. “Where did you get it?” she asked, staring as it swung gently from Caleb’s hand.
    “It was another part of that dream. Peter showed it to me, Meg. He showed me where he’d stashed it that day, and told me it was way past time for you to have it back.”
    She gave her head a little shake. “No—” But then she remembered that she believed in love now, and was that any less a strange and wondrous miracle than a dream filled with portents or a man surviving critical surgery and near-death? Her hand reached out, her fingers closed over the abalone shell.
    Caleb released the thong it was strung upon.
    Letting her lashes fall, Meg cradled the shell in her palm as if it was something precious. In her mind’s eye she saw Peter standing on the beach, saw his brilliant grin, saw him take his young lover by the hand. The girl clasped his fingers, then threw a happy smile over her shoulder at Meg as the two turned to stroll along the sand stretching endlessly in front of them.
    And this time, finally, forever, Meg really let them go—both Peter and her younger self. Goodbye, she thought, squeezing the shell to cement that last, sweet vision of the pair. Farewell .
    Then she lifted her lashes and turned her gaze to Caleb. “This was Starr’s heart.”
    He nodded. “Yours again.”
    “No,” Meg said. “Though I’ve kept it deep under wraps, I actually have—had—my own.”
    Caleb’s brows came together. “‘Had?’”
    “So I think I’ll return this one to the merfolk whose it was in the first place.” With that, Meg held her arm over the side of the kayak and let the necklace fall. It drifted atop the water for a few moments, and then it started to sink beneath the ocean. Maybe it was her long-suppressed imagination coming alive again, her old belief in magic, but she could swear she saw the slim, pale fingers of a mermaid reach up to close around the shell and then disappear.
    Warm hands cupped her shoulders. Caleb turned Meg to face him. “‘Had?’” he demanded again, his expression serious.
    “It’s yours now,” she confessed, her voice a little hoarse with emotion. “I’m in love with you, Caleb, and when you get me, my heart is part of the package.”
    His eyes searched hers. Then he smiled, and it was the sun breaking through the fog. “You love me,” he said, the smile turning even brighter. “You really do.”
    “Don’t let it go to your head,” she teased.
    “It already has,” he murmured against her mouth, the kiss at first a promise that quickly turned to passionate intent. Then the kayak’s rocking rhythm was no longer so gentle. Almost unseated, they were forced to come up for air.
    The merfolk urging them to dry land? A joyful bark turned their attention to the beach. Bitzer was there, pacing impatiently, as if he was eager to be part of their happiness.
    Caleb slanted a look at Meg as he fished for the paddle that had dropped to the bottom of the craft. “Well, my love? What next?”
    “Forward,” she directed with a grin. “We have a dog on shore. And a forever just waiting to get started.”
    * * * * *
    The magic of summer is only beginning! More Beach House No. 9 stories are coming soon from Christie Ridgway and Harlequin HQN:

    BEACH HOUSE NO. 9 (February 2013)
    BUNGALOW NIGHTS (March