She couldn’t stop smiling as she turned on her computer. Even though she’d have to work like a mad woman to be able to take the weekend off, Marlie grinned until her cheeks were sore.

  Sex was clearly good for the brain because she was on fire with brilliance. She’d hoped that Ty would come home during lunch because she wanted a nooner. Marlie had never had a nooner because Eric’s office had been too far away from their apartment. Today was doubtful because she’d had a morninger and Ty had been late to work.

  She sighed happily. There was always tonight.

  Marlie worked until she heard a distant jazzy tune. Following the sound upstairs, she realized it was Ty’s cell phone. He must have forgotten it this morning. She laughed. He’d been distracted.

  Wow, there were a lot of missed calls. What an excellent excuse to phone his office.

  “I wonder if you could help me,” she said when he answered. “I seem to be missing some tinsel.”

  He chuckled. “It’s in my shoes. And car.”

  “And pants?”

  “I don’t know.” He lowered his voice. “You can check when I get home.”

  “I will check very carefully, in all your nooks and crannies.”

  “I can think of places where we can look for it, too.”

  Marlie could hear office sounds around him and figured he couldn’t get too explicit. “Hey, listen, not that this isn’t fun, but I actually called because you left your cell phone here this morning.”

  “Yeah, I noticed that.”

  “You’ve got nine missed calls.”

  “That many? Who are they from?”

  Spoken like a man with nothing to hide. Smiling, Marlie opened the list. “Seven are from your builder.” Probably in connection with Ty backing out of buying the townhouse. They hadn’t discussed it, but there was certainly no reason for him to buy it now. He already said he liked hers better anyway. How convenient that all he had to do was move down the hall.

  Ty exhaled. “I’m supposed to choose fixtures and countertops. He wants to order before the end of the year. I’ve been waiting for months, and now he wants instant decisions. I already chose everything once, but it was so long ago, some of the things have been discontinued. So now I have to start over.”

  That wasn’t what Marlie expected to hear.

  “I know you remember what it was like making about a thousand little decisions when you bought your place.”

  “I remember.”

  Ty laughed, apparently oblivious to her strained voice. “I’m not going to be nearly so picky.”

  “Maybe you can visit the showroom after work.” Invite me along. At least invite me along.

  He lowered his voice. “I have plans with you after work.”

  Plans that obviously didn’t include her in anything long term.

  She couldn’t. She just couldn’t. He was still going through with the purchase of his house. He was picking fixtures for his house. By himself. He hadn’t asked for her input and the only reason why was because she wouldn’t be living there with him.

  Their moment was over. He loved her, but he was still going on with the kind of life he’d planned for himself. Well, Marlie was not going to be his bed buddy for the next six weeks or however long it would be until he moved out. “I—I actually have a chance to earn a couple thousand extra dollars if I can do a quick turnaround on a site redesign,” she told him. “I’ve been slacking off lately and if I put in the time, I can avoid dipping into my savings for the mortgage payment.”

  He was supposed to say, “But you don’t have to worry about the mortgage payment because I won’t be moving out.”

  But what he said was, “Okay.” It was a disappointed “okay,” but it wasn’t what Marlie needed to hear.

  “Maybe I will stop by the showroom then,” he added, making it worse. He did have a way of making things worse.

  MAYBE SHE WAS TIRED, Ty thought as he disconnected the phone.

  Tired enough to fall asleep on her office loveseat, he saw later. He’d been thinking about her all day and how being with her was phenomenally better than he’d ever dreamed. But they hadn’t got much sleep last night. He looked down at her, feeling his chest grow tight with emotion. She was the one for him. It was so clear now, he marveled that he’d had no inkling of it before.

  He pulled the throw over her shoulder, which he’d done lots of times in the past, and placed a light kiss on her temple, which he had not.

  She didn’t stir, so he quietly left. There was always tomorrow morning and the entire weekend to look forward to. In the meantime, Ty cleaned up the tinsel, leaving a few strays on the tree, and tossed or packed up the empty ornament boxes left over from their middle-of-the-night naked tree decorating, something he planned to make an annual tradition.

  Marlie was gone when he woke up the next morning. But, oh, look, she’d left a sexy little note on the fridge. “Gone to Highland games. Back late. Marlie.” Not even “love, Marlie.”

  She’d rather spend Saturday with her piper date than making love with him? She didn’t even wake him up to say goodbye? Ty felt as though he’d been punched in the stomach. Or higher—in the heart. Something was wrong and he wasn’t going to try to tell himself he was overreacting.

  He did not hallucinate the other night. Had he not been clear that he loved her? What was going on in that head of hers?

  Ty got dressed because he was not waiting for tonight to ask her.

  THE MOURNFUL CRY OF THE bagpipes exactly matched Marlie’s mood. Her date thought she was moved to tears by the music and bought her a CD of bagpipe music put out by a local high school.

  How could Ty walk away from what they’d shared? Oh, sure, he wasn’t planning to walk away until they’d shared for a few more weeks, but that he already assumed he’d leave just made it worse. She’d known he’d break her heart, but he’d kept telling her he loved her, and so she’d let herself hope.

  How could she do that to herself? How could she fall in love with another man who didn’t want to build a life with her?

  After several hours of faking it, Marlie was actually beginning to enjoy herself as she and her date attempted Scottish Country Dancing.

  Laughing afterward, she waited beneath an awning set up over picnic tables as her date got them something to drink.

  The instant he turned his back to walk away, the very instant, someone sat across the table from her. Ty.

  “What the hell, Marlie?” was his opener.

  “Back ’atcha.”

  “You’re avoiding me,” he said.

  Marlie supposed a crowd was as good a place as any to have this discussion. “Not on purpose,” she lied. “But taking a couple of days to cool off is a good idea. The other night was pretty intense and neither of us wants to rush into anything.”

  His expression hardened. “We’ve known each other all our lives. That’s not rushing.”

  “That doesn’t mean we want the same things.”

  “We don’t have to. You get your way sometimes, I get my way sometimes, and other times, we compromise.”

  “You shouldn’t compromise on the big stuff,” Marlie said at the same time Ty’s jazzy ringtone sounded.

  He reached for his cell.

  He’s answering his phone while we’re having a serious life discussion.

  “I’ve been trying to…” He checked to see who was calling. “I’ve got to talk to her.” He held the phone to his ear. “Axelle?”

  Axelle? Discussion over. So over.

  Marlie pushed herself up and with shaky legs, climbed over the wooden bench. She saw her date headed her way, and with him was Alicia and her cameraman. Marlie had never been so glad to see the reporter.

  By the time she finished the interview, Ty was gone and Marlie had a pretty good idea where.

  TY WAITED UP FOR MARLIE beneath the Christmas tree.

  “What did I do wrong?” he asked when she sat on the floor beside him. “Because I know it was something.”

  “Ty…”

  “Is it because I had to leave? I tried to get your attention to tell you, but you were being interviewed.”

  She turned her blank Marlie gaze on him, the one he never thought he’d see again. This wasn’t good.

  “I think we’re better as friends,” Marlie told him, apparently serious.

  “I don’t,” Ty said. “And you don’t either. Want me to remind you why?”

  She glared at him. “Were you going to ask me to move into your house?”

  “No.” He was surprised. “Why would I do that?”

  “Well, then.” She got to her feet.

  So did he. “Marlie, do you want to live in my house?”

  “No.” She shook her head. “I like my house.”

  “I like your house, too.” He drew her close. “But I love you. I want to be with you.”

  Her mouth twisted. “For how long?”

  “What kind of question is that?” Ty pulled back to search her face.

  “A realistic one. You’ve bounced around from place to place and from girlfriend to girlfriend.”

  “Not anymore, I won’t.”

  “You say that now, but you have very specific ideas about your life,” she said.

  “So do you! Anyway, I like yours now,” he reminded her. He’d mentioned that before, hadn’t he? “Since when?”

  Maybe not. “Since I fell in love with you.”

  “And yet, you’re buying a house so you can move out.”

  Was that what was bothering her? “I have a contract, Marlie. I have to buy it.”

  “You didn’t even ask me to pick the fixtures!”

  She wanted to break up over hardware? “You’re not going to live there! Anyway, you would have taken forever to choose.”

  She gave him a wounded look.

  “Marlie.” He chuckled and folded her into his arms. “I like that you’re careful making decisions and I appreciate you wanting to help. But don’t worry about it. Axelle’s going to choose them. It’s all taken care of.”

  Marlie stiffened immediately and if Ty hadn’t been distracted by how good it felt to hold her close again, he’d have anticipated how that would sound to her.

  She pushed out of his arms. “Yes, I noticed how you couldn’t wait to take her call while talking with me!”

  Yeah, that probably didn’t look too great, either. “I’m sorry, but I’d been trying reach her. I’ve got this time crunch with the builder and things have been so crazy at work, I never made it to the showroom.”

  “Oh.” She backed up, arms across her torso. “Well, let me save you some time. Don’t bother coming to the games tomorrow. That should free up your day.”

  “I can’t go anyway,” he told her. “I’ve got to go into work.”

  “On Sunday?”

  “The company is reorganizing and trying to get stuff nailed down before the end of the year. I might have to start traveling again.”

  “Then I guess I’ll see you around.” She turned to leave.

  “See me around?” He took a step toward her and stopped when she backed up again. “What’s wrong? This can’t be about Axelle choosing stuff for the house.”

  She wouldn’t meet his eyes.

  “It is?”

  “Not just that.”

  Ty had an ugly thought. “Marlie, tell me you’re not mad because you think there’s something going on between me and Axelle.”

  She shot him a look. “Is there?”

  Ty stared at her, unbelievably stung by the question. “You think I’m the kind of man who—” He broke off, unwilling to finish.

  “No,” Marlie admitted, and he exhaled. “But I do think you live in the moment and I think our moment is over. Or it will be once you start traveling and someone else catches your interest.”

  “That’s insulting.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t mean it to be. I’m being realistic and so should you.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  But she wasn’t.

  And that’s why he should have stuck to the plan, Ty thought as Marlie went upstairs. She was afraid he’d grow bored and leave. The irony was that he was going in on a Sunday to try to avoid the travel. He could talk all night long, but she wouldn’t believe him. He’d failed to lay the proper groundwork and now he’d have to find another way to convince her that she was going to be stuck with him for the rest of her life.

  WHEN MARLIE GOT HOME from her twelfth date, she found Ty sitting on the couch and watching TV while eating junk food.

  It was as though they’d never slept together, as if she’d never learned his body or lost her mind with pleasure.

  He tilted a bottle of water and she admired his manly neck as he drank. Yes, everything was back the way it had been. Except Marlie. She’d never be the same again.

  She sat on the couch next to Ty and he held out his hand. She dropped yesterday’s piper charm and the drum charm from today into his palm, hesitated, and unfastened her bracelet.

  Best not tempt fate by getting too close.

  “How was the competition?” Ty asked.

  “Loud,” Marlie said. “How was work?”

  “Work was great. Especially after I quit.”

  “What?”

  He squinted at her bracelet as he worked the pliers. “I quit.”

  “Your job?”

  “Yes.”

  Marlie stared at him. “Why?”

  He glanced at her and then back at the bracelet. “They wanted to transfer me to Azerbaijan.”

  “Oh.”

  “I said no. They thought I was holding out for more money.” He finished attaching one charm and started on another. “But I told them I was holding out for you, and you’re living in your dream house, and I wanted to live in it with you.”

  “You quit your job for me?”

  “Well, for us. And the house.” He stopped working to look at her. “Are you impressed?”

  “Impressed isn’t the right word.” Horrified was the right word. Ty didn’t need to hear the right word.

  “You don’t look impressed,” he said.

  “You’re unemployed. I’m worried about the rent.” And another thought occurred to her. “What about your house?”

  “Ah. There has been a development on that front, as well.”

  Marlie braced herself.

  “After we discussed Axelle and the fixtures, I realized you were lacking a crucial piece of information.” He carefully closed the charm’s jump ring. “The reason Axelle is selecting everything is because she’s buying the house.”

  “You sold her your house?” Marlie’s jaw dropped.

  “Not immediately. She’ll rent for a few months until she’s confident the restaurant is on its feet.” Ty studied her. “Still not impressed, I see.”

  “Impressed that you’re unemployed and homeless?”

  “I was hoping you’d get past the facts and admire the gestures, but in case you didn’t…” He spun his finger in a circle, indicating that she should turn around.

  Marlie looked over her shoulder and there was the tree, all seventeen feet of it covered in tinsel. No clumps, all strands hanging straight, except for the ones waving in the air from the vents.

  Her heart started thudding. He was serious. He’d quit his job and sold his house, but nothing said “I love you” like a seventeen foot Christmas tree covered in tinsel.

  She turned back to him. “I am very impressed,” she said. Later, she’d tell him she didn’t care about tinsel one way or another and that she’d only bought it to use as stuffing in gift bags for her clients.

  “Good.” He took her wrist and fastened the bracelet around it. “Although if that hadn’t made my point, I figured this would.”

  “Yes, buying me twelve dates was very impressive,” she said. Twelve men and not one of them touched her heart like he did. Marlie moved the bracelet so she could admire all the charms, but noticed that the spacing was crowded near the clasp. She started to say something about it to Ty, and that’s when she saw the thirteenth charm. A heart. A heart with engraving on it. She tilted it to the light in order to read the words: True Love.

  In her mind, she heard the carol…my true love gave to me… She caught her breath and looked up to find Ty watching her.

  “I love you, Marlie. And I want you to know that you’ve got my heart and you’ll always have it, whether you want it or not.”

  She squeezed the bracelet. “I want it. I’ve always wanted it.”

  Ty kissed her until her own heart beat against its restraints. Oh, go ahead, she told it and set it free. Fall in love with him.

  Marlie kissed him until she was dizzy and breathless, and then dragged in a lungful of air and kissed him some more. “I love that you quit your job, sold your house, and gave me your heart, but the tinsel clinched the deal.”

  “Is the deal marriage?” he asked, breathing heavily. “Because I want to marry you, Marlie. I want to be everything on your list.”

  Marlie said, “Since we talked, I’ve added passion to my list.”

  “I added that,” Ty said. “Want me to add it again?”

  “In a minute.”

  “You’re killing me.” Ty touched his forehead to hers. “What now?”

  “Ty…I can’t believe I’m saying this, but however corny, ‘home is where the heart is’, so while I appreciate you quitting your job more than I can say, maybe you can get it back. If I have to sell my house to follow you, then I will.” If she had to give it away in order to follow him, she would. He would never leave her. He never had.

  He lifted his head, his eyes dark with emotion. “You said you’d never do that again.”

  “I know, I know. But I’d rather be with you than stay in this house.”

  “But this is your dream house.”

  “It’s not about the house,” Marlie told him. “It’s about building a life with you.”

  He smiled. “So that’s a ‘yes’ to the marriage question.”

  “There was no question.”

  “Are you going to call your mom and tell her about us?”

  Marlie nodded. “As soon as she gets back from the cruise.”

  “Then we’re officially engaged.” He exhaled and closed his eyes. “Let me just enjoy this moment.”

 

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