In accepting a most unusual proposal, Tallie O'Shea didn't take the usual route to becoming a mom...
A permanent family. A dad, a mom, and kids. Bernie was the dad and he had the kids. But who would be the mom? Who would marry a hot-tempered cop trying to change his ways and adopt the boys he rescued from squalor?
"Do you want to trade working in a tavern for a house with a white picket fence?”
A flicker of disbelief registered in her eyes.
The woman’s gaze locked with Bernie’s as memories of her own jolted pain through her heart.
Tempting. So tempting. A cop could keep her safe, right? And she wanted kids so badly. Wanted a chance to be a good mom. “Just what would you expect from this arrangement?”
“I want to get married right away so the adoptions of Collin and Patrick can move forward. But I also want a real marriage–sleeping in the same bed, cheering the kids on at soccer games, squabbling over what to watch on television. You decide when you want to be intimate. I won’t push you and I’ll always be faithful to you.”
Bernie paused and grinned. “But I don’t want to still be celibate on our twenty-fifth anniversary.”
Bernie’s grin was Tallie’s undoing. So maybe this man had history, but also a sense of playfulness. That was why she agreed to his proposal.
Or maybe it was because of the chill that crept up her spine when she ran through the darkness to her car and peered through the windows before climbing inside.
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