“No, you can’t. I’ve been a bad person, I’ve done bad things. I tried to keep you from your own child. How can you possibly love me?”
He could hear what she wasn’t saying. How can you love me when I’m so unlovable? Her father left her, her mother abandoned her emotionally. Even her husband couldn’t stand by his marital vows to her. She’d had some hard knocks in her life, but no more. Provided she was willing—and if she wasn’t he planned to somehow thoroughly convince her—he’d do everything in his power to make sure she endured no more hardships, no more loss.
“I love the woman I see before me. The Erin I know. The real you. I doubted myself and my judgment. I allowed my mind to be clouded by the information that was given to me about your past, without thinking about how hard you’d worked to put that all behind you. To become the person you always deserved to be.
“I am deeply sorry for everything I’ve put you through. You deserve better than that. Better than me. But I hope you’ll give me another chance. Let me show you how much I love you, how much I admire your strength and who you’ve made yourself to be.”
He heard her shocked gasp as he dropped to one knee.
“Erin, you showed me I can love again, that people are capable of change for good, even people like me who make terrible mistakes in their lives. You’ve made me a better man. A man who loves you with all his heart. Please, will you marry me? Will you be my wife, and Riley’s mother, forever?”
* * *
Erin felt her knees buckle beneath her but she knew Sam would catch her and keep her safe. Not just now, but always.
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“I’ve never been more sure of anything,” Sam confirmed.
One look at his face and she knew he was speaking the truth. Her heart began to swell and lift. The misery and pain of not just the past few weeks, but the past few years began to fade and something new edged in to take its place. Sam loved her. Her! She could barely believe it.
“I love you, Sam,” she whispered, barely able to speak for the new sensation of joy that now spread through her.
He smiled back at her. That beautiful crooked, sweet smile that always made her heart flip.
“So, will you? Marry me?”
“Yes, I will. But not because you’re Riley’s father. I want you to be clear on that. I want to marry you because I love you with everything that’s inside of me. I want to be your partner, your lover and your best friend for the rest of my life.”
Sam’s arms closed around her, holding her to his warmth, securing her against his heart.
“You need never worry about anything on your own, ever again, Erin. I will always be here for you. Always.”
Erin lifted her lips to his, tasting his promise with the sure knowledge that she was loved and valued and that now she had a future, they had a future. All of them. Sam, Riley and her. Together. And she knew it would be long and happy, with Sam by her side.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt of Up Close and Personal by Maureen Child!
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One
“Laura, I know you’re in there!”
Ronan Connolly pounded on the brightly painted blue front door a few more times, then paused to listen. Not a sound from inside the house, though he knew too well that Laura was in there. Hell, he could practically feel her, standing just on the other side of the damned door.
Bloody hardheaded woman. How had he ever thought that quality attractive? Now that attractive hardheadedness had come back to bite him in the ass.
Seconds ticked past and there was no sound from within, which only irritated him further. He glanced at the sunshine-yellow Volkswagen parked alongside the house—her car—then glared again at the still-closed front door.
“You won’t convince me you’re not at home. Your bloody car is parked in the street, Laura.”
Her voice came then, muffled but clear. “It’s a driveway in America, Ronan. You’re not in Ireland, remember?”