“Sit, please.”
McKenzie sat, which must have cued the music because it started up the moment her bottom hit the seat.
When she caught the tune, she smiled.
All the performers came out onto the stage and began singing. Lance stood in front of her, his eyes full of love. When the song ended, she got to her feet and kissed him.
The crowd cheered.
“You have me, you know,” she whispered, for his ears only.
“I sure hope so or I’m about to look like the world’s biggest fool.”
She arched a brow at him. “Lance?”
“Have a seat, McKenzie.”
Her gaze met his and her mouth fell open as she sat back down.
A big smile on his face, Lance dropped to one knee, right there on the Coopersville Community Center’s stage, with half the town watching.
“McKenzie, at this show last year you saved the mayor’s life,” Lance began. “But without knowing it, you saved mine, too.”
McKenzie’s eyes watered.
He wasn’t doing this.
He was doing this.
“This past year has been the best of my life because I’ve spent it with you, but more than that you’ve helped me to be the person I was meant to be, to let go of things that needed to be let go of, and to embrace the aspects of life that needed to be embraced.”
“Lance,” she whispered, her hand shaking as he took it in his.
“I can’t imagine my life without you in it every single day.”
“You’ll never have to,” she promised.
“I’d like to make that official, get it in writing,” he teased, drawing a laugh from their audience. “McKenzie, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
McKenzie stared into the eyes of the man who’d taught her what it meant to love and be loved and felt her heart expand even further, so much so that she felt her chest bursting with love.
“Oh, yes.” She nodded, watching as he slipped a diamond ring onto the third finger of her left hand.
He lifted her hand, kissed her fingers. “I love you, McKenzie.”
“I love you, too, Lance.”
Lance lifted her to her feet, kissed her.
The curtain fell, closing them off from the applauding audience.
“Merry Christmas, McKenzie.”
“The merriest.”
The Doctor’s Sleigh Bell Proposal
Susan Carlisle
His surprise Christmas promise
Dr. Ellen Cox goes to South America to break the shackles of her confined life. But she never imagined replacing them with bonds of desire for her new hotshot boss—Chance Freeman!
Guarded Chance, although sorely tempted, tries to keep Ellen at a distance—and when the dangers of their jobs are ramped up, he sends her home to safety. Then he realizes his mistake and heads for snowy New York, determined to win Ellen with a very special Christmas proposal!
To Carol, I love you for being my sister—if not
by birth, of my heart.
SCREECHING VEHICLE BRAKES caught Dr. Chance Freeman’s attention. That would be his three new staff members arriving. They should have been here last night but bad weather had delayed them. He’d needed them desperately. His other team had left that morning and today’s clinic had been shorthanded and almost impossible to manage.
Chance glanced up from the baby Honduran boy he was examining and out the entrance of the canvas tent located in a clearing near a village. Beyond the long line of waiting patients, he saw a tall, twentyish woman jump down from the rear of the army surplus truck. She wore a tight green T-shirt, a bright yellow bandana round her neck and tan cargo pants that clung to her curves.
Great. High jungle fashion. He’d seen that before.
Shoulders hunched, he drew his lips into a tight line, stopping a long-suffering sound from escaping. Years ago he’d helped Alissa out of a Jeep. She’d believed in being well dressed in any environment as well. They had been newlyweds at the time. That had only lasted months.
Everything about this new staff member’s regal bearing screamed she didn’t belong in the stifling heat of a rain forest in Central America. He bet she wouldn’t last long. In his years of doing medical aid work he’d learned to recognize those who would stick out the tough conditions and long hours. His guess was that she wasn’t one of them. Everything about her screamed upper crust, big city. Pampered.
When had he become so cynical? He hadn’t even met her yet and he was already putting her in a slot. It wasn’t fair not to give her a chance just because she reminded him of his ex-wife. Still, he didn’t have the time, energy or inclination to coddle anyone, even if he desperately needed the help.
From under her wide-brimmed hat she scanned the area, her gaze coming around to lock with his. She tilted her head, shielding her eyes with a hand against the noonday sun. One of her two companions said something and she turned away.
Shaking off the spell, Chance returned to the child. He’d hardly looked down when there was a commotion outside. People were screaming and running. What was going on?
He didn’t have to wait long to find out. Two men carried another man into the tent. He was bleeding profusely around the face and neck area and down one arm. Quickly handing the baby to his mother, Chance cleared the exam table with his arm.
“Put him here. What happened?”
The men lifted the injured man onto the table. Despite Chance’s excellent Spanish, they were talking so fast he was having to work to understand them. Apparently, the man had been attacked by a jaguar while trying to save one of his goats.
A feminine voice asked from the end of the table, “What can I do to help?”
A fragrant scent floated in the air. He was tempted to lean forward and inhale. There was a marked difference between the feminine whiff and the odor of the sweaty bodies around him.
