A Hero for the Holidays 
by Jacqueline Diamond 

Chapter One 

Sunny had never expected to see the man again. She wasn't sure she wanted to see him now.

But there he stood, dominating the doorway of Books and More. Sunny owned the bookstore just off the picturesque main square in Tyler, a small, close-knit town in southern Wisconsin. 

There he stood, Keith Jamison, the man who, a year ago, had pretended to love her and then had broken off their brief but intense relationship as if it meant nothing.

His neatly trimmed, sandy hair and the tailored overcoat stretching across his broad shoulders gave Keith the air of a man in charge. But there was a wariness in those blue eyes that touched Sunny more than she wanted to admit.

"You have a lot of nerve, showing up on Christmas Eve." She smacked a book on the counter so loudly that the only remaining customer in the store, librarian Elise Fairmont, jumped.

Keith nodded toward Elise. "I was hoping we could talk somewhere private."

"I think you said it all on the phone." He'd left on New Year's Day because of what he claimed was a family emergency, and called her long-distance two weeks later.

"Don't remind me.…"

"Let's see if I can remember the words. Oh, yes. 'I'm sorry, it was a mistake. I won't be returning to Tyler. It's better if we both go our own ways.' Does that about sum it up?"

At 28, Sunny had nurtured her dreams of finding a soul mate for many long, lonely years. Then, as if by fate, her yearned-for hero had arrived last Christmas Eve after her car broke down outside town in a snowstorm.

The stranger had driven her home to her farmhouse. Snowed in for a week after the storm, they'd quickly fallen in love, or so she'd believed. She'd given herself freely to her first-ever lover, only to discover that he'd apparently been using her as entertainment for the holidays.

"I knew you'd be a hard sell, but I had to come back." Keith gave her a disarmingly warm smile that flashed a boyish dent in his cheek. "I've sure missed you, Sunny."

"Oh, spare me!" She stopped as Elise came to the counter with a book.

The librarian, who had patronized the bookstore since Sunny's parents founded it 20 years earlier, frowned at her in concern. "You're coming to the party at the Timberlake Lodge tonight, aren't you, Susan, dear?"

That was her real name, Susan Barlow. Only the older residents of Tyler used it, though.

"I…" Sunny glanced down at her simple black outfit. She'd brought along jewelry to dress it up for the occasion, an important annual event for Tyler's business and professional community. But she wasn't sure she was in the mood to party.

"I'll be watching for you," Elise said, and shot Keith a warning glance. Sunny hadn't talked about her mystery lover, but there wasn't much that escaped people's notice in this town. And word about anything romantic traveled like wildfire.

Maybe that was how the ladies of the quilting circle always seemed to know, as if by magic, to prepare an appropriate quilt as a bridal gift, no matter how unexpected the wedding. Not that Sunny ever expected to receive one of those quilts.

She finished gift-wrapping Elise's purchase. The librarian departed.

It was five o'clock. Sunny prepared to close the shop, trying to ignore Keith's bemused presence.

She loved this place and had run it since her parents' deaths in a fire at the farmhouse nearly two years ago. Last February, she'd learned that she couldn't afford to keep it unless she sold the farm.

Either way, she would lose a precious legacy for which her parents had worked all their lives.

"Sunny, I'm not giving up until I've said what I came to say." Keith's words yanked her back to the present as he moved purposefully toward her in the empty store. "You have to listen to me."

Although she was five feet eight inches high, he stood a head taller. The closer he came, the larger he seemed.

As Sunny caught a whiff of his tangy cologne, memories flowed through her. The strength of his arms and the gentleness of his mouth. The feel of his bare chest beneath her hands. The naked power of him, poised over her…

She took a quick step backward. "All right, I'm listening. So get to the point."

A Hero for the Holidays 
by Jacqueline Diamond 

Chapter Two 

"I'm back," Keith said. "I want to recapture what we had together."

Sunny stared at him in shock. "Do you think I'd be crazy enough to trust you again after what you did to me?"

"Please hear me out. I promise to make a good case for myself." Beneath his teasing tone, she heard fierce determination.

Was it possible he truly cared about her? Despite the pain she'd been through after Keith left her, Sunny had to admit that she hadn't stopped loving him, no matter how angry she'd been.

"You've got five minutes to talk while you walk me to my car," she said. "I'm parked on the other side of the square."

"Fair enough." Keith helped her into her coat and opened the door to a gust of frosty air. Trying to ignore the warmth of his nearness, Sunny stepped outside and locked up. 

"No burglar alarm?" he asked.

"We don't get robbed in Tyler." She led the way across the open square, its leafless oak trees glimmering with white bulbs. A colorful display of holiday lights winked from the nearby Gates Department Store.

"That's what you think." Keith's provocative comment made Sunny stop, her heart racing.

"What do you mean?" Her breath created a cloud in the chill evening air. "Did someone get robbed?"

"You're about to." There was no humor in his expression now. "By your father's cousin, Everett Barlow."

Sunny couldn't believe she'd heard him correctly. How could he know about Everett? 

The elderly man, who lived in St. Paul, Minnesota, had loaned her parents the money to buy Books and More. Although she was certain her parents had repaid him years ago, Everett had declared after their deaths that they hadn't given him a cent. 

Since her parents' papers had burned in the accidental house fire that killed them, Sunny had no way of disproving his claim. To repay him, she was faced with taking out a large bank loan or selling the farm that had been in her family for generations.

"How do you know about Everett?" she demanded. After all, Keith had simply been driving through town last Christmas Eve and rescued her when her car broke down. He had no way of knowing about her financial troubles. 

"It's cold," he said. "Can we sit in your car?" Somewhat reluctantly, Sunny agreed. Although still angry at Keith, she wanted to find out more. She led him to her station wagon.

"All right. Now answer my question, please," she said when they were seated inside.

"As I mentioned last year, I'm a lawyer," Keith said. "What I didn't tell you was that I came to Tyler on business. I was looking for a woman named Susan, not Sunny. We only used first names when we met, and I'd been told that Susan Barlow was staying at a boardinghouse, not a farmhouse."

"You came here to see me?" she asked, stunned.

"I didn't realize who you were until after we'd made love," he said.

The blood drained from Sunny's face. She'd been a virgin when, yielding to a rush of tenderness and love, she'd slept with a man she hardly knew. This man, Keith Jamison.

"Everett sent me to get your signature on a contract acknowledging that you owed him the money," he said quietly. "He's my stepfather, so I agreed to do it on my way to visit friends in Chicago."

"You were going to help him cheat me?" she demanded. Her cousin had mailed her the contract later, but she hadn't yet signed it.

"I didn't suspect any wrongdoing." Keith rested one arm across the seat back, almost touching her. "Recently, after my mother died, I came across some evidence.… It isn't absolute proof, but knowing my stepfather, I became convinced he was lying."

Emotions tightened inside Sunny's chest. Although she was eager to know what Keith had found, she couldn't stop thinking about why he'd come to Tyler.

"So what happened between us was just an accident?" Her throat felt thick.

"A wonderful accident." He leaned closer. "Sunny, I left because I got word my mother was ill, as I told you. Later, I decided my unintentional dishonesty when I was with you had destroyed any chance of a future with you, so I called and said it was a mistake. But I was wrong. Please give me another chance."

"To do what?" She could barely see through the sheen of tears. "To have another fling for the holidays and then go your merry way?"

A ragged breath escaped Keith. "I've always been a loner. I thought that was my nature. Then last Christmas, here in Tyler with you, I discovered something special. Something I didn't think I deserved, but I realize now it's worth fighting for."

His handsome face was only inches away and his blue eyes sparkled with reflected white light from outside. He looked so magical that Sunny almost yielded to the urge to kiss him.

She felt the tug of warring desires within her, and the promise - or was it the danger? - that the bond between them might be too strong to break.

She couldn't send him away. She needed his help to right old wrongs. Still, that didn't mean she had to open herself to more hurt.

Should she play it safe and demand to see Keith's evidence right now, then send him away? Or should she throw caution to the winds and invite him to spend Christmas Eve at her farmhouse, where they could find out if there really was anything worth saving between them?

A Hero for the Holidays 
by Jacqueline Diamond 

Chapter Three 

"You told me you came across evidence that my parents repaid the loan to Cousin Everett," Sunny said, her breath raising a frosty cloud in the car's interior. "Let me see it."

After all, she reminded herself, what mattered was proving that her parents had paid off their debt and that she owned Books and More, free and clear. Since her parents' papers had been destroyed in the accidental fire that killed them, she would otherwise have to sell her family's beloved farm or take out a crushingly large bank loan to repay her father's elderly cousin.

"You haven't responded to the main reason I came back." Keith touched a strand of her long dark hair gently, as if it were precious to him. "I want to recapture the happiness we found together."

"It's too late." Sunny struggled to ignore a pang in her chest. "You were the first man I ever loved. When you broke off with me last January, it hurt me a lot. I won't risk that kind of betrayal again."

"I'm sorry. Sunny, I promise -"

"I don't want an apology or a promise. Just show me your evidence and then leave me alone. Permanently."

Against the strong planes of his face, Keith's blue eyes glittered with vulnerability. Sunny could hardly believe she was speaking so harshly to the man she'd once loved, but she refused to let him break her heart again.

"I will show it to you," Keith said, "after we've spent more time together. Last January, I took the coward's way out by leaving, but this time I'm sticking around. My evidence is the only leverage I have to persuade you to talk to me."

Despite the chill in the air, Sunny's cheeks heated with anger. "That's blackmail. Get out of my car, Keith."

"I promise to tell you everything tomorrow," he said. "I'm staying at the Timberlake Lodge. Since you're heading there anyway, I'll follow you in my car."

"No. I changed my mind." Sunny had planned to attend the annual Christmas Eve celebration for business people in her close-knit hometown of Tyler, Wisconsin. But after seeing Keith, she was in no mood to make merry.

Besides, it was starting to snow, just like last year, when her car had broken down and Keith, a stranger, had rescued her. Better to skip tonight's party rather than risk getting stranded, since her farmhouse lay several miles outside town.

Keith was studying her in the darkness broken only by the holiday lights of the town square. "I promise to come by the farmhouse tomorrow. Then I'll show you what I've brought."

A moment later, cold air blew in as he exited, and then the door closed. Sunny was alone.

Wrenched by conflicting emotions, she watched his tall frame stride across the square toward a luxury sedan. Darn him, anyway! Maybe he was lying about having found evidence. Why should she believe him after the way he'd left her?

Furiously, Sunny twisted the key in the ignition. The motor sputtered, caught - then died.

"No, no, no!" She tried again, but raised only a weak mutter from the engine. "Why is this happening now?"

The answer came to her when she noticed that the trip meter stood at 310 miles. Since the gas gauge was broken, Sunny always filled up at 200 miles.

Last week, she'd pulled into the gas station, only to find four cars ahead of her. In a hurry to open the store, she'd left, meaning to stop back later. But she'd forgotten.

Sunny's gaze swept the picturesque square and found it empty of townspeople. There were houses only a few blocks away, but she was reluctant to interrupt someone's Christmas Eve to ask for a ride. Besides, in the black dress she'd worn for the party, her legs would freeze.

Keith's car pulled alongside and the passenger window whirred down. "Trouble?" he called.

Sunny hated to ask for a favor. On the other hand, she hated even more to impose on someone else.

Opening her door, she said, "I need a ride to the gas station. This doesn't change anything."

"Hop in." Keith gave her a rueful smile. "I'll take you straight there."

Sunny grabbed her purse and got out. She would only be in his car for a few minutes, she told herself, and opened the passenger's side door.

That was when she saw the handwritten letter protruding from an open briefcase on the floor. Was this the evidence he'd mentioned?

As she sat down, Sunny snatched up the sheet of stationery. Keith, a startled look on his face, grabbed for it at the same time.

His hand touched her wrist, raising an electric spark. "Don't read that," he said.

Sunny eyed him suspiciously. "Why not? Afraid I'll uncover some secret?"

Keith released a long sigh and sat back. "I can't blame you for mistrusting me. You're right, Sunny. I shouldn't have put you off. Go ahead, read it."

A Hero for the Holidays 
by Jacqueline Diamond 

Chapter Four 

Sunny fetched a flashlight from the glove box and directed its beam of light on the paper. She couldn't believe it. The paper that she had hoped would help her save the family farm was nothing more than handwritten notes.

"This isn't evidence!" she said. "I'll bet you wrote this yourself."

"That's right, I did," Keith admitted as he put the car into gear. "Before we both freeze, let's go get gas for your car."

Sunny felt crushed by disappointment. "How could you lie to me?"

"It wasn't a lie," Keith said. "I told you I had evidence, not absolute proof."

"This isn't worth the paper it's written on!"

In silence, he navigated the deserted streets of Tyler, Wisconsin. Brightly colored holiday lights flashed a greeting from the houses they passed.

Loneliness welled inside Sunny. She missed her parents terribly. Now she had no one to share Christmas with except a former lover who had twice betrayed her trust. Once when he broke up with her abruptly, and again tonight.

"As executor of my mother's will, I had to retrieve her papers from my stepfather's attic," Keith said. "While I was up there, I stumbled across an old ledger that showed the receipt of loan payments and a zero balance."

"Was it my parents' loan?" she asked, hardly daring to breathe.

"My stepfather had his own secret coding system. Their names weren't on it, but I figured I could find proof if I looked hard enough. My folks stashed papers in all sorts of unlikely places. So I put the ledger aside and began to search," Keith said. "A short time later, Everett ordered me out of his house."

"Where's the ledger?"

"While I was searching in another room, he took it," Keith said. "He refused to admit it, of course. When I got back to my apartment, I wrote these notes about what I'd seen. If we go to court, they'll give my testimony more credibility."

They turned a corner. Ahead stood the gas station, dark and deserted. "Oh, no," Sunny moaned. Was nothing going to go her way today?

"I'll take you home, Sunny," Keith said. "I want to make sure you're safe."

She wasn't sure she wanted to be alone with him at the farm. She remembered last Christmas all too vividly, making love with him in almost every room of the farmhouse. Why, they would have made love in the barn and the old potting shed if it hadn't been so cold.…

"Keith!" she said. "I just thought of something. After the fire, I found insurance papers hidden in the barn. I just realized I never searched my mother's potting shed, next to the barn."

He started the car moving again. "A potting shed doesn't sound very promising."

"Until six or seven years ago, Mom used it as an office. Maybe she left something behind."

"Let's find out."

Snow was falling heavily by the time they reached her house. Sunny had used her insurance money to rebuild it before she learned of the unpaid debt, but she didn't regret it. This was her home, and her connection to the memory of her parents. She'd do anything to keep it.

A light in the front room revealed a small spruce hung with ornaments. "You decorated a tree?" Keith asked.

"It was an impulse," she admitted.

"A wonderful one." His eyes glittered with emotion. "My mother was like you, warm and joyful, until Dad died. I guess she was seeking security when she married Everett, but it didn't take long for his true personality to emerge."

"His true personality?"

"Self-centered and irritable," Keith said. "We learned to hold our feelings inside. Last year, with you, I experienced real happiness for the first time in years."

Sunny wanted to believe him. There was no way to sort out the truth right now, though, and she couldn't wait to search the shed. "Will you help me look?"

"Of course." After parking in the driveway, he took out his flashlight. "Let's go."

They hurried along the walkway. In the snowy darkness, Keith's strong silhouette was reassuring.

"You must be freezing." He rested one hand on Sunny's waist. She fought the urge to cuddle against him.

"I'm fine." Stopping at the long, narrow shed, she scraped open the door.

The scents of earth and dust wafted toward her. "Whew! You can tell I haven't been in here for a while." A tug on the overhead chain activated a wan light.

As she stared at the cluttered shelves and piles of clay pots, Sunny's spirits plummeted. She didn't see anything of value.

"You're dressed up. Let me look." Using the flashlight, Keith probed along the shelves and behind some implements. "I found something!"

He emerged with a cobwebbed file box. Her heart thundering, Sunny accompanied him into the house.

A few minutes later, they found what they were seeking: a document signed by Everett Barlow, acknowledging repayment of the loan.

Happiness swept through Sunny and she flung her arms around Keith. "If it weren't for you, I'd never have found this!"

Without warning, his mouth claimed hers, sending a thrill of pure pleasure through her. Then, abruptly, she pulled away. "I didn't mean to do that." 

Keith studied her for a long, tender moment. "Let's finish this business with my stepfather so we can celebrate and sort things out between us. I'm going to call and tell him exactly what I think of him."

"Wait!" Sunny touched his arm. "It's Christmas Eve. He deserves a chance to redeem himself."

"After the way he tried to take advantage of you?"

"He has to be suffering. After all, he lost his wife recently," she said. "Maybe he regrets trying to cheat me."

Judging by Keith's stern expression, she expected him to argue. However, he nodded slowly. "All right. Without telling him what we've found, I'll ask him to admit that your parents paid off the loan." 

A Hero for the Holidays 
by Jacqueline Diamond 

Chapter Five 
Listening on the telephone extension in the farmhouse kitchen, Sunny heard Everett's dry voice answer on the other end of the line, in St. Paul, Minnesota.

"Hello?"

"It's me." Keith, who was using the phone in the living room, didn't call his stepfather "Dad," she noticed. "I'm with Sunny Barlow - you know her as Susan. Your demand that she repay the loan is really hurting her."

"That isn't my problem," growled her late father's elderly cousin. Many years ago, when he'd visited her parents, he'd struck her as cranky and cold, and he gave the same impression now.

"It's Christmas Eve," Keith pointed out. "I...I'm sure you're a good person deep inside. Please admit that her parents paid off the loan, and we can all have a merry Christmas."

"It's my money," snarled Everett. "I'm not giving up a cent."

Sunny heard Keith sigh. "Sunny insisted I give you a chance to redeem yourself," he said quietly. "We found her parents' loan papers, signed off by you. She doesn't owe you anything and you know it."

A long pause followed. Then, "You're lying."

"No, and I can prove it." Keith read from the document, citing the date and place where it had been signed.

Everett could no longer deny the truth. "Okay, you caught me. So what? She's young. It wouldn't hurt her to help out an elderly relative."

"What you did is vile." Keith spoke with taut fury. "You hit her with this phony loan repayment while she was still grieving for her parents, and you took advantage of the fact that the fire that killed them also burned most of their papers. What a rotten thing to do!"

"I'm an old man," whined his stepfather. "I need money."

"You have plenty of it."

"I might need more in the future," Everett said. "You never know."

"Your actions amount to attempted fraud," Keith went on, clearly struggling to contain his anger. "I could take this to the district attorney."

His stepfather cleared his throat. "I, uh, I have memory lapses," he said, improvising. "I was sure her parents hadn't paid me. You may be a lawyer, Keith, but you'll never make any charges stick."

Even Sunny's generous nature had had enough. "Cousin Everett, shame on you!" She burst out.

"You should feel sorry for me," came the response. "I'm all alone. No one cares about me. Tomorrow, on Christmas, I'll be eating a frozen dinner in front of the TV."

"I'm afraid my sympathy is all used up," Keith said. "If no one cares about you, it's because you never cared about anyone but yourself."

"Maybe if you go to church tomorrow, instead of sitting alone feeling sorry for yourself, you'll find the true meaning of Christmas," Sunny added. "Obviously, you aren't going to find it in your heart."

They both said goodbye and hung up.

She was surprised by how shaky she felt as she went to join Keith in the living room. Revenge was supposed to be sweet. Instead, she would have preferred to see the man redeem himself.

On the other hand, her farm was safe, and she faced a future unburdened by debt. Sunny's spirits rose.

They rose even further when she entered the living room and caught sight of Keith. He stood beside the Christmas tree, his blue eyes glowing almost as brightly as the colored lights.

The two of them were alone, just like last year. She remembered how he, a stranger who'd rescued her from a snowstorm, had taken her in his arms. She'd been swept away on a cloud of happiness.

Now Sunny could barely resist running to Keith. She ached to wind her arms around his neck and bring her lips up to his. But did she dare trust him after the way he'd abandoned her last January?

Hastily, she searched for a distraction, and found it in the pile of brightly wrapped gifts under the tree. Her many friends here in Tyler, Wisconsin, had brought her presents to the bookstore all week, and she'd had a wrapped book ready for each of them.

Sunny had prepared a few extras in case anyone dropped by her house. "I'd like to give you a present," she said. "To thank you for all you've done for me."

"I don't need thanks." Keith reached for her hand. His grip was firm but not demanding.

Sunny felt his warmth radiating toward her. It would be so natural to lean against him and accept the shelter of his arms.

Reluctantly, she pulled away. "It's not really thanks, just a token of my friendship. Pick any one of these." She indicated half a dozen packages on the coffee table. "I don't remember which book is in which wrapping. I meant to write the titles on the backs but I forgot."

"Whatever I choose, I'm sure it will have special significance." Keith didn't approach her again, although she could see the longing in his eyes.

"There's no special meaning. They're just fun books," Sunny said quickly.

He chose the largest one. "I'll try my luck." Silver paper and glittering ribbon slid off beneath his strong hands. "Well, well."

Keith held up a large, illustrated history of love. On the cover, Cupid aimed an arrow at Botticelli's nude painting of Venus.

Blood rushed to Sunny's cheeks. "I forgot that was in there!" She wrapped her arms around herself. "I'd better make a fire in the fireplace. It's cold in here."

"I know a good way to warm the place up." Keith raised an eyebrow at her above the suggestive book cover.

"No! I mean..." She stopped, flustered.

He set down the book. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, Sunny. Please, sit with me for a minute. I want to give you my gift."

"You brought a gift?" Surprised, she joined him on the couch. Their legs touched as they sat side by side, but Keith gave no sign of noticing. 

Sunny's breath caught in her throat as, from an inside pocket, he produced a crimson jeweler's box.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Open it and find out."

Sunny's heart raced. Would his gift indicate that he wanted her to be his wife? Sunny wondered. Or was it the kind of flashy gift a man gives to a woman he hopes to seduce?

A Hero for the Holidays 
by Jacqueline Diamond 

Chapter Six 

Holding her breath, Sunny opened the jewelry box. Catching a glimmer of light from the Christmas tree, a large, perfect diamond winked at her from a gold ring.

"I...I don't know what to say." Did this mean what she thought it did?

"I'd be happy with the word yes." Sitting beside her on the couch, Keith took her left hand between his. "Sunny, I came back because I want to marry you. I hoped you might love me as much as I love you."

She couldn't believe he was proposing. When Keith had left her a year ago, she'd believed her romantic dreams were smashed forever. Seeing him again, though, she could understand why, after growing up with a cold, selfish stepfather like Cousin Everett, he hadn't trusted his own heart.

"I'll give up my job in Chicago," he said. "Tyler may not need any more lawyers, but I don't mind commuting to Madison. I'm crazy about your farm, you know. And I'm crazy about you. Sunny? Will you marry me?" 

She wanted desperately to say yes. Yet she wondered if she was thinking clearly.

Tonight, Keith had saved her from financial ruin. He'd rescued her, just as he had on the night they'd met, when she'd been stranded in a snowstorm.

His presence in her farmhouse on Christmas Eve was reassuring and tender. Also sexy and inviting. She wanted very much to spend the night in his arms.

Was that a good enough reason to promise him the rest of her life?

Uneasily, Sunny removed her hand and slid away on the couch. "You caught me by surprise. I can't give you an answer tonight."

Keith's blue eyes widened in disappointment. Quickly, he hid it with a smile. "Then I'd better stick around and hope you give me the best Christmas present a man could ask for. Any objections to my sleeping in the guest room?"

"Of course not," she said.

After fetching a suitcase from his trunk, he retired to the spare room. Sunny sat alone by the tree, gazing at the ring.

During all the Christmases of her youth, while joyfully celebrating with her parents, she had dreamed of someday sharing her holidays with a husband. A man who would love children as much as she did. A man she could lean on and cherish.

Was Keith that man? 

Sunny didn't have to ask herself whether she loved him. She'd fallen for him the night they met and, despite her efforts to forget him, her feelings for him had never changed. But could she trust him again after the way he'd abandoned her?

At last, she turned out the lights and went to her room. The bed was cold, and it took a long time to fall asleep. 

* * *

All night, Sunny wavered between dreams of happy weddings and nightmares of a wedding where the groom never arrived. Awakening on Christmas morning, she dressed quickly. With luck, she could fix a special breakfast before Keith got up.

Passing through the living room toward the kitchen, Sunny stopped. On the floor by the tree sat Keith, cradling a ginger-striped kitten wrapped in a red towel.

"Where on earth did you find it?" she asked.

He looked up with a grin. "I went for a walk this morning to enjoy the snow and found this little guy mewing out back. Any idea who owns him?"

"No one. A stray cat gave birth in the barn. I guess she didn't like me playing with the kittens, because one day they all disappeared." 

"Well, this one came back." Keith held the tiny creature aloft in his strong hands. "You can name him, if you wish. Of course, we'll want a puppy, too. Our children ought to grow up with lots of animals, don't you think?"

Mischief played around the corners of his mouth. He was inviting her to agree with him, she realized.

And she did agree, with a rush of joy that brought tears to Sunny's eyes. "Yes," she said.

"Does that yes mean what I hope it does?"

"It's the kitten's name," she teased. "Don't you think Yes is a great name for a cat?" Seeing the uncertainty on his face, she hurried on, "What I really mean is, yes, I'll marry you, and, yes, our children should have lots of animals."

The next thing she knew, the kitten was sitting on the floor and Keith was crushing Sunny into his arms. He gathered her against him and covered her mouth with kisses.

"I love you, Susan Barlow," he said when he came up for air.

"I love you, too, Keith Jamison."

The hardness of his shoulders, chest and hips, pressing against her softness, promised intimacy to come. Sunny was in no hurry though.

They had all the time in the world. They had forever, and they were going to spend it together.

* * *

Keith and Sunny were married at the Fellowship Lutheran Church in January. Friends filled the service, and, at the reception afterward, piled their gifts high.

The most special gift to Sunny was a quilt that featured a snowflake pattern and the red and green colors of Christmas. Once again, the ladies of the Tyler quilting circle had lived up to their reputation and, confident that she and Keith would find happiness on a snowy Christmas Day, had put their talents to work stitching her a bridal quilt.

But then, when it came to true love, the quilters of Tyler, Wisconsin, always did seem to know....

The End