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  As she was listlessly trying to decide, she heard the static-filled drone in the hallway, which meant someone was at the front door, buzzing for admittance into the building. For the dozenth time since moving in, Georgie wished they had a full-time super or guard or something—someone who could screen visitors and take care of deliveries, etc. But they didn’t. This was probably the delivery Alex had mentioned yesterday. So she walked out to the hallway and pressed the intercom button. “Yes? May I help you?”

  A muffled male voice said, “Delivery for Georgianna Fairchild.”

  “Okay. I’ll buzz you in.” This had to be the delivery Alex was referring to, because she was listed as G. Fairchild on the directory. Besides, she had a peephole and would not open the door if she didn’t like the look of this guy. Georgie was no fool. She smiled wryly. Well, not about security, anyway.

  A few minutes later, her doorbell rang. She peered through the peephole. At first all she saw was red. A second later, the red moved back and she saw that the person outside her door was a dark-haired man whose face was obscured by a huge bouquet of red roses.

  “What in the world?” She squinted, looked again.

  The man evidently had heard her, for he slowly lowered the bouquet and she saw his face. It was Zach. Her heart banged against her chest. Zach!

  “Are you going to let me in, Georgie?” he called out. “I know you’re in there looking at me.”

  Still in shock, she fumbled with the dead bolt, then the regular lock. Finally she freed the door and yanked it open. “What are you doing here?” she cried as he walked in.

  “I came to say, ‘Happy Valentine’s Day,’” he said, holding out the roses. His blue eyes sparkled as they swept her face.

  “It’s not Valentine’s Day,” she said weakly. She was trembling and had to hold on to the little table that stood by her door.

  “And ‘happy birthday’ and ‘happy Fourth of July’ and ‘happy Thanksgiving’ and ‘merry Christmas’ and ‘I love you.’” His eyes had turned serious. “I love you, and I don’t want to live without you.”

  Georgie couldn’t speak. All her words were trapped in her throat. Was this really happening? Or was she dreaming it?

  “Okay, if you’re not going to take the flowers, I’m going to have to put them on the floor, because I want to put my arms around you.” He smiled then, that smile she loved so much, the one that had been haunting her dreams. “That’s if you want me to…”

  “Oh, Zach,” she finally managed to say, “I want that more than anything in the world.”

  For a long time after that, there were no more words from either one of them. Only kisses and more kisses.

  “Does this mean you love me, too?” Zach asked after they finally came up for air.

  “You know I do.”

  “I’d like to hear you say it.”

  She smiled. She was so happy right now. They might still have a lot of problems to solve, but at least this was a beginning. “I do love you, Zach. I think I fell in love with you the first day I saw you.”

  He gave her a skeptical look. “Why do I find that hard to believe?”

  Georgie grinned. “Well, maybe the second day.”

  “What happened the second day?”

  “You took me to your apartment and—”

  “You fell in love with my apartment?” he said, interrupting her.

  Now she laughed. “Oh, you idiot. With you! With your kids. With your life. Of course, I didn’t know that then. But I do now.” Then she sobered.

  “I know what you’re thinking about. It’s Katie, isn’t it?”

  She sighed deeply. Nodded.

  “Let me tell you about Katie,” he said.

  As he talked, Georgie’s heart felt lighter and lighter. And when he’d finished, repeating what Katie had said about liking Georgie, Georgie’s heart soared with hope.

  Zach reached into the pocket of his leather jacket and withdrew a small velvet ring box. “I’m going to do this right,” he said, and he got down on one knee. “Georgianna Fairchild,” he said tenderly. “I love you. Will you do me the honor of becoming Mrs. Zachary Prince?” Then he opened the box.

  Georgie, who didn’t even like jewels, gasped when she saw the most perfect emerald-cut diamond she’d ever seen. It was a simple, elegant design of one large stone set in platinum. It was exactly the kind of ring she would have chosen herself.

  As if he knew what she was thinking, he said softly, “It had your name on it.”

  This time, when he took her into his arms, the ring sat firmly on the ring finger of her left hand.

  Two hours later, after calling Frankie and telling her she didn’t need a ride, Georgie sat in the passenger seat of the Lexus Zach had rented. They were on their way to Harry’s house and her mother’s birthday party. Zach wore a beautifully cut dark pin-striped suit and white shirt, and Georgie wore a short, filmy red dress—in honor of the faux Valentine’s Day Zach had used as a reason to bring her the red roses. Small diamond stud earrings and her new engagement ring—oh, and a smile that would not go away—were her only adornments.

  “Zach,” she said, “I know we’re engaged, and I don’t want to change my mind, but…there’s still the problem of my job. I don’t want to give it up.”

  He smiled. “I wondered when you’d get around to that.” He gave her a quick glance. “Alex has a surprise for you. He was just waiting to see if you were going to say yes or not.”

  “Yes about a job?”

  “Yes to me when I asked you to marry me.”

  “You talked to Alex about me? When?”

  “Yesterday.”

  “But I talked to Alex yesterday, and he didn’t say—”

  “I asked him not to.”

  Georgie was astounded. In another lifetime, she would have been irritated to have her boss and the man she loved talking about her behind her back. “What’s the surprise?”

  “It won’t be a surprise if I tell you.”

  “Zach, I really don’t like surprises.”

  “You liked the one today.”

  “Well, sometimes I make exceptions.” But she laughed. She loved the surprise today.

  “Alex is going to ask you if you want the job of co-director of the New York office.” Zach smiled at her second gasp of the day. “We’ll be equal in every way.”

  “And…you’re okay with that?”

  “I’m more than okay with it. It was my idea. Georgie, I want to share everything in my life with you—the good, the bad and the ugly. Isn’t that what real love is all about?”

  If he hadn’t been driving, Georgie would have thrown her arms around him and kissed him until he cried for mercy. As it was, she contented herself with saying, “Mr. Prince, you’re the man I’ve been waiting for all my life.” Then she laughed. “My mother is going to be so happy! I can’t wait to tell her she’s finally going to see her holdout daughter married.”

  Epilogue

  From the June issue of Around Puget Sound magazine

  Harrison Hunt Marries Again by Phoebe Lancaster

  The wedding of Harrison Hunt, founder of HuntCom, the multibillion-dollar corporation considered the grand-daddy of the personal computer industry, and Cornelia Phillips Fairchild, widow of George Fairchild, who was once Harrison Hunt’s partner, took place Saturday evening at the Hunt mansion in Seattle. This is Hunt’s fifth marriage and Fairchild’s second.

  The bride wore a full-length, pale pink lace gown designed by Vera Wang and carried white baby orchids atop an old family Bible. Mikimoto pearls adorned her neck, ears and right wrist—a wedding gift from her groom—and her spectacular pink diamond engagement ring was on full view. The groom wore a dark gray Brioni tux with a pink rose tucked into his lapel.

  The bride’s matron-of-honor was her oldest daughter, Georgianna “Georgie” Fairchild Prince, who recently married New Yorker Zachary Prince, one of the heirs to the McKinley textile fortune. Bridesmaids were the bride’s three younger daughters: Roberta �
��Bobbie” Fairchild Gannon, Thomasina “Tommi” Fairchild-Callahan, both of whom are also recent brides, and Francesca “Frankie” Fairchild, who is even now planning her own summer wedding to Eli Wolf. All the beautiful Fairchild sisters wore long raspberry crepe gowns from JS Designs in Seattle.

  Best man for his father was Grayson Hunt, president of HuntCom. Remaining groomsmen were Harrison Hunt’s other three sons: Alex, J.T. and Justin.

  After the ceremony, which was performed by the pastor of the church where Mrs. Fairchild has been a long-time member, the guests, estimated at approximately three hundred, were treated to a lavish buffet and romantic evening of dancing and multiple champagne toasts in the opulent ballroom in one wing of Hunt’s spectacular lakeside home.

  The new Mr. and Mrs. Harrison Hunt will spend their honeymoon in Australia and New Zealand—“Countries I’ve always wanted to see,” according to the bride. The groom, who has admittedly not had much success with marriage in the past, smiled indulgently and said he intended to do everything in his power to please his new bride, because “she is a keeper.”

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-8479-5

  MEET MR. PRINCE

  Copyright © 2011 by Patricia A. Kay

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

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  †Callahans & Kin

  ††The Hathaways of Morgan Creek

  ‡Callie’s Corner Café

  §The Hunt for Cinderella

  **Secret Lives of Society Wives

  *Three Brides and a Baby