Sterling grinned. "Yes, nine months from June is March."

She shook her head. "I'm not talking about the timing. I'm talking about the baby's s.e.x. You still think Hamiltons can't have girls?"

"Yes."

"All right then, are you willing to make a deal?"

Sterling raised a brow. "What kind of deal?"

"If I have a girl, I want a lifetime of special moments from you."

"Baby, you'll get those regardless of whether we have a son or a daughter." He pulled her closer into his arms. "I want to thank you for giving me the most precious gift I've ever had."

Colby looked up at him. "And what was that?"

He met the question in her eyes with a serious expression in his own. He reached out and took her hand and brought it to his lips. "That one special moment, the day you became my wife. G.o.d must have known I needed someone like you in my life and sent you to me. I will always believe that and cherish that."

Threading his fingers through her hair, he caught a loose part with his fist and gently lifted her head to give him easy access to her mouth. He loved this woman and he would make sure that for the rest of her life she got all the special moments she deserved.

Epilogue.

"Chandler is crying, Sterling," Colby said sleepily. "It's feeding time."

Sterling came immediately awake. Unlike most people, he enjoyed these two o'clock feedings. It was a special time to bond with his child.

He padded in his bare feet across the hall to the nursery where Chandler Hamilton was crying. Reaching down he picked up his child.

Colby had refused to take a sonogram during her pregnancy to determine the s.e.x of their child. "Some things should remain a surprise," she had said. And Chandler's entrance into the world had been totally that for him.

Up until the time the doctor had uncovered her in front of his eyes to prove that his wife had indeed given birth to a girl, he had been so sure she was having a boy.

It wasn't that he had preferred a son over a daughter, it was just that he'd actually thought he couldn't produce a female offspring. He and Colby had brought the era of all male Hamiltons to an end with the bundle of joy he held in his arms.

And she was indeed a bundle of joy to everyone, especially to her grandmother Angeline and her uncle Nicholas. Sterling smiled when he thought about the growing close relationship between himself, his mother and his brother. And now that Chandler was born, Angeline's and Nicholas's visits to North Carolina were rather frequent.

He gazed down at his daughter. She was simply beautiful. He would have to get his shotgun ready in sixteen years when she began dating. Unless, however, the young man was one of Kyle's sons, since he seemed to have a lot of them to go around these days. Kimara had given Kyle two more sons-Keenan and Kellum.

Sterling's smile widened. He and Colby would have to do a lot of overtime to catch up with the Garwood clan. "But we can do it if we try, can't we, Chandler?" he cooed to his daughter.

"Do what?" Colby asked, coming into the room. Since she was still breast-feeding, the two o'clock feedings could not be done without her. Like Sterling, she also enjoyed this special time with their daughter.

She looked at her husband. He looked so good shirtless and wearing only his s.e.xy, boxer-style, silk underwear. He was one very s.e.xy man, and now that Wingate Cosmetics' ads for Awesome were everywhere, everyone knew what she had always known...Sterling Hamilton was awesome.

The advertis.e.m.e.nt featuring him had taken the country by storm and Wingate's sales for its newest cologne had skyrocketed beyond their wildest dream. It seemed that all women everywhere wanted their men to wear Awesome. But Colby knew she had the real awesome man.

"What can we do if we try?" Colby asked Sterling again.

He smiled at her. "Have just as many babies as the Garwoods."

Colby frowned. "Don't even think it, Sterling Hamilton. No one can have as many babies as Kyle and Kimara, and I don't even plan on trying," she said, taking their child from his arms. Chandler was barely four months old and already her husband was thinking about having others. And so was her brother. He was trying hard to convince Cynthia that James Jr. needed a sister.

"What about a Garwood-Hamilton wedding sometime in the future?" he asked his wife. "And then if we have another daughter, she can marry Jake and Diamond's son. I like the idea of a Madaris-Hamilton match one day."

Colby lifted a brow. Evidently Sterling thought he was pretty good at putting marriages together since he'd done a fairly good job of putting theirs together. "Jake and Diamond don't have a son, Sterling."

"Not yet they don't. But hopefully, they'll get their act together soon enough. Neither of them is getting any younger."

Sterling watched as Colby breast-fed their child and a deep feeling of love and pride washed over him. He leaned down and kissed her lips. "Do you know what I think?" he asked, smiling.

"No, what do you think, Sterling?"

"I think you're more valuable than the most precious gem, and that you satisfy all my needs."

A smile formed on Colby's lips with Sterling's compliment. "And you, my darling husband, have surpa.s.sed Denzel in my book, and as a man I think you're totally awesome." Her eyes darkened from the heat she saw radiating in his gaze.

"I also think if we're not careful and behave ourselves, we just might catch up with the Garwoods," she whispered seductively.

He laughed. "At least we have plenty of room up here on our mountain."

She grinned. Although they visited their home in California often, this place, here in the mountains of North Carolina, was what they truly considered home. "Yes, we do have plenty of room up here, don't we?"

Colby reached out and let her fingers lightly trace the masculine lines of Sterling's face. "I love you."

He inhaled her fragrance. Her scent was unmistakably...Colby. "And I love you, sweetheart. Always."

Books by Brenda Jackson

Kimani Romance

*Solid Soul

*Night Heat

*Beyond Temptation

*Risky Pleasures

In Bed with the Boss

*Irresistible Forces

Just Deserts

The Object of His Protection

Temperatures Rising

*Intimate Seduction

Bachelor Untamed

*Hidden Pleasures

Star of His Heart

Bachelor Unleashed