Hope, love, excitement, and fear mixed together. "Jesse, don't."

He nodded his head, as if he were conceding to her wishes. But something in his eyes told a different story. The Jesse she had known her whole life, the boy and now the man, was a fighter, someone who refused to give up.

"When I first got here," he continued, "you asked me why I came back."

She pulled her hand away and hugged her knees to her chest. "You said you wanted a vacation."

"I know that's what I said, and I half believed it. But remember when Julia said that she saw me

standing out in front of your house that first day?"

She tilted her head, remembering. "Yes."

"I wanted to see you."

She snorted. "Don't start making up stuff now."

"I'm not. I was drawn back here so strongly that I got in my car and drove halfway across the country

before I really knew what I was doing. I told myself that it made sense to return to the place where I fell in love with the game. When I arrived, I figured I'd stay in a hotel for a few days, go to the course a few times, then leave. But the next thing I knew I was standing out in front of your house because I wanted to see you. Though I didn't let myself think about why that was. When Julia saw me standing there, she made it all so easy-to see you, to stay with you. To be near you without having to admit to anyone, including myself, why."

"Wanting to be near me? You resisted me from the second you got here." "I'm sorry for that."

She shook her head. "You shouldn't be." And she meant it. "This whole month has been crazy. Heck, I was so absorbed in my own career concerns that I easily could have made you look horrible on television. I could have ruined you."

"You didn't ruin me. Hell, you saved me. But I resisted you because I had women. I simply wanted you. Katie Bloom. I wanted your love, your honesty. Your purity. Selfishly, I wanted your belief in me. If you could still love me, then I could be okay."

He hesitated, then looked her in the eye. "I just didn't recognize it until I was headed out of town. I watched the city limits come, then go, and it wasn't until then that I realized why I had driven all the way to El Paso in the first place."

He stood, pulling her with him, the two of them standing there in that tree house where years ago she had asked him to wait for her to grow up.

He kissed her then, though it wasn't the quick girlish peck she had given him. He kissed her with passion and longing, with reverence and promise.

"I love you, Katie. I have loved you since the day you looked up into my eyes and stopped crying, as if I alone had the ability to do anything and make everything all right. You believed in me-you always have. But that isn't why I love you." He touched her cheek. "You're the most courageous person I know. I love you because you are kind and good. And because you aren't afraid. You aren't a quitter, no matter how tough things get."

Emotion tightened in her throat. She wanted to believe him.

"You are a better person than I will ever be, Kate. But I want you anyway. You are my past and my future. I want nothing more than for you to say you'll marry me."

"Oh, Jesse." Her lips trembled and tears burned in her eyes. "I love you. I'll always love you. But I can't spend my life afraid that you'll leave again."

He leaned forward, much as she had done at the golf-off, his lips so close to her ear that his breath sent shivers down her spine. "Take a chance, Katie Bloom. Take a chance on me. If it takes me the rest of my life, I will prove that I'll never leave you again."

TWENTY-FIVE.

The bright neon Las Vegas night pulsed with heat and excitement. Kate felt them both. She also felt the comforting firmness of Jesse's grip on her hand.

But a second later, she felt a start of surprise when their limousine pulled up in front of My Heart's Desire Wedding Chapel just off the infamous Las Vegas Strip.

"What?" she asked, staring at the tiny replica of a white clapboard church. "What are we doing here?"

Jesse helped her out of the long, white car and gave her one of his heart-stopping smiles, crooked, endearing, and sexy as hell. "You said you'd marry me. I'm not taking a chance you'll change your mind."

The driver popped the trunk and started unloading all sorts of wedding items, then carried everything into the chapel.

Kate was moved and excited. But. . . "How can we get married without family?"

"Travis is here."

"Which is wonderful. You know I want him at our wedding. But what about Julia and Chloe?"

His smile only broadened as he pushed open the chapel doors.

"Surprise!"

Her best friends stood with Travis, Julia in her short skirt and high heels, Chloe with her china doll looks and sensible clothes. Suzanne was there, looking like a society matron, and beside her Derek stood smiling with pride. Then Carlen Chapman stepped out from behind Derek.

The elder Chapman looked older than Kate remembered, more subdued. She knew that these men had

a lot to work out, but she was glad to see that all of them were in attendance.

Even Belinda was there, walking up behind her son as the youngest Chapman cast surreptitious glances at his grandfather. But it was Kate's mother who surprised her the most, stepping out from the small crowd, looking like a beautiful earth mother with her long gray hair braided and her gossamer skirts flowing.

She extended her arms. "My baby," she said.

It took only a second for Kate to relax into her mother's embrace. So cherished, so rare.

"Kate, I couldn't be happier for you." Mary Beth reached out for Jesse, tugged him close, then put

Kate's hand in his. "Take care of her, Jess."

Jesse assured her that he would. "That is, if she'll let me."

He turned to Kate. "Will you marry me? Here? Now? Not later. I don't want to wait until after the

PGA." He went down on one knee in front of the group. "I was serious when I said that I would never leave you again. Marry me now, and be with me forever."

Tears burned in her eyes as she looked around her at the people she loved and who loved her in return.

And she knew that they loved the real Kate. Not someone she was trying to be.

"I will," she whispered.

He lifted her up and twirled her around, then she was pulled off to a back room where Julia, Chloe, Suzanne, and her mother prepared her for the wedding. When Belinda seemed at a loss, Kate reached out and pulled her into the circle.

"You're family now, too," she said.

The women dressed Kate in a gown of white silk and low-heeled leather shoes that were soft as butter. They did her hair and fixed her makeup, and when she was ready she could only look in the mirror in awe.

"You're beautiful," her mother said, coming up beside her, hooking their arms together. "This all reminds me of my first wedding. Young. In love. Everything beautiful and perfect." Mary Beth sighed dreamily and launched into a description of her many weddings, of her loves, of her many different lives, as if yet again this event, as with all events, was about her. "I love weddings. Did I tell you I met a new man?"

Kate stared at her mother, panic starting to creep through her. But Jesse must have sensed it, because in minutes he was beside her, ignoring the dictate that the groom not see the bride before the ceremony. He pulled her close and whispered emphatically, "You are not your mother. This will be our one and only wedding."

He kissed her then, holding her secure, and she knew she wanted this, had been waiting for this her entire life.

An organist played the wedding march, and the handful of pews were filled with her friends and family. Travis stood next to his father at the altar. But it was Jesse whom she saw.

Her heart beat hard as she approached, a mix of fear and hope knotted in her chest. She wanted this man- she had always wanted him. But part of her was still afraid.

Then he did something amazing. He pulled out two rings and handed her one. His. When she caught a glimpse of hers, her mind swirled back in time.

" We'll marry, you know." Her words from what seemed like a thousand years ago. She six, Jesse ten. " We won't bother with a big, gigantic wedding. It'll just be you and me and our families. But we have to have rings. Real rings. A plain gold one for you so you won't look like a sissy. And I'll have that really great kind with two hands locked together holding a crown."

Jesse had remembered, as if he had tucked the memory away until it was time.

It was time. Every doubt washed away, and when they were pronounced man and wife, Kate realized that dreams do come true.

"I love you, Jesse. Do you love me, too?" she had asked all those years ago.

And when he kissed her, finally, all these years later, he answered her question.

"Yes, yes, a thousand times yes."

Turn the page for a sneak peek at the next book in Linda Francis Lee's Sexy series.

On sale October 2004 Chloe Sinclair plunged through the wind in a short glittery dress, high heels, and a tiny purse that was more decorative than practical. She couldn't see a thing, didn't realize she wasn't alone until. . .

She ran into another body. Hard. Jarring them both.

The impact sent her lurching forward, arms extended like she was flying. It happened so fast that she couldn't regain her balance. Her gloved hands hit the pavement first, the tiny chain on the purse like a vice around her wrist. Next, her knees crashed into the ground and pain shot through her. For half a second she lay there stunned.

"Are you all right?"

A man's voice, clear and deep, commanding, came at her in a disjointed muffle through the wind. She tried to pick herself up, but before she could manage, strong hands came around her and he swept her

up with amazing ease. She tried to make out who he was, but he was much taller than she, and she couldn't see more than his shirt when he pulled her close, his body blocking the wind.

Huddled together, he propelled them the remaining few steps to the hotel entrance. Despite the pain,

she was very aware of the man's touch, of the way his arm was secure around her, the way he

controlled her body with ease. She had an altogether foreign thought that she was safe.

Once inside, he swept her through the lobby, but when they came to a set of double doors leading to the hotel bedrooms, she stiffened.

"Where are you taking me?"

"I'm staying here."

"You're taking me here, as in to your . . . your ..."

"Room?"

"Exactly," she stated primly. "I can't go to your room."

He made some kind of grumbling noise deep in his chest, but instead of guiding her through the doors, he