Epilogue
Five years later
Alexis sat on the back porch of their house with a cup of coffee as she watched her three-year-old twin sons wrestle with each other on the lawn. They’d just finished breakfast and she was enjoying a cup of decaf coffee before she told Peter that her labor had started last night.
Peter came out of the house and joined her with his own cup of coffee. “How are you feeling. Do you think the baby will come today on your due date?”
She nodded. “I believe she will be right on time. I’m having small contractions. I’ve been having them most of the night, but you should probably see if your mother can fly up here as soon as possible otherwise, we need to get someone else to watch the boys.”
He took her free hand with his, while holding his coffee in the other.
“I called Mom two hours ago. She should be arriving at any time. She would kill us both if she missed the birth of her grandchild. She’s been present for the birth of all her grandchildren, thus far.
She would kill us both if she missed our little Heather’s birth. ”
“Wasn’t that a little early to be calling Madelyn?”
“Not at all. She’d already been up for hours. She’s still working the ranch and she and dad are early risers.”
Alexis leaned her head onto his chest and snuggled into him. “Do you still like the name Heather?”
“I do. What about you? Are you having second thoughts?”
“No. I still like it. I’ve been thinking of her as Heather for a while now. Ever since we decided on a name.”
He chuckled. “So have I.”
“Oh.” She sharply breathed out and pressed a hand to her belly. “That was a big one. We might should start timing them.”
“All right.” Peter looked at his watch. “We’ll wait for the next one.”
They sat in silence, holding each other and waiting.
“Oh, my.” Alexis rubbed free hand up and down over her stomach. “That one was worse than the other. The doctor said the third child could come faster than the the first two b.”
“That one was four minutes from the last one. We should probably start for the hospital as soon as Mom gets here. I’ll go put your bag in the car. I’ll be right back.”
“I’ll be here.” She sat and felt two more contractions both harder than the one before. She had to breathe through them, like she learned in her Lamaze class.
Madelyn Kincaid, Peter’s mother stepped into the backyard from the house and walked over to Alexis. “Hi sweetie. I hear you’re about ready to give me another grandchild.”
Alexis blew out a breath. “I am, and if Peter doesn’t get here pretty soon, he’ll be delivering his daughter here in the backyard.” She grimaced as another pain hit.
Hurrying out of the house, Peter stopped in front of her. “Okay, m’lady. Your chariot awaits.” He held his hands out.
Alexis grabbed them and let herself be pulled to her feet.
Breathing deeply, she started toward the house with slow steps. “Madelyn, we’ll probably call you in a couple of hours, with the news of your newest granddaughter’s birth.”
“You just take care of yourself, sweetie. I’ll take care of Paul and Darian. I promise you’ll still have two sons when you get back home, so don’t you worry about anything but you and my grandbaby.”
Alexis took Peter’s hand and walked into the kitchen and then through the house to the front door.
Peter had parked the SUV out front to be easier for her to get into.
The vehicle had running boards so she could maneuver herself into the seat.
He shut her door and then ran to the driver’s side and climbed in.
In no time, they were off to Aspen Valley Medical Center.
Peter must have broken every speeding law there was to get her to the hospital. He pulled up in front of the Emergency Department, killed the engine, and then jumped out of the SUV.
“Wait here,” he told her when she tried to get out of the car. “I’ll get a wheelchair.”
“I don’t need a wheelchair.” But he’d already turned and she said it to his back. She held her breath as another pain hit and she could feel the baby starting to come. Maybe she needed a wheelchair after all.
Peter returned quickly and got her into the chair. He shut the SUV’s door and locked it, then pushed her into the ER. He rolled her through security and then to the check-in desk.
“My wife is having a baby and it’s coming now.”
“Okay. What is your name, ma’am?” asked the middle-aged brunette behind the desk.
“Alexis Kincaid. I’ve been here in the hospital before. You should have all my information. My doctor is Doctor Samantha Bennett.”
“Yes, I see you here. I’ll get you all checked in, and we’ll get you right back. Just have a seat in the waiting room for a few minutes.”
Alexis nodded. “Let’s go, darling. I hope she’s right and they get me into a room in a hurry, or we’ll be having this baby here in the waiting room.”
Peter wheeled her in an open spot next to a chair. He sat next to her.
“Ohhh. That’s another one. I can feel her head. She’s coming.”
“Hold on, sweetheart. They will come for you shortly. Just hang on as best you can.”
Finally, after about ten minutes and four contractions, two orderlies entered.
“Mrs. Kincaid?” asked the blond man. He was tall but stocky.
“Right here,” said Peter.
“Okay, let’s get you in back. We don’t want you having the baby here, now do we?” said the shorter red-haired man.
“We certainly do not.” Alexis agreed.
When they got into the area with the curtained off rooms, Alexis saw Doctor Bennett.
The doctor walked over. “I hear you’re ready to make me work.”
As yet another pain hit, Alexis grimaced. “That I am. I thought they’d have to call you in from home.”
The doctor shrugged. “You got lucky. It is my day for rotation in the ER. But it looks like you might get me out of here to the OB department.”
“I think when you look, you’ll be delivering right here,” said Alexis.
Peter walked beside the chair as the blond orderly pushed it into a room.
The other man pulled a gown out of a drawer. “We need to get you into this, Mrs. Kincaid.” He turned toward Peter. “Can you help her, or do you want one of us to do it?”
“I can do it,” growled Peter.
Alexis placed a hand on top of Peter’s. “Calm down. We’ll make it.”
Everything happened really fast after that.
Heather was in a hurry to make her appearance and soon the nurse was handing her the baby all cleaned up and swaddled in a blanket with yellow ducks.
Alexis stared down at the pink bundle that was her daughter and grinned. “Hello, my darling daughter.” She was wrinkled and had a shock of red hair, just like Alexis’s, and she was the most beautiful baby Alexis had ever seen.
Heather blinked and turned her head toward the sound of her mother’s voice.
“Hi, Heather. Hi, baby girl.”
Peter leaned in and softly kissed Alexis on the lips. “Thank you, sweetheart, for my beautiful baby girl.” Then he sat on the edge of the bed next to Alexis. He ran his hand over Heather’s little head. “She’s perfect. Aren’t you, my littlest sweetheart?”
Heather turned her head toward him.
“She knows it’s me. She knows I am her daddy.”
Alexis laughed. “You talked to her enough before she was born, she should recognize you.” She sobered, but her smile remained. “What do you think the boys will do? Do you think they’ll like her?”
He tickled Heather’s chin. “I think they’ll be fascinated by her for about five minutes and then go back to whatever they were doing. They’ll be fine.”
“You’re right. I just don’t want them to be jealous of her because she’s a baby and she’s a girl.” She stared down into Heather’s eyes. They were blue, as most babies were
“We’ll make sure that doesn’t happen and make sure they get all the attention they need. Luckily for us, they are each other’s favorite toy and best friend. They’ll be fine.”
She stared up at her husband. His dark hair was lightly sprinkled with silver especially at his temples. He was still the most handsome man she’d ever known, and she was amazed that he loved her.
Her life had changed so much since she’d pulled a half-dead man into her cabin in the middle of a blizzard, and she wouldn’t take any of it back because it brought her to this day, this love, and this amazing life.
“You’re looking awfully serious, like you’re working on solving the problem of world peace or something. Let me clue you in: I don’t think world peace is solvable.”
She reached up and cupped his face. “I was just thinking how lucky I was when you pounded on my door in the middle of a blizzard.”
“I was thinking of that, too. Great minds.”
Alexis shook her head. “Not great minds. It’s two hearts beating as one, still after all these years.”
He had a soft look in his eyes and a half smile on his lips. “And they will forever. You’re it for me, Alexis. You and the kids are my forever.”
“And you are mine. I love you, Peter Kincaid.”
“I love you, Alexis Kincaid, with all that I am and all that I will be.” He leaned down and kissed her.
Heather apparently took exception to this and started to cry which sounded more like little squeeks.
Peter looked down at his daughter. “You better get used to me kissing your mother, baby girl. I’m never giving up kissing your mom.”
“I should hope not.” Alexis ran her hand over her daughter’s silky red hair. She turned her gaze up at Peter. “I love you.”
“And I love you, for forever.”
“And you’re mine for forever and a day.”
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Former star quarterback Ethan Marlowe walked away from the roaring stadiums of the Denver Mustangs to build a food empire from the ground up.
As the hard-driving CEO of Marlowe Foods, he’s built his brand on integrity, quality, and the work ethic he learned decades ago in the back of a small bakery.
He knows every recipe, every process, every inch of his company—and he can sense when something isn’t right.
Which is why he goes undercover at The Velvet Oven, one of his flagship bakeries, to confront the one woman he never expected to be captivated by.
Megan Kincaid, the talented, passionate manager of the shop, is proud of what she’s built.
Bread is in her blood, and she pours her heart into every loaf and pastry that leaves her ovens.
When a rugged new “temporary baker” begins working beside her, she has no idea he’s actually her billionaire boss—nor that he suspects her of embezzling.
But sparks ignite in the kitchen, and soon the heat between them becomes impossible to ignore.
Then Megan’s quiet life begins to unravel.
Someone is secretly sabotaging the bakery—and her. With ambition curdling into obsession, he plans to take Megan down or make her his… whichever gets him what he wants.
Suddenly, Ethan realizes the threat is far more dangerous than missing funds. And he may be the only one who can protect her.
As secrets are exposed and danger closes in, Ethan must choose between the company he built and the woman who’s stolen his heart. And Megan must decide whether to trust the man who deceived her… or risk losing everything she loves.
Betrayal. Heat. High stakes.
In the oven and in the heart, things are heating up—and someone is about to get burned.