Just One Night by Carly Phillips (fiction book recommendations txt) 📕

my father’s behavior and my mother’s misery. But from now on, I choose to focus on the good this ring caused, and my mother offered it to me to give to you.”

He opened his hand and revealed a large diamond ring Jordan used to see on his mother’s finger, and she let out a gasp. “Linc!”

“We will have this reset especially for you, but first…” He lifted her by her waist and slid her to the sofa.

Taking her by surprise, he lowered himself to one knee. “Jordan Marie Greene, will you marry me?”

He’d apologized and proved himself in all the ways that mattered to her. And there was nothing she wanted more than to spend the rest of her life with this man who was, as he’d said, her best friend and soul mate.

“Yes. Yes!” she squealed, laughing.

“Sorry but I’m not putting this setting on your finger. We’re starting out with good juju. As soon as we can, we’ll have it reset.” He rose to his feet and slid the ring back into his pocket.

Jordan had no problem with his plan.

“By the way, I would have asked for your parents’ permission, but your mother already told me no grandchild of hers would be born without us being married. And while you were getting ready, she told me your father would approve.”

Jordan groaned. “If you hadn’t already come here with the ring in your pocket, I’d kill her.”

“I heard that!” her mother called out from way too close by.

Both Jordan and Linc laughed.

“She really did a one-eighty about me,” he said, speaking low.

Jordan sighed. “She wasn’t able to keep us apart all these years. When she heard I was pregnant, her blinders came off.”

“Well, I’m glad. I’d rather have her on our side. Now can we go? I’d really like to consummate this engagement,” he whispered.

Popping up from the couch, she stood and grasped his hand. “Take me home. Now.”

“Anything you want,” he said and she knew he meant it.

*     *     *

In the last two weeks, Jordan’s life had changed. She accepted her place in Linc’s life and let go of old insecurities, while he embraced their relationship publicly and enthusiastically, including the fact that he would become a father. Though Jordan worried about miscarrying, a trip to the obstetrician assured her she was healthy and there was no reason to anticipate a problem.

Now she sat in Linc’s SUV with a scarf wrapped around her eyes as they headed … somewhere he didn’t want her to see.

“Come on, give me a hint?” she asked after who knows how long listening to the radio, him humming, refusing to talk, and keeping her in suspense.

“Nope.” But the car came to a stop and he shut the engine. “But you can take off the blindfold now.”

She eagerly pulled off the silk scarf and blinked as she adjusted to the sunlight. When she gazed out her side window, a brand-new house set back on a massive plot of land came into view. It was a gorgeous brick Georgian-style manor home that rivaled the Kingston Estate in size and surrounding property.

“Where are we?” she asked, her mouth going dry.

“Ready to go in and take a look?” he asked, restarting the engine.

“That’s not an answer,” she informed him.

“It’s a house.”

She shook her head. “It’s more like a mansion or an estate that five families could live in,” she said, panicking as she realized what was happening.

He shrugged, taking it all in stride. The massive house, the acres of land. This was all normal to him.

“We’re having a baby. We need the room.” He put the car in drive and headed down a tree-lined road before turning onto a long driveway leading to the house.

Overwhelmed, Jordan curled a knee under her and twisted toward him. “Linc! You’re going crazy. In the last two weeks, you moved me into your place, got me out of my lease, pulled off a huge dinner for both of our families, and bought and demanded my ring be sized and ready in twenty-four hours! Now we’re looking at this massive house for sale? No. Just no!” she said, her voice rising.

He placed a calming hand on her knee. “Okay, I thought you might hyperventilate when you got a look at this place.” He reached into the side of his seat and pulled out papers. “What about any of these?” he asked in a soothing voice. “They’re more reasonable. We can work up to the estate.”

Rolling her eyes, she accepted the Realtor pages and used them to slap him on the arm before looking through the contents and relaxing at the more realistic places for them to live.

“I agree we need more space,” she said. “But no more giving heart attacks, okay?” It was one thing to adjust to becoming a Kingston, another to buy this land and house.

Thank goodness he’d anticipated her reaction and had given her options. In the end, another two weeks after they started looking, they agreed on what Jordan still thought was a massive home not far from his family estate. The location satisfied his mother’s need to be near her soon-to-be grandbaby and was only a half-hour drive for Jordan’s parents.

Since Linc wanted to do some renovations on the house, Jordan convinced him to let them stay in the city until she was seven months pregnant, giving her time to adjust to their new normal without making so many changes at once.

As for getting married, neither one of them wanted to upstage Chloe, so they decided to wait until after his sister’s wedding next month. Jordan wanted a small, intimate ceremony, and Linc seemed happy to keep the event to their families only.

Tonight, he was at the gym in the building, doing his workout, and Jordan had decided to cook dinner. She’d gotten used to his kitchen, and he’d accepted that she didn’t want a housekeeper handling every meal. Although she had to admit, after long workdays, it was nice to come home to a fully prepared dinner that wasn’t takeout