Page 138 of With Stars in Her Eyes

I opened it, feeling the heat of Courtney’s attention every movement.

Nestled between the pages was a silver ring with a blue stone.

There was also a piece of paper.

I love you, Dorothea Estelle Quinn.

Will you marry me?

PS. Is this a strategic enough use of the written word?

“It’s a star sapphire, which might be too much on the theme, but the diamonds on the side are lab-grown, so they’re ethical because you said once that you didn’t like—”

I grabbed Courtney from across the bookshop counter and crushed her in a kiss.

Courtney was breathless when we parted. “So that’s a…”

“Yes. Of course it’s a yes. I love you, Courtney. And I want to marry you more than anything.” I came around the counter.

Courtney beamed at me and lifted my hand to her mouth to kiss it before sliding the ring on my finger.

“I reallyreallylove you, butshit. I actually have to get to the pub because book club’s happening, and I’m supposed to meet the…”

Courtney smirked. “Oh, is it though?”

“I’m supposed to meet the… the…”

Courtney’s green eyes were practically feral with hidden laughter now.

“Courtney Starling, are you going to tell me why you look so smug?” My efforts at sternness were ruined when my gaze snagged on my ring, and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling again. “Well, other than the wholeyou just bagged yourself a future sexy wifething?”

“Are you implyingIhave secrets?” Courtney palmed her chest with a deeply pathetic attempt at false innocence.

My eyes narrowed.

“Too soon?”

“Tell me.”

“It’ll mess up the surprise.”

“What surprise?”

Courtney nodded toward the hallway door where there were several large hanging bags. “Look and see.”

Courtney

As the music rang out from the jukebox in the main room of the pub, my fiancée pulled me into the dark kitchen and put her hands on her hips. “You thought I was a sure thing.”

I kissed her until she stopped trying to complain, letting her tongue do something else entirely. “If it makes you feel better, I had given Marshall and Sam a signal for if you had said no, and if we needed to shift gears back into book club mode from engagement party mode.”

“What was the signal?”

“I was going to flick the lights a few times at the bookstore,at which point Marshall was going to pretend that the book club was canceled because Billy Gibbons escaped.” My Regency dress was green, but I still had my Doc Martens on underneath, which gave me the traction I needed to lift Thea onto the counter and try to figure out the best way to slip my hands under her skirts.

“That would’ve beensupersubtle.”

Thea kissed the spot right beneath my ear that always made me shiver. “I still can’t believe my family is here. How were you going to explain that if I said no?”