*~*Love Notes: Payden to Bernadette – Stolen Treasure by Riley Murphy*~*

This is a reverse amnesia story.
To avert a catastrophic and world-altering event, he must pull a fast one on his mated soul when she wakes up after being in a car wreck.
Instead of helping her remember the unattached past life she hasn’t forgotten. He convinces her of a steamy married reality with him, that they never had.

 The choice is clear.
She can share her life, gifting half her soul to the man she loves, or she
can live her every lifetime without him.
In the 15th century, it was an easy enough sacrifice. Today, who knows what she’ll decide to do when the choice is presented?
Especially, since their last lifetime together ended tragically.
Now the waters are muddied. The bitterness and distrust of ages past have somehow been carried through to the present, which makes the task of reconnecting to her nearly impossible.
Unless…
He can convince her to forgive him.
Truth be told?
What he needed to do was pull off a miracle by getting her to put her faith into his hands and love him all over again.
Only problem?
If she commits, there’s a chance they’ll break their eternal bond, lose their every future together, and be condemned to live in different worlds soulless for all eternity.

Gah!  Payden is so amazing!

Keep reading to see the full Love Note!

After story time on Valentine’s Day.

“You go first.”

Payden took one look at his woman, and sighed. He knew he’d have to do as she asked because it was Valentine’s Day. To his mind, a woman should always get what she wants on heart day.

“We’re just reading over cards. Not doing gifts, right?” He had to qualify this as the best part of his gift to her was upstairs in their bedroom.

“Yes, yes, are you going to open your heart?”

He ignored her motioning with her hands for him to hurry up about it, and left off telling her it was a foregone conclusion. Truth was, he already had. The moment he found her checking out books for people in the library, his heart was hers.

“Did you make this yourself, babe?” The card was big and reminded him of one of those craft projects kids in grade-school fashioned when working with construction paper. Only her folded heart was decorated with an intricate silver and gold glitter pattern.

“I did.” She nodded. “It wasn’t hard. I had a stencil specially designed. Do you see how the pattern matches the Manor’s coat of arms?”

Now that she’d mentioned it, he did notice how the stylized pattern was of The Midland’s family crest. “Yes, it does. That was a nice touch.” Leaning back, he realized he wasn’t surprised by this attention to heart-felt detail. His wife was a real softy when it came to love.

Thank Christ. It evened them out.

He made like he was peeking inside, as though dreading to open the card, but then when he unfolded the huge heart-shaped page, he blinked.

Right in the middle of the elegant cutout was a small colored picture of earth, and off to one side, was a smaller depiction of the moon. Spying the neat writing across the bottom of the page read,

“Do you see how full my heart is loving you? Even the world and moon are small in comparison.”

Only his eyes moved when he looked at her.

God, he loved how she blushed. The warmly telling action made him smile. “Thank you.”

“Oh.” She beamed. “Don’t thank me yet. That heart is nothing compared to the big ‘ole heart-shaped bed’ I booked for us at a couple’s retreat in the Poconos. The tub in the suite is the same shape, and it’s big enough to swim in.”

Now, this idea he could really get into. “You wanna know what else is heart-shaped?”

She playfully narrowed her eyes. “What?”

“Your ass. Which should be spanked for giving your gift to me when we said we weren’t going to do that until after dinner.”

She lifted a brow at him. “Who said the weekend getaway was my gift to you? Maybe it’s to us, and I have something else for you alone.”

Interesting. “Hm…okay, we’ll wait to see about that. Now.” He gave a curt nod toward his card that she was holding. “Read mine.”

Originally, he’d thought this whole homespun card giving thing Bernadette had insisted on was a little silly, but after spending a few nights coming up with the thoughts to put to paper? Yeah, he’d quickly come to see that there was more than meets the eye when doing simple things like this.

The experience caused him to reflect, or maybe appreciate his wife more, having to come up with the words.

“Okay, are you ready?”

He laughed because he was sure she’d be thinking he’d have penned a simple Happy Valentine’s Day, babe! type thing. And a minute later, after she had read some of what he’d written, he knew she had underestimated him in this. He saw the proof in her shimmery eyes. Shining much like the pretty glitter on the card she’d made him.

He waited, holding his breath while she stared at the paper. And then he let that breath rush out, the second she began to read his words aloud.

Bernadette,

You are the undiscovered paradise I’d been waiting for my whole life.

Up until the moment I walked into that library that first day, my pages, my story, my book, had been empty. It was as if the sands of time had refused to breathe life into the process. Then I saw you and every mystery unraveled right before my eyes.

That’s when I knew the pages weren’t empty. They’d been sleeping. Wanting. Waiting, for you to walk onto them with me. And when we made the leap and each page turned, things came to life. Our book was created, and our story began to beat with a rhythm that’s unique to you and me alone.

We’ve had a phenomenal beginning, babe, and I know our middle will be filled with exciting twists and turns, climaxes and lulls. That’s why the end holds all the promise of a journey well done.

Believe me when I say, I want to be dancing on that last page with you when we’re granted our happily ever after. I want to see the look in your eyes when you finally understand what we are to one another.

We are the world we create together.

Happy Valentine’s Day, babe.

I wouldn’t want to be turning the pages with anyone, but you.

Payden

“Payden, I don’t know what to say. This is…” She held up his card and smiled through her tears. “It’s beautiful.”

“It’s life, honey.” He sat forward and held his arms open wide. After she moved so she was settled against him, he whispered, “One page at a time.”

She was quiet for a few seconds and then she tugged on his shirt collar, asking, “Should we take a tango class?”

Tango?

“No.”

“What about salsa, then?”

“No.”

Leaning back, she looked up. “No dance classes, then?”

Seeing her now, he had to smile. She wasn’t going to let this go. “How about I give you private lessons? Have you ever heard of a dance called The Electric Slide?”

“Hm. Yes, but I’d rather do The Hustle.”

“I should have said, my version of The Electric Slide.”

The only things dancing right now were the amused lights in her eyes. “Do tell.”

“It involves forgoing the dryer sheets when we wash the bedding, so we have some static-cling happening. Then, when darkness falls, we slide under the covers together and watch those sparks fly.”

“Sold! That’s definitely better than The Hustle.”

He made a tsk, tsk, sound and then smiled. “Be assured babe, this dance includes a hustle.”

She laughed. “You don’t say.”

“I’d rather show. Are you game?”

“Absolutely.” She pushed away from him so fast he didn’t get a chance to get a hold of her.

“Hey, babe,” he called when she sprang up and headed down the hall. “Where are you going?”

“To strip our bed.”

Yeah, no. One look at her heart shaped bottom swinging enticingly as she headed toward their room, and he knew that wasn’t going to happen. Something was going to be stripped, but if he got his way, it wouldn’t be the bed.

“Let me give you a hand with that.”

He didn’t pay any attention as she burst out laughing, picking up speed, while she called her denials over her shoulder. This was one page he was looking forward to trekking.

He hummed, Happy Valentine’s Day to me…. Happy Valentine’s Day to me… all the way to their room. When he reached the threshold, he stopped short and whistled.

“What happened to stripping the bed?”

She threw her top aside and deadpanned. “I’d rather see sparks fly. You?”

In way of an answer, he rushed forward, scooped her up, and then fell on the bed with her.

She affected a groan. “Hey, don’t break me.”

“Never.”

“And don’t bite me.”

“Always.”

“You are so bad.”

“You say that—” He playfully nuzzled her neck, giving her a warning nip just below an earlobe, “like it’s a good thing.”

And when she shivered, he knew it was.

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Riley Murphy writes sexy, humorous, and emotional romance, happy ending guaranteed. An optimist, she believes life is awesome, people are complicated, but in a good way, and we should never stop learning. Riley currently calls Florida home with her gorgeous husband. She has two phenomenal kids, One ridiculously adorable grandson, and a very bossy pooch. When Riley’s not working she enjoys reading, oil painting, and getting to the Sunday crossword before anyone else does, so she can fill-in all the easy answers first and pull the smart card with the family.

If Riley wasn’t a writer she’d be an international spy with top-level security so she could have a peek at Area 51 and decide for herself if those green guys are for real. Failing that she’d likely go with chicken sexer.