Page 48 of Partridge in a Bear Tree

"Obviously! But oh my God!" Ashley clapped both hands to her face, eyes wide over them. "Really?"

"Yes, really! I have a ring and everything!" Penny dug the ring out of her pocket, which took far more effort than it had the hundred times she'd practiced, and finally managed to get it out and wrench the box top open.

It really was a lovely ring. Gold, inset with flecks of silver and then a trio of diamonds. More of a wedding band than an engagement ring, maybe, but it would do.

Ashley's jaw fell open. "Oh my gosh, Pen. Where did you get that?"

"It's the last of the five golden rings from last year's treasure hunt," Penny whispered. "It was on the cymbal. It flew off when I hit it the first time, and then I had to fix the screw so the cymbals would work, and then I turned into a partridge and forgot all about it. And then I've been saving it since then. I told you I'd find it for you, remember?" She took a deep breath, surprised at how nervous she was.

It's fine,her partridge crooned, reassuring for the first and Penny hoped not last time in its life.She's our mate. Everything will be wonderful.

Ashley breathed, "Penny," and Penny thought maybe things would be okay, in fact.

"Will you marry me, Ashley?"

"Of course I will." Ashley threw herself forward, nearly knocking them both backward, then corrected and hauled Penny backward into her lap to kiss her. "Yes, of course I will! Yes! Want to get married tomorrow? On Christmas?"

Penny laughed between kisses, surprised. "Do you think we could find somebody to perform the ceremony?"

Ashley, gleefully, said, "Yes!" and then, dryly, "And then my mother would kill us, because she'll want a whole big shindig. And the rest of the family will want to come. And the Sixty Pix should be there. All of them, not just Gwen."

"Next summer, then." Penny grinned and kissed her mate again. "A little time to plan, but not enough time to go completely overboard."

"I've seen what you can do on a single day's notice," Ashley said. "You can totally go overboard in six months."

"Not if I'm on tour half of it!"

"I bet that wouldn't stop you."

Penny laughed again and nestled close. "You're probably right, but I'll try. Big, small, whatever you want. I'm going to spend the rest of my life as the partridge in your bear tree."

Ashley, sounding genuinely shocked, said, "Penny!" but before she could get any farther, burst into laughter. "I'm not sure I want to marry you anymore, if you're going to say things like that!"

"Yes, you do." Penny stole a kiss, and Ashley ducked her head to rub her nose against Penny's.

"Yeah, I do," she murmured. "C'mon, babe. Let's go tell everybody we're gonna live happily ever after."

"Uh-uh. You've got at least," Penny checked her phone, "seventeen minutes of break time left, and I'm not giving you up for a single one of them."

"In that case." Ashley's voice dropped into that delicious low-pitched purr she had. "I bet I can think of some wonderful things to do for seventeen minutes."

Build a nest? the partridge said hopefully,

Penny giggled.Yeah. Yeah, that's exactly it. Aloud, she said, "Read me a phone book?"

"Yes," Ashley said dryly. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm planning. No, wait," she said with a sudden laugh. "No, I have something better to read to you. I was looking for good stuff. Here. Here." She grabbed for her phone, opened a book, and cleared her throat. "You want the back of book blurb first?"

"Yeah," Penny said warily, which was difficult when she was already laughing. "I think so. I gotta know what I'm getting into."

"All right. All right. Here we go." Ashley cleared her throat again, then put on a radio-announcer movie-trailer kind of voice that sent a shiver right through Penny's bones. "'The dastardly Corpus Corporation has long known there are shifters amongus. What they have never been able to do is command the power that lets a human and a beast share a soul... until now!"

Penny said, "Oh myGod," and sat up. "What is this?"

"I have no idea. I mean, it's a shifter romance. It's a thing, apparently? Somebody out there is cashing in—I hope—on us existing, and this has got to make it less likely that anyone would believe that we do, right? Just listen. 'Derek Montague is everything a woman could want—handsome, wealthy, a brave protector who has done his time as a Navy SEAL…but his secret wish has always been to be more. When he's offered a chance to participate in a dangerous new experiment, Derek can't resist the opportunity that could make him able to swim freely in the depths of the sea... the chance to be what no one has been before...the chance to become... SHARK-MAN!'"

Penny shrieked. "Oh my God. Keep going!"

"I will, if you'll stop interrupting!" Ashley went back to her movie-trailer voice. "'Gorgeous scientist Candice Mallus knows the work she does to develop a new line of corporate-sponsored shifters is borderline unethical— but that's why she will only accept volunteers for the perilous transformations she's trying to trigger. Mixing animal DNA with a man's was sure to have some unintended consequences, but she never expected love to be one of them. But from the moment Candy lays eyes on Derek, she knows there's something special about him..... more than the successful graft that turns him into the first shifter ever created by humanity.

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