Page 12 of Must Love Mistletoe

“Want to hear a really dopey idea?” she blurted, and maybe it was tiredness or a long-held wish for safety and comfort, but she wanted her latest thought tabled. She had the sneaking suspicion his eyelashes and the strong cut of his cheekbones had something to do with it. “It could be worth considering.”

“I’m listening.”

She took a deep breath and dropped what little guard she had left. “Marry me.”

Chapter Five

She had tobe joking. Cal stared at her, perplexed, while her face slowly turned the color of ketchup. He didn’t know… he couldn’t tell… and there was only one way to find out. “Is this a joke?”

Her blush was so very fetching. “No.”

“Is it something you’ve thought about? At all?”

“Also no,” she confessed.

“Didn’t think so.”

“But it does make sense on a business level,” she said tentatively. “If you think about it.”

Money and business had never been his driving force. And, yes, Beth was his kind of woman, and she’d made the most of her situation once before, but why on earth would she want to do that again? And why would he agree to such a business arrangement when she’d just finished telling him he was worth something? That he was worthmore.

Wasn’t it high time he started believing it?

Even if the very woman he’d been hung up on for more years than he cared to count was the one doing the asking?

“Problem is that even if we could wrangle the money angle between us, I’d never stand in front of a preacher and say things I don’t mean,” he offered quietly. “Love. Honor. Devotion. They’reactions, not just words.” Call him a diehard romantic, but he’d held out this long for a love he could give his all. “That’s what I’m holding out for. And it’s not what you’re offering.”

“I—” Did she evenknowwhat she was offering? “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. At all.” She met his gaze briefly but couldn’thold it. “Lord, I’ve offended you again. Of course, you deserve to marry for love.Of course.Like I did.”

“And here I thought you married Red because you were pregnant.”

Ruthless honesty was a weapon, and he used it to try and distance himself further. Used it to try and hurt her, a small voice told him unhelpfully. The same way her reckless proposal had hurt him.

Had she always brought out the worst in him, or was this a recent development?

Recent, he decided.

Finding Red,buryinghim, had changed everything because suddenly Beth wasavailableto him in a way she never had been. “Begging your pardon, Beth. That comment about you being pregnant was out of line.”

“True, though,” she said quietly, before lifting her head to reveal penny-brown eyes chock full of shadows. “Yes, I married young because I wasn’t careful enough and got pregnant. But love grew between Red and me. Not easily. Not without a lot of compromise, but we stuck at it and nurtured what we had. I kept my vows and did my best. I can be proud of that, can’t I?”

“Yes.” The answer was yes. He’d always respected her for that.

She nodded hard. “But you want more for yourself, and why should you settle for someone like me? I’m an unthinking idiot.Especiallyaround you.” She reached out and placed her hand on his forearm, a gesture of comfort, nothing more, but his body didn’t get the memo. A jolt of pleasure rushed through him at the simple act of skin on skin.

He noted, belatedly, that she had callouses just like him.

Too much hard labor and skin-drying antiseptic handwash when she worked at the hospital. She worked so hard with hardly any downtime he could see.

“Cal, I’m so sorry I offended you. Again. I didn’t think.”

Dude, cut her some slack. And maybe get your arm back.

“’M not offended. Surprised is all.”

“I proposed, and it wasn’t a joke, but itwasill-considered. You said no, and rightly so. I give you full permission to tease me forever if we can put this behind us and go on being friends.”

Was that what they were? Didn’t feel like it. She’d always been friendly enough when Red had been alive, less so once he’d disappeared. Cal had always been careful to bury the admiration he’d always felt for her under six feet of snow.

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