Page 33 of The Texas Cowboy's Proposal

He presented a crooked elbow as she approached. How easily her palm found its perfect perch gliding around it, and his other palm settled over hers. It seemed the most natural movement in the world. If someone didn’t know better, they might take them for a real couple. That thought both warmed and saddened her at the same time.

“None of that. No frowns. No unpleasant thoughts to spoil appetites. Let’s find some food,” Beaudry said. He led the way outside and they walked along the wide sidewalk, a steady breeze light and cooling in the fading sunlight. Giant oaks along the walk continued with them as they crossed into a second block and then turned into a third one. Halfway down that block, Sammi Jo saw a terraced patio with a multitude of twinkling white lights crisscrossing in the tree branches above it. Colored linen cloths and matching glass bulbs with candles flickering inside them made the patio festive. Early patrons were already being seated both inside and outside the restaurant.

“I am hoping I guessed correctly and had the concierge book us a table on the patio. But we can change and go inside if—” Beaudry said.

“No, please. I like the patio,” she responded, and garnered a grin in return.

Once they were shown to their table, seated, and gave their drink orders, a sudden shyness kept Sammi Jo quiet.

“Don’t you hate that feeling?” Beaudry surprised her.

“What feeling?”

“The one you get on your first date when neither person wants to seem like a conversation hog, but each is wondering the best and most brilliant way to start the ball rolling. It is certainly a good thing we don’t have that problem. We can count all the other times we’ve had a meal together already, and that would make this old hat for us. So, no awkwardness at all.” He grinned and gave a wink as he took a sip of the margarita that had just been placed in front of him. She hadn’t picked up her own strawberry daiquiri for fear her hands were still shaking too much from silly nerves. But his teasing made her grin. She reached for her glass, and the ease between them returned.

Beaudry always amazed her.

“I suppose we are old hat,” she acquiesced. “We’ve got a dozen or so years we can count. And only recently have I noticed things I might not have before.”

“This I must hear.” He settled back in his chair and gave her the smile that warmed her insides.Enjoy the night for the memories you can take away.

“Well, you do have a bit of an ego, since I’ve had this conversation with you before.”

“I thought this would be compliments. Sorry I asked.” He took a sip of drink.

“You have a sense of humor. I always took you for being very straitlaced and rigid, before I saw that you do have a softer side.” She grinned. “Don’t worry, the softer side is usually only when Lacy is around. Your secret is still relatively safe.”

“Dare I ask what else?”

“Well, you consider other people and their feelings more than I gave you credit for. I think I labeled you Mr. High and Mighty a few times in the past.”

“How many times was that again?” he challenged her.

“Okay, more than a few. But I have revised that in the last month or so. You are very much respected around Burkitt, especially by the ranch hands. And they don’t give out respect unless one earns it. But the most surprising revelation is that you are an amazing dad. Lacy is a lucky little girl. And you’ve raised her to be an incredible young lady already. That says the most about you, as far as I am concerned. And that is all the building up of your already large enough ego I plan to do.”

He grinned and was about to speak, but their food arrived. Once they were alone and settled back in, he said, “There is one thing I will say I have learned about you that possibly encompasses everything else. I’ve learned that you are far from the spoiled little rich Burkitt I had you pegged as for so long. I was wrong. I listened to the wrong people who were simply jealous of you. I allowed the shadow of your grandmother and her behaviors to cast a shadow over you, as well, and I formed the wrong opinion. For that, I am sorry.”

His sincerity touched her heart. “Thank you. You aren’t the first to think that about me, but it is nice to hear that you have revised it with the truth.”

“I think people just see the name and then huge dollar signs. That is unfortunate. If anything, the woman behind that falsehood is much the opposite. I’ve seen her, so I know.”

“You’ve seen me? That could be good and bad.”

“You do the work of any ranch hand on Burkitt land. You don’t shy away from anything and make it look easy. Seriously, how many females do you know in Burkitt or any town, really, that could sashay up to a full-grown cow, speak sweetly, and then slide an arm all the way up inside her, still being gentle, yet full of business? That can be a pretty sexy sight in itself.”

She stopped chewing and swallowed. “Did you really just say that at the dinner table? You think that palpating a cow is sexy?”

“No. I saidyoucould look sexy, even as you did something that disgusting. So that does set you apart from most females.”

“I don’t know how to respond to what I think is probably the most backward compliment I have ever received but thank you.I think.”

Shared laughter was the best kind, and that was certainly true as she and Beaudry shared the meal. They also shared dessert between them, a sweet crème brûlée that was perfect.

“You know there is something else I want to thank you for, something I didn’t expect to find in you.” The laughter was gone, and a quietness enveloped the corner where they sat, the flickering candlelight giving off its soft golden-hued glow. A warmth flowed into the center of her chest as she was drawn into Beaudry’s gaze. “You opened your heart and your home to include a little girl who thinks you hung the moon and all the stars too. You’ve become a role model that she tries to emulate from the hairstyle to the color of clothing, the books she wants to devour, so she can talk to you about what’s in them, and you filled a place in her world and her heart that none of us expected. You are the key that has fit the right door to open her up to all sorts of new ideas and things in her life. I hope you know that there are no words I can use to express the thanks I have for that. Who knew that I would ever consider Sammi Jo Burkitt an angel in human form? I know I didn’t expect it. But I’m smart enough to be grateful for it.”

And that rock had returned, and she could feel it moving from the center of her chest and growing into a boulder in her throat. She couldn’t breathe, and she was about to embarrass Beaudry with a floodgate of tears. She rose to her feet. “It’s getting late, and I do have a meeting in the morning. We should go.”

Silly fool.She didn’t wait while Beaudry settled with the waiter. Sammi Jo felt herself slipping into a spell that was going to be broken in the morning light. The evening needed to end.

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