Page 63 of The Way to a Cowboy's Heart

She shook her head. “I know why you said it. To protect me—”

“No, that’s not—”

“Because that’s just who you are. But I can’t… I can’t marry you, Liam.” She closed the lid of her suitcase and zipped it with a sound of finality. “Malcolm had it all wrong. That’s not whoIam. I would never put that on you. To lie for me just so I could stay in this country.”

A muscle in his jaw worked.

He took her by the upper arms, forcing her to look up at him. “Lie? What part of I’ve fallen deeply and crazy in love with you would be the lie?”

She blinked up at him, afraid to believe what he was saying. “What?”

He brushed the strand of wet hair from her cheek. “Before I sent the two of ’em packing, I told your old man I was going to marry you whether he liked it or not. Which isn’t exactly the foot I wanted to start out on with my maybe future father-in-law. But I meant it. I’m in love with you, Em. I mean, flat out, I can’t picture my future without you in it. And I don’t want to. Yeah, maybe people will say we should take more time, do the usual dating thing. But we don’t have time. So, let’s skip to the good part. Me? I don’t give a damn what it looks from the outside. I don’t care what anyone else thinks about you and me; about how long we’ve known each other, or how much we still have to learn about each other. It’s crazy, but I feel like I’ve known you forever, and I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. I just know I want to spend the rest of my life getting to know everything about you. I want to sleep beside you every night and wake up with you in the morning. I want to teach you about all the things I love about this place, and I want to make a family with you.

“Look, I know it’s asking a lot of you, to give up that life you had back in New York or in even London, to be here on the ranch with me. But we can travel. Get off the ranch when you want to. Whenever you want. But… if you can tell me that you don’t feel the same… that you can’t picture a life with me, then you can pack that suitcase up and go. Back to New York or London, or that job your father got for you. It’ll kill me, but I’ll let you go. Your father and Malcolm are at the airfield until eight tonight.”

It took her a moment to be able to speak but she grabbed his hands in hers. “Oh, Liam, I-I don’t care about that job. Or London. Or even New York. Once upon a time, I would have done anything for a job like that, but I’ve realized something coming here—it’s never made me happy the way I am with you. I’ve been as gobsmacked as you by our connection since that first day on that subway. Since you rescued me on the street that day in New York and walked me home. I couldn’t get you out of my head and my heart when we were two thousand miles apart. I admit, it was daft of me to come here, knowing I couldn’t stay, knowing we never really had a chance, but I couldn’t leave this country without seeing if I was right or wrong about you.”

A smile tipped his beautiful mouth. “And?”

She brushed the mud off his cheek with her finger. “I was right. I was very, very right about you. I love you, Liam. I love everything about you. I love you muddy or clean, here or in New York, catching cattle or simply watching you enjoy my tarts. But—”

“But?”

“What about your family? I couldn’t bear it if they judged me for—”

“For loving me? You know they’re already crazy about you. Believe me. They won’t.”

She shook her head, pulling him close and resting her head against his chest. “Is this—what’s happened between us—even possible? How can we even explain it? I feel like… I feel like I’ve known you forever.”

“Same,” he said, brushing her hair back gently. “You are the last thing I expected when I stepped on that subway train in New York City. But I think we were… meant to meet there? And thank God we did. But no one needs an explanation for it. No one, but us.”

She turned her face up to him, tears gathering in her eyes. “Then… yes.”

“Yes?”

She nodded. “Yes. I’ll marry you. Yes! Let’s see what this crazy life has in store for us. Together.”

He picked her up and twirled her in his arms, releasing a huge sigh of relief.

She laughed. “And I’ll make you flourless chocolate tarts for the next… oh, fifty years.”

He kissed her on her lips, and they both ignored the mud and the damp clothes because none of that mattered. He dropped his mouth against her neck, teasing her there. “Mmm-mm. Okay, but you might get tired of making chocolate tarts. Someday.”

“Oh, I won’t,” she assured him. “But I have a whole raft of receipts you’ve never even tasted.”

“Oh yeah?” With a wicked kiss under her ear, he said, “I’ll be your official taster. And you could… start that supper club back up right here in Marietta if you wanted to.”

She bit her lip at the thought. “You think?”

“I know a few hundred people who would love it. There’s a whole life here, Em. One you never imagined. One I never expected to share.”

“I think,” she said, kissing the edge of his jaw, “that you’re an undercover romantic, Liam Hardesty. Do you mind much if I swoon in your arms?”

She felt him smile against her hair. “If you do, I’ll catch you. Because I’ll be right here. You can count on that.”

“Then kiss me, cowboy, before I start bawling.”

And he did. He kissed her well.

---