Page 85 of Wild, Wild Cowboy

“I think…” She stared at the toes of her cowboy boots and rolled her lips together. I couldn’t breathe. When she looked up at me again, her eyes were suspiciously shiny. “I think I would love to live with you in a four-bedroom house full of cats, and a library with a rolling ladder. Someday.”

“Someday.” I gently pushed up her glasses. “I’ll get to work on it.”

“Thank you.”

The sky deepened to a dark, dusky blue and the first stars popped out like flecks of silver. I breathed in the scent of the mountains, the horses, and Hannah.

Yeah. This was what I wanted.

“You know,” I said casually, like it hadn’t been on my mind for a month, “this would be the perfect moment for a marriage proposal, if we were so inclined.”

She stiffened next to me. “Oh?” she said cautiously.

I laughed. “It’s cute how hard you’re trying not to freak out right now, duchess, but I know you’renotso inclined. And that’s fine. Hell, it’s fine if you’reneverso inclined. As long as you tell me we can share a home together, then I’ll live my life a very happy man. But I’m not going to ask you to marry me. Not now, and not ever.” I laced our hands together.

There was a long pause, but I didn’t look at her, just ran my thumb over the bones on the back of her hand.

“Notever?” she ventured.

“Not ever. That’s my promise to you. Now, that’s not to say I won’t marry you. I just won’t propose. If you ever decide you want to marry me, you’ll have to do the asking.”

She stared at me a long time, chewing her lip. Her head tilted. “What do you think you’d say, if I asked you?”

My heart pounded hard in my chest, even though I knew she wouldn’t. Not tonight, anyway. But she was thinking about it without having a panic attack, and that was progress.

I laughed. “I’ve never said no to you, Hannah Bell, and if you ever ask me that question, it sure as hell won’t be when I start.”

She smiled and leaned into me. “Someday.”

“Someday,” I agreed.

Someday was a beautiful dream. But right now we had today, and today was pretty damn perfect.

So together we watched the stars.

EPILOGUE

JAMES

One Year Later

“Idon’t want to spoil it for you, but James looks like a cupcake.” I threaded a pearl hoop through my ear, my gaze on Zack’s reflection in the mirror. All he was doing was knotting his tie, but geez. The way he looked in that suit, I was tempted to help him right back out of it.

He laughed. “You can’t spoil it for me. I couldn’t care less what James looks like. It’s not my wedding.”

He came and stood next to me, checking his reflection to see if his tie was straight. I watched him for a moment, then took us both in. My breath caught. “Well, we look like it’s our wedding. I can’t believe James is making the bridesmaids wear white.”

His eyes met mine in the mirror and for a split second all I saw was yearning. But just as quickly, it was gone again. He smiled and kissed my cheek. “You look beautiful.”

Summer, with its packed schedule of rodeos and horse shows, was too busy for a wedding, so James and Adam had chosen a day in early December. James had really leaned intothe “winter wonderland” theme. Adam, Brax, Zack, Blaine, and Ben were dressed in gray suits—with white cowboy hats, naturally—and James’s bridesmaids wore white gowns.

“It’s not snowing,” I said as we left the cabin. “Dang it. James really wanted a white wedding.”

Zack snorted. “Pretty sure that ship sailed a long time ago.”

I rolled my eyes. “I meansnow. Not virginity.”

He grinned. “Colorado weather can’t be tamed. But those clouds look promising.” He pointed to the gray sky. “She might have her winter wonderland wedding, after all.”

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