Page 124 of The Honorable Texan
“I didn’t make any biscuits,” she said worriedly.“Just homemade rolls.”
“I love rolls.”He held out his arms.“Well, come on,” he chided when she hesitated.“You can’t treat a red-hot matrimonial prospect like me to the cold shoulder!You’ll never get me to say ‘yes’ from arm’s length!”
Her father coughed.“I’ll just, uh, check on the turkey,” he said with an impish smile and went into the kitchen.
Rey nudged Meredith back inside the house, closed the door, and kissed her to within an inch of her life.He barely stopped to breathe before he was kissing her again, enfolding her in a bearish embrace while he made up for what seemed like years of abstinence.
“You’ll smother me,” she complained weakly.
“Stop complaining and kiss me,” he murmured against her swollen lips.He kissed her ever harder.
“I’m not…complaining!”she gasped when he finally stopped.
He bit her lower lip ardently.“I am,” he groaned.“Come on, woman, ravish me!”
“Here?”she exclaimed, wide-eyed.
“Well, give your father a quarter and send him to the store for cigarettes!”he asked with comical desperation between kisses.
“Nobody here smokes,” she pointed out.
“Excuses, excuses,” he murmured against her lips, using her own favorite complaint.His arms tightened and he only stopped when he had to breathe.“What a long, dry spell it’s been, Merry,” he whispered huskily.“Come back here…”
She kissed him and kissed him with no thought of the future.It was wonderful to be held and cuddled and wanted.She thought she’d never felt so much joy in her whole life as she did here, in Rey’s hard arms.
“There’s that carpet you mentioned when I left here last time,” he said breathlessly, indicating the floor.He wiggled both eyebrows.“We can lock your father in the kitchen and you can ravish me, right here!”
“Not on your life.”She linked her arms around his neck.“I won’t ravish you until you agree to marry me,” she managed unsteadily.
“Is that a proposal?”he murmured huskily.
“Sure.You can have a ring.I think there’s a ten-year-old cigar around here somewhere with a band on it…”
He was still kissing her between words.“I’ll phone the minister first thing tomorrow.You can have a blood test at work.I already had Micah Steele do one on me.He said he’d love to have a nurse practitioner of his very own, by the way, if you’re interested.We can have a Christmas wedding in Jacobsville.”
Her mind was spinning.She couldn’t quite understand what he was saying.Of course, he was kissing her and she could hardly think at all.“Blood test…work for Micah… Christmas wedding?”she murmured.
“Mmm-hmm,” he whispered, kissing her again.“You can get me a ring whenever you like, but I got you one already.”He fumbled in his jacket pocket and pulled out a velvet-covered jeweler’s box.He opened it and showed it to her.Inside was a glorious emerald solitaire, and a diamond and emerald wedding band.“If you don’t like it, we can throw it in the fishpond and go buy you something else…”
“I love it!”she exclaimed, flustered by the sudden turn of events.
“Good.Here.”He took out the engagement ring, pocketed the box and slid it gently onto her ring finger.“Now it’s official.We’re engaged.Remember what you just promised,” he added with a wicked grin.“The minute your father leaves, I’ll let you ravish me on the carpet!”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“But, Rey, Daddywon’t leave,” she whispered.“There’s a turkey in the kitchen!”
“He can take it with him,” he said generously.
She laughed and hugged him very hard.“I can’t believe this.”
“Neither can I,” he said, nuzzling his cheek against hers.His arms tightened.“Even when I was suspicious of you, I couldn’t bear you out of my sight.I still can’t.This past week has been endless.I thought we could cool it for a few weeks, while I got things into perspective.But the only thing I got into perspective was how lonely I was without you.”He lifted his head and looked down into her wide, rapt eyes.“I love my freedom.But not as much as I love you.”
“And I love you, Rey,” she said huskily.“I was lonely, too.I feel as if I’ve known you for centuries.”
“Same here,” he replied.“We’re going to make a good marriage.”
“A very good marriage,” she agreed, and lifted her face so that he could kiss her again.He did, at length and very nicely, until her father came out of the kitchen with a turkey leg in one hand and asked if there were plans to take the dressing out of the oven before it got any blacker.Rey told him their news while Meredith took off at a dead run to rescue dinner.
