Page 48 of The Rancher's Cinderella Bride

“Moving in with you would be a giant step for me. Besides, you aren’t into a lasting commitment. If I lived with you, I’d fall in love more and more every day. And then someday it would be over for you, and then what happens to me? I’ve got to think about dealing with that.”

It didn’t go unnoticed by her that he remained quiet. He merely held her closer, against the beating of his heart.

“Right now, Gabe, I need to get home. I had appointments I missed at work.” She kissed him again and rolled away to step out of bed, go shower and dress.

Later, when she stood at his door after they kissed goodbye, she smiled at him. “Gabe, once again, you were the knight to my rescue. Thank you.”

“You think about us and you call me, darlin’. But just remember that I really want you and I’m going to miss you more than I can tell you.”

“And you do the same, Gabe.”

She knew she should learn to live with and accept more risks in her life because some of her worries existed more in her imagination. But not all of them. There was no getting away from some of the risks he took. But there was another issue keeping them apart. Could she live with him, love him more than ever and then have him walk away sometime in the future?

If she moved in with him, she wanted it to be permanent and she knew he didn’t. And if it wasn’t permanent she worried that would eventually hurt her way more than telling him goodbye now. Did she want to risk a giant hurt for a month or two of living with him and then having him leave her? He always left the women in his life. Would she be fooling herself if she thought she would be different?

Eleven

Gabe spent the next week on his ranch doing the hardest physical work he could find. He had a call from his office in Dallas about a large business complex in Houston his company had for sale and complications because the buyers wanted possession within the next two months. He handed the call off to someone at the office. He had no desire to sit on the phone for hours.

At night he hated going home. The house was empty and his bed was empty. He missed Meg more each day instead of less. He caught himself at times during the day looking at her pictures that were on his phone. “I love you and I miss you,” he said to the pictures.

As he worked putting up a new gate, he stopped, wiped his forehead and stared into space. Meg had said she would rethink her worries about his lifestyle and he had told her to call him, but so far he hadn’t heard anything. His lifestyle was still between them and keeping Meg from moving in. Could he change anything, give up anything that might make her compromise? He picked up a board to saw it in two while he thought about the things he wanted to do the most, the things he enjoyed the most, the things she might consider the most dangerous.

And what about his lack of commitment? She worried about moving in and falling in love with no promise of permanence. She knew his reputation for never being serious. He’d dated scores of women, but he had never really been in love—until now. Yes, he could finally admit it. He loved Meg.

She had been part of his life forever but now it was different. He wanted more than a friend, and he wanted her more than ever. He was in love and there was no going back to the life he’d had before she showed up at his door. But something had to give. What could he concede? And would she meet him halfway?

He wanted her in his arms, in his bed, and he hadn’t slept well since he’d told her goodbye. She’d said she’d missed him, but she had a way of bouncing back in life and going blithely on with what she was involved in and never letting anything really get her down. He thought he could do that, too, until he fell in love with her. For all he knew, she could be dating someone else. That thought sent a cold chill running down his spine.

“Damn, Meg,” he said, tossing his tools in the back of his pickup and sliding behind the wheel. He intended to put an end to this right now.

* * *

Meg sat at her desk at home a little after ten o’clock at night. She stared at landscape plans for a large yard in an exclusive, gated residential area. She couldn’t concentrate on her work. Her mind continually went back to Gabe. She stood up and walked to the kitchen to get another glass of water, lost in memories and thoughts of him.

She missed him. She couldn’t concentrate. She didn’t want to go out and she avoided going to visit her parents because she didn’t want to answer questions and her mother worried because she thought Meg was losing weight.

She picked up the old brown bear on the kitchen counter. “I miss him,” she whispered to the bear, its glass eyes staring back at her.

She got a text message, saw it was from Gabe and read swiftly:

I’m on your porch. I need to see you.

Shocked, she dropped the bear and ran toward the front door to yank it open. She couldn’t believe it. Gabe stood in front of her and she threw herself into his arms, turning her face up to kiss him as he embraced her.

His arms were tight around her and while he kissed her hard he walked her backward inside where he kicked the door closed. Her heart thudded and joy and sorrow warred within her.

He held her away to look at her. “I’ve missed you too much. We have to do something. I’ve thought about what I can give up, to see what you can live with.”

Startled, she stared at him as her heart started pounding and joy came rushing back. “You really did that? You’d do that for me?”

“Yes, I will because I don’t want to live without you. I need you in my life. You’re necessary now, darlin’. I’m hoping for a sort of compromise here.”

“Good. ’Cause I’ve been doing some thinking of my own. I’m up for a compromise, too. What can you give up?”

“Motorcycles. I’ve sold mine.”

“Oh, my goodness,” she said, shocked, and a thrill tickled her to her toes. “Seriously?”

---