Thank you! he silently prayed. Thank you!
She slid down his body until her feet touched the floor. He kissed her on the mouth, his arms encircling her. “We did it,” he said.
“Together.”
Chapter Twelve
Olivia gave Holden a quick peck on the lips.
“I have to face him,” she said.
“I can understand that.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “But, you don’t have to do it alone.” He reached down and enveloped her hands in his. “Are you ready?”
She took a deep breath and nodded.
When they got outside, Wes was helping the paramedics load a man onto a gurney at the rear of the ambulance. Olivia spotted the chains from the handcuffs and it somehow provided a sense of comfort.
It was time for her to confront her demons.
“Olivia,” Grayson called as he jumped down off the tailgate of Holden’s truck. He scooped her into a bear hug. “I’m so glad you are okay.”
Landon joined them. He leaned down and placed a light kiss on Olivia’s cheek. “Me too.”
Grayson looked up at Holden. “Maybe missing dolls aren’t so bad.”
All three brothers hugged each other.
Wes stepped aside, allowing Olivia to approach the person who had terrorized her life over the past year. Even in the dim lighting, she would have recognized him anywhere.
“Birch Walters?” she asked incredulously. The man was the owner of a competing publishing house. She’d met him only once, but he was a well-respected member of the publishing community.
“Miss Blake,” Wes said, “you know this man?”
“Yes. Don’t you? He’s been on the cover of several magazines and was voted most eligible businessman in Business News Today.”
Olivia had believed stalkers to be lonely men who fixated on women they didn’t have the nerve to talk to or interact with, not successful entrepreneurs who could have any woman they wanted.
“Hello, Olivia,” Birch said with a crooked smile. “Will you please tell these gentlemen who I am? That we love each other? And that this has all been one big misunderstanding?”
“What are you talking about?” she asked. “I barely know you.”
“Ah, don’t be like that, darling. I know you’re angry, but that will pass soon enough. It always does. Tell them there is no need for these.” He lifted a cuffed hand, the metal clanking against the bars of the gurney.
“You are crazy.”
“I am not crazy!” he yelled, lunging toward her, spit forming a bubble against his bottom lip. Luckily, he’d been strapped down. “You tell them!” His whole body shook as he spoke.
“Get him out of here,” Holden said to Wes.
“Wait.” She took another deep breath. There was something she had to say. She breathed in, then out. “You do not control me, Mr. Walters. You have no power over me and I am not afraid of you anymore. In fact, after today, I will never even have to think of you again. Until the day when my testimony will damn you to your own version of hell. Goodbye, Mr. Walters. And good riddance.” She turned around and didn’t look back.
“Olivia,” he called.
She kept walking.
“Olivia!” he screamed.
When they got into the house, Holden slipped his arms around her. “That was very brave.”
“I cannot allow that man even one more second of my life. There are too many other things I’d rather focus on.”
“I hope that some of those things will include me.”
“They’d better,” she said with a smile. A weight had been lifted from her. She was free and ready to live each moment to the fullest.
He chuckled quietly as he lowered his head toward her. “You are an amazing woman, Olivia Blake,” he said as his lips claimed hers in a kiss fraught with the intensity of a love almost lost.
She was safe in the arms of the man she loved, and right now, nothing else mattered.
Epilogue
Five months later
“Are you sure these are going to work?” Holden placed another tea light in a sand-filled mason jar and set it in the cardboard box on the counter next to the others. Everything was falling into place.
“Are you kidding? They’re perfect.” Landon twisted a length of copper wire around the rim of glass, creating a handle that would allow the lanterns to dangle from the large tree down by the lake.
Holden smiled to himself as he watched through the window as the first of three old fashioned wagons peaked over the hill on its way down to the ranch. Granddad and Olivia had thought of everything. They’d really worked hard to create an authentic experience for the group that had come for the first ever Olivia Blake Readers Retreat
“They’re almost here.” Holden secured the last jar inside the box and closed it up. He took it outside and placed it in the backseat of his truck, then moved to the rear of the truck, leaning with his forearms against the side panel of the bed and waited for the group to arrive.
Grayson and Olivia sat on the top bench of the front wagon. When they reached the barn, Holden was there to help the beautiful novelist down from her perch, her hair dangling in pigtails on either side of her head. She slid down his body, her arms encircling his neck.
He placed a light kiss on her lips before setting her feet on the ground.
“Awww…” The women in the back of Gray’s wagon sang in unison as they climbed down with their shopping bags and boxes with the help of his brothers and several of his cousins who’d agreed to come and help.
Holden chuckled, his gaze focused on Olivia. “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?” he said with a wink.
“It’s only been a couple of hours,” she mocked with a giggle, beaming up at him.
“Long enough.” He smiled and kissed her again before releasing his hold. “I still have some work to do, but I’ll be back before supper.”
She bit her lip and turned away, walking toward the porch. She glanced over her shoulder, her smile widening into a grin, and waved.
Ah, I love that woman.
After they’d spent the morning rounding up livestock and driving them into the fall pastures situated closer to the homestead, Olivia’s guests had taken their retreat into Silver Falls for the annual Peach Harvest Festival. It was all falling into Holden’s plans rather nicely.
He’d come back to the ranch to finish a few last details. Now, while the guests were playing a few pre-supper games like horseshoes and checkers, he would have time to get everything set up just right.
“Well, let’s go,” Landon said with a pat on his shoulder as he slid past him and climbed into the passenger side of his truck.
Holden tapped the bed panel and exhaled loudly. “Just a few more hours.”
#
“You done good, Livvy,” Ian said with purposeful poor grammar as he wrapped his arm around Olivia’s shoulders as they sat on the top step of the porch.
“Isn’t it wonderful?” She glanced out over the yard full of women who had become her friends over the last couple of days. They’d spent nearly every waking hour together and had gotten to know each other better than she could have ever imagined.
A light breeze blew through her hair and she inhaled the fresh air. Her hand raised to her heart as if the motion would stop it from leaping from her chest. How had she gotten so lucky to have such a wonderful reader support system?
“Thank you, Ian. For all of this.” She paused. “For everything.”
He kissed the top of her head and stood up. “We make a good team,” he said as he stepped up onto the porch and disappeared through the back door.
That we do. She smiled.
They’d spent months planning the perfect event. Ian had commissioned three old-fashioned buckboards and a covered chuck wagon with the notion it would encourage an authentic Old West experience. He was right. Several specialists had also been brought on as independent contractors who had taught the group how to bake bread and churn butter, how to wash and hang cl
othes on a line, as well as providing classes on whittling, darning, and painting—all using only nineteenth century tools and equipment.
Holden had drawn up some remarkable plans on renovating barn space and the extra bunkhouse into guest suites, and had somehow convinced his brothers and cousins to come and participate in the retreat.
These good-looking cowboys had been the perfect addition as they personified everything the Blackwood family from her novels represented—integrity, gentlemanly behavior, and fun. They were really fun. And they did an amazing job teaching the ladies how to ride, to milk cows, collect eggs—no Brewster incidents this time, thank heaven—how to break wild horses, fix downed fences, start fires without matches, and to cook delicious Dutch oven meals. They’d gone out of their way to make each of her attendees feel special.
DING. CLANG. DING. CLANG. DING.
She jumped—the dinner bell.
“A penny for your thoughts.” The familiar voice sent gooseflesh spiraling down her arms and back.
Holden crawled up the steps and turned to sit next to her.
“You said you would be back before supper. Cutting it kind of close, aren’t you?”
Holden laughed, leaning in for a kiss.
“You two lovebirds should go on down to the lake and have a little picnic.” Ian handed Holden a basket and motioned toward the garden path.
The sun had started its descent behind the mountains, the colors in the sky growing more vibrant with every minute that passed. Olivia was torn. A few minutes alone with Holden walking down a secluded path and sharing a meal with him as they watched the beautiful sunset reflecting off the lake sounded utterly delightful, but alas, she had guests to attend to.
“That’s sounds wonderful, but—”
“Look at them, Livvy,” Ian instructed as if understanding her reservations. “I don’t think they’ll notice if you’re gone for half an hour.”
The men in Holden’s family had laid out picnic blankets all over the yard. Wes and Micah had several of the ladies laughing in line as Tad dished up their chuck wagon meals, and Grayson had already joined a small group of women who’d taken their seats at the picnic table under the oak tree.
“All right,” she said with a conspiratorial smile. “Half an hour.”
Holden jumped up, draped the basket over his arm, and reached down for her.
She slipped her hand into his and they jogged down the side of the yard, over the irrigation bridge, and down the path to the lake. Once the trees obscured their view from the others, they slowed to a walk, laughing.
When they reached the clearing, Olivia looked up to find dozens of little lanterns hanging in the enormous old oak at the edge of the lake. A blanket had already been laid out beneath the tree.
“You planned this,” Olivia accused playfully.
“I’ve hardly had five minutes alone with you since you got back and I’ve missed you. Can you blame a guy?”
She laughed again. Commuting back and forth between Silver Falls and Denver had been hard on the both of them and, now that the retreat was coming to a close, she was looking forward to spending more time with him.
Holden set the picnic basket on the blanket. “I have to give you credit,” he said as he flipped open the top and pulled out a bottle of her favorite sparkling Blueberry Apple Cider, setting it on the ground next to two fluted glasses. “For a group of romance reading fangirls, they’re…not half bad.”
Liv laughed. “I can’t believe it’s almost over.”
“I think it’s only just the beginning.” Holden pulled out a book and handed it to her.
It was a copy of The Rancher’s Proposal, the newest novel in her Blackwood series. Strands of heavy natural jute cord had been wrapped around the book and tied in a bow.
“How did you…” She searched his eyes. This was the first time she’d seen it complete with the finalized cover art. She narrowed her eyes at him. How had he gotten a copy before her?
“Open it,” he encouraged, squeezing her hands.
She slid the string from around the book and with trembling hands she opened the front cover to the title page. The Rancher’s Proposal stared back at her and there, embedded into the pages next to the title, was the most beautiful princess cut diamond ring Olivia had ever seen.
Holden dropped to one knee.
A spring of tears dampened the corners of her eyes, threatening to fall, but she refused to succumb.
“Olivia Blake, I love you and want you with me always. Will you marry me?”
She swallowed, not trusting herself to speak. One lone, fat tear escaped and trailed her cheek. She bit her lip and smiled.
“Yes.” She nodded vigorously. “Yes. A thousand times yes,” she squealed, clutching the book against her heart.
Holden stood, collected the book from her grasp, and retrieved the ring. “You…” he said as he placed the ring on her finger, “will forever have my heart.” And he bent down, capturing her lips with his own in a delicious kiss that promised a lifetime of romance, of adventure, and of love.
JUST THE BEGINNING…
Landon's Love (Silver Spring Series Book 2) Page 8