“Yep. I can see you’re pretty broken up about things.” He opened the car door wider, so she could step out. Her mouth was a tight line of anger, she had to be a little put out that he’d blocked her in. But it wasn’t a deep anger, only the veneer of it, to cover up something else. Yeah, he knew exactly what she was going through. His heart couldn’t take it. He’d caused this, the stark pain in her eyes. She held herself board stiff as she met his gaze. All strength and dignity.
He’d best seize his chance before she started on about moving his truck. He needed her to listen, really listen, to him. “You misunderstood something today, Lauren.”
“I told you I understood. Mary is so good, she’s vulnerable. I get it.” Tears stood in her eyes. She fisted both hands, as if holding back her emotions took every drop of her strength. “You and I are done. Will you please move your truck and let me go—”
“Sure. As long as you hear me say this. You said that I ought to have known how you liked me, and that I used that.” He took a step toward her. Everything inside him longed to reach out. To pull her close. To wipe those unfallen tears away. To shelter her from any more pain. “But I didn’t know. I hoped. I wished. I dreamed. But I didn’t know.”
She rubbed her forehead with the heel of her hand, as if his words only hurt more. “You dreamed?”
“For you to care for me the way I’ve come to care for you.” He ignored the fear flickering in his chest, sure of the truth. One hundred percent positive of the strength of his love for her. “I’m asking for your forgiveness for helping Spence. I didn’t feel right about it. You have to know that.”
Her chin wobbled. “Fine. You have my forgiveness. I have to go. This place isn’t my h-home. And you’re not—” My everything. Wishing it were so wouldn’t make it that way. Those pesky tears were falling again and she brushed at them angrily. “You can’t put a patch on this, Caleb. How can I believe you?”
“Because I believe in you. I have since the moment we met. I know what you heard doesn’t make it seem that way, but I defended you to Spence all along. It’s the truth and we can go back to the house right now and ask him.”
“This isn’t about forgiving you. I already have. You were right.” She closed her eyes against the image of that check. Of all the pain her mother must have caused so long ago. “Mary offered me a bunch of money, which I—”
“Refused,” he interrupted. “I know that about you. Just like I know that if you walk away, we’ll both be the poorer for it. Only love matters, the real kind, pure commitment and devotion and heart. That’s what I feel for you. How can I prove it? Name it and I’ll do it. I’ll move to California. I’ll move to China, if that’s what you want. This place will always be here to come back to. All I want, all I value, is you.”
Why was he saying this now, when she was too vulnerable to fight it? She sank to her knees in the grass, feeling the broken pieces of her heart, of her life, shattering away, until there was nothing. Nothing at all except her love for him, pure and true and everlasting.
She felt the first shield fall from around her heart. “You would do all of that for me?”
“I’ve been awed by you since the moment I first saw you.” He moved closer, his dark eyes honest and sincere. “I didn’t dare assume that you would feel this kind of love for me. I love you, Lauren. Heart and soul. I want to spend the rest of my days cherishing you, making you happy, giving you every reason to see that your trust is well placed in me.”
Wow. His tender caring words left her speechless. Her head reeled. Her pulse stalled. He towered over her, all hurt and sincerity, and he was more amazing to her now and too good to be real.
But he was real. And he was hers. She longed for him the way dawn longed for the sun, the ocean for the shore, the vast reaches of the universe for light.
The second shield around her heart tumbled, too. She knew in her soul that she’d been right about him, that he was a loyal man. It was hard to open her heart one more time, but her defenses kept falling until there was the truth. “I love you, Caleb Stone.”
Relief flashed across his granite face. “That’s good news.”
Bliss soared through her like helium, lifting her off her feet. She laid her hand on Caleb’s chest. She could feel his heart beat for her beneath his sun-warmed shirt. Hers beat for him, too.
She could see the future in the microsecond it took for him to cup the palm of his hand to her cheek. Finishing school, coming home to marry him, living on his land where love had prospered for nearly a hundred and fifty years. There would be children one day and close ties with her family and her sisters, always her sisters, showing up at the door.
It was going to be a dream come true, Lauren thought as Caleb slanted his lips over hers. It was their first kiss, sweet and tender, the promise of a wonderful life to come.
* * * * *
ISBN: 9781459220041
Copyright © 2011 by Jill Strickler
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