Logan hugged her close, appreciating her support and understanding even though he did not voice his feelings. Shane smiled at her, but it was a small smile and he clearly was also emotional.
“Thanks, little sis …”
“Little sis! I’ll have you know, Shane …”
“Relax, Maddy … it goes with big bro … now you’re my little sis …”
She shook her head and walked to him and hugged him tight. He returned the hug until Logan cleared his throat loudly behind them.
“You are rather irritating at times … but I love you too.”
“Don’t leave just yet, little bro. I have something for you.”
Logan went to the study and returned with a large manila envelope he handed to Shane.
“I know it is a month early, but happy birthday.”
Shane frowned questioningly, but Logan just nodded to the envelope and he slowly withdrew the document. He gasped when he read it. He had a dazed expression on his face and shook his head at Logan, his voice thick with emotions.
“I can’t accept this, Logan. It is too much and it belongs to you! All of it!”
“No, Shane. Remember the day I bought this place I told you welcome to our new home. This Ranch is massive and I bought it specifically because of that. We belong together, we have always looked out for each other, and that is never going to change. I want you to have it. I might have been the one that was the elder one, but you little bro … you were my foundation. You still are. I need you close by.”
Shane moved into his brother’s arms and they hugged each other fiercely. Madison picked up the scattered papers that fell out of Shane’s hands. It was a property deed for half of the Ranch in Shane’s name. Tears formed in her eyes and she looked at the embracing brothers. Her heart warmed that Logan admitted to such strong and deep emotion for his brother. She noticed the deed was issued a week ago, the day before she left.
Logan slapped his brother on his shoulder and they broke apart. Madison handed the papers back to Shane, who also noted the date and looked at Logan.
“I say again … how the mighty has fallen.”
“Enough of that … I am dying of hunger. Let’s go eat.””
He pulled Madison against him with her against his front and he held her close with his hands on her belly. She closed her hands over his and he kissed her softly in her neck. Shane watched the interlude with interest.
“So … do you think there is a little Logan-Maddy on the way already?”
Madison gasped and Logan twitched with laughter whilst stroking her belly tenderly. She swung her head and glared at him.
“You told him! Logan!”
“Well, when you start showing in a few months it will be difficult to keep it a secret, so why not just warn them ahead of time.”
“Showing … few months …”
“Seems cat caught your tongue again, Wildcat?”
“So, big bro, do you think it will be a boy or a girl?”
“I don’t know … maybe one of each. They have twins in their genes remember.”
“Looogaan! Babe! Stop! I can’t believe the two of you! Besides it is much too soon to start talking babies.” Her cheeks were flushed a right red.
“Hmmm … I don’t know honey, as much as we’ve been making lo …”
She ripped herself from his arms and swung around and stared at him sternly with her fists in her waist.
“Logan Dalton!”
He spread his hands wide. “But it is the truth, Wildcat!”
“It might be … but I am not one of your floozies who you openly discuss with your brother!”
He yanked her back in his arms and looked laughingly into her eyes.
“You’re right. You are definitely not one of those floozies … I don’t even have your number in my little black book.”
She growled and his laughter increased. “Don’t for one moment believe I think that was funny!”
His laughter diminished and his eyes turned warm and smoky. He bent down and lifted her in his arms, turned and walked towards the study.
“Where are you going, big bro! I thought you were hungry?”
“We’ll be right back.”
He kicked the door closed behind them and put her down on the couch. He walked around his desk and she heard him fiddle with something in the desk safe. He returned to her and sat down next to her. He took her hands into his.
“There is something I need to say to you. I planned to do this in a different environment, but I find I can’t and don’t want to wait a moment longer.”
Madison’s heart missed a beat at the intensity in his eyes and a tremor started low in her heart.
“I grew up with hate in my heart, seeing what love did and how marriage can destroy a man, first hand. I promised myself I would never open my heart to that kind of emotions. I scoffed at love and permanence; it is something I never believed in … and never thought I ever would. Then I met you and I started feeling things I didn’t understand. Never in my life have I reacted to a woman as I have you. For the first time I learnt what jealousy was … how utterly possessive you made me of you.”
He wiped her bangs out of her eyes and stroked her cheek. His voice turned hoarse.
“When we were on our way to the fire last week, I told Shane I have no interest in marriage and still don’t believe in it.”
Madison winced, her heart shriveled and she lowered her eyes to hide her devastation. He lifted her chin with his hand and forced her eyes back to his.
“The day you told me you would go to the extreme to give me child to keep us together, my heart nearly jumped out of my chest. I saw a picture of you in my mind with my child in your arms and it felt so right, and I wanted it so desperately I did not know how to fuse those feelings with the beliefs that have been entrenched in my heart for years.”
He looked down at their hands strangled together and lifted it to his lips and kissed her fingers.
“The day I found you gone it felt if someone stabbed a knife through my heart. I realized then, my beautiful Wildcat that you took my heart with you. I felt empty, as if something was missing from my soul. My anger was foaming, and it rose higher and higher every day.”
“Why? Didn’t you want those feelings?”
“No, my love. I was livid that you were not there so I could share it with you! I never thought I’d want someone in my life as badly as I wanted … needed you in mine. I realized then I already thought of you as mine that first day in the Bistro.”
He went down on his knee in front of her and smiled a naughty boy smile at her.
“I most definitely never thought I would ever do the down on the knee thing! Madison Phillips, I want us to have kids together that are borne through our love for each other. I want to carry your heart inside me as you carry my heart inside you. I love you Wildcat and I will never stop. Madison, heart of mine … will you marry me?”
She tried not to cry, but she could not prevent the tears of joy and happiness that escaped down her cheeks. She took his cheeks between her hands and smiled brilliantly at him.
“I love you Babe and I honestly never thought to hear you say the words. The best I ever hoped for was that you would offer me you and I would have accepted even just that. Yes, Logan, my love, I will marry you. And you Babe … will you please marry me?”
“Try and stop me, Madison, my love.”
He leaned forward and kissed her passionately. He looked deep into her eyes and his heart filled with warmth at the love that shone in hers.
He reached in his pocket and took her hand in his. “I bought this last week. It has the same passion and beauty I see every time I look into your beautiful blue eyes.”
He pushed a ring on her finger and her breath caught in her throat. She could only stare at the beautiful large oval shaped blue diamond ring surrounded by brilliant cut diamonds and baguette cut diamonds on both sides of the ring. It fit her hand perfectly as if it was made especially for her.
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br /> “Babe … I … it’s …”
“Cat caught your tongue again, Wildcat?”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sabel Simmons is a pseudonym for Isabel Oosthuizen.
She was born in small town Vereeniging, South Africa in 1962. She completed her schooling in the Capital City, Pretoria.
She has always been very creative in writing, drawing and decorating. Her essays at school were always read out to the class and her imagination took flight at that stage of her life already. She has her own “library” at home, filled with all types of books. She loves historical romances, and Johanna Lindsey is her favorite writer and inspiration. Her writing style is honest, real and always has a touch of humor in.
In the early nineties she published two Afrikaans novels that were reprinted twice and remained on library shelves for 15 years.
She is a B Com graduate in Business Management and is the MD of a training company. She writes as a hobby, something she has not had the time to do since the 1990’s.
She has two lovely children and four gorgeous granddaughters. She lives in Centurion, Gauteng, South Africa with her second husband, the love of her life, Leon and Roxy their sixteen year old Jack Russell.
The Wildcat that Tamed the Tycoon Page 19