Friday morning, Colette called. It was Friday afternoon in Paris and she and Aubert were together and staying that way. Lizzie congratulated them both and thanked her for calling and letting her know.
Before they said goodbye, Colette asked if Lizzie’s love had come to his senses yet. Lizzie confessed that he hadn’t.
Colette said, “I know he will. I feel it in my heart.”
Saturday morning, Lizzie was up at three and downstairs working. The air of the shop was filled with the sweet smell of baking.
One of her employees arrived at five and the other at six-thirty.
By eight, when they opened the doors, there was a line down the street. Lizzie stood by the door and greeted her customers. Many of them she knew. Allaire, Tori, Hayley, Shandie, Steph, Erin and Erika were all there, along with their husbands. Allaire brought her little boy and Hayley’s brothers came, too. Steph and Grant brought their son and Erika brought her daughter.
There were a whole lot of Traubs. Besides Allaire and her family, Corey and Erin, Dax and Shandie and Shandie’s little one, Kayla, there was also Rose. And Jackson Traub. Jackson said he was following in his brothers’ and sister’s footsteps, planning on moving to town.
Along with Grant and Steph, there was Elise Clifton Cates and her husband, Matt.
And more. So many more. People Lizzie recognized, some of whose names she remembered, some not. And a whole bunch of other people she’d never met before.
It seemed to Lizzie as though the whole town had turned out. Many had clipped the free-muffin coupon she’d offered in the newspaper. They got their free muffins and they bought more. They also bought bagels, fruit and cheese Danish, breads and fruit kuchen. They ordered coffee to go and coffee to stay. They filled the tables and when there were no more chairs, they took their orders and stood around the big, high-ceilinged room sipping and chatting.
Lizzie got compliments. So many. She beamed in satisfaction. Everyone loved the muffins, of course. But they all loved what she’d done to the place, too. They admired the new café lights with their blown-glass shades of swirling orange, yellow and blue, which echoed the color scheme. She’d painted two walls in sunny yellow and one in orange. And the long one behind the counter was a rich, deep burnt umber.
At waist level along each wall flowed an endless chain of mountain bluebells, hand-stenciled by Allaire. Lizzie promised everyone who asked that yes, within the week there would be Wi-Fi. They could bring their laptops, eat Mountain Bluebell muffins, drink espresso and surf the web to their hearts’ content. Everyone said it was charming and homey, the kind of place you wanted to come and sit and chat for hours.
And most of her friends did just that. A lot of folks came and went, clutching bags of goodies as they rushed out the door. But Lizzie’s girlfriends and their families hung around. So did Rose and Jackson. They all had second and third cups of coffee and most had more than one muffin or cinnamon roll.
By nine-fifteen, the mad rush had been handled. There was still business coming in, but the line down the street had been dealt with. Lizzie left her two employees, Rhea and Giselle, to handle the counter on their own, grabbed a vanilla latte and went to sit with her friends.
She’d just taken the chair between Allaire and Tori when Allaire elbowed her in the ribs. “Guess who?”
Corey, across the table next to Erin, said loud enough that Lizzie heard him, “And about time, too.”
The little bell over the door jingled. Lizzie heard it only vaguely, like a faint echo from the real world.
She herself was somewhere else.
She was…transported. To some dreamy, impossible place.
A place where only two people existed.
Lizzie. And the tall, dark, irresistible Texan who had just come in the door.
She heard herself whisper in a voice suitable for praying, “Ethan. Oh, Ethan…”
And then he saw her—but then, how could he miss her?
She was a tall woman, after all. And somehow, without realizing she was doing it, she had risen to her feet. She kind of floated away from the table. And everyone else had moved aside—silently, it seemed to Lizzie.
There was a clear path between her and the man at the door.
“Lizzie,” he said. Just that. Just her name, rough and low, with passionate intent.
And she knew then. She had no doubts. None. Not a one.
He wasn’t here to wish her well, or to order his favorite strawberry-rhubarb pie. He wasn’t here to support her on her opening day.
He was here for her in the truest, simplest, most basic way.
She knew it. She could feel it in her bones.
He crossed the wide plank floor in long, swift strides, stopping only inches away from her. His eyes were dark as midnight. And they were focused only on her. He spoke, his voice as husky and rough and low as it had been when he said her name at the door. “I’ve been by this place every day for the past week—and more than once before that.”
She swallowed. Hard. “I…saw you, twice. Both times in the morning. You didn’t stop. You didn’t slow down.”
His dark gaze searched her face. “I couldn’t. I wanted…” He seemed to run out of words. But then he muttered, gruffly, “Lizzie, I was afraid…”
“Oh, Ethan…”
“I’ve been such a damn idiot.”
As if she could deny that. “Oh, yeah, you have.”
“I’m so sorry. You can’t know. I’m usually smarter than this, but I guess I just got locked into a certain idea of myself. It took me way too long to see that I’m not that guy anymore. It’s no fun being single, not anymore. I’ve been so stupid, not seeing how I love you, not admitting the truth to myself. But I know what I want now, Lizzie. I want you and me, together. I want you for my wife.”
His wife. He wanted her for his wife. That was beyond huge. She really needed to say something, but all that would come out was, “Ethan…”
“Lizzie. Oh, God. Don’t say it’s too late.”
“Ethan, I…” How to say it? How to tell him?
And right then, in the middle of her bakery on her opening day, he dropped to his knees. Somebody gasped.
And from over near the cash register, she clearly heard Jackson Traub let out a groan. “I don’t believe it.” Jackson said a bad word. “He took a knee.”
And he had. Right there in front of everybody, Ethan Traub was on his knees. Lizzie stared down at him and he put a hand over his heart and gazed up at her with a world of passion and longing in his eyes. It was the most perfect, beautiful, right moment of her life—so far.
Ethan said, “I love you, Lizzie Landry. There is no woman in the world for me but you. You’re it. My answer to the big question I didn’t even know I’d been asking myself until you finally got fed up with me and moved out of my house. You are the only one. I’ve been a fool. I know it. But if you’ll only give me one more chance, I’ll never be a fool again—not about what matters anyway. Not about you and me. I swear it, Lizzie. I love you and only you. And I’m willing to come here to your bakery every day for the rest of my life to get my muffins in the morning—if you’ll only promise to come home to me every night.”
She put her hands against her burning cheeks. “Is this…really happening?”
“Lizzie.” He reached up, caught her left wrist, brought it down to him. And…there was something in his other hand. Something sparkly. “Marry me, Lizzie.” He slipped a huge, gorgeous diamond onto her ring finger.
“Oh, Ethan…”
“Say yes,” he pleaded.
And somehow, she did it, she managed to whisper the word that mattered most. “Yes.”
“Lizzie!” He swept to his feet and he reached for her, gathering her close to him. “Aw, Lizzie…”
And he kissed her then. A beautiful, perfect, tender kiss.
And everyone in the bakery burst into wild applause.
When he lifted his head, she opened her eyes and gazed at him. And he looked…so happy. So
sure. So full of joy.
She said, “I can’t believe you just asked me to marry you right here in front of everyone.”
He pulled her close and he whispered so only she could hear, “Remember that night you told me that someday I’d find someone special and I’d want to settle down?”
She sighed. “And you said you didn’t do serious, that you never would.”
“And then you punched me in the arm.”
“Yeah, I remember that, too.”
“It was a good punch. Hurt like hell. And I deserved it. I was so wrong. Because it was you, Lizzie. Even then, when I didn’t have a clue. It was always you.” He wrapped an arm across her shoulder and turned to all their friends and his various relatives with a big, broad smile. “Ladies and gentlemen, she said yes!”
Everyone started clapping again, even the little kids. There was whistling and a few catcalls and some more groaning from Jackson as he came to grips with the idea that another of his brothers had voluntarily surrendered to love.
Lizzie pushed Ethan into the empty seat next to Allaire. And then all her friends were up and crowding around to see the ring, to wish her well.
A few minutes later, she bent close to him and whispered, “How about a blueberry muffin?”
He gazed up at her, a killer smile curving his mouth and all the love in his heart shining in his eyes. “Blueberry. Yeah. I thought you’d never ask.”
Special thanks and acknowledgment to Christine Rimmer
for her contribution to the MONTANA MAVERICKS:
THE TEXANS ARE COMING! continuity.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-0801-8
RESISTING MR. TALL, DARK & TEXAN
Copyright © 2011 by Harlequin Books S.A.
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* The Jones Gang
† Conveniently Yours
** The Sons of Caitlin Bravo
†† Viking Brides
§ Bravo Family Ties
§§ Montana Mavericks: Gold Rush Grooms
‡ Talk of the Neighborhood
‡‡ Montana Mavericks: Striking It Rich
° Back in Business
¶ Montana Mavericks: Thunder Canyon Cowboys
¶¶ Montana Mavericks: The Texans Are Coming!
Resisting Mr. Tall, Dark & Texan Page 19