Beautiful Lawman
Page 22
She shivered in his arms and her breath caught. “It’s your job to say that. You’re my boyfriend.”
He paused at that. He was definitely her boyfriend and even though he had never rightly been any woman’s boyfriend before that designation fell lamely on his ears. It felt small and insignificant. He actually had to fight back a grimace. Piper was more than a girlfriend to him. She was his entire world. Like his father before him, he had fallen totally and deeply and irrevocably in love with a woman and his life was richer and more meaningful for it. Given the situation, he knew what he had to do. He’d known for weeks now.
She brought her hands up and buried her face in them. “What if he hates everything?”
“You mean, the fact that you’re throwing him a congrats-you’re-out-of-prison surprise party? Yeah. I’m pretty sure he’s going to hate it.”
“But he just thinks it’s dinner,” she protested.
Yeah. That’s what she had told her brother, but Hale had let Cruz in on the surprise. He didn’t do it to be a jerk and ruin things. No. He did it because he had a feeling the guy wasn’t going to show up for the dinner party—and that’s when Cruz just thought it was a get-together that had nothing to do with him specifically. It would have crushed Piper, so Hale let Cruz know about the party and exactly why he needed to be present for it.
She groaned. “Maybe I should just call everyone and tell them not to come?”
The doorbell suddenly pealed through the house.
His grinned at her panicked expression. “Too late for that.”
“Maybe it’s just Malia with Claire. I can send them away and still call everyone else.” She escaped his arms and darted for the door to peer out the peephole. Pouting with disappointment, she looked back at Hale. “It’s your sister and North.”
“Well, that does it then. No going back now. You know there’s no sending Faith away.”
Sighing, she pasted a smile on her face and opened the door, greeting them warmly.
More guests arrived then. North’s brother, Knox, and his wife, Briar, with their cute little toddler in tow.
Malia with Claire and her family.
Hale’s father. The old man hugged Piper and Malia warmly. His father doted on them from the moment he met them. He made up any excuse to drop by, and he loved going to Malia’s soccer games. Sometimes he got warnings from the referees when he got too enthusiastic in his sideline shouting and cheering. Just like when Hale and his brother played sports, he was very vocal of what he deemed bad calls. He might have even gotten worse over the years.
Doris and her husband. There was no keeping her from a party. And Hale knew better than not to invite her to this particular occasion.
The Ruiz family arrived next. They lived next door to Piper when she grew up. Piper told him that Mrs. Ruiz watched after Malia a lot back then. Especially after their mom died. Piper doubted she could have finished high school without her help. According to Piper, Mrs. Ruiz had been devastated when Cruz went to prison. She’d doted on him like a son.
“Everyone’s here,” he murmured over the chatter filling his house.
Piper smiled tightly. “You think when he pulls up and sees all the cars he’s going to come inside or bail?”
Hale shrugged one shoulder even though he knew nothing would keep Cruz from showing up—not after their talk.
“He’ll be here, sweetheart.” He rubbed a reassuring circle on her back.
To Piper’s frustration, Cruz had been rather aloof since his release from prison. They all had dinner together that first night he was released, but he’d declined Piper’s subsequent invitations.
Hale had reminded her that it would take him time to adjust after seven years at Devil’s Rock. Even North had warned her of that, but knowing didn’t stop her from wanting her brother to be happy. Especially because she was so happy. He knew her well enough to know she was still feeling guilty . . . as though she was somehow not entitled to finding her own joy.
The doorbell rang and she practically ran to answer it. Hale followed at a slower pace, attempting to calm his own sudden nerves. God, he felt like a nervous kid. He rubbed his sweaty palms on his slacks.
The house quieted as she opened the door.
Cruz stood there, his eyes falling on his sister. He was big and intimidating . . . especially with that thin scar running down the side of his face. That didn’t stop Piper though. She stood on her tiptoes and flung her arms around his neck. Walsh hesitated a moment and then his big arms wrapped around her and hugged her back, lifting her off her feet.
Malia came forward then and hugged him, too.
“I didn’t think you would come. Thought the cars outside might have spooked you.” Piper stood back, watching with delight shining in her eyes as her siblings hugged.
“I wasn’t going to,” he announced with a grimace.
“What changed your mind?” Malia asked.
Cruz looked over their heads and found Hale’s gaze. He nodded at him. “The sheriff came to see me and said I better be here.”
“Hale?” Piper blinked and looked between the two of them, stiffening. “He made you come?”
“I wouldn’t say he made me.” A smile creased Cruz’s face. It actually looked awkward on him. Clearly he was a man unaccustomed to smiling. Probably not much to smile about in prison. “Let’s just say he provided me with motivation. I wouldn’t miss tonight for anything in the world.”
Piper shook her head, clearly bewildered. Her gaze fixed on Cruz. “You came even though you knew it was a surprise party for you . . .”
“No, I decided to come when I found out it was going to be a double celebration.”
Hale reached into his pocket.
“Double?” she echoed, her forehead wrinkling in confusion.
Several gasps filled the room as Hale lowered to the ground.
Piper swung around to see why everyone was reacting that way. Her eyes landed on Hale: down on one knee before her, a jeweler’s box open in his hands.
It was her turn to gasp.
Malia shrieked but he kept his attention riveted on the woman he loved. “Piper Walsh, will you spend the rest of your life with me . . . as my wife?”
Her hands flew to her mouth but that didn’t muffle her sobs. She nodded, not looking away from him as he took her hand and slid the diamond solitaire on her shaking ring finger. It fit easily. As though it was destined for her hand. “Yes,” she finally managed to get out in a hoarse croak. “Yes, yes, yes, yes.”
Rising to his feet, he kissed her, indifferent to their applauding audience. They kissed for what felt like forever but it still wasn’t nearly enough, He doubted he’d ever have enough of her.
As much as he had wanted their family and friends present, he could only see her. Could only absorb this moment with her. Her face. Her blinding smile. The happy tears shining in her dark eyes. The world faded away as he etched it all into his memory, into his soul. The moment she agreed to bind her life with his.
It was amazing that he had thought he never wanted this: love, a wife, happily-ever-after. Amazing that he had found this . . . found her.
It truly was a beautiful life.
The Devil’s Rock Series
And don’t miss the rest of Sophie Jordan’s unforgettable Devil’s Rock novels!
ALL CHAINED UP
Some men come with a built-in warning label. Knox Callaghan is one of them. Danger radiates from every lean, muscled inch of him, and his deep blue eyes seem to see right through to Briar Davis’s most secret fantasies. But there’s one major problem: Briar is a nurse volunteering at the local prison, and Knox is an inmate who should be off-limits in every way.
HELL BREAKS LOOSE
Shy and awkward, First Daughter Grace Reeves has always done what she’s told. Tired of taking orders, she escapes her security detail for a rare moment of peace. Except her worst nightmare comes to life when a ruthless gang of criminals abducts her. Her only choice is to place her trust in Reid
Allister, an escaped convict whose piercing gaze awakens something deep inside her.
FURY ON FIRE
After years in prison, North Callaghan is finally free. But the demons haunting him still make him feel like a caged beast. He loses himself in work and hard living, coming up for air only to bed any willing woman to cross his path. So when his new neighbor snares his interest, he decides to add another notch to his bedpost. The only problem? Faith Walters is a white picket fence kind of girl.
About the Author
SOPHIE JORDAN grew up in the Texas hill country where she wove fantasies of dragons, warriors, and princesses. A former high school English teacher, she’s the New York Times, USA Today, and internationally bestselling author of more than twenty novels. She now lives in Houston with her family. When she’s not writing, she spends her time overloading on caffeine (lattes preferred), talking plotlines with anyone who will listen (including her kids), and cramming her DVR with anything that has a happily-ever-after.
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By Sophie Jordan
The Devil’s Rock Series
Beautiful Lawman
Fury on Fire
Hell Breaks Loose
All Chained Up
Historical Romances
The Scandal of It All
While the Duke Was Sleeping
All the Ways to Ruin a Rogue
A Good Debutante’s Guide to Ruin
How to Lose a Bride in One Night
Lessons from a Scandalous Bride
Wicked in Your Arms
Wicked Nights With a Lover
In Scandal They Wed
Sins of a Wicked Duke
Surrender to Me
One Night With You
Too Wicked to Tame
Once Upon a Wedding Night
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
beautiful lawman. Copyright © 2018 by Sharie Kohler. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins Publishers. For information, address HarperCollins Publishers, 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007.
Digital Edition JANUARY 2018 ISBN: 978-0-06-266657-4
Print Edition ISBN: 978-0-06-266656-7
Cover design by Nadine Badalaty
Cover art by Steve Stone
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HarperCollins is a registered trademark of HarperCollins Publishers in the United States of America and other countries.
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