Millionaire in a Stetson (22 page)

“Even your uncle?”

“Especially my uncle.”

Curiosity got the better of her. “What did you do?”

“What we said we’d do.”

Travis was obviously curious as well because he asked, “Which was what?”

“Destroy the diary,” she and Sawyer answered together.

“It’s gone for good,” said Sawyer. “Nobody but Niki and I will ever read it.”

Niki knew it was for the best, but she couldn’t quash the crushing sense of disappointment. She’d never read her mother’s words again.

“She’s free.” Sawyer’s jaw clamped down. His nostrils flared and a muscle twitched next to his eye. “And I guess she’s yours.”

He gazed at Niki for the last time, seeming to drink in every inch of her. Then he turned to walk off the bridge.

Silence was left in his wake.

Travis broke it. “Are you just going to stand there?”

“I should thank him,” she breathed.

“I don’t think he wants a thank-you.”

Travis gazed meaningfully down at her. “He could have sent you an email to tell you about the diary. He came all the way out here. He wanted to see you.”

“I don’t understand,” said Niki, her mind searching for sense in Sawyer’s words. “Did I hear that right?”

“He didn’t betray you.”

She shook her head in denial. “That doesn’t follow.” All along, Sawyer had been operating in his own interest, not in hers.

“Yes, it does,” said Travis. “At least, it does if he’s in love with you.”

“No.” It couldn’t be. It couldn’t possibly be.

“He just chose you over his own uncle.”

“It has to be a trick.”

“He’s getting away,” Travis pointed out.

She swore under her breath. She didn’t know what to think. She didn’t know what to do.

“What if you’re wrong?” she whispered to Travis.

“What if I’m right?”

Suddenly, Niki took a step forward, then another and another. Then she was running, trying to catch Sawyer who was halfway up the rise, halfway to his pickup truck where he’d drive out of her life forever.

The ground was uneven, and her legs felt like lead. She twisted an ankle, but quickly righted herself, cursing the fact that it was uphill and that her legs were so much shorter than his.

She finally caught him at the edge of the driveway, snagging his arm.

He swung around, and they both stared at each other.

Her heart was thudding, her palms sweating. She was battling hope, while desperately trying to brace herself. She was brave, but not when it came to Sawyer. She loved him so much, and she was so frightened of being hurt.

“Why did you come?” she managed to ask.

“I hoped you’d forgive me.” His gaze moved over her shoulder to Travis. “But it looks like I’m too late.”

“Forgive you for what? For lying to me? For manipulating me? For sleeping with me?”

He reached for her arm, and sensation flowed over her skin, through to her heart. The wind whispered between them.

“For falling in love with you,” he finally said. “For figuring out what was happening between us. For trying to give us a chance to be together.”

It was true? He loved her? He
loved
her? She tried to speak, but nothing came out.

“I’ve wasted my time.”

“I love you, Sawyer,” she admitted in a rush. “Forever and always.”

“Then why were you kissing Travis?”

Her eyes widened. “We were faking it.”

“That wasn’t fake.”

“The kiss was real,” she admitted. “But we’re only friends, closer to siblings than anything. He was helping me salvage my pride.”

“Very gentlemanly of him,” Sawyer ground out.

“It was.”

“Don’t do it again.”

“I won’t.”

“I love you, Niki.”

A smile stretched across her face. “I can’t even believe it.”

“How can I prove it?”

“Since we can do anything and go anywhere, and we don’t have to hide anymore, you can take me golfing.”

Sawyer coughed out a surprised laugh.

“Take me to Wailea,” she clarified.

“Nothing in the world I’d rather do.” He moved in and kissed her again. This time he kissed her long and hard and deeply.

Minutes rolled by as they clung together, and satisfying passion took over her system.

Footfalls sounded on the ground, growing closer. “Get a room,” Travis’s voice interrupted.

“I think we’ll need a suite,” Sawyer responded, drawing back to gaze lovingly into Niki’s eyes, smoothing back her hair, cupping her face.

Then he looked at Travis. “You know, you’re lucky to be alive.”

Travis was completely unrepentant. “Figured it was worth the risk.”

“You think of her as a sister?”

“Always will.”

“Okay,” Sawyer nodded.

Travis grinned. “She’s all yours.”

“Hey!” Niki protested their cavalier attitude.

“What?” Sawyer glanced down. “You think there’s any chance in the world I’m giving you up?”

Epilogue

T
heir penthouse suite at the Wailea Sapphire Hotel overlooked the beach on one side and the fairway of the sixth hole on the other. The three rooms were spacious, classy and comfortable. But the real feature was the veranda. Long and wide, it wrapped around the corner of the building. It featured lounge chairs, a dining table, a hot tub and views extending miles out into the Pacific.

They’d only arrived on Maui this morning, but they’d already played nine holes of golf, skipped along the shoreline in a compact catamaran, gone snorkeling on the reef and swam in the warm waves at dusk. Afterward, at Sawyer’s insistence, Niki had changed into a flowing white cotton dress they’d purchased at a high-end hotel shop. Sawyer had gone with khakis and a short-sleeved shirt.

Their early dinner had been served on the private deck by an efficient butler and two assistants. Now, with the servers and dishes cleared away, they stood side by side at the rail gazing over the beachfront, while the sun slid down to the watery horizon.

Niki wasn’t sure she’d ever been this content.

“Is that what I think it is?” she whispered to Sawyer, leaning up against his arm.

“Somebody’s getting married.”

While they watched, a group of hotel attendants wove flowers into a white, latticework archway. Others were setting up chairs, and a pathway of torches leading from the hotel.

“That’s the way to do it.” Niki sighed. “No muss, no fuss. Just a few good friends on a beach.”

“You’d like that?” he asked her in a low tone.

“I would.”

He turned to face her. “I have a present for you.”

“You don’t think flying to Maui, a luxurious penthouse, golfing, and a candle-lit five-course dinner is enough for one day?”

“No, I don’t believe it is.”

“Well, I can’t think of a single thing that’s missing.”

Sawyer gave a slow smile, reaching over to the table, extracting a wrapped package from beneath a napkin. It was compact and flat, about eight inches long. The embossed, silver wrapping paper glinted in the candlelight.

“You didn’t need to do this.” Niki tugged on the delicate bow.

“I don’t need to do anything,” he told her. “Not anymore. Now it’s all about what I want to do.”

“That seems rather self-indulgent.”

“There’s nothing wrong with a little self-indulgence.”

She peeled back the edges of the paper, eager to discover what he’d chosen. The paper fell away to reveal a plain white box.

Puzzled, she lifted the lid.

She had to blink. Then she moved closer to the candles on the table, angling the box. “Is it?”

“Yes, it is.”

Niki reached out to run her fingertip across the tan leather of Gabriella’s diary. “I thought you said you destroyed it like we planned.”

“It’s yours, Niki. Nobody but you has any right to do anything with it.”

An unexpected surge of emotion overtook her. She reflexively pulled the diary against her chest and held it there, feeling close to her mother once again.

“You okay?” Sawyer moved to draw her into his embrace.

“Fine,” she whispered, tears clogging her throat.

“I didn’t mean to upset you.”

She shook her head in denial, leaning into him. “You didn’t. It’s good. Thank you,” she whispered.

“You’re happy?”

“So happy.”

He gently extracted the box from her hand, setting everything down on the table, so they could hug each other properly. “Making you happy is all I want to do.”

“You’ve succeeded.”

He took her left hand, brought it to his lips, and before she knew what was happening, he’d slipped something cool onto her finger.

“What?” She pulled free, only to find a large diamond winking at her from her ring finger.

She stared at him in disbelief, and he grinned unrepentantly back.

“Isn’t there supposed to be a question that comes along with this?” she asked, her brain struggling to accept what the ring had to mean.

“You think I’d give you a chance to say no?”

“You want to marry me?” She didn’t know if she needed to confirm it in words.

“I want to marry you,” he echoed. “No, wait. I’m
going
to marry you.”

He turned her back to the beach where the wedding preparations were still underway.

“I hope you don’t mind,” said Sawyer. “But that down there, it’s for us.”

“The wedding?” She gave her head a small shake.

“The wedding,” he confirmed.

“Oh, you’re joking.” She tried to laugh.

“I’m not joking, Niki. Caleb flew your family in this afternoon.”

Her gaze went back to the picture-perfect wedding on the beach. “You’re serious?”

“I’m serious.”

“What if I’d said no?”

“You weren’t going to say no.”

“You’re right,” she agreed. “I would never say no.” The contentment in her chest turned to full out joy. “I love you, Sawyer Layton.”

His arm went around her. “I love you, Niki Gerard.” He nodded to the beach. “Look. There they are.”

The staff lit the torches, and a group of people made their way to the folding chairs. She easily picked out Reed, Caleb and Travis.

“I better get down there,” said Sawyer. “Dylan’s meeting me with the rings.”

There was a knock on the door.

“That’ll be Katrina,” he told Niki. “She’s got your flowers.”

Niki felt like the world was spinning around her. “We’re really doing this? We’re getting married right now?”

“Right now,” Sawyer confirmed with an unabashed grin. “Then we’re going back to Lyndon Valley. I’m keeping the ranch. The rest we can make up as we go along.”

“I love being near my brothers,” Niki admitted on a sigh.

“And I love being near you.”

The knock sounded again.

Sawyer reached for her hands. “You look beautiful, sweetheart.”

“This is why you insisted on this particular dress.”

“This is why I insisted on you.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed hard. “I love you, Sawyer.”

He held her tight. “Then let’s make it official and forever.”

* * * * *

Keep reading for an excerpt from
A Conflict of Interest
by Barbara Dunlop

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One

I
t was inauguration night in Washington, D.C., and Cara Cranshaw had to choose between her president and her lover. One strode triumphantly though the arches of the Worthington Hotel ballroom to the uplifting strains of “Hail to the Chief” and the cheers of eight hundred well-wishers. The other stared boldly at her from across the ballroom, a shock of unruly, dark hair curling across his forehead, his bow tie slightly askew and his eyes telegraphing the message that he wanted her naked.

For the moment, it was investigative reporter Max Gray who held her attention. Despite her resolve to turn the page on their relationship, she couldn’t tear her gaze from his, nor could she stop her hand from reflexively moving to her abdomen. But Max was off-limits now that Ted Morrow had been sworn in as president.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” cried the master of ceremonies above the music and enthusiastic clapping that was spreading like a wave across the hall. “The President of the United States.” His voice rang out from the microphone onstage at the opposite end of the massive, high-ceilinged room.