What a Bride Wants (15 page)

“
Like that was ever going to work. Notice that I didn’t interfere.”

“
I’m still a little unclear as to whether this guy’s even within my jurisdiction, but I’ll do my best,” said the sheriff. “Lawyers and their double speak. Where is he?”

“
I want to report a stolen vehicle,” said Samuel T. Emerson.

And the good sheriff smiled.

Sawyer’s encounter with his brother had left him with a faraway expression and a frown between his eyes. He didn’t seem to be riding the adrenaline high of having a gun pulled on him or of disabusing his brother of that notion with a force that was all his own. Maybe he’d done this kind of thing before. Maybe he hid his disquiet well. Ella took his hand in hers and turned it over, looking for damage.

“
I’m fine, Ella.”

Maybe on the outside.
“Do you want to go after him?”

“
No, I—no. But I should.”

“
Or you could let the authorities do what they do best and leave it to them. Do you waltz?”

He looked at her, his gaze faintly incredulous.

“He came here looking to ruin your evening.” Maybe he’d come here with even grimmer intentions, but Ella didn’t want to dwell on that. She squeezed his hand lightly and bumped shoulders with him instead. “Do we really want to give him the satisfaction of having done so? I don’t think so.”

Sawyer laughed. It was only a little laugh, but it was there.

“Ella Grace Emerson, would you care to dance?”

“
Why, thank you, kind sir, I’d love to.”

He was light on his feet
and he made her look graceful as they whirled around the dance floor beneath a ceiling of fairy light stars. He’d done this before. Not until he’d slowed and pulled her in close for movement sweet and slow did Ella tear her gaze from his to see what others thought. Her friend Joanne stood watching them with the biggest smile in her eyes. Reese Kendrick had a half hitch to his lips that for him equated to a broad smile. Jasper Flint was eyeing them with an air of quiet calculation and so was Jane from the chamber of commerce. Ella lifted her chin: let them calculate all they liked. Ella was exactly where she wanted to be and no-one, well-meaning or otherwise, was going to take that away from her.

She turned her gaze back to Sawyer, to those brilliant green eyes and the smile in them
, and the dimples in his cheeks, and felt blessed.

“
I don’t know how it happened,” she murmured. “But all he’s done is to make me want you more.”

“
That’s ‘cause you’re ornery.”

And then a smiling young woman thrust a piece of paper in between them. Several pieces of paper, stapled together. An entry form, no less. For The Great Wedding Giveaway.
“We’re a little low on entries so we’re giving them out to likely-looking couples,” she said. “And you two look gorgeous together. Love the dimples. And the dress.” And then the smiling cupid was gone.

“
We should enter,” said Ella impulsively. “No, wait. Does that mean I just proposed to you?”

“
Pretty much.”

“
Then I take it back.”

“
You don’t want to propose to me?”

“
Absolutely not. I want
you
to propose to
me.”

“
We should enter,” Sawyer said, dimples and all. “And support Marietta’s fine endeavor.” Sawyer’s delicious rumble held the teasing edge she’d come to love. “Help me fill it out.”

Ella found her little clutch purse
which had a pen in it, and then they found a shadowed corner of the ballroom’s bar and dispensed with names and addresses, nationalities and dates of birth – the easy parts. When Ella stared at the blank lines where those five hundred loving words were supposed to go, she took a deep breath. To hell with supporting the town, it had all started with lust.

I saw him and my body said I want that
, she wrote and then handed the pen to Sawyer.

I saw her and smiled
.

“
That’s it? That’s all you’ve got?” she asked and Sawyer rolled his eyes and added some more.

I saw her and
smiled. She smiled right back and I trembled
.

He handed her back the pen.

I spent time with him and my heart soared
.

I got to know her and I couldn
’t stay away
.

I saw the hunger in him, and the strength, and wanted more
.

I shared my deepest fears with her and she kissed them away
.

He remade his world for me and carved a place for me in it
.

She shared her world with me and I gave her my heart
.

I love you,
and I don’t want to win The Great Wedding Giveaway. It’s a wonderful prize, but I can’t wait that long when all I’ve ever dreamed of in a man is standing right in front of me. It’s you, Cameron Franklin Sawyer. All that you are. All that we can be.

Elope with me
.

No
.

Marry me
.

Yes
.

She dropped the pen as he spun her into his arms and lifted her, kissed her, and, as always, the world around them faded away until there was only him.
And lust. And a love so big it filled her heart to overflowing.

“
I love you, Ella. With all that I am and all that I can be. I’m yours. Will you marry me?”

“
Yes.” Ella kissed him again, promptly lost herself once more in the warmth of him and the taste of forever. “Yes.”

Six weeks later Ella waited impatiently, two horses saddled and at the ready, as Sawyer drove up to the ranch and stepped from his pickup. He’d been in Australia for a little over a month helping his father refinance the family business, and he’d be going back again before he was through, but he’d kept his promise to return and Ella could barely wait for his smile and his touch.

This was what happened when wild longing turned into bone-deep love. You wanted a person to go and do what they had to do, you gave them your blessing and one-hundred-and-fifty percent of your support, and you vowed that when they came back you
’d give them time to settle and room to breathe.

She
’d been doing so
well
with all of that.

And then Sawyer set both feet on the ground and turned, and Ella launched herself into his arms, glorying in the way they closed tightly around her as he swept her off her feet. Video calls were wonderful things but they couldn
’t compete to having a living, breathing Sawyer in her arms, swinging her around, his deep laughter wrapping around her heart.

“
You’ve no idea how much I’ve missed you,” he muttered. “I couldn’t wait to get back.”

“
I’m coming with you next time.” Ella proceeded to lay kisses from his neck all the way to his temple. “You’ve no idea the number of people who are putting in for the ticket. Apparently I’m not all that good at patiently waiting for you to return.”

“
Who’d have guessed?” His voice slid through her, a deep delicious rumble shot through with laughter. “How would you feel about one month in Australia–one month here for a while?”

“
I’d feel good.” Better than good. And then his lips were on hers, strong and sure and the greeting turned into a homecoming as one kiss slid into the next, each one notching the heat up that little bit hotter until finally, for the sake of breathing room, Ella broke away.

“
You keep kissing me like that and I’m likely to agree to anything.”

His dimples put in an appearance as he smiled, which was just plain
mean
when it came to Ella retaining her decorum. “I know you’ve had a long trip, but how do
you
feel about heading up to the lodge tonight?” she asked him as he turned his head to eyeball the horses. “It’s private and warm, I stocked it full of food yesterday afternoon and we can get as naked as we want there. Nakedness being a priority to my way of thinking. I want you stretched out in front of the log fire there. I’ve been dreaming up all sorts of variations on that particular theme. Long live the imagination, I say.”

“
How do the horses fit in?”

“
They’re for getting there. We can drive up the mountain as far as we can, and then take the horses from there. It shouldn’t take too long. Okay, it might take a while. Especially if I have to teach you how to ride on the way. We can go slow. I’ll probably die of anticipation on the way. You haven’t changed your mind about wanting me, have you?” That last question came out so needy that she immediately wanted to take it back.

“
Ella, are you babbling?”

“
I don’t babble.” Much.

Could be she was a little nervous as to how Sawyer
’s time in Australia might have changed him. But he didn’t look all that changed. His hair was a fraction tidier and his face looked a little bit more tanned, but the light in his eyes when he looked at her was just the same and his kisses felt as magical to her as ever. “Do you still want to marry me?”

He stepped back, set her at arms-length and eyed her sternly.
“Ella Grace soon-to-be Sawyer, what kind of question is that?”

“
A needy one,” she admitted. “I just—”

“
Yes,” he interrupted gruffly. “Yes, I want to marry you. I even have a ring for you this time. There was a distinct lack of a ring last time we discussed this, as I recall. Maybe you’re feeling that lack.”

“
You are so right. Let’s put my neediness down to that. It’s nothing at all to do with feeling achingly vulnerably head over heels in love with you.”

He shared a smile made for soothing the skittish.
“Would it help if I told you that I feel exactly the same way about you?”

“
You should probably say that a lot.”

“
I will. Would you like your ring now or would you rather wait until there’s a crackling fire in the background rather than two horses and several farm vehicles in the background?”

“
Now. Definitely now,” and then as an afterthought, “please.”

Sawyer dug in his pocket and pulled out what looked like a scrap of black velvet. The material fell aside to reveal two rings, one a plain white band and the other ring considerably more ornate. It had three blindingly white diamonds set in a row across the band, all of them enormous. And that was before she took into account the scattering of smaller pink stones winding their way around the base of the others.

“Whoa!”

“
So, was that a good
whoa
?”

It had definitely been an unladylike
whoa
. A lady would have aimed for a quietly pleased gasp. “Sawyer, it’s gorgeous!”

“
They’re Kimberley diamonds.” Sawyer slid the engagement ring on her finger and then brought her hand up and kissed the inside of her wrist. “Don’t lose them in a cow.”

“
I would
never
. I’d go in after them.”

His dimples put on a show.
“Good to know.”

“
Shall we show my father?” Ella tilted her fingers this way and that, making the diamonds catch the light as Sawyer wrapped the wedding ring back in velvet and slid it in his pocket. “I think we should. And then he’ll want to know what you’ve been doing this past month, and then he’ll try and show you his new bull, to which you will say ‘tomorrow’ because if you go admiring bulls today we are never going to get away in time to make it to the lodge before nightfall.”

“
And that would be bad.”

“
Especially seeing as I want to take a couple of quick detours along the way to look at possible building sites for a safe and private little mountain cabin.”

“
Don’t you already have one of those?”

He definitely had her measure. She favored him with her most angelic smile.
“Or a sprawling family home. I’ve been talking with the grandson of the architect who built the ranch. He’s a big fan of his grandfather’s work and he has lots of ideas of his own. Fusion architecture. It sounds very appealing.”

“
I really shouldn’t have left you alone for a month, should I?”

“
So. Much. Time on my hands.” She took his hand and tugged him towards the house. “Not that I’m impatient but the sooner you say hello to my father the sooner we can get away. He’ll be happy to see you and he’ll
really
like the ring. He can say I’m engaged if I have the ring.”

“
He really doesn’t mind you marrying me, does he?”

“
He knows what I want and he knows what I need, and you’re it.”

“
My brother—”

“
Is not you.”

“
—is likely to be in prison for quite some time, but he will get out one day.”

“
And if he comes for me and mine ever again he’ll regret it. I protect what’s mine.”

“
That’s my line.”

“
I want a different line. A better one.”

“
I’ll try and deliver it naked.”

And off she went on yet another naked Sawyer-induced fantasy.
“We probably only need five minutes or so with my father. Remember the lodge and the open fireplace? You naked amongst all the rugs? I would really like to remember it well and that won’t happen if we don’t actually get there. We’re on a tight schedule, especially if we have to walk the horses through the snow to the lodge… and since you don’t know how to ride.”

He grinned wide and boyish as he glanced at the horses.
“I know I don’t know anything about cattle. I never said I couldn’t ride.”

“
Have you been holding out on me, cowboy?”

“
Not anymore and never again.” He swung her into his arms again and Ella was only too willing to stay there. “I love you. I’m always going to love you, need you, care for you and want to be with you.” He ducked his head, brushed his lips against the tender lobe of her ear and Ella whimpered with want and with need as heat unfurled low in her belly. “We are going to have the most amazing life together,” he promised.

And she believed him.