“It would sure help if you’d just go away, Tony,” Colt snapped for what seemed like the tenth time.
“Not gonna happen, Colt,” Tony drawled.
This was not going according to plan, Colt thought with frustration. Then everything else disappeared, because he saw headlights in the distance. That had to be Brielle — unless the hands had called in the sheriff, too.
Colt wouldn’t have put that past them. Still, with his heart thundering and the blood rushing through his veins, he had no doubt it was Brielle. He could feel it. His mood lifted, his heart raced, and a smile returned to his face.
He planned to spend the rest of his life proving to this woman each and every day how much he loved her, and to treat her like the princess he knew she was.
But first he had to convince her to allow him in her life.
Much easier said than done…
Chapter Thirty-Six
Exhaustion seemed to be her middle name now, but Brielle was happy to be driving down the long road that led to her home. And yes, this was her home. She’d enjoyed the visit with her oldest brother, loved meeting his soon-to-be fiancée — at least if Crew had anything to say about it — and loved spending time with her father and getting to know her uncles, but she was glad to be home.
What a different drive this was for her now. The first time she’d taken this road, she’d been ticked off, miserable, and certain that her life was over. And it was — life as she’d once known it was over. But that was a good thing.
Unfortunately, Colt lived nearby. Talk about ambivalence.
Her anger was long gone, but that didn’t mean she could just forget what he’d done. If only her foolish heart agreed with her mind. But the longer she was away from him, the more she yearned for his touch.
No. Impossible. How would she ever know for sure that he wanted her and not her land? Was it still about the land? She hadn’t lied to him. She had to remember that and harden her heart to him.
When she turned the corner, she noticed a strange glow coming from her house. “What the…?” she said aloud.
When she pulled up, she realized her porch was lit up with…candles. Yes, those were candles, what appeared to be hundreds and hundreds of candles on her railing. As she emerged from the truck, she found Colt standing on her front deck, his arms at his sides, his whole body tense.
To her left, she saw Tony and Hawk sitting in a couple of lawn chairs beside the ranch’s fire truck, but she barely glanced their way. Her eyes were drawn to one place — to the man now coming down the front steps.
They met halfway and she stood before him. But she didn’t know what to say. Just leave?
“I’ve missed you, Brielle.” His softly spoken words were nearly her undoing. But somehow she did manage to find her voice.
“What are you doing, Colt?”
“I can’t go another day without seeing you, Brielle. When I close my eyes, I’m holding you.”
“Colt, please just give it up.”
“I can’t. Though I know it’s only a dream, it feels so real. I picture myself running my fingers through your long red hair, I feel the tremor in your body when we touch. Feelings like I’ve never felt before rush through me, and then I find myself with my lips brushing against yours. I imagine that hitch in your breathing, that small indication that you’re as moved as I am each and every time we touch. Then I open my eyes and you aren’t there. Everything disappears and I’m left with only emptiness. I want to close my eyes again, live in that perfect moment of having you in my arms.”
“Colt…”
She was close to tears, and she didn’t know what to say. He was offering his soul with so much passion, so much love. It had to be real. There was no way it couldn’t be.
“Did you know that every time I come near you, I’m afraid of the way you affect me? And afraid of the way I need you. Or I was afraid. I thought I was happy before I met you, Brielle. I wasn’t. And when I look into your eyes, I feel like I’ve found what my life has always been missing. And I didn’t know there was something missing until recently, but now that I’ve had you by my side, I can never go back to the existence I walked through before you, to the way I was. You make me feel like I’m flying. You are worth holding onto forever, and I won’t throw this away. I promise that if you give me another chance, I will never again treat you with disrespect, and I will never tell another untruth. I will hold you, care for you, and love you.”
Brielle didn’t try to stop the tears anymore. This man did love her — her! — spoiled little Brielle Storm who’d needed her father’s intervention to help her find herself. Somehow, Colt had managed to see past her facade. And he actually liked the woman hiding inside. When he dropped to his knees in front of her and pulled out a black velvet jeweler’s box, her knees shook.
“Brielle, please end my misery. Please be my wife — help make me a better man.”
His eyes shone bright in the light from the candles behind them and the full moon filling the starry sky, and Brielle couldn’t stand up a second longer. Sinking to her knees in front of him, she placed her hands on his face and brushed her lips against his.
“I don’t want to live another day without you either, Colt,” she whispered, and she wrapped her arms around his neck.
“I love you, Brielle.” He ran his hands up and down her back, pushing the last of her worries away.
“I love you, too, Colt. Yes, I’ll marry you. My heart won’t let me do anything else.”
He sat back, and she felt bereft until he lifted her hand, pulled out a flawless square-cut diamond, and slipped the ring on her finger — a perfect fit.
“You are my everything,” he told her, and he sealed their promise to each other with a kiss.
Tony and Hawk had to turn away from the stirring scene, and from each other. The two gruff men were too touched by the beautiful moment they’d just witnessed.
After Colt carried Brielle through the front door, the two men outside put out all the candles, and then the only light shining down on the old ranch house was from the stars, which seemed to be twinkling a little more brightly on one of the last nights of summer.
Epilogue
It looks as if we’ll be getting at least two weddings this year,” Richard said as he enjoyed a nice scotch with his brothers.
“Yes. I truly admire Colt,” Joseph said. “Always have.”
“Well, of course you do, because he’s a good man. I’m just grateful I found that land. My only complaint is I missed most of the romance.”