Her brother slowed back the engine as the boat neared the yacht. “You’ve been saying that since you were six and I kicked over your sand castle.”
Yet another instance when her family had tried to dictate her life to her.
She’d put a lot of time and dreams into that sand castle. All she’d ever wanted was a happily-ever-after of her own and damned if she would let her brother mess that up, even if he meant well. She’d had enough of putting her own needs on the back burner just to keep the peace. Making the right decision about Jordan was too important for her and her child. “I meant it then, Parker, and I really mean it now.
Don’t interfere in my life.”
“I think you should hear Jefferies out.”
“You think?” Her fingers clenched around the railing, and it was all she could do not to stamp her foot in frustration. “What gives you the right to decide?”
Jordan stopped Parker with a hand to his arm. “She’s correct. She makes the decision as to whether I go or stay.” With an agile leap, he stepped up and out onto the bow of the ski boat, his balance steady as the craft rocked beneath him. “You know that we have to talk sometime. But I won’t come on board unless you want me to.”
“I don’t want you to.” Her lips lied even as her heart cried out for her to give him a chance. “I need time to think.”
“Fair enough. I’ll go back.”
Her next argument stalled in her mouth. He was giving up that easily?
Disappointment melted through her veins…until she realized he hadn’t moved. She knew. He was waiting for her to tell him flat out to go. Somehow she couldn’t force those words past her lips.
She blinked against the whipping ocean wind plastering her bridesmaid dress to her body. Those weren’t tears of hope stinging her eyes, damn it.
Okay, maybe they were. She could at least listen to what he had to say as long as he stayed off the yacht and on the bow.
Sea spray splashed up across Jordan ’s shoes, but his feet stayed planted, his attention focused solely on her. “While you’re thinking, I want you to consider the fact that I love you.”
Drat, there went her heart with the flip-flopping again. But she still needed her sign that she could believe those beautiful words she’d been longing to here.
“I love you, Brooke Garrison, and no matter what happens between us, I want you to have this.” He held out his hand with a small jewelry box in his palm. The sort of little velvet box that held a ring.
He lowered his hand as if to toss the box up to her.
“Wait!” she shouted. “Don’t you dare throw that at me. What if you miss?”
“I won’t,” he said with such assurance she almost smiled at his predictable arrogance.
“How about you hold on to it while you keep talking.” She fisted both hands to resist the temptation to motion him up onto the yacht and say to hell with signs.
He’d said he loved her, and she wanted his diamond on her finger like the ones all the other women in her family now possessed. Even though she always could have afforded whatever gems she pleased, she found herself craving the emotional commitment that came with this particular stone. Caution and pride overrode impulse to take what she wanted without weighing the cost.
“I can’t make you believe me.” Moonbeams glinted on his blond hair, casting shadows along the serious lines of his face, her hunky charmer completely somber.
“That trust has to come from you. I’m willing to wait as long as it takes for you to believe me.”
Jordan opened the box. Starlight sparked off theohmigod -huge diamond inside.
“So you’re proposing—again.” Did he really think she could be bought with a big rock? A beautiful big rock held by the man she loved.
If this were real, what a memory it would make, her handsome man in a tuxedo proposing from the bow of a boat. All the practical, cautious parts of her cried out for the beautiful romanticism of it to be real.
He shook his head. “No, I’m not going to ask you to marry me again, unless that’s what you want.” Jordan extended his hand, his feet so sure against the jostling waves that could too easily send the priceless gem to the bottom of the bay. “I am, however, asking you to wear my mom’s ring.”
His mother’s? Was this a trick? “That’s an engagement ring.”
“Wear it on your right hand if you want.” His voice carried strong and clear on the night breeze whipping over the water. “I’ve been saving this to give the one woman for me. No matter what you decide, this ring could only belong to you.”
Wow. Her sign.
How funny that she’d been searching for a big symbol for why she could trust him, and the answer came to her in a way she’d never expected.
The sentimentality of his ring touched her heart so much more than anything he could have bought. He could purchase anything. But this was like the time he’d chosen the painting for her. He understood her, the essence of her and what she would want. He knew her heart.
And as an added bonus, he’d even said all those humbling words in front of her brother.
She saw the two men, side by side, both so self-assured, successful and yes, more than a little arrogant. But men a woman could count on. Men who were willing to lay it on the line for a woman—one woman.
Jordan was a man to trust. She knew it now without question.
He’d won his chance to stay, a chance to tell her more about why he loved her.
She stepped back from the rail and crooked her finger at him. “Okay, then. Come aboard and we’ll talk.”
A deep smile creased his face, but she could swear she also saw relief in his starlit blue eyes.
Jordan climbed the ladder to board and she got a close-up look at the ring—an emerald-cut diamond with tapered baguettes. Beautiful for its sentimentality even more than the magnificence of the cut and size. Victoria’s ring had been worn with a love that lasted all her days.
A whistle sounded from the ski boat, from Parker. “Hello? So, Brooke? Do I go or stick around?”
She stared at the diamond, his mother’s ring. She’d known about Jordan for a long time, thanks to gossip and common business dealings. He was the last man to show a softer side to anyone. Yet, he’d done so here, tonight. And now she knew she was woman enough to stand up to him during those times his stubbornness got the best of him.
“Parker?”
“Yeah, kid?”
“You’re back in the will.” He winked. “Be happy.”