Her cheeks warmed. She didn’t know where to begin. From the moment he’d shown up at the inn’s front door wearing an immaculately fitted black suit and carrying a dozen red roses every single minute had seemed like a fairytale.
“You got me to a restaurant with a wine list the size of a telephone book and no prices on the menu and made me love it. The food was amazing. And this…” She flicked a hand to indicate the linen-draped table set in an intimate alcove overlooking the Roaring Fork River and the landscaping beyond the window decorated with twinkling white lights. “I don’t know how you managed to get reservations on short notice when most people wait a month to get in, but this is so…perfect. The flowers, the wine, that decadent tiramisu…everything.”
He smiled a little, but he seemed tense. “I’m glad you enjoyed it. I want nothing but the best for you. For us. From here on out.”
Her heart hiccupped at the serious look in his eyes. She swallowed. “What do you mean?”
Gavin reached across the table and captured her hand. Her pulse did its usual skip on contact. She loved the strength and gentleness of his hands and the warmth of his skin on hers. He caressed the heart of her palm with his thumb, stirring up a fizzy sensation low in her abdomen.
“Sabrina, I want to go to sleep with you in my arms like we did last night and wake up with in you in mine every morning.”
A thrill shot through her. At the same time, fear tickled her nape. But she’d promised herself seven months and she’d take it. A finite period of pleasure would be safe. But part of her—an itty bitty part—had begun to want more. She struggled to catch her breath. “I’d like that, too.”
His fingers tightened. “I don’t want to have to sneak around to be with you, and I don’t want to upset Henry. I respect him too much for that. Him catching me coming out of your room this morning made us all uncomfortable.”
Understatement of the year. Pops hadn’t said a word, but the tension had hung over them like a dark cloud all day. “I thought you were going back to your room as soon as I fell asleep.”
“You asked me to stay, and I didn’t have the strength to refuse.” Before she could correct him Gavin shifted, reaching into his suit coat pocket with his free hand and withdrawing a small black velvet box.
That couldn’t be what she thought it was.
“Marry me, Sabrina, then we can share as many nights like this as we want.” He flipped open the lid, revealing a pale blue stone set on a woven gold band.
She gasped. This couldn’t be happening. Not to her. She wasn’t ready.
“The stone reminded me of your eyes. Bright, clear and beautiful. And when the light catches it right, there’s an inner fire that ignites. From the moment I saw it, I knew it belonged on your finger and that I wanted to be the one to place it there.”
No one had ever said anything as romantic to her in her life. Her head reeled and her pulse pounded in her ears. She lifted a shaky hand to her chest. “It’s—Gavin, the ring is beautiful, but we haven’t even known each other a week.”
His gaze remained steadfast. “Long enough to know we’re as perfectly matched as two people will ever be.”
Wanting to say yes was wrong on so many levels, but the tiny word danced on the tip of her tongue. And that was crazy. It was too soon to make such a momentous decision. Hadn’t she sworn never to fall in love again because she didn’t think she could survive the hurt of losing someone special? And wasn’t Gavin still a rich guy?
But he is so much more than that, an insistent voice in her head argued. He’s fun and sexy and smart. He made her feel alive and special. She’d been wrong about him on so many levels. He didn’t act as if he were entitled to anything he wanted, and he didn’t treat her as if she was less worthy because she was less wealthy.
Stop it. Just say no. Or ask for more time.
But what if she did and she lost him forever? Was she willing to risk that? No. And what if this moment was the one that she’d remember for the rest of her life? She fought to clear her head and use logic. “We barely know each other.”
“Ask me anything.”
“I don’t even know you well enough to know what to ask. What about your job and your insistence on leaving Aspen?”
“I’ll make Aspen my home base. That way you can be here for Henry.”
“Where would we live?”
“For now, I have to live on Jarrod property.”
“I can’t leave Pops alone at night.”
“I’ll arrange for someone to stay with him.”
He made it sound so easy. “Why are you in such a rush?”
“I don’t want to miss another day with you.”
If a heart could actually melt, hers would be a soggy puddle beneath her feet right now. So much for her resistance to his charm.
“I’ll charter a plane and first thing in the morning we’ll fly to Vegas.”
Shock knocked her back in her chair. “Vegas?”
“In another week you’ll be too busy for a vacation. We’ll find a little chapel and get married and be back before Henry misses us.”
A cold rock settled in her stomach, squashing all her warm, fuzzy feelings. “You want to elope? Tomorrow?”
“Why wait?”
“We’re moving too fast.”
“Do you love me?”
The abrupt and unexpected question stunned her speechless. She’d been trying very, very hard not to let her mind wander down that dangerous, slippery path. Her stomach churned, and her thoughts swirled wildly. Did she love him? The weight of the answer settled on her like a cold blanket of heavy snow. “I—I am falling in love with you.”
He closed his eyes, squeezed her hand and inhaled long and slow. His emotional reaction to her confession touched her deeply. Then he met her gaze again with determination-filled eyes. “Marry me so we can be together.”
He hadn’t said he loved her back. But from what she’d learned of his childhood, of his mother’s death when he was four and his father’s overbearing nature, she suspected words of love wouldn’t come easily to Gavin. She’d have to work on that.
“Gavin, even if I accepted your proposal, I wouldn’t elope. I did that the first time.” The hand in her lap clenched and released. Should she tell him? Yes. If their relationship had a future, then it had to be based on total honesty.
“There’s something you need to know. The reason I was in such a hurry to get married the first time is because…because I was pregnant. I—I was still in high school when I found out. My parents gave me the ultimatum of getting rid of my baby or getting out of their house. In their circle, unmarried daughters didn’t have unplanned babies.” She searched his face, trying to read his reaction, but failed to see so much as a flicker of emotion.
“I told Russell, and when he came home from boot camp we eloped. I haven’t been home since. I went with him when he reported to Fort Bragg. I was angry at my parents for not being there for me when I needed them, and I didn’t tell them until after the ceremony, but I’ll always regret not inviting my grandparents. Pops and Grandma were hurt by my selfishness, and I won’t do that to Pops again, not after all he’s done for me.”
Gavin’s eyes filled with compassion. “What happened to your child?”
Loss welled in her chest. “I miscarried shortly after Russell was deployed. The doctors don’t know why. It just…happened. They said it shouldn’t happen again, but we didn’t try. We wanted to wait until Russell got out of the military. And then he—then he was gone.”
He gave her hand another squeeze. “You had to go through that alone?”
“Losing my baby, yes. But Pops was there for me after Russell.”
“I’m sorry. What about now? Do you want your parents at the ceremony?”
They wouldn’t care enough to take the time away from their precious university. “They’re probably too busy to fly out.”
“Then it will be just Henry and us.”
“What about your family?”
“That’s up to you. As far as I’m concerned, as long as you’re there I don’t need anyone else.”
Yet another of Cupid’s arrows scored a direct hit to her heart. Pops would be happy to know he was right when he’d told her that when the right one came along love would hit hard and fast. She hadn’t believed him. After all the pain she’d been through she’d believed herself immune to love. Apparently not. Her feelings for Gavin were far different from the slow-building affection she’d had with Russell.
“Could we wait a little while?”
“Would you be comfortable staying at my place every night until the wedding?”
She sighed. “No.”
“Do you really want to sleep alone?”
He did have a point. “I’d rather be with you.”
He removed the ring from the box and extended his hand, palm up. Tremors started deep in her belly. Why was she being such a coward when she could have more than she’d ever dreamed of—a passionate marriage to a man she loved and a chance to take care of Pops.
“Say you’ll marry me, Sabrina,” he encouraged without one hint of impatience. “On Monday we’ll get our marriage license, and I’ll set something up as soon as I can at the resort and we can be together. Possibly even as soon as Monday evening.”
Her lungs emptied. Her head spun. Her conscience said Slow down but her heart said Yes, yes, yes. She offered Gavin a trembling hand and met his dark gaze. “Yes, I’ll marry you, Gavin Jarrod. I want to be your wife and spend the rest of my life waking in your arms.”
He took her hand and slid the cool ring onto her finger, then kissed her knuckles. “Thank you.”
Teary-eyed, Sabrina stared at the ring—a symbol of the kind of happiness she’d never intended to allow herself again. “The stone is beautiful. What is it? A sapphire?”
“A blue diamond.”
Her heart went ka-bump. “Aren’t those incredibly rare?”
“Not as rare as you.”
The words added yet another fairy-tale twinkle to the evening. But a teensy part of her brain asked if a man who bought priceless blue diamonds would ever be happy with a plain-old-quartz kind of girl.
“Let’s go back to the inn and share our news and a bottle of champagne with Henry.”
Sabrina couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate except maybe in Gavin’s bed. But making love with her fiancé would have to wait.
The guilt knife twisted in Gavin’s gut every time Sabrina beamed a smile in his direction. She loved him.And he didn’t deserve it.
But he couldn’t allow his feelings to show. Not with Henry watching him like a hungry hawk. Sabrina had already been through so much, her parents’ betrayal, losing her baby and then her husband. He had no right to pile more misery on her. But backing out of the deal now would hurt her more than sticking it out and letting her love slowly fade over time—as it undoubtedly would.