If she'd agree.
Breanna closedher eyes as she and Adam emerged out onto the sidewalk. The sunlight—though it filtered down between two buildings—felt good on her face.
Adam squeezed her arm against his side. "Don't fall asleep yet. You've a real bed waiting for you just down the street."
She hummed and opened her eyes. "It sounds lovely." She shot him a sideways glance. "So does you not being chained to your father's desk. What will you do?"
He shook his head, a bemused smile on his face. "I don't know. I was so shocked to see Reggie in the crowd this morning that I've kept pinching myself. It doesn't seem real."
She was close enough to detect his inhale and the way it seemed to catch in his chest. "Out there"—he waved vaguely toward the west—"with so much time to think, of course I imagined what it would be like to choose a different path. A different life. But I never thought it could be a real possibility."
He went silent as they squeezed through a throng of people waiting to pass at a street corner.
He cleared his throat. "I was expecting you at the livery. Not that I'm not happy to have run into you at the cafe. I was just wondering—"
"If I had run away again? So you can call me a coward again?"
He grimaced. "I'll always regret saying that to you. I didn't know—"
"Of course you didn't. I only found out this morning that Ma knew."
He looked at her sharply. "You spoke about it?"
"She... set me straight, I suppose."
They were nearing the hotel, but she wasn't ready to go inside. Not quite yet. She stopped walking and turned to face him on the sidewalk. "Adam. Ask me to come back to Philadelphia with you."
His gaze was wary even as he took both her hands in his. "How do you know I won't go back to Bear Creek? I liked it there during the one day I spent with your family."
His wry statement brought a smile, but she had to remain focused. "Even if your brother takes over, there will be business to settle at the paper, won't there? And your father needs you."
He shook his head slightly. "I don't want you to be unhappy."
She squeezed his hands. "Adam. Ask me."
He stared at her for a long moment and then let go of her left hand as his right reached into his vest.
Then he dropped to one knee right there on the sidewalk.
Passersby turned and gawked.
She heard a familiar voice from several yards away, probably right in front of the hotel. Seb, calling out, "What're you doing, City Slicker?"
She ignored it, and Adam did too.
Right now she didn’t care if the whole mess of them were standing on the sidewalk watching.
Because Adam—
He drew a deep breath, and she felt the tremor that went through his hand still clasping hers.
"Come back to Philadelphia with me," he said. His gaze was intense, unrelenting. "I love you. I can't imagine my life without you in it. Whether we'll stay in Philadelphia or end up back in Bear Creek or go on an adventure somewhere else entirely, I don't know. But I do know that I want to be with you wherever life takes us. Will you marry me?"
A single tear slipped down her cheek. She nodded. "Yes."
And then he stood, slipped the ring onto her finger, and swept her into his arms.
She met his kiss eagerly, knowing they were causing a stir on the sidewalk. More so when several cowboy whoops went up from yards away. Her brothers.
