After she said good-bye to her cousin, the woman drove off with a wave.
And then he was just the two of them standing on the sidewalk in front of the squat brick building.
"You came all this way to thank me?" she asked.
"I came because I can't imagine not having you in my life."
Her eyes widened, and she stepped back.
He hadn't planned to lay it out there like that. "Maggie…" He couldn't stand it a second longer. He reached for her, rested his hands at her waist.
She didn't pull away.
"I'm sorry for that last night. At the gala. I should've found a way to extricate myself from Tirith and—"
"I didn't want that.” She shook her head to emphasize the words. “I knew how important the gala was for the foundation.” Her gaze lowered. “And besides, Tirith is incredible. If you felt something for her—”
“I don’t.”
When she raised her eyes, he saw the vulnerability in their depths. The questions that he’d put there. “I’ve never felt more than friendship for her. I never will. My heart belongs to you.”
And he’d do whatever it took to prove it, including grovel. "I should've handled things differently. At the very least, I should've asked you to stay."
He raised one hand and touched her cheek. She closed her eyes and leaned toward his palm.
He couldn't resist any longer. He leaned down and kissed her.
It was right, that first touch of lips, without any pretense between them. Her hands rested on his shoulders.
But when he would've pulled her closer, deepened the kiss, she pressed gently on his shoulders and pushed him away.
Her expression was drawn as he looked down at her. Had he read things completely wrong?
"Luc, I have—I care about you. A great deal. But before things go any further..." She sighed. "Would you come with me? Out to the ranch?"
He'd go with her anywhere. "Of course."
Maggie should have been elatedthat Luc had come for her. She was elated—and frightened.
She figured the best way she could explain to him was to show him.
He'd joined her in the farm truck, and now they bumped over the cattle guard. She didn't drive him up to the ranch house. Dad would be up there. Instead, she drove down the rutted lane, past the barn. Out to the fields, a quarter mile in, to a hill where a good portion of the spread was laid out in front of them. She got out of the truck, and he joined her in front of the ticking engine.
For a few moments they stood there, look out over the grassland dotted with grazing cattle.
He stood slightly distant from her, his hands in his pockets. "Should I have stayed in Glorvaird?"
"No!" She turned to him, and he faced her, though there was still too much distance between them.
She took a deep breath. "This is what I wanted to show you." She swept her arm out to the side. "My family has a legacy in Glorvaird, but a part of my legacy is here, too. This land. The animals. Even the foundation and the people we help. And my dad is here."
Tirith had said differently, but Maggie knew in her heart that it was her fault her parents had split. If there was any hope of them being reunited, she'd do everything she could to make it happen. And that meant she should probably stay here, with Dad.
"I can't abandon this part of myself."
But she didn't want to live without Luc, either.
Tears threatened, and she closed her eyes against them.
