In true Grant fashion, he kneels and cups my hands in his. When he presses my palm to his lips, I have to fight the tears of happiness that are long overdue. He kisses my palm up to my wrist before cupping my hand between his two larger ones.
“Elly?”
“Yes, Gray?”
“You stormed into my stables over a year ago and turned my world upside down. On that day everything fell into place, I knew the moment I saw you that my life was complete. Since then, I have been the happiest version of myself because of you. Will you stand with me and spend the rest of your life with me as my wife? Take my name,finallymove in with me, build a family with me, and be a mother to my daughter, who made me promise to ask for her, too?”
A laugh bubbles from my chest. He’s been asking me to move to the ranch for months, but some weird old-fashioned part of me wants to set a good example for Lainey Rai, and tears have started to stream down my cheeks. I already love that little girl like she’s my own. Lifting my fingers to cover my lips, I look into the eyes that have given me everything I’ve ever wanted since I met him.
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a beautiful solitaire diamond on a thick platinum band. It’s the ring I was looking at in one of Sloane’s bridal magazines I found over six months ago. The wedding band that goes with it is a thin cradle of diamonds on each side of the engagement band.
My eyes go wide as I look at it and then him.
He smiles. “I pay attention.”
He does. Toeverything.
“Oh Gray. It’s perfect.” I straighten my fingers, and he slides it up my ring finger. Of course, it’s a perfect fit.
“Well?”
My eyes snap to his. “Oh! Yes!” I laugh. “Yes! Yes! A thousand times, yes!”
As he stands, he pulls me against him and my legs automatically go around his waist as he picks me up. He kisses me deeply, the warm skin of his stomach pressed against mine.
I’m nearly breathless when we finish the kiss, and I press my forehead to his. “Does everyone at the house know why we drove away in the UTV?”
That explains Sloane’s grin as we cut through the kitchen to the back door. It wasn’t her usual ‘see you later’ smile, it was more like a shit-eating ‘I know something you don’t know’ grin.
Even Mr. Harlow tipped his head with a sparkle in his eye as we passed him in the hall.
“Yep.”
My own shit-eating grin spreads across my face as I realize this couldn’t have worked out more perfectly. “I was starting to worry I was going to have to force your hand.” I say, my arms tight around his neck.
His eyebrows twitch, and he looks over my face. “Why would you have to force my hand?”
I shrug my shoulder casually and say, “Well, I would like for us to be married when our baby is born.”
His entire face goes slack, and he stares at me. “What? How? You’re on the pill.”
“Remember, I had that allergy sinus infection a couple ofmonths ago? Well, the medicine they gave me messed with my birth control, I found out this morning when I went to the doctor.” I give a chuckle. “Well, I’ve suspected for a couple of weeks, but I wanted to make it official.”
His face is still slack. “We’re gonna have a baby?”
“Yes. There’s going to be another little Harlow running around soon.”
“When?”
“About seven months from now, around Thanksgiving.”
“Hot-fuckin’-damn, we’re gonna have a baby.” The smile on his face matches the light in his eyes as he kisses me. “Fuck, I love you.”
Finding Gray and his family have made up for every lonely moment of the first twenty-four years of my life, and the smile on my face is genuine now. No more fake smiles to get through the day.
I kiss his cheeks and then his lips. “I’ve never been as happy as I’ve been since I met you. I love you, too.”
****
