“Why don’t you want to write a book now?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I think I’ve just placed that dream on the back burner.”
We walked for another minute in silence before he asked, “Where’s home?”
“Colorado Springs. What about you?”
“River Falls, Colorado. It’s a small town west of Granby. If you blink at all when driving down Main Street, you’ll miss the whole town.”
I squeezed his arm. “I’ve always wanted to live in a small town. Colorado Springs isn’t as big as Denver, but it’s not small either. I want to live somewhere that’s so small, everyone knows everyone. You walk into the grocery store, andpeople are greeting you by name. Where there isn’t even a stoplight on Main Street!”
Ladd laughed. “River Falls is out for you, then. We have exactly one light on Main Street.”
I felt my smile grow bigger. “Do you love it there?”
He nodded. “I do. We have a lot of tourists who visit our town, both in the summer and winter, due to the river, which the town is named after, River Falls. Grand Lake is a large lake nearby, and the ski resort in Granby. If you enjoy white-water rafting, snowshoeing, or fishing, then you’d love it there.”
“I’ve never done white-water rafting, but it’s on my list of things I’d like to try.”
“What else is on your list?”
I exhaled. “Riding a horse, especially in the winter. Well, learning to ride a horse at all. Hiking up a mountain. Learning to fly-fish—that’s a must. Riding in a car down a one-lane road with the windows rolled down and Fleetwood Mac’s song ‘Landslide’ turned up as loud as it can go.”
Ladd stopped once again and looked at me. “Will you marry me, Vivianne?”
Laughing, I rolled my eyes. “You hardly know me.”
“You just described my dream woman.”
My brows rose. “Did I?”
He grinned. “You did.”
I chewed on my lower lip for a few moments before I said, “I tell you what, Ladd Wilde, ask me one year from today.”
“One year? That’s a long time to wait, Viv.”
My stomach swooped at his use of a nickname. No one had ever given me a nickname, not even my parents.
“Itisa long time, but I think it’ll be worth the wait. And somewhere in the back of my mind, a year from now, I thinkwe’llbe worth the wait.”
His eyes searched my face before they landed on my mouth. I swept my tongue across them instinctively, and Ladd slowly lifted his gaze.
“Your eyes,” I whispered. “They almost look silver.”
A wide smile took over his face. “They change colors.”
“They change colors?” I asked on a laugh. “What other colors are they?”
Ladd slowly shook his head. “Uh-uh…not so fast. You’ve got a year to find out.”
He reached for my hand and laced it back through his arm as we started walking once again.
“What do your parents do for a living?” I asked.
“They own a cattle ranch. My father is the third generation to run it.”
“Is that what you’ll do when you get back to River Falls?”
