“Yes, Your Honor.” He quickly moved to take the dog from the marshal. Erin waited until the door was shut firmly.
“Do you gentlemen have any other business in here?” She made the question—directed to the attorneys standing at the back—sharp.
“No, Your Honor. Sorry about that,” they both said as they exited the courtroom.
That left only her and the marshal who had begun the whole interruption. The court was not pleased.
“You have business, you say, before this court—yet you do not appear on my docket. That is a problem, Marshal Parker.”
“Sorry, Your Honor, but time was short, and I had planned for the courtroom to be clearing out.”
“And how do you know my dog? Explain that.”
“Yes, well, I had a friend whose rescue dog they adopted had puppies and I knew that you had expressed an interest in finding the right dog. And I saw this one and knew that the two of you belonged together. I’m sorry if that was a mistake. I can return her.”
“You most certainly will not. She is my property now. Let’s get on with this. I want to get home at some point. What is this business you say you have?”
“How about you gavel the court closed, and then come down off that bench and we can talk in a more civilized manner?”
“Civilized? My courtroom is always civilized.”
“Okay…a more personal manner then. Just come down, please.”
Erin did not respond right away. What was he up to? What was the right thing for her to do? After all, he did come into her courtroom. She hadn’t sought him out. Evidently, it was important enough to bring him there, so the least she could do was let him have his say and then leave. The sooner, the better.
She stood and made her way down the steps and then out front of the bench, standing on the opposite end of the aisle, by the prosecutor’s table. He was in front of the defendant’s table. It was a point not lost on her. She deemed it appropriate in a way.
She pushed the voluminous black sleeves of her robe upward on her arms and then crossed them. The only thing missing was an insistent tap of her foot. She waited. Erin might be able to pull off a calm demeanor on the outside, but her insides were as wobbly as a bowl of JELL-O. She was surprised her legs were still holding her up.
“We didn’t have much time back in Destiny’s River before you left. I know you wanted to not have to lay eyes on me longer than necessary. I’ve had a lot of time to think over those last couple of days. I can see how you would conclude what you did. Given what I came to learn about your life and the men in it those last few hours. Had I known before, I might have handled it differently. But I didn’t. My only excuse for not telling you about the change of plans and the captain and all was that I was intent on talking about some things between us. For the record, I was not going to send you alone on that chopper for two good reasons…if you had let me explain that.”
“Explain.”
“First, I was not ready to take you back until we could talk more. Second…I knew you hated flying in that chopper but never admitted it. I wasn’t going to let you go alone.”
“I see.” But she didn’t trust herself to articulate more at the moment.
Rance continued and that was for the best.
“None of this is easy for me. I would rather be on the hardest of assignments than experience the trepidation I did about debating with myself whether to come in here and speak my piece. But there’s no turning back. I am sorry for upsetting you. I am not a liar. Although Tori pointed out that I was guilty by omission. I’m not getting into that. I just want to say that for the first time that I can remember I couldn’t get a girl out of my head. It wasn’t because you’re beautiful.” Then he shook his head. “I need to rephrase that… You are beautiful. But that isn’t the main reason. And I’m getting tongue-tied. When we kissed, things really got mixed up. The last time…well that sealed it for me. That arrow hit me like my brother tried to tell me would happen and I just laughed him off. But that was before you.
“You deserve roses and moonlight and the best champagne with a guy in a tux and a wad of money in his pocket. I’m none of those things and this courtroom was a really dumb idea. You deserve much better. So let me just apologize for what I said…or didn’t say…at the cabin. And leave it at that so you can be on your way.”
Erin saw him take a step to turn away and that couldn’t happen. “That’s it? That’s all you’ve got?”
Rance turned back with a totally confused look on his face. “All I’ve got? I apologized. I just made a fool out of myself in front of a woman who I basically told that I was in love with and not in my right mind, and you want more of an apology?”
“You’re a guy,” she stated. “I need to cut you some slack. I accept your apology. But it could use some work.”
“Well, I…” he began but stopped when she held up her hand.
“You stated your case, and now it’s my turn. My courtroom, remember?”
This time it was his turn to cross his arms against his chest and give her his pointed gaze.
“I know you aren’t used to apologizing and I will cut you slack on that. I’m sure you’ll get more opportunities to work on that issue. You placed that pup on my doorstep. How do you plead to that?”
“Guilty.”
