He smiled at her softly. “You’re everything I’ve ever wanted, Carly.”
She went back into his arms. “I love you so much.”
“You sure?”
“Never more certain.”
With a sigh, he relaxed, settled back in his seat with her still in his lap.
“You heard about Josh?”
“Beau told me.”
“I’m going to Germany. You coming with me?”
She felt the words like a warm caress. “I’m with you all the way, honey.”
Linc kissed her softly. “We’ll get married as soon as Josh’s well enough to come to the wedding.”
Josh had to get well. Linc needed him, just like he needed her. They would both be there to make sure it happened.
“Sounds like the perfect plan,” she said, smiling up at him.
And it was.
Epilogue
Three months later
A lot had happened since that day three months ago. Josh was healing. He was no longer in the Marines, a decision his injury had prompted him to make. He was living in a double-wide trailer set up for him at the back of Blackland Ranch, giving him the privacy he needed. Linc wanted him to stay in Texas, wanted to build a place for him on the ranch.
In time, Josh would decide what he wanted to do.
Zach had become a real member of the family, spending lots of fun weekends out at the ranch. He had joined his local swim team and had already won his first trophy.
Carly and Linc had been married three weeks, after a simple ceremony in a beautiful little chapel in Iron Springs with all of their close friends and neighbors. Afterward, they had partied in a back room at Jubal’s, then left for a weeklong honeymoon on a private island off the Florida coast. Though traveling was fun, they preferred being at home on the ranch.
The wedding was perfect. The honeymoon was perfect.
Beau was right—when the fit was perfect, everything just seemed to work.
Not that they didn’t have their differences. Linc was still as stubborn, overprotective, and controlling as he had been before. The crazy thing was, now that he was her husband, somehow she found it endearing.
They were living in the ranch house, at least for the time being. Eventually Linc wanted to rebuild the big stone mansion.
“We’ll gut it,” he’d said, “redesign it just the way we want, and make it our own. We’ll keep what we like and give away the rest. It’ll be a great place to raise our kids.”
Standing now at the window in the living room of the ranch house, Carly’s heart gave a little leap of anticipation as she watched Linc driving up the road toward home.
He strode in like he always did, bigger than life, taking up the very oxygen in the room. He bent his head and very thoroughly kissed her.
“Hi, honey.” He smiled. “How was your day?”
She grinned. She loved when he said that. “We got a couple of new accounts. Business is picking up so much I decided to hire an assistant for Row. That way I can take a little more time off to be with my handsome husband.”
Linc grinned. “I like the sound of that.” He held up an envelope. “I had a visitor at the office today—Joe’s attorney, Willard Speers.”
“Mr. Speers? I paid his bill sometime back. What did he want?”
