She’d left the house after supper, wanting to watch the splendor of the sunset in solitude.
When she reached the dragon tree, she spread out the blanket she’d brought along, then placed Brook in the center and sat beside her.
The sky overhead was a lustrous blend of colors as dusk reached out fingers to claim the blue sky. The air was filled with the sounds of the ranch getting ready for the coming of night…sounds that rang of home. Home. If home is where the heart is…where is my home? Colette wondered. Certainly her heart wasn’t here.
Her heart was with a man who’d been strong enough to protect her, but too afraid to commit to her. Her heart was with a man whose dark eyes possessed the power to warm her throughout, whose callused hands could make her body sing.
At least she had Brook. Even though the pregnancy had been unplanned, Colette was grateful for the baby who unmistakably bore Hank’s genetic stamp. At least she’d always have this little piece of him.
Funny, she hadn’t been able to cry. In the two weeks she’d been back at the ranch, not one tear had fallen. Her heartache was far too deep for mere tears.
She leaned over and rubbed Brook’s cheek, laughing as the little girl kicked her feet and waved her hands in excitement. “I’ll make you love him,” she said to her daughter. “Somehow I’ll make you understand that your daddy is a good man, that he was just afraid to love again.”
She straightened as in the distance an unfamiliar car pulled up in front of the ranch house. A man got out of the driver’s seat and Colette’s heart began an irregular beat.
What was he doing here? What could he want? Dear God, she didn’t want to see him again. She wished desperately she could hate him.
He looked around, then, spying her, started in her direction. The gasping, dying sun overhead gleamed off his black hair, making it shine with a dark lustre. His strides were long and purposeful, his posture rigid with determination.
Colette stood, hating the way the sight of him filled her with longing, brought all the memories of their time together to the forefront of her mind.
Was it business that had brought him back? Loose ends on the Collier matter? Surely that was the only thing that would bring him to see her again.
“Hi,” he said when he reached her.
“What are you doing here?” She was pleased hertone was harsh. She didn’t want him to know how the mere sight of him made the ache inside her intensify.
He shoved his hands into his pocket and rocked back on his heels. “I’ve come about the job.”
She frowned in confusion. “The job? What job?”
“You mentioned that when you got back home there would be a position here for a horse-breaking bodyguard.”
She wrapped her arms around herself and stared off into the distance. “The position is no longer open.”
“What about the position of husband and father?”
She whipped back around to look at him, her heart racing. “Husband and father?” She eyed him narrowly, then sank to sit on the blanket, her legs suddenly wobbly. “What are you talking about?”
He sat next to her, bringing with him the evocative scent that Colette would always associate distinctly with him. “I’m talking about promises, and happilyever-afters.”
“That’s not the song you were singing last time I saw you.” She hung on to her anger, needing it to shield her heart from another hurt. She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, trying to maintain her self-protective anger.
“You’re right,” he agreed easily. “I was damned and determined when I saw you in the hospital that it would be the last time I saw you and Brook.” He smiled down at the baby, and in the tender smile, the first stirring of hope blossomed in Colette’s heart.
“Then why are you here?” she asked, her voice tremulous with suppressed emotion.
“It’s a funny thing what a bullet in the chest can do for a man. Makes him examine choices he’s made in his life, nurse regrets those choices might have made.” He frowned, his gaze distant. “Lying there, I realized that I had no regrets, that if I had it to do all over again I would fall in love with Rebecca, marry her, even knowing the pain of loss that was to come.”
“She must have been a very special woman,” Colette replied softly.
“She was…and the baby she carried.”
“Oh…” This new bit of information pierced whatever anger Colette had been trying to maintain. Her heart ached for this man who’d lost a wife, a baby and his dreams all in one tragic moment. For the first time she recognized the depth of his reluctance to bare his heart again. “Oh, Hank, I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
He nodded and continued. “But they’re gone, and despite my best intentions to not get involved ever again, I find myself in love with another special woman.” His gaze captured hers, an inferno of emotions flaming in his eyes. “I’d have come here sooner, but a reaction to some medication kept me hospitalized until late last night. Colette, I thought I could let you walk away from me, thought I didn’t care that you and Brook would make a life without me. God help me, I was wrong.”
“Oh, Hank.” Colette flew into his arms, a sob escaping from her as his arms enfolded her close.
“Colette…” He cupped her face in his palms. “I told you once I never make promises, but I’m going to make one now. If you marry me, I promise I’ll doeverything I can to be that prince you wanted. I’ll spend every day of my life giving you the kind of happily-ever-after you deserve.”
“Hank, all you have to promise is to love me. That’s all I need for my happily-ever-after.”
“I do. I love you, Colette. I love our baby, and I want to spend the rest of my life loving you.” He stood and pulled her to her feet, then kissed her. His kiss was filled with promise, with hopes and dreams.
As the kiss ended, Colette looked upward, where the boughs of the dragon tree were silhouetted against the blaze of the sunset. The promise of a sweet, clear night. Life was filled with promise.
She remembered three little girls playing here, each vowing to find a prince and live happily ever after. With his dark, unruly hair and dusty blue jeans, Hank looked more rogue than prince, but in his eyes she saw her future…a future of forever love.
