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“I’m not going to bail on you.”
“I know.”
“You don’t sound convinced.” He was determined to change her mind. “What can I say to reassure you?”
“You don’t need to say anything.”
After regarding her for a long moment, he shook his head. “I’ve dated a lot of women.”
“This is your way of convincing me to take a chance on you?”
He ignored her interruption. “Enough to recognize that how I feel about you is completely foreign to me.” He saw he’d hit the wrong note with the word foreign. “And terrific. Scary. Fascinating. I’ve never been so twisted up by a woman before.”
“And somehow you think this is a good thing?”
“You make me better. I feel more alive when I’m with you. Like anything is possible.”
She blinked several times. “I think that’s the most amazing thing anyone has ever said to me.”
“I don’t believe that. I do, however, believe that it might be one of the first times you’ve let yourself hear and trust one of my compliments.” He was making progress if she’d stopped perceiving everything he said as a ploy.
“You might be right.”
They’d drawn within sight of the ranch buildings, and Liam regretted how fast the ride had gone. He hadn’t received an answer from Hadley, and the time to pursue the matter was fast coming to an end.
“I hope that means you’re beginning to believe me when I tell you how important you’ve become to me.”
“It’s starting to sink in.” She watched him from beneath her eyelashes. “But are you ready to have me move in?”
“Absolutely.” His conviction rang in his answer. “But it’s not the only thing I want.”
This was something else he’d thought long and hard about. It wasn’t just his feelings for Hadley that were driving him, but also his need to give Maggie a loving home and create for her the sort of stable family denied him and Kyle.
“No?”
“What I really want is for us to get married.”
Eleven
While Hadley wondered if she’d heard him correctly, Liam pulled a ring box out of his coat pocket and extended it her way. She stared at it, her heart thundering in her ears. It wasn’t the most romantic of proposals, but she had to bite her lower lip to keep from blurting out her acceptance. It took half a minute for her to think rationally.
“I haven’t said yes or no to moving in,” she reminded him, pleased that she sounded like a sensible adult instead of a giddy teenager.
“I’m afraid I’ve gone about this in a clumsy fashion.” His confident manner belied his words. “I’ve never asked a woman to marry me before. Especially not one I’ve known less than a month.”
Hadley’s brain scrambled to think logically. “And the reason you’re rushing into marriage?”
“I’m not rushing into marriage,” he corrected her with a wily grin. “I’m rushing into an engagement.”
“Semantics.” She waved away his explanation. “Are you sure you don’t want to live together for a while and see how it goes?”
“I’ve already lived with you for a while and it’s been terrific. I want to keep on living with you. I need you in my life. That’s not going to change if we wait to get engaged. Right now your plan is to finish school and move to Houston. I want you to make a life with me in Royal instead.”
Hadley clutched her reins in a white-knuckled grip and made no move toward the tempting ring box. “Are you sure this is what you want?”
From the way the light in his eyes dimmed, it wasn’t the answer he’d hoped for, but he had to know her well enough to realize she wouldn’t jump aboard his runaway freight train without thinking things through. After all, her career goals were designed to carry her far from Royal. And that was something she’d have to reconsider if she married him.
“Are you questioning whether I know my mind?” He lifted the enormous diamond ring from its nest of black velvet and caught her left hand. His eyes mesmerized her as he slid the ring on her finger. “I took a year off dating and spent the time thinking through what I wanted in a woman. I wouldn’t have slept with you in Vail if I hadn’t already made up my mind that you were special.” Liam dismounted and handed off Buzzard’s reins to one of the grooms.
