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“You expect me to believe that?”
Wind howled through the valley, chilling the air. In the distance, thunder rumbled across the hills.
“You can believe what you want to,” she said, shivering. “But you’d better listen to what I have to say. I’ve taken a lot from you, Denver. More than I should have. And I’ve done it for only one reason. Because I love you. I’ve let you humiliate me, degrade me, use me and accuse me, but I won’t take it anymore.”
She saw him flinch, but still he didn’t look her way.
“Go back to Los Angeles, Denver. Run away. It’s what you’re best at! But don’t expect me to be here if you return, because this is the last time I’ll let you walk away from me, the last time I’ll ever let you drag my heart through these damned ashes!”
His jaw worked angrily. His fingers clenched and flexed only to clench again.
She wanted to drop to her knees and beg him to love her, to forget the past, but she stood ramrod stiff, letting the rain and wind lash at her face and hair, bracing herself for the worst. “This is it, Denver. Either you love me forever, or you walk away. It can’t be anything else.”
“You’ve always been a dreamer,” he said cuttingly.
“And you’ve always been in my dreams.”
He blinked rapidly. Rain slid down his face and neck, past his wet collar. “And you’ve been in mine, Tessa,” he admitted. “But maybe that’s all we had. Dreams. Ashes. Nothing solid.”
With a boldness she’d never felt before she planted herself in front of him and poked one long finger at his chest. “You listen to me, Denver McLean, we can make our dreams come true. And it doesn’t matter what Colton or Mitch or the whole damned world thinks or does. All that matters is here and now. Me and you. What’s it going to be?” She steadied herself, ready for the rejection she felt hanging in the air. So be it, she thought, there’s no going back.
His throat worked. “What I want,” he said, his voice as rough as the stormy night, “is you. Nothing more. Nothing less. But it has to be forever.”
Tears burned behind her eyes. She could barely believe her ears. “You’re sure?”
“Yes,” he whispered, his voice nearly lost on the wind.
“Well, it can’t just be us.”
His jaw tightened, his features twisting in torture. “Why not?”
“Because I’m pregnant, Denver. I found out for sure this morning. You’re going to be a father.”
For a second he didn’t speak. “You’re sure?”
“Positive.”
“Oh, God.”
“You can have me and the baby—or you can take a walk and never look back,” she said, her heart frozen at the thought, though she loved him enough to let him go. “I won’t tie you down.”
“Like hell,” he murmured, his lips curving into a smile of wonder. “You’re never getting away from me again.”
“But the baby—”
“Makes it all the better,” he said, blinking rapidly. “A baby?” Rain slid down his collar and his arms wrapped securely around her. “Marry me, Tessa. Be mine the rest of my life.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she vowed, just as his rain-soaked arms tightened around her; strong, possessive and warm.
His lips crushed hers hungrily. “Neither would I.”
“Welcome home, Denver,” she said with a sigh.
A shudder ripped through him. Thunder cracked in the dark sky. “I don’t think I ever really left.”
* * *
“You may kiss the bride,” the preacher announced, and a whisper of approval swept through the guests standing on the wet lawn behind Nate and Paula Edwards’s manor.
