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“It’s over, Cassie,” he said, touching her hair fondly.
“No! Dad, you can’t be serious.” Her eyes flew to Colton’s. “Tell him! Tell him you’re not going to file charges!”
“Tempest died, Cass,” Colton pointed out.
“Leave it alone, Cassie,” Ivan said, ramming his hat on his head and whistling to his old dog. “I can deal with anything comin’ to me.”
“No! I won’t let you! Dad—you’re it. The only family I’ve got. Don’t leave me, too.”
But the door slammed behind him, and he crossed the yard.
She whirled on Colton. “Don’t do this.”
He hesitated.
“Please, it won’t happen again. Look at him, for God’s sake.” She pointed a shaking finger to the window and beyond, to where her father leaned down to scratch Erasmus’s shaggy ears. “He won’t hurt you—he can’t. And ... and as for the damage, I’ll pay you for Tempest and Monroe’s damned stud fees and any other expenses.” She advanced on him, her own eyes burning bright, her fingers struggling with the ring surrounding her finger. “I’ll even pay for the cut fence and the antibiotics, any amount of money you lost, but you can’t, can’t send my father to jail!” The ring slid off, and she slapped it back in his hand. “My father is my family. He sacrificed everything for me, and no matter what he’s done, I’m standing by him.”
“And against me.”
“It doesn’t have to be so black and white,” she said, struggling to keep her voice from shaking. He was leaving her—again. Again he was refusing to listen to reason or any of her explanations. She knew Ivan had been wrong, realized his hatred went much too far, but he’d already suffered. She could see it in his old eyes, and to send him to prison for a crime he’d committed because of her ... It would kill him.
“What about trust?” she asked, her voice shaking as she advanced on Colton.
“You couldn’t trust me last night.”
“I had to have my facts straight.”
“Bah!”
“What about love?”
He blinked. “I always loved you.”
“And now?”
His gaze held hers, and though he didn’t say the words, she could feel the intensity, the love lurking deep in those stormy gray depths. She reached up and curled her fingers into the smooth folds of his leather jacket. “I didn’t lie to you eight years ago, Colton, and I didn’t lie last night. But I do need time and space to work things out in my own mind. I would never manipulate you into marrying me,” she said, blinking back the hot tears. “In fact, if you don’t want me, believe me, I don’t want you.” She pressed his mother’s ring against his palm and closed his fingers over the gold band. “If your love isn’t as strong as this stone, as never-ending as this circle of gold, as complete as the ring itself, then I don’t want you!”
Colton’s breath was a desperate rasp. His eyes locked with hers.
“I won’t have a man who doesn’t love me.”
“Cass—” He tried to fold her into his arms, but she stepped backward.
“I mean it, Colton. All or nothing!”
“I do love you, Cassie,” he said, his voice thick, his words a whisper. “And I can’t imagine living without you.”
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She waited.
He swallowed, looking down at the ring in his big palm. “There’s been enough hate already,” he said quietly. “Enough pain. Enough loneliness.”
Her knees went weak as he took her hand and placed the ring on her finger. “I love you, Cass,” he said again, caressing her cheek. “No matter what happens, I want you to be my wife.”
A sharp, painful cry escaped from her lips, and she flung her arms around him.
“Marry me.”
