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I can call her “mine” all I want, but ultimately, she has to decide if she wants her life turned upside down. I won’t force it on her.
Loving her means wanting her to be happy.
“Are you sure you want to leave all this…for just me?” I ask when she looks up at me, breathless and laughing, the sun bringing out the freckles across her nose and cheeks.
Hailey scratches Clarice behind the ears. She looks over at me with a smile. “What do you mean, for just you?”
“I mean exactly what I asked.”
“All this,” she repeats, shaking her head. “A house with plumbing that needs repair that we can’t afford to fix. Neighbors who won’t stay out of my business. Why? Are you having second thoughts?” Hailey bites her bottom lip.
To think she believes for a second that I brought up the subject because I’m having doubts tears me apart. Nothing could be further from the truth.
“Hailey. No. That’s not it at all.” I drop the shovel and stalk toward her. I don’t care that I’m sweating, shirtless, and covered in dirt and animal stink. And neither does she, as she doesn’t back away when I’m an inch from her face.
“I knew as soon as I laid eyes on you, Hailey. I knew, and I still do. I look at you, and I feel your goodness. I don’t want to waste a single minute. You are it for me, Hailey. I can feel it.”
Her face softens, and she melts against me. She rises up for a kiss, but I’m already there, lifting her off her feet in the grass and kissing the breath out of her. Dogs whine, goats bleat, the creek rushes, and all is right in my world.
“Torben,” she breathes when she pulls back, though I don’t set her down. I’m not ready to let go yet.
“If things progress, if I move away…I worry about my Mama and my grandparents.”
“Is that what you and your brother were arguing about?”
“Sort of. He asked you about it in the most tacky way possible, but I believe it goes deeper than that. I think he’s worried that Mama won’t get back to herself with me gone.”
This sounds like a much more serious matter than whether or not the palace will have enough spare rooms, which we do.
“I brush her hair back from her face. “Your mother, your entire family—even your brother—will be welcome at the palace to stay as long as they wish. As in-laws of the royal family, they will have special dispensation as far as immigration is concerned.”
She blinks up at me, and I see a tear forming in the corner of her eye.
I lean down and gently thumb it away.
“Are you crying because you’re sad and worried? Did your brother’s words affect you that deeply? Because I have to add an addendum here. If he talks to you that way, I might ask the immigration department to revoke his unlimited status.”
She blurts out a watery laugh and kisses me quickly at the corner of my mouth.
“Those are acceptable terms.”
“Good.” I hitch her up closer instead of setting her down, and she pleases me when she wraps her legs around my hips.
My amusement transforms into something different. Heated. Hungry. I connect my mouth to hers in a lingering kiss. Hailey tilts her head and sweeps her tongue into my mouth. She tastes salty and vaguely like sweet tea and peppermint.
She is everything pleasant and sunny and wild and good.
“I cannot wait to see what you think of where I live. I cannot wait for you to be my bride. And mostly, I cannot wait to have you in my bed as my wife.”
Hailey responds by rolling her hips forward, a gentle press of her heat against the growing stiffness in my trousers.
“You haven’t proposed yet.”
If that’s what she needs, that’s what she’ll have. “Will you marry me, Hailey? Will you be my wife? My princess? And one day, my queen?”
Her eyes full of fire and her chin defiant, she answers, “Do you have a ring? I don’t need a diamond.”
My honest reply: “Once the engagement becomes public, you’ll have your choice of rings from the family collection.”
