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“What if we got married?” Simultaneously, a wave of dizziness washed over him, and what felt like a physical weight lifted off his shoulders.
She was staring at him. She looked stunned, but she wasn’t laughing. He couldn’t tell if she was considering it.
“You and me, I mean.” He wanted to smack himself. Of course she knew what he’d meant.
But she still didn’t say anything.
“You could all live here. There’s plenty of room. I could really, really use your help. We could set it up however you want. If you need to draw a paycheck, I can make that happen. Or if they’ll just accept that you are employed by the family ranch, then that works too.” He paused for a breath. “I am not the best catch in the ocean, but I’ve got a good reputation. I think it would present a good picture to Patsy or whatever her name is. How could they not let you have the kids if you’re married with a house and job? What could possibly be more stable than that?”
Chapter 12
Nova stared at Gunner, trying to process. She was the queen of crazy ideas, but this one had never occurred to her.
It was a giant idea—too big to handle all at once. It was really three ideas, delivered all at once in one wallop of a package. Each offer was spectacular in its own right, and each made some logical sense.
Since the man was apparently a saint, it made sense that he would be willing to give her shelter, and it made perfect sense that he could use her help, but why on God’s green earth was the man asking her tomarryhim?
That’s what she was trying to figure out as she stared up into those big hazel eyes.
“It’s not like you’d be a maid, or anything,” he said.
Wait, she wasn’t ready for more input. She was still processing the previous batch.
“You wouldn’t have to do anything you didn’t want to do. You’d be my wife more than an employee. You’d have a say in everything. This would be your home as much as it is mine.” He leaned away from her. “I’m not begging you or anything. I just want to give you an accurate picture.”
“Yeah,” she managed to say. “I didn’t think you were begging.” Her voice sounded funny, like it was laboring to crawl out of her throat.
“I don’t want it to happen unless you want it to happen, but I really need some help around here. Just sort of managing the house, the meals ... you can cook right?”
She was too bewildered to laugh. So she’d found his only flaw. He was a sexist. Just because she was wearing a skirt, he thought she’d be able to cook?
That was a big old negatory. She couldn’t even make toast without burning it. “Sure,” she said.
He blinked in surprise.
Oh no.
“Sure, you’ll marry me?”
And then for reasons she could not begin to fathom, she said, “Sure” again.
His eyes widened with surprise.
She had surprised both of them. “Wait ...”
His face relaxed. He held up both hands. “Take your time.”
She wanted to ask,Why marriage? Why not just a room and a job?Why was he being so extreme, so ... extra?
Was this some ploy to get her into his bedroom? Was he leveraging the roof and the job to get himself some action? This made a lot of sense, but she didn’t think he was the type to do that.
As if reading her mind, his face went pale as he took a step back and said, “There would be no expectations.” He looked terrified, and she felt bad for him. “You could have your own room. It wouldn’t be like ... it wouldn’t be like that.”
She smiled in an attempt to put him at ease. “Okay,” she said. Then what on earth was it? Why was he using the wordmarriage?
And then, looking up into his eyes, she figured outexactlywhy. And the explanation made her like him even more.
This was a man of God, an actual honest-to-God believer. She hadn’t known many of those in her life, so she wasn’t used to people acting like they cared about the finer moral details.
