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That warm, roaring happiness filled him again as he smiled at her stern little face. “I’m spoken for, am I?”
Flustered, she looked down at the top button of his shirt. “Yes. No? I don’t know. I just know that the sight of that woman trying to seduce you…it made me terribly angry.”
“And jealous,” he said mostly to himself, happy that she was feeling possessive of them.
She glared at him, her lovely eyes flashing fire again as her tigress temper flared to life. “You don’t have to sound so pleased about it.”
He walked them over to the bed and sat on the edge, keeping her on his lap despite her protests. “Rowan, you have nothing to worry about. Yes, Garret and I have had a relationship of sorts with Cassandra, but that is in the past. It was more of a mutual understanding and meeting of needs between friends than a romantic courtship.”
Rowan rolled her eyes at him, but her stiff body softened slightly. “Obviously Cassandra thought it was more.”
He wrapped his arms around her and held her close, murmuring on the top of her head, “Never, in all the times we were with Cassandra,” Rowan let out a little growl that he bit back a smile over, “did I ever feel even an ounce of what I feel when I hold you like this.”
Playing with the lapel of his suit jacket, she said in a low voice, “And what do you feel when you hold me?”
He leaned back a little so he could stare into her earnest little face and said from the bottom of his heart, “I feel right when I’m with you, Rowan. I feel both content and excited, happy and nervous.”
“Nervous?” Her fair brows drew down and lines creased her forehead. “What do you have to be nervous about?”
“That you’ll realize you’re too good for us.”
She let out a loud, harsh laugh that held an edge of hurt to it. “I’m too good for you? Edward, please. You’re rich, handsome, successful ranchers that every woman in the area seems to adore. I’m a penniless, scrawny, ugly—”
“You are not ugly.” He turned her so she stood between his legs, her mouth set to a stubborn pout. “You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
She blinked rapidly, then swallowed hard. “No, Cassandra is beautiful. Nancy is beautiful. I’m a poor, uneducated, unsophisticated and unworldly, scrawny, ugly, have a big nose, and am the granddaughter of slaves.”
On the last word, her voice broke. He grabbed both her hands in his, turning them over so he could rub her callouses with his thumbs. “There is no sin in being poor, and being uneducated doesn’t mean you’re stupid. You’ve traveled farther than most people who never leave the town they were born in. You’re not scrawny, just malnourished, and my nose is bigger than yours.” This made her smile the tiniest bit. “And I don’t care who your ancestors were no more than you should care about mine. You are the bravest, strongest, smartest woman I’ve ever met, Rowan. I mean that. All your life, you’ve had to fight to survive. Despite that, you’ve not only endured, you’ve thrived. Anyone who ever told you that you were ugly was a flat-out liar. You are uniquely and exquisitely beautiful, and I desire you more than my next breath.”
“I want to believe you,” she said as tears filled her eyes, “but it is so hard for me to trust you.”
“Ahhh, lass,” Edward lifted her hands to his mouth so he could kiss her knuckles. “Trust is not given, it’s earned. We know this. We’re only asking you to give us just a little bit.”
There was so much vulnerability in her gaze while she searched his face, then said softly, “I’m afraid to hope.”
“You’re breaking my heart,” he groaned as he kissed her knuckles again. “I wish we had the time to properly court you, to prove our worth, but please, give us a chance. I swear, your hope and trust won’t be misplaced.”
She let out a long, deep sigh then nodded. “Okay.”
A knock came from the doorway, and Garret appeared a moment later, wearing a smart brown suit with a crisp white shirt and bro
nze vest. With his hair slicked back and freshly shaved, he looked more like the officer Edward remembered than the rancher he became. Garret sucked in a sharp breath of air as he got a good look at their Rowan.
“You’re so beautiful,” he said in a reverent tone that made Rowan blush prettily.
“See?” Edward said with a smile. “I told you.”
Ignoring Edward, she ducked her head down and said, “You look very handsome as well, Garret.”
Moving closer, Garret’s smile slipped as he said, “Have you been crying?”
Edward stood from the bed, the frame creaking as he stood next to Rowan. Even with all her glorious hair piled atop her head, she still only came up to his shoulder. Despite her diminutive stature, she fit perfectly into his side as he gave her a one-armed hug.
“I’m afraid Cassandra decided to stop by, unannounced, and made her displeasure over our change in marital status known,” Edward said as he gave Rowan’s shoulder a gentle squeeze. “But our little tigress here chased her off.”
Garret swore softly then gave Rowan an apologetic look. “I am so sorry—”
She shook her head, cutting him off as she said, “You have nothing to be sorry about. It was all that…woman’s fault.”
