“You don’t think I know what I want.”
“I think you’ve been through a lot,” he said, pacing again. “You finally get your memory back only to remember seeing your sister murdered. You don’t think that might cloud your judgment? You don’t think it might change the way you feel?”
“Maybe it’s not me you’re concerned about changing,” she pointed out, reaching out and stopping his pacing. “Maybe you’re the one who’s changed. I’m not an enigma anymore, not a woman of mystery. You found out I wasn’t anyone glamorous or famous, I’m just plain old Carly—an ordinary schoolteacher who lives by herself and likes to bird watch and cook lavish meals in her spare time. There’s nothing too exciting about that, is there, Joe? Nothing much to hold a man’s interest.”
“Is that what you think?” he demanded. “The mystery is solved so I’m not interested anymore?”
Emotion clutched at her throat, but her pride wouldn’t let it show. “You tell me.”
“You’ve got your life back,” he said in a tightly controlled voice. “I thought you might need some time to…”
“To what?” she demanded, when his words drifted off.
He took a deep breath, turning away. He didn’t look angry any longer, just defeated. “I thought you might need some time to see if you still needed me.”
Her heart swelled into her throat. “Joe,” she said, reaching out to him. “I told you I loved you and I meant it. Nothing—not Logan Carvy, not what happened, not even my old life is ever going to change that.”
“Are you sure?”
She tried to pull him close, but he resisted. “Oh, Joe, don’t you know? I’ve never been so sure about anything in my life.”
He stopped struggling then and pulled her into his arms. “Rain. Carly.”
“Your Rain,” she murmured. “Your Carly.”
His kiss was hard but not brutal and she felt whole for the first time in her life.
“I love you,” he whispered. “Always and forever.”
“I love you, too.”
“Think you can handle another name change?”
“Rain and Carly aren’t enough for you?”
“They’re fine for the first names. I was thinking of working on last names this time.”
She could barely hear for the thunder of her heart. “Oh?”
“Marry me?”
“When? Where?”
“Whenever you want, wherever you say.”
“I love you, Joe Mountain, and I’d love very much to be your wife.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
“Come on,” he said, setting her away from him and reaching for her suitcase. “Help me pack. I’m going to Colorado with you. We’ll make wedding plans on the way.”
“Whatever you say. You’re the sheriff.”
ISBN: 978-1-4592-0696-0
RAIN DANCE
Copyright © 2001 by Ann Marie Fattarsi
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*It Takes Two
Rain Dance Page 21
