So did J.W., though his expression was more guarded than curious.
“I’m considering it.” Maryanne grimaced, wondering when she’d lost control of the situation.
“I do hope you’ll stay.” Anne touched her arm. “Dusty’s missed you terribly. You’ve had such a positive effect on him and been a big help with his writing career. I can’t tell you how happy and proud he’s made us.”
Maryanne almost asked Anne to repeat herself.
“You and your father will have to come to dinner one night.”
“We’d be delighted,” Gil answered for both of them.
“Grandma, Grandpa,” Matt hollered. “Watch this!” He executed a wobbly toss at the practice dummy. The rope caught on one of the fake horns.
“Good job,” Anne called.
“Remember to keep your elbow up.” J.W. demonstrated.
Matt tried again with slightly more success.
“Maryanne.” Dusty waved to her. “Come here. We need your help.” He bent and whispered in Matt’s ear.
“But I don’t know the first thing about roping.”
“That’s okay. You don’t have to for this trick.”
“Go on,” her father urged, also flashing a wide grin. Did he know something she didn’t?
Maryanne went through the gate and into the arena, her boots sinking into the soft dirt. No kicking off her shoes anymore. Before she reached Dusty and Matt, the boy broke into hysterical giggles.
“What’s going on?” She narrowed her gaze.
“Nothing,” Dusty and his little sidekick answered simultaneously.
“You’re not playing a joke on me, are you?”
Matt doubled over with laughter. Dusty removed the rope from his son’s hands and wound it into a coil, his movements precise and deliberate.
Maryanne’s suspicions were confirmed, but she decided to go along for the moment. The glint in his eyes was too endearing to resist, and they could all use a little fun after the emotional roller coaster of the past weeks.
“Stand over there.” Dusty pointed to a spot twenty feet away.
Maryanne did as instructed and faced him, her hands at her sides.
“When I say now, you jump.”
“Jump?”
“Show her Matt.”
The boy crouched and then hopped in place, putting so much force behind it, he toppled momentarily before regaining his balance.
“Got it?” Dusty asked, raising the rope over his head and twirling it
“Sounds simple enough.”
Matt stepped back to give his father room.
Swinging his arm wide, Dusty widened the loop, then let it shimmy down the length of his body. Right before it hit the ground, he flicked his wrist, and the rope climbed back up to his head.
“Woo, hoo!” Maryanne’s father cheered from the fence.
Dusty repeated the trick, only this time, he hopped in and out of the loop.
Matt clapped.
Maryanne did, too. “When am I supposed to jump?”
“That part’s coming next.” Dusty twirled the rope faster and higher. “Get ready.” He tossed the rope at her.
She waited for him to say jump. He didn’t and, like the day he’d kissed her behind the barn, the rope fell over her. He pulled it tight just as it reached her waist, pinning her arms to her sides. Had she not known what to expect, he might have knocked her off her feet.
Then again, in a way, he already had.
“You didn’t say jump,” she protested.
“I lied.” He reeled her in until she was close enough for him to wrap her in his embrace.
She gazed up into his face and said in a teasing voice, “Aren’t you going to remove the rope?”
“That depends.”
“On?”
“Your answer. Why did you come back?”
“To apologize.”
He nibbled her neck just below her ear. “That’s not your only reason.”
How did he know?
“Tell me.” He nibbled her neck again.
She hesitated, gathering her nerve. “I’ve been thinking…”
“About?”
Something told her this was the moment she’d been waiting for her entire life.
“Staying in Wyoming a little longer.”
“How long?”
She could feel his chest pounding. “That depends.”
Yanking on the knot, he loosened the rope and slipped it off her. Before she could speak, his mouth was on hers, hungry and wild just like him. Any similarities to their first kiss ended there. This one, rather than being demanding and greedy, promised a lifetime of love and devotion.
His wicked grin greeted her when they broke apart. She became vaguely aware of Matt’s giggles and her father’s whoops and whistles. What had they done? What had she done? She touched a hand to her burning cheeks.
“Since you’re not leaving right away,” Dusty linked fingers with her, “that means you’ll be able to go with me tomorrow.”
“Where?”
“The architect’s office. I’m using the option money on my screenplay to have plans drawn up for my house at Stony Creek. I’d like your input.”
“I can probably do that. After I call Jarred and present him with my telecommuting proposal.”
“Working at home from now on?”
“If he’ll agree.”
“I have an idea.” He raised their joined hands to his lips. “When we’re done at the architects, why don’t we head to the jewelers?”
“Jewelers?” She dared to hope.
“I can’t have my fiancée going around without an engagement ring.”
“Fiancée? But you haven’t we haven’t”
“You’re right.” He dropped to one knee. “Better remedy that right away.”
Maryanne let out a soft gasp.
“Daddy.” Matt came closer. “What are you doing?”
Dusty didn’t take his eyes off her. Good thing because without his gaze to steady her, Maryanne might have swayed.
“I’m asking Maryanne to marry me.”
“What did she say?”
“Nothing yet.” He leaned toward Matt and whispered loudly, “I’m starting to get worried.”
“Do you need help?”
“Appears I might.”
Matt went down on his knees next to Dusty. “Will you marry my daddy?”
Maryanne laughed, then started to cry. “Yes, I’ll marry your daddy.”
Matt and Dusty scrambled to their feet with Dusty claiming a quick hug from Maryanne. Matt ran over to deliver the news to his grandparents, but it was Maryanne’s father he stopped in front of. “Does this make you my grandpa, too?”
Maryanne’s father patted Matt on the head and said in a hoarse voice, “I think it does.”
Matt counted on his fingers. “I have three grandpas now.”
J.W. pulled Matt to his side. “You’re a lucky boy.”
Dusty lowered his head until it touched Maryanne’s. “I know a house on Stony Creek isn’t the same as a condo in Westwind.”
“It’s better. I’ve been wanting to live in a totally green community, and nothing is as green as Cottonwood Ranch.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that because if you turned down my proposal, I would have hogtied you and kept you against your will.”
“Not a chance, cowboy.”
“Oh, I’d have done it.”
“Not a chance I’d say no.” Leaning up, she pressed her lips to his, giving him the first kiss of what promised to be a long and happy life as husband and wife.
“Guess it’s not so far between L.A. and Markton,” she heard her father say.
No farther, Maryanne thought, than her and Dusty’s hearts, joined now together as one.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-6489-6
DUSTY: WILD COWBOY
Copyright © 2010 by Cathy McDavid.
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*Fatherhood
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