"A number of days ago I asked you to marry me."
"I--"
He put a finger in front of his lips. "If I don't get this out now, I never will."
"All right."
"I used your business problems and I used your obvious affection for my daughter in a manipulative attempt to persuade you. That wasn't fair and I'm sorry." He rested one of his hands over hers.
* * *
Jill nodded. She wasn't sure where Troy was going right now. Wherever it was, she could only see pain in her future.
"I knew you'd probably want to kill me, but I had to fix that problem."
"So you saved my business. Thanks." She didn't feel especially grateful right then. Maybe she would in a few days, or a few years. Right now, all she heard was the man she loved talking about engineering drawings.
Troy grimaced. "You're not making this easier for me."
"Making what? I don't know what the heck we're talking about. All I know is that I spent half the night chasing all over town because Annie told me she was going to get kidnaped, and I find you took the opportunity to break into my house."
Troy shook his head. "I don't have any excuses."
"I'm not looking for excuses. I'm looking for a reason I shouldn't have you locked up by the men in the white coats."
For the first time since he'd first seen her and Annie at the doorway to the restaurant, Troy smiled. "That would probably be a good idea."
"All right." She stood to go.
"Aren't you interested in why I did what I did?"
"I can't imagine any possible reason." Still, she sat back down.
"Me neither. My only plea is one of insanity. From the moment I saw you, I've been going completely insane. I'd put women out of my life, but I couldn't put you out of it. I was at such a loss with Annie, and then you came along--"
Suddenly Jill caught his hand between both of hers, her expression changing from cautious and skeptical to solemn and earnest in a heartbeat. "You're a good father, Troy. I know this is hard for you, but don't ever believe you can't do it."
"I intend to work hard at. Can we forget about Annie for a moment?"
"Obviously you're still working on this idea of needing a mother for Annie. Now that you've made my business whole, you think you can take over and let me raise her. I appreciate it and I'm really sorry, Troy. But it doesn't work that way. It's my business. It was my business when it was going down the tubes and it's my business now."
Troy's dark eyes looked almost gray for a moment. "Most of the time, Jill, I think you're practically perfect. I have to keep reminding myself of your one tiny flaw."
"So we get to psychoanalyze me now, huh?"
Troy shrugged. "It's pretty obvious. You work with dynamite, but you're afraid of losing control. When your father lost his business, I'll bet you made some sort of promise to yourself that you'd never build anything permanent and long-lasting that you could get attached to. Because your father had learned to depend on his business, and someone took it away. Am I right?"
"Not even close," she said, but her stomach was turning somersaults. Was Troy actually making sense?
"Look at your house," he continued. "It's a trailer, for Pete's sake. You can pick it up and move it at a moment's notice. Your business involves blasting holes in the ground. You've built a great team of workers with whom you share mutual respect, but you've never even been out bowling with them."
"Maybe I don't like to bowl," she countered, though she sank lower in her chair. How many times had she thought about joining her workers, been on the verge of saying yes, then suddenly, mysteriously, invented some excuse that prevented her from going? Was she really afraid of forming long-term bonds of friendship?
"Is this really the life you want?" Troy persisted. "Don't you want something more permanent, something that will last? Don't you see that you're not fighting me, you're fighting yourself?"
"I have no earthly idea what you're talking about." But she did. Holy cow, the man was making sense. Could she really have used her father's failure as an excuse to avoid trust, to avoid building something she cared about?
"I'm talking about us."
"Us? There is no us."
He nodded. "You're right, darling. There isn't, and there can't be between two people like a mercenary and a commitment phobic woman."
Her heart fell through her body like a run-away elevator, bouncing when it hit the floors. "So why are we--"
"Because people can change. I have. I said I'd never give my heart to a female. I've given it to two."
"Liz and whom?"
"Annie and you, darling."
Her heart rebounded to her throat. "Did you say--"
"I said I love you, Jill. It's what I've been saying all night."
She shook her head vigorously. "What you've been saying all night is that you broke into my house and sent me on a wild goose chase."
"A week ago I made a mistake. I tried to back you into a corner and make you marry me. But trying to force my way through the back door into your heart was wrong. What's more, it didn't work.
"A direct approach through the front door wouldn't have worked either, would it?"
She couldn't help it; the corner of her mouth lifted. She fought the smile. "You never tried knocking on the front door. You picked the lock instead."
"After I made such a mess of things, I had no choice but to dynamite the whole house and start over. That's why I went to such lengths to save your company. With the new evidence, you'll be cleared of any wrongdoing, and you should be able to get as much business as ever, now. Not to mention a comfortable settlement from the engineer who was too lazy to actually survey the property before passing on outdated and incorrect documents."
Jill wasn't quite following.
"So you and I can start from scratch. You don't need my help to keep your business running. It's yours and yours alone regardless of what you decide."
"Decide about what?" She found herself holding her breath, waiting for his next words.
"About whether we'll get married. I'm not asking you to be my wife for Annie's sake, although I know you'll be a wonderful mother for her. I'm not proposing as a practical means to save your business. I don't care whether you sell it, keep it, or invite me to help you with it. I want you to marry me just because I love you. I'm asking you to try to trust yourself enough to build something beautiful and forever."
"Like what?" Her voice squeaked as she got her question out.
"Like a real dream house. Not one on the side of a cliff, but one in our hearts."
"But--"
He shook his head. "I know that sounded mushy, but I can't help it. You don't have to decide now. Frankly, I'll wait as long as you need me to. I'm not going anywhere."
Jill's head whirled as if she'd drunk half the champagne that flowed in this fancy restaurant. She was poised at the brink of a chasm. Troy's voice was telling her to jump--that he'd catch her. But all of her life, she'd learned differently. Nobody catches you when you're falling.
Except Troy had. Maybe he'd been a little underhanded about it, but he'd already rescued her business when her failure would have forced her to take his offer. Could she count on him forever, though?
She looked at him, trying to see under his skin to the real man underneath.
It was hard not to let his outer appearance distract her. He still looked big and dangerous the way he'd looked when she'd first met him in the wreckage of his home. That fierce intensity now felt like a protective umbrella.
"I'm having my lawyer draw up a prenuptial agreement, which will state clearly that I have no ownership rights whatsoever to your business."
"All right. I mean, no."
Troy's face fell.
"Wait. I mean, no, I don't need you to sign any silly prenup. And all right, I'll do it. I'll marry you."
Troy stared at her. "You aren't afraid?"
"Of course I'm afraid. But I can't fight a tidal wave. I love you, and it's about t
ime I learned to follow my heart."
Troy's smile was one of pure, unbridled joy. "I've never heard sweeter words." He leaned over and kissed her, gently, but the light pressure of his lips promised wonderful things to come.
"Just one question," she said when the kiss ended. "Where are we going to live?" She had visions of the three of them crammed into her tiny trailer.
"Anywhere you want--as long as it's not on a cliff."
"Amen to that."
Books by Robyn Anders
Blind Date
The CEO’s S.O.S.
Counterfeit Cowboy
Dynamiting Daddy’s Dream House
Half a Ranch
Hometown Hero
The Truth About Cats
Dynamiting Daddy's Dream House Page 13
