One Texas Night...

by Sara Orwig

  “I have the feeling that I’m responsible.”

  ”You are definitely not responsible. Case closed. You haven’t done anything to change our lives, so forget it.”

  Now if only Jared could forget Allison as easily.

  On the way back to his office after lunch, he kept thinking about Allison and remembering that first night when she was eighteen, and how she had shocked and dazzled him. He had never forgotten her since. He thought about her sitting on his lap, telling him that he was missing out on life with his need for adventure instead of love. Real, deep, lasting love with commitment. With Allison, that was what it would be.

  She was marrying another man. Every time Jared thought about her marrying someone else, he got a hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach. She wasn’t even really in love with Phillip. Yet she would be if she made that commitment.

  Jared thought about the things he liked to do that Allison considered so wild. The bull riding was one. The deep-sea diving, the mountain climbing, the white-water rafting. If he had second thoughts, he’d better come to a conclusion soon. Sloan had called for a reason, and Jared suspected she was on the verge of getting engaged any day now.

  He walked back to his office, burning off some energy, trying to think clearly about his future. Which was right for him—giving up the adventures he loved or giving up the woman he wanted?

  Could he ever get her to accept him the way he was and let go of some of her fears?

  The night of the rodeo he remembered how she had looked white as snow after his ride. Her hands had been ice, even in his car with the heater going. She had true fears, and that night she’d looked as if she would be physically ill.

  Could he make any sacrifices for her? And was that what he wanted to do?

  Telling his secretary that he didn’t want to be disturbed, Jared went into his office and closed the door.

  Marry Allison? He had never seriously thought about marriage. But then he had never seriously been in love.

  He loved her. The realization surprised him. He hadn’t stopped to take a long look at his feelings for her. He had pursued her, enjoyed being with her, tried to develop a relationship, have an affair, but he hadn’t stopped to really consider how deep his feelings went. And if he asked her to marry him and she refused, would it make it more difficult than ever to forget her?

  Jared walked to a window to look across the Dallas rooftops. He had expected her to do something like this, but not so soon. He had thought she would take some time after leaving him and think over her future, wait a while to see if he pursued her.

  Instead, she was going on with her life as if he had never been in it. Perhaps Phillip was urging her to say yes.

  Jared kicked a leg of his chair lightly with his toe, feeling frustrated and wanting to see her.

  He stared beyond the roofs of buildings, seeing green treetops on the edge of town, some patches of green downtown. Was he losing the love of his life by not acting? Could he watch her marry someone else?

  He crossed to his desk to pick up his phone, but then he put it down and stepped away, staring at it while he was lost in thought about her. Allison had declared her love for him. Did it really run deep? Thinking she was out there somewhere, probably at her office, he turned back to the window. What was she doing now?

  * * *

  Allison sat in her office while her dad was in front with a customer. She sat at her desk, composing a letter to go with the catalog. Everything was moving along toward the sale in early summer. She expected a really good response to the catalog that was filled with beautiful items and fine historical pieces.

  She heard footsteps in the hall and assumed it was her dad coming back for something and that the customer had gone. She heard a knock at the open door and glanced up. Her breath caught and held while surprise shook her. Jared stood in the doorway.

  Her heart seemed to stop and restart at a faster pace while she inhaled deeply. His green eyes held her immobile.

  The silence stretched, and her heart became a steady drumming. Deep down she felt an urge to run into his arms. Instead, she locked her fingers together in her lap out of sight below her desktop. “Jared. What are you doing here?” she asked, finally finding her voice, but her words were breathless.

  “Your dad told me to come on back,” Jared said, ignoring her last question. He stepped inside her office and closed the door.

  She came around the desk to wave her hand toward two guest chairs. They both stopped where they stood only a few feet apart. Neither made a move to sit but stood facing each other in silence.

  “So what’s this about?” she asked him finally.

  “I want to talk to you in private. I figured if I called you and asked you to dinner, you would just turn me down.”

  “You figured right,” she replied. “There’s no point in going to dinner together.”

  “Yes, there is. We can talk.”

  She barely knew what she was saying to him. He stood too close, looked too handsome and she had missed him more than she had believed possible. His riveting eyes still held her, and she wondered if he heard her pounding heart.

  Her phone rang once and she didn’t even look at it. When it became silent, she guessed her dad had answered in the front.

  “That was perfect timing. That phone call is an example of why I want to take you out so we can talk undisturbed. I want to be alone with you, not at an office or some other place where we’ll be interrupted. I want to pick you up and take you to my house tonight.”

  “I think we’ve said everything there is to say to each other,” she answered, barely able to get out the words. She wanted to say yes. She wanted to be in his arms. She wanted the evening with him, but it was ridiculous to put herself through that agony, and she guessed that he wanted to try to talk her into accepting his lifestyle. She couldn’t think of another reason for his presence.

  “Jared, I won’t move in with you no matter what you say,” she stated flatly, hurting all over again, a raw hurt that was as terrible as the first time they had gone through this.

  “That is not what I want to talk about,” he said quietly. “One evening. That’s not so much, Allison.”

  It was an eternity if someone hurt badly, she thought. “All right, Jared. I don’t see the point, but come by my condo at seven.”

  “Thanks for doing this. We could just go now. You could leave your car here.”

  “No, you come by my condo.”

  He nodded. “I’ll let you get back to work. I’ll see you then.”

  She felt the invisible wall between them that had never existed before, not like this. She didn’t know why he wanted to see her, because she hadn’t changed her feelings about him. Instead of the usual excitement she had always felt with him, she just hurt because she couldn’t see any reason to get together again except to repeat the final goodbye.

  Even so, the sparks had still been there in that first glance, when she had looked up and faced him as he stood in the doorway. The mesmerizing draw between them was as present as ever, and his handsome looks still took her breath away. Those things had not diminished or changed one tiny degree. Would she ever get over him? Ever stop responding to him?

  * * *

  She drove home in a haze and showered and dressed in the same state. She selected a simple black sleeveless dress with a short-sleeved, high-waisted sweater that would be a light wrap later in the evening. She let her hair fall freely around her face, and she was ready about ten minutes before seven.

  She heard his car and headed toward the front of the condo. Her nerves were taut, a deep eagerness gripping her that she could not ignore or get rid of despite of her best effort.

  The bell chimed, and she swung open the door to once again be captured by green eyes that were filled with obvious warmth and appreciation.
/>   Eleven

  “You look gorgeous,” he said as he stepped inside, and she closed the door behind him.

  “Thank you,” she replied, trying to ignore her fluttering insides. “Come in and I’ll show you where I put the library table. It’s beautiful. Thank you again, Jared.”

  “I’m glad you like it,” he said.

  “I love it.” They entered her living room. “I plan to hang the mirror on that wall above the library table,” she said. “I haven’t had anyone to hang it yet, but I will. Sloan helped me get the library table in here, and Phillip and I have been busy, so we haven’t hung the mirror yet.”

  “Are those the only things you wanted? Now’s the time to tell me.”

  “Yes. I don’t have room for too much, but these are beautiful.”

  “I agree. Do you have the tools and hook to hang the mirror?”

  “Yes. I’ve always got those things around.”

  “Where’s your mirror? I’ll help you hang it,” he said, shedding his navy suit jacket and placing it over a chair.

  She started to protest, and then closed her mouth and led him into her small dining room. The mirror was on a folded blanket on one end of her dining room table. Jared picked it up easily.

  “Let’s see where you want it.”

  “You may get messed up doing this now,” she said, looking at his navy slacks and the snow-white shirt with French cuffs.

  “Doesn’t matter,” he replied in an offhand voice. He followed her back into the living room.

  “I’d like it centered over the table, so it can be the focus of the wall if I put other pieces around it later. I’ll go get a measuring tape.” She retrieved it and came back to find him waiting.

  “I marked a tiny spot on the wall that I think is the center.”

  “What did you do, just eyeball it?”

  He smiled. “Yes. We’ll see how good I am. Hold one end of the tape.” He moved to the other side of the table and looked at the length of the table and then measured half.

  “You’re right on the target,” she said. “Good eye.”

  She watched as he put a hook in the wall and then hung the mirror, checking to make certain everything was tightly in place. She watched him work, which seemed so right.

  “Jared, both the table and the mirror are beautiful. Thank you so much.”

  He placed the tools on a towel atop an ottoman and walked up to take her in his arms. The moment he touched her, a wave of longing swept her, making her feel empty and needy.

  “Now you sound more like yourself,” he said. “Allison, I’ve missed you, and I’ve been thinking about us. That’s what I want to talk about.”

  “I’m going to marry Phillip.”

  “Have you told him yes?” Jared asked, a muscle working in his jaw.

  She shook her head. “I haven’t yet, but I’m planning on doing so the next time he asks me.”

  “Forget that, Allison. That’s why I’m here.” His green eyes darkened while he took a deep breath. “Darlin’, I love you, and I want to marry you,” Jared said, his voice husky.

  His declaration of love was a warm cloak enveloping her and capturing her heart. Excitement rekindled, a churning, bubbling hope that made her feel she didn’t dare breathe.

  “Let’s talk about this, Allison,” he continued. “Come sit down.” He released one arm, still holding the other lightly as they sat on the sofa, and he faced her with his knees touching hers.

  “I’ve thought about us. I don’t want to lose you.” His declaration sounded heartfelt. More words to bind her heart to him and to make her listen to what he wanted. “Maybe I can give up the wildest things if you can put up with a few that I find really difficult to say I’ll never do again.”

  “Like what, Jared?” she asked, not daring to breathe.

  “I can give up bull riding and mountain climbing. There are a couple of things I really want to keep doing. Most of all my deep-sea diving, because that goes with the ship salvage hobby, and I don’t want to give that up.”

  “Have you thought this through?” she asked, “You’ve been so set on doing those things. You’ve talked about disappointment later—”

  “I’ve definitely thought it through,” he answered in a deep voice. “What about the deep-sea diving—can you tolerate it?”

  “I can live with that one, I think,” she said, stunned they were discussing what he would give up and what he wanted to do. She was as surprised by his declaration that he couldn’t get along without her. All this time she’d been home he hadn’t called, tried to see her or anything else. Had he been thinking all this through before talking to her again? She pulled her attention back to him.

  “I love white-water rafting and, darlin’, that isn’t as dangerous as some of the other things.”

  “I can live with white-water rafting, Jared,” she replied carefully, thinking about it and unable to believe they might work this out.

  “What about skydiving and hang gliding?”

  “I’ve done both and don’t have any interest or inclination in doing them again. You can eliminate both of those activities. I think we’ve covered it. I ski, but you ski. Can you think of anything else?”

  “What about bronc riding?”

  “What about it? Does that scare you?”

  She smiled at him, letting out her breath. “No.” Her smile vanished as she stared intently at him. “You would give up those things for me, the bull riding, the mountain climbing?”

  Then it hit her—the irony of it all. “This proposal is connected to your propensity for taking risks,” she said. “In fact, this may be one of the wildest risks you’ve taken, Jared, this risk of giving your love and asking me to marry you.”

  He looked startled. “Maybe it is, but I’ve taken risks before, and I’ll take risks again. I want to take this one with all my heart.”

  Her heart began to pound. “You didn’t answer—what about the bull riding and the mountain climbing?”

  “In a breath I’ll give them up,” he said. “I love you, darlin’. Allison, will you marry me?”

  She felt as if shackles fell from her heart. “Jared,” she said, letting out her breath while tears of joy filled her eyes and spilled over her cheeks. She threw her arms around him, catching him by surprise. They went down on the sofa with her on top of him, and his arm tightened around her waist.

  Raising slightly, she looked down at him. “Yes, I’ll marry you. Oh, yes.” Joy filled her, spilling over and making her laugh. “Jared, I can’t believe this. I was so certain it was over between us and I’d never be with you again.”

  “I was, too, for a brief time, but I don’t want to be without you. I’m willing to make some sacrifices if you’re willing to put up with the things we talked about and agreed on.”

  “You have a deal.”

  His warm green eyes filled with love. “I seem to recall a demonstration of the benefits of being married. Well, I’m counting on that.”

  She smiled at him. “Unzip this dress,” she said in a sultry voice. As soon as he did, she stood, wriggled and let the dress fall to the floor. Smiling at him, she moved closer as he smiled in return. The moment changed, and passion became a raging blaze that burned away thoughts about anything else except loving each other.

  * * *

  Finally she lay in his arms, close against his warm, naked body.

  “Jared, I am unbelievably happy.”

  “I hope so. That’s what I want. I want to always make you happy. Darlin’, you have absolutely no idea how much I need you.”

  “I hope so, always and forever.” She thought of something and sat up to look down at him. “Jared, you’ll never believe this. I have a surprise for you.”

  He looked amused. “What surprise? Could it possi
bly involve your brother?”

  “Yes. Sloan feels guilty for telling me all these years how wild you are and to watch out for you. He said you are a great friend and he shouldn’t have painted such a dark picture of you.” She smiled. “You don’t seem surprised.”

  “I’m not surprised, because your brother came by to see me. He told me that you were about to marry Phillip. He doesn’t want you to because he knows you and Phillip are not in love. He apologized. He feels guilty for saying the things he did about me.”

  Jared grinned and pulled her down into his arms. “We’ll have to call and tell him the news, and then he’ll start worrying about us getting married. First we tell your dad. I’ve already told him I wanted to marry you and that I was going to ask you to marry me.”

  “When did you do that?”

  “This afternoon when I went to your office. I saw him out in front first.”

  “He didn’t tell me.”

  “Of course not. I wanted the proposal to be a surprise.” He kissed her. “Allison, I’m the happiest man on earth. Let’s have this wedding as soon as possible.”

  “So we can have a baby?” she asked, smiling broadly.

  “No, so I can have you with me every night possible. Babies later—maybe not much later, but give me a month at least.”

  She giggled and kissed him.

  * * *

  It was after eight when Jared pulled out his phone. “Let’s call your dad and Sloan, and then we’ll order dinner.”

  He handed her the phone and she hit Speaker, then told her dad that she and Jared were engaged. Her father’s booming congratulations sounded hearty and sincere. She promised to come over the next day with Jared. “Honey, I wish you all the happiness possible. I think that’s wonderful. Jared talked to me, and he loves you very much.”

  She turned to smile at Jared and plant a kiss on his lips.

  Next they called Sloan, and she switched on the speaker button again. “Sloan, this is Allison. Jared is with me. We’re getting married. Jared said you told him to propose to me.”