He said the words so casually that for a moment they didn’t click with Juliet. When they did, she stared at him in wonder.
“I would go with you?” she repeated in disbelief. “You’re asking me to go with you and Gracia to visit Mingo?”
Heaving out a heavy breath, he brought his other hand up to her face and Juliet felt her shaky legs threaten to buckle completely as his fingers traced a loving pattern upon her cheek.
“I’m asking. No, I’m begging, Juliet.”
Begging? Matt Sanchez was begging her? Incredulous, she shook her head back and forth.
“I don’t understand, Matt. You—told me over the phone that you didn’t want to ever see me again. Now you’re here inviting me on a family trip. I—”
His dark features suddenly crumpled with remorse. “Juliet, please forgive me for that—for every stupid thing I’ve said and done these past three weeks. I realize saying I’m sorry isn’t enough, but just give me a chance to make things right between us.”
Tears rushed to her eyes and then with a little cry she fell forward against his chest.
“Oh, Matt, Matt. I love you. I love you. Don’t you realize that by now?”
Wrapping his arms around her, he buried his face in her hair and crushed her tightly against him. “Oh God, Juliet, I don’t deserve you. I’ve been so stubborn, so narrow-minded. When I found those papers about my grandparents, all I could think was that I’d fallen in love with a woman who’d been slipping behind my back, doing things without making me a part of them—just like Erica.”
Clinging to him, Juliet mouthed against his shoulder. “I thought you were angry because you believed I was going to write something salacious about them. But I wasn’t. I was trying to tell you that whatever I wrote about the Ketchums would be as fair and true as I could make it be.”
Easing his head back, he lifted her chin and looked at her with regret. “I wanted to believe the worst about you, Juliet. I wanted to think you were deceptive like Erica, that you were only out for a sensational story at the expense of my family. I think if this hadn’t happened between us, I would have eventually looked for something else to rip us apart. Because I was scared.”
His admission caused her blue eyes to widen with wonder. “Scared?”
He nodded soberly. “The more we were together, the more I realized I was falling in love with you. And the more I loved, the more scared I got.” Closing his eyes, he brought his lips against her cheek. “Everybody sees me as a rich man, Juliet. And I guess in lots of ways I am. But the things that matter most I’ve lost. Erica, my mother, and then Dad’s ordeal. I’d lost all faith that anything good and lasting could happen to me. I felt like if I loved you, I’d only wind up losing you. So I guess I unconsciously thought that I’d split us up before that could happen.”
“Oh, Matt, I don’t know what to say,” she whispered, her voice thick with emotion. “Except that I love you. And I want us to be together for as long as we have on this earth. We don’t know how long that will be. No one does. But while we’re together we’re going to live and love every moment.”
Leaning his head back, he gave her a wry smile. “You sound like Dad. While we were in Houston, he told me I was wasting time when I could be loving you. What he said woke me up, Juliet. Seeing him there in that hospital bed and knowing he could die in surgery, yet seeing his courage to face the future, made me take a good look at myself. At what I was doing to the both of us.”
Reaching up, she cupped his face with her palms. “Your father is a wise man, my darling. I’m looking forward to knowing him.”
His lips spread into a seductive smile. “What about becoming his daughter-in-law?”
Joy spilled from her heart and splashed through her body like golden raindrops. “Oh, Matt, I want to be your wife. More than anything. But I think—”
She eased out of his arms and went over to the table where she’d dropped her bag. Frowning, Matt followed.
“What are you doing?” he asked as she opened the bag and pulled out a manila folder. “I just asked you to marry me and you’re looking at papers?”
Turning to face him, she solemnly handed him the folder. “Before I say yes, I want you to read this. It’s the story I’ve written about your grandparents. Gilbert plans to publish it in next week’s edition.”
Shaking his head, he thrust it back at her. “Whatever this says doesn’t matter, Juliet. My grandparents’ lives have come and gone. Their time together was passionate, mysterious and full of controversy. None of that can be changed and I’ve decided that I’m not going to let this change anything between us now.”
Love shining in her eyes, she said, “I’m relieved that you feel that way, Matt. But I want you to read it anyway. Just so you can tell me what you think.”
A smile of indulgence crossed his face and buffered his sigh of impatience. “All right. I’ll read. But only because you want me to.”
Juliet took him by the arm and urged him back to the chair he’d been sitting in when she’d first walked into the kitchen.
“You sit and I’ll warm your coffee,” she told him.
Ten minutes passed before he finally put the typed pages down and looked over to where she was standing by the cabinet counter, watching and waiting for his response.
“What do you think?” she asked softly.
Slowly, he rose from the chair and went to her. A look of amazing admiration was on his face as he clasped his hands with hers. “I think,” he whispered tenderly, “that you’re wonderful. More wonderful than this stubborn ole cowboy deserves.”
Laughing softly, she rose on tiptoe and brought her lips up to his. “Fifty years from now I’m going to remind you of those words.”
He kissed her for long, long moments, then with a wicked growl, he picked her up in his arms. And as his strong legs carried her to the bedroom, he whispered, “Then I’d better give you something else to remember with them.”
Epilogue
Almost a year later, a spring sun was shining down on the Sandbur ranch, bathing the grass and new leaves with warmth, and urging the Texas bluebonnets to raise their heads.
Out in the long cattle pen, Gracia was aboard Traveler, her long ponytail bouncing wildly as the horse dived back and forth in front of the little brown steer that was trying his best to get by the horse and rider.
A short distance away from the action, Mingo stood with the aid of a wooden cane. “Spur him, Gracia!” he yelled to his granddaughter. “Move him forward. Closer to the steer. Don’t let him be lazy!”
Outside the pen, watching through the fence, Matt and Juliet looked at each other and exchanged smiles. After months of rehab, Mingo’s speech was almost back to normal. His springy steps were growing steadier every day and only yesterday he’d promised that his cane was going to soon be used as kindling for a spring brushfire.
“Mingo is going to make champions out of both of them,” Juliet said with certainty. “Just look at the way Gracia is sitting in that saddle. And Traveler follows her every command.”
Matt’s green eyes sparkled with love and fatherly pride. “Yes, she’s turning into quite a horsewoman. Dad says she and Traveler will be ready to compete in cutting competitions soon.”
Juliet’s arm slipped across her husband’s back as she quietly studied his face. “And how do you feel about that? You’re not still fretting? Worrying that something bad will happen to her if she rides?”
A faint smile crossed his face as he gazed thoughtfully out at his father and daughter. “My worries are only those of any normal parent now. This past year I’ve learned to have faith in my family and faith in God.” He glanced at her, his eyes soft with love. “Until you came along, Juliet, I didn’t have either. I only saw the darkness around me. I never believed my father could get well. And I never believed I would ever have this much happiness in my life.”
Sighing with contentment, she laid her head upon his shoulder and marveled at the change Matt had brought to her li
fe. She would never be alone again. She had a family now, who’d taken her under their wings and made her one of them. She had a daughter who adored her, and a husband who made every day and every night a precious occasion.
“You’ve made me a pretty happy woman, too, cowboy.”
With a knowing grin, his hand reached over and slid a protective hand over her flat stomach. “Don’t you think it’s time we told everyone about the little one?”
Only yesterday Juliet had gotten the news from her doctor that she was two months pregnant. Matt couldn’t have been more thrilled and she knew he was itching to spread their good news.
She pressed a kiss against his cheek and reached for his hand. “Let’s start with Mingo and Gracia,” she said. “That way the news will spread so quickly that Geraldine will have a barbecue planned for supper tonight.”
Laughing, Matt led his wife into the cattle pen and over to his father.
In a matter of seconds, Mingo let out a loud whoop of joy.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-1763-8
THE RANCHER’S REQUEST
Copyright © 2007 by Stella Bagwell
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Silhouette Books, 233 Broadway, New York, NY 10279 U.S.A.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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* Twins on the Doorstep
† Men of the West
The Rancher's Request Page 18
