Unexpectedly, he dropped to one knee in front of her and her heart fluttered with surprise and tremulous expectation. He couldn’t possibly mean—could he…?
“Katie, I love you,” he said, his voice deep and brimming with emotion. “Will you marry me?”
Chapter Seventeen
It was the last thing she’d expected to hear from him today and the single thing she’d wanted to hear for weeks now. “Oh, Blake, I never thought—yes.” She looked into his eyes and repeated it, savoring the word and all that went with it. “Yes.”
He was on his feet then, sweeping her into his arms, kissing her passionately, mindless of the glances they were getting from passersby. Parting at last, he gently touched her face. “When we get back to Dallas, I want you to pick out an engagement ring,” he said. “I have something in mind, one of Penny’s designs, but I want it to be your choice.”
“I’m sure I’ll love it.” Stretching up, she kissed him. “I love you.”
“Let’s celebrate,” he said. “I think they may be holding a reservation for us at Chez René.”
“Why do I get the feeling you planned this from the moment we got off the plane?” Katie asked as they began walking hand in hand away from the cathedral.
He flashed a smile. “You know me. I don’t like to leave anything to chance. I wanted to make it hard for you to say no.”
“I wouldn’t have said no.” And she knew it was true, no matter where and when he’d asked her to marry him.
The rest of their brief stay in France passed in a whirl, with Katie scarcely registering anything of it that didn’t directly involve Blake. She didn’t have time to think about the implications of the commitment they’d made to each other or the reaction from friends and family. The overwhelming happiness she felt made thinking impossible. Even the flight home, with Dallas growing nearer by the minute, couldn’t daunt her joy.
Blake didn’t give her any opportunity for contemplation, either. Practically the moment the jet landed, he ushered her into the waiting car and less than an hour later, Katie found herself at the McCord Jewelers flagship store, gazing at the ring Blake had handpicked for her appraisal.
“This,” she said, touching a fingertip to a flawless square-cut diamond set in platinum. “This is perfect.”
“Then it’s yours.” Blake picked up the ring and led her back to his office, closing the door against the curious looks and whispers of the store staff before slipping it on her finger. “I promise, no matter what, I’ll always love you,” he vowed, punctuating it with a tender kiss.
Katie’s eyes in turn filled with tears. “Why am I crying again?” she chided herself. “I’ve never been happier.”
“Don’t all women cry when they’re happy?”
“If you’re going to make comparisons—”
“Never. And even if I did, all other women would come up short.” He put his arm around her, lightly kissing her temple. “I’m not quite ready to face real life yet. Why don’t we put off telling anyone we’re home until tomorrow? We can spend tonight alone, deal with everything else in the morning.”
“That sounds really nice. Real life is bad enough but facing my parents isn’t going to be easy.”
Blake frowned a little. “Why? It’s not as if you need their permission.”
“Of course not,” she said. “It’s awkward, that’s all, so soon after—” She let the sentence die but not quickly enough.
“After Tate, you mean,” he said flatly.
“Okay, yes, but it’s not only that.” Splaying her hands over his chest, she brushed her lips against his. “Let’s not worry about all this now. As you said, it’ll be easier to deal with in the morning.”
She could see he wanted to press the issue, but with a nod he accepted her delaying the inevitable. “How about dinner, then?”
They settled on a small out-of-the-way Japanese restaurant, and to Katie it felt like an extension of the last two weeks. She wanted to convince herself jet lag was responsible for her growing sense of unreality. But in truth, everything had happened so fast and she’d started to question whether or not she’d let herself get caught up the romantic whirlwind that had been San Vincentia and Paris.
“I think I’d better take you home and put you to bed,” Blake commented, signaling the waiter for the check. “You look like you’re wilting.”
“I’m sorry, I guess the jet lag is sinking in.”
“No reason to apologize. You deserve to be tired, after all the excitement and travelling the past few days.” He reached over and took her hand, his fingers idly rubbing the ring he’d put on her finger. “Don’t worry,” he said, “everyone will get used to the idea, and if they don’t, to hell with them. All that matters is us.”
“You’re right,” she said softly. “That is all that matters.” And her love for him and the love in his eyes made it easy to believe.
The next morning, though, waking up in her solitary bed, her only tangible reminder of the time spent away her engagement ring, Katie was slammed by doubts. It had all happened so fast. Had she rushed into her relationship with Blake, heedless of the consequences?
She didn’t have answers but told herself she had to put the questions aside, for at least the day, needing to concentrate on getting to her office and catching up on everything that she’d left undone in her absence.
Work, though, didn’t turn out to be the distraction she’d hoped.
Tessa, in the process of handing her several files, suddenly stopped midgesture, staring wide-eyed at Katie’s left hand. “Oh, my gosh. Is that what I think it is?”
“Yes,” Katie said, seeing no point in denying it, though she would have preferred her and Blake’s families had been the first to know. “Blake and I are engaged.”
“I didn’t believe it when you kept denying you were involved, but I never expected…” Tessa stopped, looking a little flustered, and then put on a smile. “Well, congratulations. It looks like you’re going to be Mrs. McCord after all.”
Katie flushed at the implication that she’d traded one McCord man for another, but then hadn’t she expected that reaction? She didn’t have time to come up with a response because her cell rang and she recognized Blake’s number. Tessa left with a silently mouthed, “Talk to you later,” as Katie picked up the call.
“I’m hoping you can meet me at home this afternoon, say about four?” he said. “I thought we could decide on the best way to tell the families about us.”
Tension gripped her but she tried to sound casual, pleased even. “Yes, all right. I should be finished up here by then.”
There was a pause and then Blake said, “Is everything all right?”
“It’s been a long morning,” she hedged. “Tessa managed to pile my desk with paperwork while we were gone and I’m trying to sort through it all.”
“If that’s all—” He gave her a moment to reply and when she didn’t, he said, his voice dropping to that low, husky pitch she’d learned so well, “I miss you. I know it’s been less than a day, but I’ve gotten used to us being together.”
“I feel the same way,” she said.
She heard a muffled buzz at his end and Blake’s exasperated sound. “Damn, I’ve got another call. I’ll see you this afternoon. I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she murmured.
The way he’d opened up to her, how easily he expressed his feelings to her now, quelled Katie’s doubts, at least until the late afternoon, when she was on her way to the McCord mansion. Then, determined to defeat them, she kept reminding herself that they loved each other, and that Blake was right, it didn’t matter what anyone else said or thought.
Yet the closer she got to the mansion and Blake, the more she worried it was a battle that her heart wouldn’t win.
Blake met Katie at the front door, stealing a quick kiss, before whisking her out to one back wing of the house, facing the gardens. He’d chosen the Florida room because it was least likely they’d be interrupted t
here. Closing the expansive sliding glass doors behind them, he turned and drew her to him and kissed her again, this time passionately, telling her with his embrace how long the hours had seemed without her.
When they parted, breathless, he smiled. “Sorry for the cloak-and-dagger entrance, but I wanted us to have time alone before we’re discovered. No one ever uses this room, unless my mother has her lady friends for tea.”
“It’s fine.” Gently disengaging herself from his arms, she walked over to stand near the windows, looking out at the landscape that was glazed with the last of the afternoon sun. “You said you wanted to talk.”
Something in her tone and the stiff set of her shoulders made him uneasy. He went over to her, putting his hands on her shoulders and gently turning her to face him. “What’s bothering you, Katie? And don’t tell me it’s been a long day or it’s jet lag,” he said before she could give those excuses again. “I know that’s not it.”
“Tessa knows we’re engaged.”
“And that’s a bad thing? In a day or two, so will everyone else.”
“It’s not so much that she knows,” Katie said, glancing away from his searching gaze. “It was her reaction. She said it looked like I was going to be Mrs. McCord after all.”
“I don’t see—”
Katie pulled away from him. “A few months ago I was engaged to your brother. That’s what everyone is going to say, that I couldn’t have Tate, so I settled for the next best thing.”
A cold hard knot settled in his gut. “Is that what you did, Katie, settle for second-best?”
“You know that isn’t true.”
“Do I? I thought I did. I’d convinced myself that this wasn’t about you being on the rebound from Tate. Now, I’m not so sure.”
“This has nothing to do with Tate. It never did. I never loved him the way I love you.”
“Then what is it about?” Blake gritted out, trying hard to keep a leash on his frustrations.
She looked at him a long moment and he could clearly see the struggle in her eyes to put her feelings to words. “Those weeks in San Vincentia and then Paris,” she began, “they were…like a dream. I went there with you, not expecting it to last, and then—everything happened so quickly. I didn’t have time to think about what we were doing.”
Pacing a few steps away from him, she glanced at his ring on her finger. “I’ve never loved anyone like this, even Tate. It’s so overwhelming that sometimes it feels like it can’t be real.” Her eyes lifted to his, begging for his understanding. “I never really committed to Tate—I was just raised to believe we were meant for each other. And you’ve never been in a long-term relationship. I can’t help but wonder if either of us knows what we’re doing. I’m worried we rushed into this blindly without knowing if what we have is strong enough to last a lifetime.”
“You’re saying we—you—made a mistake.” Blake faced away from her to grip the back of a chair. He couldn’t have guessed it would hurt like this, to hear all over again someone telling him—Katie telling him, that once again, he was somebody’s mistake.
“Blake—no,” she said, the anguish in her voice making him turn to her again, “that’s not what I meant. Please, I…I never wanted to hurt you like this, for you to think that I regret loving you. I’m just—” In a jerky abrupt motion, she tugged off her engagement ring, and quickly coming up to him, took his hand and pressed the ring into his palm, closing his fingers around it. “I can’t be what you need. You deserve so much better than this.”
She spun around and started for the door, her sudden action freezing him in place for several seconds. But the sight of her leaving him spurred him to action and he outpaced her and grasped her wrist, keeping her from walking out of his life.
“Blake…” Tears filled her eyes as she looked at him.
For a moment, he told himself he could let her go, save himself additional grief and heartache by ending it now. It would be the simplest way to resolve things and he nearly made that choice to go back to what he was before, alone, armored against caring, substituting ambition and success for love.
But he couldn’t go back. And he’d never before taken the easy way out.
“What do you want, Katie?” he asked. “I can’t promise you perfection or that we’re never going to have to face any obstacles. I can’t stop people from talking. All I can promise is that I’ll always love you, and that if you feel the same way, then we will be strong enough.”
Opening his hand, he offered her the ring. “Your choice this time. I’ve made mine.”
He held his breath as she searched his eyes and it felt she was searching his heart and soul. After a minute that lasted an eternity, when he’d nearly resigned himself to inevitably losing her, she smiled and held out her left hand.
“Will you put it back on?” she asked softly. “For the last time?”
Blake didn’t hesitate. He slid the diamond onto her finger and then pulled her into his arms, sealing their future with a kiss that vowed forever.
Two days later, Blake returned home on a Saturday morning, having spent the past nights with Katie. Her parents were in Austin, celebrating Peter Salgar’s recent election as governor, and they had the Salgar estate to themselves. They’d spent their days at their respective offices, but their nights alternated between making love and talking. Today, they planned to begin breaking the news of their engagement, starting at lunch with his family.
First, though, he had some unsettled business with his youngest brother. Katie’s insights had made him realize that he was still wrestling with lingering demons and he needed to settle things with Charlie, and his mother, as well. She felt strongly that Blake should be at peace with his family before they could begin thinking about having a family of their own. And he had come, reluctantly at first, finally now, to agree with her, at least where Charlie was concerned.
That was why he’d asked Charlie to come home from college for a weekend to talk. When he saw the wariness written in his little brother’s eyes as he stepped into the breakfast room, though, he felt a pang of guilt. His bitterness and anger had caused that look.
Now it was up to him to make it go away.
“Good morning,” he said, hoping to ease the tension with the mundane greeting. “I hope you got a good night’s sleep.”
“It was fine,” Charlie returned with a shrug. “We missed you at dinner last night. Mom said you’ve been gone a lot lately.”
“I’ll tell you about that later. Right now, I want to talk about something else. Let’s go out back.”
There was a chill in the air, and they both pulled on coats. Blake pretended not to notice the sidelong looks Charlie kept slanting at him, knowing his brother was probably confused by his complete turnaround in attitude from the last time they’d met.
“What’s on your mind?” Charlie asked when they’d walked a distance from the house.
“A lot. But I’ll try to simplify it.” He took a breath. “I wanted to apologize.”
Charlie looked straight ahead. “For what?”
“For the way I acted when you told me you wanted to meet Rex. For resenting you all these years.” Charlie’s eyes snapped to him and Blake smiled a little then sobered. “It wasn’t fair of me to blame you for what happened between Mom and Rex and my father all those years ago.”
“It wasn’t fair the way Mom treated you,” Charlie muttered. He shifted his shoulders, staring at the ground. “I felt guilty for always being her favorite. I never knew why, which just made it worse.”
“None of it was your fault. I think it’s time we both put it behind us.” He laid a hand on Charlie’s shoulder. “You’re a great guy and you deserve the love of both your parents. I hope you can get to know your father. You both deserve a chance to make up for lost time.”
“Thanks, Blake, really, this means more to me than I can tell you. I never expected this from you.” He paused then added, “Rex and I are making headway. It’s weird, but we have a connection.”
“You’ll always be a McCord, too. I hope you remember that.” Reaching out, he pulled his brother into a hug, for the first time he could remember since Charlie was a child. Charlie returned the embrace and when they backed away, Blake pushed a hand through his hair, clearing his throat against the lump there.
Yet he suddenly felt lighter, the heaviness of guilt and resentment receding, replaced with a warmth and closeness he’d missed between him and Charlie.
“So are you going to tell me what the big secret is?” Charlie asked as they started walking back toward the house.
“Big secret?”
“Come on, Blake. You disappear for a couple of weeks and when you do get back home, nobody can find you. And coincidentally, no one’s seen Katie in all that time, either.”
Blake smiled at Charlie’s not so subtle probing. “Looks like you get to be the first to know—Katie and I are engaged.”
“Engaged? Seriously? That’s great!”
“You think so?”
“Why wouldn’t I?” Charlie asked. “I never thought she and Tate were right for each other even though everybody kept pushing them together. What, are you worried about what Mom’s going to say?”
“It doesn’t matter what she or anyone else says. We love each other and that’s not going to change. So—are you going to join us for lunch and take our side when we make the big announcement to everyone else?”
Charlie flashed him a grin. “I wouldn’t miss it.”
Katie sat next to Blake that afternoon, trying not to let her face give away the riotous happiness that threatened to burst out. Eleanor, Tate, Tanya and Charlie had joined them and Katie could see it was all Charlie could do not to burst out grinning.
Blake reached for her hand under the table, brushing his thumb over her fingers. Inwardly she smiled, feeling both joyous and nervous, sure there would be mixed reactions, also knowing she no longer cared.
All that truly mattered to her now was that her fiancé sat next to her, her hand in his, his ring a symbol of their love and the commitment they had made to each other for the rest of their lives. She had, for the first time in her life, made her choice, and it was Blake.
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