The Rancher's Hired Fiancee
Page 17
Maybe she could find her niche in a small town. She’d enjoyed working with the kids… And there was a theater that wasn’t used nearly as much as it ought to be.
But that was wishful thinking. Ray didn’t love her. And he didn’t really want a wife. So how could she consider staying, especially when people learned she was carrying the mayor’s illegitimate baby?
Once the door to the house was closed, and they were standing on the porch, Catherine asked, “What did you come to say?”
“Something I should have told you last night.”
“What’s that?”
He waited a beat, then said, “I may have hired you to be my fiancée, but along the way, I fell in love with you, Catherine. And I should have told you that when I suggested we get married. I liked the roles we played. And I’d want them to be real.”
She liked being with Ray, too. And she’d even begun to like the woman she’d pretended to be, thinking that might be the person who lived deep within. But did she dare hope… Did she dare believe…
“You love me?” she asked, trying to wrap her heart and mind around his confession, needing to hear him say it again, wanting to believe him.
“Yes, I love you. And even if that doesn’t make any difference to you, I wanted you to know.”
“Why didn’t you say anything last night?”
“Because I couldn’t believe a woman like you would love a guy like me. And with you leaving…”
“You love me?” she repeated. That was even more amazing than finding out they were having a baby.
He smiled, and a glimmer lit his eyes. “I think I fell for you the first day I saw you and spotted all those stickers on your face.”
“You’re kidding. I think that’s when I started falling for you, too.”
He cocked his head slightly, his smile fading into seriousness. “Are you saying that you feel the same way about me?”
“Yes, Ray. I love you, too.”
He let out a whoop that might surprise any of his conservative constituents. “Then it looks like we’ve pretty much worked through all the complications that matter.”
That was true. And she was beginning to believe that she could finally have it all—marriage to the man she loved, a wonderful father for her baby, the family she’d always wanted.
“So does that mean you’ll marry me?” he asked.
“If you’re asking me again, then I’m saying yes this time around. There’s nothing more in the world I want than to be your real wife and the mother of our baby.”
Then she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him with all the love in her heart.
The love they professed, the love they felt, was the real deal—and it promised to be the kind to last a lifetime.
* * * * *
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ISBN: 9781459230392
Copyright © 2012 by Judy Duarte
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