Her Perfect Proposal

by Lynne Marshall

  “You have another hot date Thursday?” she asked in a playful, teasing manner.

  “Uh, I’ve got something I have to do.”

  She lifted one pert brow but didn’t say a word. He wished he could tell her why, but knew she’d been asking around about the committee meetings. The last thing he wanted was to leak the story after all their efforts to control the information.

  “Okay. Friday,” she said, not pursuing the point. Surprising him.

  After a great lunch, he found a tree they could stand under to hug, since it had started to drizzle. Lilly smelled like roses and expensive soap, and he inhaled deeply when he snuggled into her neck. He’d missed holding her, and from the way she was hugging back, maybe she’d missed him, too? The thought made him grin.

  They glanced into each other’s eyes, hers sparking with intent, before sharing a kiss, this one a real kiss, not one of those flimsy hello deals. Nope, this was a “Welcome back, where’ve you been?” kiss. Man, he’d been waiting ever since Sunday for it, too, and she didn’t disappoint.

  There was something about Lilly’s mouth fitting perfectly with his that sent him on a sexy mental detour every time they kissed. And she nested right into his arms, as if she belonged there. He needed to watch himself or he’d be falling for this one, and…well, while kissing her he couldn’t think of any reason why that would be a bad thing. But usually where women were concerned, it always got sticky down the line. They’d start complaining about his job taking up too much of his time, and he’d begin to think they weren’t nearly as amusing as he’d thought in the beginning.

  “Lunch tomorrow?” he asked.

  “Okay. Can I pick the place?”

  “Sure.”

  “Then let’s go to Lincoln’s Place.”

  “I love that place.”

  “I’m thinking about writing an article about how he came to Heartlandia, and why he likes it here.”

  “That’d be a great idea. Oh, and sometime you should think about interviewing his pianist, Desi Rask, too. She’s got an interesting story.”

  Lilly nodded. “I’ll make a note of that.”

  “Well, I’ve got to get back. We’re working some burglary jobs related to the cruise ships.”

  “Hmm,” she said, sudden interest gleaming in her gaze. “I wonder why Borjk doesn’t keep a police radio scanner in the office. We miss out on all of the interesting stories.”

  “Probably has to do with the fact we’d arrest him if he did for using information he’s heard on it for personal gain—i.e. the newspaper.”

  “Ah, okay, so I learned something new today.”

  “You can pop into the department anytime and ask to see the police log, though.”

  “I can?”

  “Sure. Hey.” He reached for and held her shoulders to look square into her eyes. “I learned something new today, too.” He tugged her close for a hug. “I miss you when you’re not around.”

  Her body language showed she liked that, as she held and hugged him back. “How much longer are you working evenings?”

  “Another week, then I’ll be back on days.”

  She kissed him lightly. “Good. I get lonely in that cottage all by myself at night.”

  “Leif isn’t good company?”

  “He’s more like a ghost. Sometimes I see him standing at his big old bay window staring out toward the river for a really long time.”

  “He’s been through a lot.”

  “Well, you know me, I want to know the story. And why isn’t a man like him married?”

  “I told you he was, didn’t I? Or I meant to.”

  “Really?” She wiped the quizzical look off her face when she noticed Gunnar’s disapproving gaze. “Yeah, I know that’s none of my business.”

  “It’s not like it’s a secret. His wife died about two or three years ago from cancer. He built that house for her, now has to live without her. I’m surprised he stays there. Don’t know if I could.”

  “Wow. That’s sad.”

  “Yeah.” It was time to lighten things us. “By the way, the whole town already knows that story so don’t get any ideas.”

  She socked his chest halfheartedly. “Can’t I find out about my landlord?”

  “Sure you can, just don’t print it.”

  “Besides, I’ve got half a dozen human interest stories lined up for the next few days.” She ignored his jab. “I’ll be learning how to make cheese with the Svendsen brothers tomorrow morning, and Hilde Pilkvist promised to demonstrate collecting wool from sheep, dyeing, spinning and weaving it at Hannah’s Handmade Sweaters.” She tossed him a glance showing her frustration. “Not everything’s a story for the newspaper, Gunnar. I know that.”

  Now he’d ticked her off, and he hated ending their lunch on a bad note so he kissed her until she quit squirming and started kissing him back. Then her cell phone rang, and she broke away from the kiss. “That’s my father’s ringtone. I’ve got to answer.”

  He needed to get back on the job anyway, so he kissed her forehead and took off. “Good luck,” he said over his shoulder.

  *

  Thursday night, Gunnar thought he saw something in the bushes while heading from his meeting at city hall. He shook his head when he added up the probabilities. Lilly. Did she really think she could get answers from hiding in the bushes?

  He walked Gerda Rask and his sister to their respective cars, noticing Lilly’s red two-door way at the end of the parking lot. Did she really think he wouldn’t notice? What kind of a cop did she think he was? Once the ladies had both left the lot, he got an idea.

  Feeling perturbed about Lilly’s snooping around after he’d specifically asked her not to, he strode to his car, which was near the bushes, and made a fake phone call, talking extra loud. “Yeah, the information we got tonight will blow your mind. I’m heading over there right now.” Then he got into his undercover police car and started the engine and drove extra slowly out of the parking lot to give Lilly time to get in her car and follow him. At least that was his cheesy plan, and what do you know, surprisingly, she bit.

  He’d been using the undercover unit while working the cruise-line-burglary case, and had been up so late last night he’d driven it home. He’d planned to trade it in for his own car after the emergency meeting tonight, but now that Lilly was trailing him—just like he’d planned—he decided to hold off.

  He made a wicked grin, turned onto an isolated road ready for a game of cat and mouse, and headed for his favorite secluded beach. Lilly tailed him all the way along the high cliff roads and turning into the hillside canyons. What could she possibly think she could find out? Was she expecting a secret meeting of the local wizard coven or something?

  In his gut, he didn’t feel comfortable leading her on a wild-goose chase—in fact he kind of felt like a pompous jerk. Here he was concerned he couldn’t trust her, and then he pulls a stunt like this. What if she thought he was mocking her? That wouldn’t exactly help them learn to trust each other, but at this point he’d have a lot of explaining to do no matter what he did. This wasn’t right. What the hell had he been thinking? He decided to put an end to this little caper and come clean.

  Gunnar made a snap decision to take a turnout just around a tight bend and take the consequences. He deserved them. He planned to turn around and stop her, put an end to his little game. He’d confront her on why she insisted on breaking a big story about the secret committee when she had all these really great stories lined up with the locals. Give it up, he’d tell her. You’re not going to find out anything from me.

  It seemed like a good enough plan, anyway.

  Except when he made his U-turn and got back out onto the road, she’d already passed where he’d turned out and was heading farther up the secluded coastal road.

  She sure wasn’t very good at trailing people. She’d made a completely wrong turn and would end up on a dark dirt road to nowhere if he didn’t stop her. Thinking fast, he put on his police lights and sped u
p behind her. There wasn’t any place to pull over, so she stopped dead in the middle of the narrow road.

  He brought his heavy-duty flashlight along and got out of the car. Lilly stayed in her car, using common sense and probably big-city precautions. Good thinking.

  Between the flashing undercover police-unit lights and his flashlight, he could tell she was staring straight ahead and was ticked off. His heart sank a little thinking he’d given her a fright. Sometimes he came up with bonehead ideas. Now he’d have to fix the fallout.

  He tapped on her window. She cautiously turned her head. “It’s Gunnar. Open your door.”

  “No.”

  “It’s me. Come on. At least open your window.”

  “No. You lied to me.”

  Oh yeah, she was pissed, but not about what he thought she’d be angry about—his playing a juvenile game on her. She’d homed in on the fact he’d never been straight with her about his involvement in the secret meetings, even when she’d asked him point-blank at the bar that first night. Truth was, it wasn’t her business. She’d find out when the rest of Heartlandia found out, but now he needed to deal with the situation at hand.

  “I hardly knew you then, and you were being too nosy.”

  Finally she turned on him, and between his flashlight and her facial expression, the picture wasn’t pretty. Anger turned her normally lovely features into sharp lines and shadowed angles, reminding him of the Japanese folklore ghosts called yurei he’d often read about.

  Through the closed car window she sounded muffled, yet he understood every single word. “You lied, and you continue to lie. And now you tried to scare me and trick me, and make me feel foolish. And I especially don’t appreciate your taking me on a wild-goose chase.”

  She put her car in gear and drove off leaving Gunnar standing in the road kicking himself for his insensitivity. He’d really screwed up; now what the hell was he supposed to do to make things better?

  One thing was for sure, he knew she was heading to a dead end and didn’t have a clue how to find her way home from this location. He also knew this was the only way in and out of this particular canyon and she’d have to retrace her path straight to him. Moonlight dappled the surface of the Columbia River as it lapped the rocky shoreline, and he waited for Lilly to return so he could grovel and beg for her forgiveness.

  Less than five minutes later, her headlights came barreling down the bumpy road. He’d turned his car around while he waited, so he jumped inside and with his flashing lights led the way for her out of the canyon. He switched them off when they drove across town straight to her cottage door. Once there, he waited for her to park and get out of her car, then he jumped out of the cruiser when she approached.

  Lilly’s furious expression clued him that he was still in deep doo-doo.

  She socked him in the chest. Unlike usual, this one was meant to hurt but fell far short of the mark. He’d need to teach her some defense techniques for her safety.

  “I’m not a game. How dare you humiliate me.”

  “I’m sorry. I messed up.” Admitting his stupid mistake seemed like the only tack to take.

  The admission made her pause a half beat but she recouped quickly, anger coloring her disposition.

  Gunnar stepped in front of her, and tensed his muscles in preparation for another sock, but she didn’t hit him. “I’m not a game, either,” he said. “You can’t know everything I’m involved in, and you just have to accept that for now.”

  “That was a dirty trick, Gunnar. You made me feel like an idiot.”

  Ah, jeez, he’d messed up beyond what he’d thought, made her feel like an idiot, never his intention, and he didn’t have a clue what to do. Daring to gaze at her, he had a hunch there was more on her mind than his taking her on a detour for his own amusement. Her usual good-sport attitude had evaporated somewhere back in that dark canyon and maybe she wanted, no, needed, to talk about it.

  “You’re not an idiot. Couldn’t be if you tried.”

  She folded her arms and huffed, studying the ground as if it was covered with diamonds or something.

  He could wait it out. No matter how strong his urge to comfort her was, instinct told him to give her a chance to open up. But, ah jeez, her eyes were welling up and she bit her lower lip to fight off the tears. And since he was the source of her tears of humiliation he wanted to kick his own ass. “I’m the idiot. Not you.”

  She’d launched off into another time, it seemed, as she looked over his shoulder and stared at the poolside waterfall.

  “No one can make me feel like an idiot like my father. No one.” She wiped away the first wave of tears spilling over her lower lids with a shaky hand. “I could never do anything right enough for him. No matter how hard I tried, he’d find the flaw somewhere, someway.” She shook her head. “He was big on teaching me lessons. Showing me the error of my ways. Humiliating me. And he didn’t give a damn who was around to hear or see it, either.” She took a deep breath, held it then blew it out. “When I graduated in the top ten percent in my high school class, he wanted to know why I wasn’t in the top three percent. When I got accepted to one of my top two university choices, he wondered why I couldn’t get into an Ivy League university, then said it must have been because of my SAT scores. When I landed a job at the San Francisco Gazette, he asked why I didn’t try for the Chronicle.” She pressed her palms against her temples. “I have racked my brain and cannot ever once remember him praising me.”

  Gunnar wanted to hunt down Lilly’s father and coldcock him right here and now. But more so, he wanted to rip his own heart out for bringing on this walk down nightmare lane because of his stupid and careless actions.

  “I’ve been so wrapped up in all of these local folks’ interviews for the newspaper,” she said “I’d forgotten about your stupid meetings. But my dad called yesterday.”

  Gunnar remembered the cell phone call that interrupted their most excellent kiss after lunch.

  “It took him less than ten seconds before he asked when I was going to break my big story. Then I realized I’d gotten off track.” For the first time she nailed Gunnar with her tortured gaze. “I tried to tell him about all of these wonderful interviews I’ve been doing, but he reminded me that nothing should derail my goals. Nothing. Then I remembered you’d said you were busy tonight, and I put two and two together. Followed you. And where did it lead? To you teaching me a lesson.”

  “That wasn’t my plan, Lilly, I swear. I just wanted to mess with you for snooping around. I didn’t know how…How could I know?” He stepped closer, wrapped her in his arms in apology. She didn’t fight it, and he was grateful. “I really am the idiot.”

  “My father was the master of teaching by humiliation. I don’t need that junk from the man I’m dating.”

  Oh, man, he’d pegged her so completely wrong. Her tough big-city-woman persona was nothing but a shield for a vulnerable girl, and his desire to protect and serve had never been stronger.

  “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.” He hugged her tight, wishing he could take back the past hour, trying desperately to make things better. Hell-bent on being the opposite of his father, he’d acted nothing short of a bully tonight, apparently just like Lilly’s father. It would never happen again. Ever. “I’m sorry, Chitcha, please forgive me.”

  The soldier-like tension in her body relaxed. She leaned into his chest and rested her head on his shoulder. “I shouldn’t have been following you. I wasn’t even that interested.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “Agreed. You absolutely shouldn’t have been following me. So no more games, okay?”

  “No more games.” She looked up.

  “No more snooping?”

  “No more secrets?”

  “Touché,” he said just before capturing her mouth for a long and tender kiss as they stood under the light of the perfect half-moon. He was in a sticky situation being on a committee that Lilly was dying to find out about, and just now promising not to keep secrets.
How was he supposed to juggle that double-edged sword and not get injured, or worse yet, injure her?

  Soon, the kiss heated up and his body stirred. Lilly must have felt the same way. She broke up their heady outdoor make-out session, took Gunnar by the hand and, without the need for another word, led him to her door.

  On the way, he thanked his lucky stars for makeup sex.

  Chapter Ten

  Things were going great with Gunnar. Even though he’d taunted Lilly like a child that Thursday night—she’d gotten her feelings hurt, gotten furious and in his face, recalling far too many bad memories—he’d apologized like a prince and the next thing she knew she’d invited him in and they were having makeup sex. The next night he’d sung praises over her homemade sushi, even though she knew she’d done a mediocre job compared to her sobo. They’d gone out for breakfast on Saturday before he went to work, and Sunday he’d driven her to interview a fascinating young woman named Desi Rask. Of course that gave Gunnar the excuse to visit with his best friend, Kent, and his son, while she did. He’d spent the next week showing her around the county like she was an out-of-town relative. And she’d loved every minute.

  Falling for him would change her focus in town. Her father had warned her about that. She could think of a million reasons why she shouldn’t get involved with him while she was at work and out from under his spell, and that’s pretty much what she’d decided he did whenever they were together—spin some kind of magic. They’d been dating almost four weeks, the longest relationship she’d ever had.

  Sad but true.

  Her parents’ faces popped into her head, looking tenser and tenser. Gunnar wasn’t her goal. He wasn’t the reason she’d come to Heartlandia. She needed to stay focused on her plan to own and run her own newspaper. Having a relationship with the police sergeant would only complicate things.

  So why was she smiling and going all gooey inside thinking about how he liked to snuggle with her while they slept, and how no man had ever used her nickname from her grandmother before—Chitcha—until Gunnar. It scared her how drawn she was to him, all of him, not just his made-for-work body, and his no-nonsense attitude, but his down-home personality and surprising gentle side, too.