And he had only himself to blame for it.
Damn it, he'd lost at love before and been burned badly enough to convince him to avoid it. But it had found him again, anyway – he'd just been too damn scared to risk it. And this time, the pain of losing what he might have had was so much worse. Because what he felt for Nora was so much bigger and deeper than anything he'd ever known before.
Grumbling under his breath, he fired up the engine. "Fasten your seat belt, Em," he said.
"Are we gonna go see Nora?" she asked hopefully, and snapped the strap into the buckle.
"Nope," he said, and watched her face fall. Reaching over, he tipped her chin up with the tips of his fingers and smiled at her. "You're going home. I'm going to see Nora." Some things you just had to do on your own. Though he thought he might stand a better chance of winning Nora over if Emily was with him, Mike discarded the notion. He wanted her to take him. Not just his child. He knew she loved Emily.
Now he had to know if she still loved him enough to give him a second chance.
"Are you gonna ask her to stay with us, Daddy?"
Ask.
Beg.
Argue.
Whatever it took, he told himself, and steered the truck into traffic.
*
Nora looked around at her customers, then shifted her gaze to the wide front window that opened onto Main street
. Spring sunshine sprinkled the ground like a promise of coming summer.
The crowds were thick, business was brisk, and all Nora wanted to do was close up shop and head out to the ranch. She leaned her elbows on the counter and brought up the image of her watching Mike working on his horses. If she tried, she could almost feel the sun on her face and hear the wind brushing through the trees. Imaginary Mike turned and gave her a blinding smile that sent bolts of heat shooting through her bloodstream.
"Well, hi Nora," a deep voice murmured from close by.
She jerked out of her lovely daydream to face Bill Hammond. His interested brown gaze swept over her quickly and thoroughly, and Nora felt the sudden urge to cross her arms over her breasts.
"Hi, Bill. What can I get for you?" She nearly winced at the simple question she asked daily.
"Well, now," Bill said as he leaned over the top of the glass display case and gave her a look she was willing to bet he considered one of his best "Hello Baby" come-ons.
"I can think of quite a few things that you could get for me."
Nora plastered a polite smile on her face but inwardly hurried him along. Her heart just wasn't in the flirting mood anymore.
*
Mike stood outside the bakery and rehearsed for the tenth time in the last fifteen minutes exactly what he wanted to say to Nora. That was assuming she'd be in the mood to listen to him at all.
Finally, he decided to just go with his gut. He reached for the doorknob. That's when he spotted Bill leaning in toward Nora and leering at her. A string of warning bells went off in Mike's mind. If he didn't fight for what he wanted now, then he'd spend the rest of his life regretting it. Mike watched Bill trying to make one of his patented moves, and in response, frustration and anger bubbled together inside him.
This was his future. If he couldn't convince Nora that he did love her, then he was going to be sentenced to seeing her with some other guy. A guy who would have the right to hold her, love her. A guy who would hear her secrets and share her dreams.
A guy who wasn't him.
Jerking the door open, Mike stepped inside. Ignoring the roomful of customers sitting at the small tables, he stalked directly to the counter.
Nora's gaze snapped to his, but she managed to hide whatever she was feeling. And that worried him. Still, just looking into those blue eyes of hers was enough to convince him to stand his ground and fight for the chance to win her back.
But first things first.
Mike dropped one hand on Bill's shoulder. When the other man shot him a wary glance, Mike said shortly, "Get lost, Bill."
"What?" The man pulled away and took a step back. "You can't make me leave. This is Nora's place and I'm a customer."
All around them, people were beginning to stare. Mike felt their interested gazes but couldn't seem to care.
"The only one around here who could make me leave is Nora," Bill said.
Both men looked at her.
Nora stared at Mike. "Get lost, Bill."
Clearly disgusted, the man slapped both hands on the display case, did a quick U-turn and stormed out. In the stunned silence that followed his exit, Mike kept his gaze locked on Nora as he walked around the counter, came right up to her and took her face between his palms. He kissed her hard and long and deep, and put everything he felt, everything he'd just discovered, into the effort.
When the applause from the customers started, he broke the kiss, and ignoring the crowd, he said, "I need to talk to you."
She swayed a little, but, then, Mike's kisses always made her a little wobbly. Add that to the complete shock of having him stride into the shop and kiss her in front of God and everyone, and was it any wonder she was a little shaky? And now he wanted to talk. Talk about what? That he wanted her? That he missed her? All good things, but she wanted more. Now she had to find out how badly Mike wanted her. She rubbed her fingers across her mouth, took a slow, deep breath and said, "So talk."
Mike glanced at the customers. "In private."
Private. When the whole town knew what had been going on between them. She glanced at the customers watching them with avid interest and then looked back at Mike. Whatever he had to say to her, he could say here. In front of witnesses. "Nope."
"No?"
Someone behind him chuckled.
Nora shook her head and stuck to her guns. "If you've got something to say to me, just say it."
Mike scraped one hand across his face, then rubbed his neck. "Not going to make this easy, are you?"
"Nothing worth having is easy, Mike," she said.
"Okay, fine." He nodded, waved one hand at the customers and said, "If you need to hear me say this in front of the whole damn town, then that's just what I'll do."
"I'm listening," she said, keeping her gaze locked on his.
"I was wrong," he blurted, figuring the best way to start was to admit the worst right up front.
"Wrong about what?"
"Hell, you name it," he muttered.
"No, Mike," she said, and tilted her head to one side, watching him carefully, "I think you should."
"You're right." He laughed shortly, shook his head and threw his hands high before letting them slap against his thighs. "Again. You were right about everything else, too."
Nora's eyes sparkled and her smile widened. That small bubble of hope that had risen in her the moment he walked into the shop now seemed to fill her heart. "So far, I like this talk."
"There's more," he promised, and reached for her. His hands came down on her shoulders, his fingers pressing into her skin, driving wedges of heat deep into every corner of her soul.
"I finally figured it out, Nora," he said, and his voice dropped to the low, husky tone that had haunted her dreams. "I need you."
Nora swallowed hard and bit down on her bottom lip to keep herself from talking. Now was the time to just listen and pray that he said what she needed to hear.
"Nothing that happened before you matters. Everything's better with you. I'm better with you." He rubbed his hands up and down her arms, creating a physical link between them that reached into her soul and locked on. "I love you, Nora."
She inhaled sharply, sweetly, and savored the words she'd hoped to hear.
"I didn't expect to – didn't want to." He shook his head and held her tighter, as if she might try to escape him. "But it's there, Nora. It's real and it's more than I ever thought I could feel."
Biting her lip was getting harder and harder. But she needed to hear one more thing, so she kept quiet.
"Marry me, Nora. Marry me and build a family with me. Be Emi
ly's mother and help me give her brothers and sisters."
Nora released a breath she hadn't even realized she'd been holding. Suddenly, her world looked brighter. She could see the future she'd always wanted, stretching out in front of her. She looked up into those forest-green eyes of his and, for the first time, she saw love shining there. And still, she heard herself ask, "Before I answer you, I have to know, Mike. What changed your mind?"
He shot a quick glance at the people watching them, then shifted Nora to one side so that his back was to their audience and only he could see her face. "I finally understood something very simple."
"What?"
"I was … afraid to love you." He blew out a rush of breath as if admitting that had taken a lot out of him. But once he started, he kept talking. "I was scared to believe again. To take a chance again. And then today I realized that if I don't take the risk, then I'll lose you." He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her tightly. When she tipped her face up to his, he said softly, "And living without you is just not something I want to do."
"Mike, I—"
He grinned down at her. "Hey, I know what it's cost you to be quiet for the last few minutes. But keep it up until I can do this right, okay?"
Nora clamped her mouth shut, smiled through her tears and nodded.
"I love you, Nora," he said, and she read the truth in his eyes. "Will you marry me?"
"Can I talk now?"
"That depends on what you want to say."
"I want to say yes, cowboy."
That grin of his widened and her stomach did that oh-so-familiar pitch and roll.
"Then talk, Nora."
"Yes."
His arms tightened around her as he lifted her off her feet. "I think that's the shortest speech I've ever heard from you."
She wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a quick, hard kiss on his mouth. Then, smiling, she said, "Well, don't get used to it, because I have to tell you, it about killed me to be quiet this long when I have so much to tell you and ask you – like how's Emily and would she like to be a flower girl and—"
Mike laughed. "You're babbling, Nora."
"Then kiss me, cowboy. And don't you dare ever stop."
He claimed that kiss.
And the crowd went wild.
* * * *
KISS ME, COWBOY Page 12
