Rancher and Protector
Page 15
Dee didn’t look at him. Didn’t even move. Just stared out at the ocean.
And Amber could see the hurt in Logan’s eyes.
“It’s nothing personal,” she said. “He’s like that with everyone, even me. But he’s aware. I swear to you, Logan, he knows everything you say.”
That had been illustrated to her perfectly on that day she’d been sobbing in the child’s room.
Dee loves you.
Logan glanced up at her, his hair blowing in the breeze off the ocean. “Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
Dee’s father stood back up. And Amber noticed he was even dressing differently. No jeans this time out. He wore brown slacks. And a dark-brown, button down shirt instead of a T-shirt. But most impressive was that he didn’t try to touch his son. Didn’t try to hug him. Didn’t do anything the old Logan would have done.
“Give it time,” Amber said.
Logan nodded, then turned so he could follow where his son was looking. They stood there together for goodness knows how long. Amber was so completely transfixed by the sight. She’d always thought Dee looked like her sister. But that wasn’t true.
Dee resembled his dad.
She swallowed hard. How she not seen that before?
She hadn’t wanted to.
But this wasn’t the man she remembered.
“He never told me where he was, you know,” Logan said.
“Pardon?”
“Colt,” Logan said. “He didn’t betray you like you think he did. He’d already put it together, who Dee was. A week before Dee got sick, he knew. But he never told me where Dee was specifically. Instead, he begged me to give it a chance. To trust you. I have the email if you want to see it.”
“No.”
Logan came over and placed a hand on her shoulder.
Amber wanted to cry.
“He told me I owe you big time.” He half turned. “For everything you’ve done. And I know I do, Amber. I really do.” He looked down at the sand. “I messed up.” And there were tears in his eyes. “I really messed up.” The wind caught his hair again. “But I’m sorry. For everything, Amber. I’m so damn sorry, and I swear to you I’ll make it up.” She heard his voice hitch. “I don’t know if I ever can. But I swear I’m going to try.”
She couldn’t breathe for a moment. How had this happened? How had a man who’d been so horrible, changed so much?
She couldn’t deny that he had.
Sharron would have wanted her to move forward.
“You don’t need to make it up to me.”
“Yes, I do,” he said. “I do. And I promise I’ll be there for the both of you. I swear to you, Amber.”
They both glanced at Dee. The little boy had turned. A second later he lifted his hand and pointed. “Mac!”
It was like a stab to the heart. “No, Dee, that’s not—”
But it was.
A dog that looked just like Mac ran forward, a gray-and-white speeding bullet that hurled itself straight at Dee.
“This is step one of making it up to you,” Logan said. “He loves you, Amber. I’ve never met a man so devoted to a woman. Your rejection is killing him. Please, give him a chance.”
Because beyond Mac, walking along the edge of the beach toward her, was Colt, black cowboy hat firmly in place.
“Oh, damn,” she muttered.
Through eyes suddenly filled with tears, she watched as Mac threw himself at Dee’s feet.
“Mac!” Dee cried.
That was all the incentive the dog needed. Rear end swaying, tongue lolling, eyes wide and bright, Mac rubbed up against the little boy he loved so much.
“Mac,” Dee repeated, squatting and burying his head in the dog’s thick fur.
She had to look away. If she didn’t she’d start bawling like a baby.
“Hello, Amber.”
She still found herself dashing tears away, having to inhale deeply before facing him. She should be angry. She should tell both of them, Logan and Colt, to get lost.
“I hope you’re not mad at Logan,” Colt said.
The sound of the ocean was nothing compared to the roar in her ears. “I’m not,” she said, uncertain what she felt. But it wasn’t anger.
Colt blocked her view, so she had to look at him.
“I went back to Texas, Amber,” he said. “I went back and faced my inner demons.”
She inhaled deeply. “And?” Something inside her shifted as she looked into his blue eyes.
“All alone, surrounded by a thousand acres…all I wanted was you,” he said, reaching out to brush a lock of her hair away from her eyes. “And I found I couldn’t live without you.”
“Colt…”
“I hated myself before I met you, Amber. I couldn’t see the good in anything…or in anybody. And then you came along.”
She tried again. “Colt…”
“And I realized that if a woman like you could like a man like me…”
She shook her head.
“That if someone who only saw the good in things could find some good in me… And if she wasn’t afraid to put everything on the line, then I could do no less.”
Her vision began to blur. He reached for her hands.
“I love you, Amber. I love you more than I’ve loved anything in my life.”
Except his parents and his sister. But he didn’t need to qualify it. His family that he’d loved so much, and that he blamed himself for killing. But he’d forgiven himself now. Amber had taught him how to do that. She’d forgiven the man who’d killed her sister. How could he do less? She could see it in his eyes.
“I love you,” he repeated earnestly, cupping her face in his hands.
She loved him, too. Still. With him standing in front of her, there was no way she could deny it.
“You lied to me,” she whispered.
“I might not have been honest about my reasons for coming to Camp Cowboy, but I never lied.”
“But it was dishonest.”
“Yes,” he admitted, “it was. And I’m sorry. I’m so damn sorry.”
He clutched her hands again. “I love you,” he repeated. “Please tell me you forgive me.”
She drew a deep breath, inhaled the scent of him and absorbed the feel of his body.
“Marry me?” he asked.
She looked past him, at Logan, who’d been kind enough to step away and give them some privacy. At Dee, who sat stroking Colt’s dog. And at the sky, so blue and beautiful and so much like Colt’s eyes.
“Marry me?” He tipped her chin up and forced her to look at him.
He loved her.
“Marry me.”
He kissed her. And the moment their lips touched, she knew it was useless. She loved this man. He might have met her under false pretenses, might not have been exactly honest, but she loved him. And when he kissed her, she couldn’t doubt that he loved her right back.
“Marry me,” he said a fourth time.
And this time when she looked him in the eyes she answered, “Yes.”
He jerked her to him so quickly and so suddenly that she gasped. And then she was laughing. And crying. And hugging him back.
“Dee love Mac.”
They both glanced over in time to see Dee plop down on the beach as he wrapped his arm around Colt’s dog.
“Good dog,” the little boy said.
And then they were both smiling and laughing, as for the first time, Amber felt hope. Colt loved her. Dee loved Colt’s dog. Amber loved Colt. And if Dee continued to speak, that was a minor miracle in and of itself.
The second miracle of her life.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-1461-3
RANCHER AND PROTECTOR
Copyright © 2011 by Pamela Britton
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 st
orage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario M3B 3K9, Canada.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
For questions and comments about the quality of this book please contact us at Customer_eCare@Harlequin.ca
® and TM are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
www.Harlequin.com