Her Hawaiian Homecoming (Mills & Boon Superromance)

by Cara Lockwood

  Her heart thrummed loudly in her ears as she worked up the courage to say what she knew needed to be said.

  “Dallas, I am so sorry. I was wrong to want to leave,” Allie said. “I didn’t get to tell you before, but I should have. I...I...love you.”

  Dallas’s eyes brightened. “You do?” he teased, his voice sounding raw and hoarse.

  “Dallas!” Allie felt like punching him in the arm. Now was not the time to joke. She’d just laid her heart on the line! If he didn’t say he loved her back, then she was going to be an inconsolable mess. “Don’t tease. My heart can’t take it.”

  Dallas grew serious as he pulled her palm up to his lips and kissed it. “Allie, I love you. I’ve loved you since the moment I laid eyes on you. All I want to do is spend the rest of my life showing you just how much I love you.”

  Allie leaned down and they kissed, their lips meeting in a tender rush, and Allie felt as if her heart was going to burst with happiness.

  Jesse came rushing into the room. “Lyle called us,” Jesse breathed, and Allie saw Kai still with a slight limp but the brace gone. “Are you all right?”

  “Clearly, word of his demise has been greatly exaggerated,” Kai joked as Allie scrambled out of the bed, and flattened her wrinkled shirt with the palm of her hand, a blush creeping up her cheek.

  “Seriously! You scared us,” Jesse said, play swatting Dallas on the arm. “Lyle said a drunk driver hit you! That you hit a tree!”

  “I’m tougher than I look, and I have a lot to live for.” Dallas squeezed Allie’s hand once more, and she felt a warm tingle all the way to her toes.

  Jesse and Kai crowded around Dallas’s bedside. “We have to stop meeting at hospitals like this,” Kai joked, and Dallas let out a reluctant laugh.

  “It’s a much better visit for me when you’re in this bed,” Dallas grumbled, but Kai laughed. Dallas joined him, until a fit of coughing cut him off.

  “Easy there, guy. I can’t whoop your butt surfing if you don’t recover.” Kai nudged his friend playfully.

  “Ha. Ha.” Dallas smiled up at his friend.

  “By the way, Lyle told us they just picked up the drunk driver,” Jesse said. “Some tourist from the mainland. A ranger found him wandering Volcanoes National Park. He’s in jail tonight, going to be arraigned tomorrow. He told me to tell you he’ll be by tomorrow morning to get your statement.”

  “Good,” Dallas said. “That guy could’ve killed someone.”

  “I am very glad he didn’t.” Allie squeezed Dallas’s hand.

  “I have even better news,” Kai said. “What with all this life-or-death action, you both missed all the excitement at the festival.”

  Now he had both Allie’s and Dallas’s attention.

  “Don’t tell me—Jennifer Thomas tanked our chances.” Dallas looked resigned to defeat.

  “No, actually,” Jesse said. “I heard that she abstained.”

  “Why would she do that?” Dallas sat up straighter in bed.

  Jesse glanced at Allie. “I heard Allie might have had something to do with it.”

  Dallas stared at Allie, who shrugged. “I might have.”

  “Allie...what did you do?”

  “Just a little talk, woman to woman.”

  Kai laughed. “Was there scratching and hair pulling involved? Tell me you got her good.”

  “No fighting. But I won anyway.” Allie grinned, and Dallas pulled her in for a hug.

  “I knew there was an excellent reason I loved you.”

  “But who won?” Allie could hardly stand to hear what had happened.

  “Do you want the bad news or the good news first?” Kai asked, a twinkle in his eye.

  “You mean the good news or better news,” Jesse clarified. Allie felt butterflies tickle her stomach. She could hardly wait to find out.

  “Just tell us already!” Dallas couldn’t wait, either.

  “You got second place for your coffee.” Kai pulled out a red ribbon from his pocket and handed it to Dallas.

  “That’s not bad news, by the way,” Jesse felt the need to say, but Allie could see the disappointment flicker across Dallas’s face. He’d been so hoping for a blue ribbon.

  “I knew we wouldn’t win, but still. I was hoping.”

  “You won second place,” Jesse pointed out. “Nothing wrong with that.”

  “And what’s the other news?” Allie asked. She couldn’t imagine there was more.

  “You did win first place for New Coffee Product.” Kai produced a blue first-place ribbon and handed it to Allie. “Your coffee spa scrub won.”

  Allie felt as if she hadn’t heard him right. “It...won? But I didn’t enter it. How...?”

  “I did,” Jesse said. “Well, technically, Teri did, but I helped fill out the paperwork.”

  Allie hugged Jesse. “Thank you,” she said, and took the blue ribbon, suddenly feeling very proud. She’d won!

  She glanced at Dallas, but he didn’t look as happy as she felt.

  “I guess this means you can sell,” Dallas said. “Kaimana didn’t say which competition you’d have to win. Just that you win.”

  Allie glanced at the blue ribbon in her hand, her mind already made up. “No, it means that we try again next year for the blue ribbon for coffee.”

  Hope crossed Dallas’s face. “You mean it?”

  “I want to stay!” Allie had never felt surer of anything. A joyful grin lit up Dallas’s face, even as Kai and Jesse wrapped Allie in a bear hug.

  “That’s good, because you know we weren’t going to let you leave,” Kai said.

  “We would’ve shut down the airport,” Jesse promised.

  “Would you let her go? I need my hug,” Dallas complained. Reluctantly, Kai and Jesse released Allie. Dallas pulled her to his side of the bed.

  “It took you long enough to decide,” he said, and then tugged her down, her face even with his, for a kiss.

  EPILOGUE

  Two months later, Volcanoes National Park, Big Island

  “ARE YOU COMING ?” Allie asked, pushing ahead up the trail that would take them to the summit of the island’s most active volcano, Kīlauea. Allie couldn’t wait to get to the top.

  “You’re going so fast,” Dallas groaned, a bit out of breath as he followed her up the steep, dark trail of the near-barren mountain face. He’d gotten his cast off, but his arm was still tender as he worked to strengthen the muscles.

  Black lava rocks sat everywhere, and the landscape looked strangely barren, as if they’d landed on another planet. Yet every so often, a bright green tree or tropical plant would spring up from the dirt, a vibrant reminder that after the burning lava cooled, it healed over to provide some of the richest soil on earth.

  He thought it was a lot like life. When someone scorched your heart, sometimes beautiful things could grow there after, even if you thought love could never live there again.

  Dallas saw the huge cracks in the earth where rocks had shifted and cooled a long time back. As always, he felt awe at the power of the active volcano that had been erupting since 1983. Mountains of black soil and rock surrounded them as they walked through the trail in the valley. He walked by a single baby green palm tree springing up from a crack in the dirt and shook his head at the miracle.

  “Come on, slowpoke,” Allie chided. “I finally get you away from tending to the coffee for one day. You can’t go and waste it by dragging your feet.”

  “I’m going as fast as I can!” Dallas protested, but grinned. “I’m the one with the broken arm, remember?”

  “Are you walking on your hands or what?” she teased, poking his belly. As she led the way, her backpack bounced on her back, her hiking shoes making trails in the dust. “Come on, I’ve never seen a real live volcano!”

  Allie hurried ahead, excited. He smiled, too, feeling glad to see her happy. He sped up and grabbed her by the waist, unable to keep his hands off her a second longer. He kissed her there, on the trail, tasting her tongue, inhaling her
sweet scent.

  “What was that for?” she asked, a little bit breathless as she pulled away.

  “Because I can’t help it since you’re so beautiful.” He grinned. “Plus these might be our last minutes alive on earth. Only you would think it’s safe for us to go see a live volcano. Wasn’t it good enough we survived a tsunami and a drunk driver?”

  “The volcano is safe,” Allie chided even as she giggled. “See? The eruption predictions today are on the other side of the mountain.” Allie waved the ranger’s brochures in his face.

  “Right. We are disaster prone. You know that.”

  “That’s why we’re on the east side today.” Allie bounded away from Dallas, picking up her pace along the trail, where a single posted wooden sign told them to head east for a lookout point.

  Dallas let her go, watching her bounce forward, thinking he’d never been happier. He slipped his hand in his pocket, looking for the black velvet box he’d hidden there. He didn’t feel nervous at all. He wanted to see his ring on her finger more than he’d wanted anything in his life. Unlike with Jennifer, he felt not a single doubt. His only real worry was that she’d say no. He was pretty sure she’d gotten over her fears of putting down roots, but he’d test that today.

  He followed her up the trail, and as they climbed up the mountain, she clasped the metal rail along the trail leading upward. When they got to the summit, a little bit out of breath, they were rewarded with an amazing view of the huge crater left by old ash and lava, ringed with bright green trees, and in the far distance, the hint of the blue sparkling Pacific Ocean.

  “Oh, Dallas!” she cried, grabbing his hand and holding it tight. “It’s beautiful!” A single plume of steam rose up from the hole in the crater in the distance. “Look! There!”

  Allie pulled out her binoculars and focused on the steam. “I can’t believe we’re standing on a live volcano. This is...amazing,” she murmured.

  “You know this is why our coffee tastes so good,” Dallas said. “The lava soil is like no other on earth.”

  Allie put down her binoculars. “The Big Island amazes me. It does. Where else can you have all this together? I just can’t imagine another place on earth this wonderful. You know, Kaimana said Pele lives here.”

  “Does she, now? What did Kaimana say we should do? Offer up a sacrifice?”

  “Yes, as a matter of fact, she did.” Allie tugged off her backpack and pulled out a small bottle of gin.

  “What on earth?” Dallas couldn’t help but laugh. He thought Allie might take a swig straight from the bottle. Instead, she unscrewed the cap and dumped half of it into the dirt near their feet.

  “Here’s to Pele,” Allie said, grinning. “Kaimana said the volcano goddess loves gin.”

  Dallas just laughed. “Are you sure that’s not another one of her tricks?”

  Allie shrugged. “Can’t hurt, right?” She screwed the cap back on the half-empty bottle and then put it into her backpack.

  Dallas twisted and picked Allie up one-handed, holding her by his good arm around her waist.

  “Dallas! Put me down!”

  He carried her closer to the mouth of the volcano.

  “So you want me to throw you into the volcano?” His eyes were bright.

  “Dallas!” Allie squealed, playfully swinging her legs. On the trail, they came to a wooden sign that said, Caution! Trail Below. Do Not Throw Anything Into the Volcano!

  “Oh, well,” Dallas said, putting Allie back on her feet. “Guess I can’t throw the maiden into the volcano. It’s against park rules.”

  Allie giggled and hit him on his arm. “You are terrible!”

  “Am not. Given our luck with natural disasters, I was just trying to be on the safe side.” Dallas glanced left, away from the steaming volcano mouth beyond, and saw the lookout he’d been waiting for. It was a beautiful view of the lush tropical rain forest beyond. “Hey, let’s go there.” Dallas guided Allie to the spot.

  “Can you see the tree house?” he asked her, pointing into the thicket of trees below.

  “No! Where?” She raised her binoculars, scanning the treetops.

  He reached into his pocket and grabbed the velvet box. When she turned around, he knelt before her. Confusion passed across her face until he opened the box in his hand, revealing a bright diamond ring. Tears sprang to her eyes as she covered her mouth with both hands.

  “Alani Osaka, I love you. You came into my life at a time when I thought I could never love again. I want to wake up with you every morning, and go to sleep with you every night. You make me want to be my best self, and make me believe anything is possible. You are my sun and my moon, and my everything. We’re here on this mountain celebrating the fact that the Big Island is always growing, always changing, and I can’t imagine a better life than one with you in it, here, with me. I’ve always said this is the most beautiful place on earth, but now I realize it wasn’t until you got here. Allie, my beautiful love, will you marry me?”

  Allie’s eyes brimmed with tears as she choked on emotion. She didn’t say a word for a beat, and Dallas almost worried that the skittish Allie might return. For the briefest of moments, his heart clenched. Was she going to tell him no? This was why he wanted to marry her and fast—he didn’t want her to slip away from him. Not again. Not ever.

  “Allie?” Dallas asked her, even as a tear slid down her cheek. She moved her hands from her mouth.

  “Yes, yes, a million times, yes!” she blurted, and Dallas felt awash in relief. Nothing could’ve made him happier than to hear those words.

  Dallas took the ring from the box and slipped it on her finger. She gazed at it, tears in her eyes, and then jumped on him as he was trying to rise to his feet. She nearly toppled him, but he found his footing, wrapping her up in his arms. Allie stood on her tiptoes and kissed Dallas furiously, and Dallas returned the favor. Behind them, smoke rose from the volcano in a hissing puff, as if Pele approved.

  “I’m never going to let you go, Dallas McCormick,” Allie promised.

  “I’m counting on it,” Dallas drawled, and dipped his head for another kiss.

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from THE RANCHER’S DREAM by Kathleen O’Brien.

  CHAPTER ONE

  I’VE GOT TO get out of Silverdell.

  The sentence kept running through Crimson Slayton’s head, clogging up her brain waves. She ought to be thinking of something clever to say to keep this foolish girl from getting an incredibly dumb tattoo.

  But she couldn’t think of a thing. All she could think was...

  I’ve got to get out of Silverdell...before I start to care about this kid, too.

  She frowned, annoyed with herself, and repressed the urge to pick up one of her own homemade lavender Earl Grey tea cookies, which she kept on hand for her clients. The cookies were great for calming nerves.

  Why should she need calming down? Why should she be in any danger of feeling emotional about this lovesick girl across the table from her in the tattoo parlor?

  It was ridiculous. Becky Hampton was nothing to Crimson. The two had met twenty minutes ago...and if Crimson did her job, she’d say goodbye to Becky in another twenty minutes, and that would be the end of that.

  Stay out of it. When Crimson’s sister, Clover, died, and Crimson left her hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, those four words had been her new sworn life motto.

  Stay out of everything. No ties. No roots. No attachments to things or people she could lose. She’d be a gypsy, a loner. Get in, get out and nobody gets hurt.

  For the first few weeks after Clover’s funeral, she’d done just that. Three towns in three weeks.

  But then she’d hit Silverdell, Colorado, and, though she told herself every month that she’d probably leave soon, somehow she never did.

  She’d been here thirteen months, more or less.

  Clearly that was much too long. Somewhere, over that time, she’d started to feel things. Instead of staying free, cordial but unatt
ached, like a bird on a wire, she’d started getting involved. Making friends.

  First Mitch and Belle, and all the Bell River family. And Marianne Donovan, who owned the café and shared Crimson’s love of cooking.

  Those weren’t the most dangerous attachments, though. The real threat had snuck up on her. First she’d met Grant Campbell, a nice rancher who had helped her figure out how to mortar bricks when they were paired up to build a playground for the Silverdell Outreach charity she’d gotten involved with.

  Then she’d met Grant’s friend and temporary roommate, Kevin Ellison.

  And finally, the biggest danger of all, Kevin’s precious, motherless baby, Molly.

  At the thought of the warm little bundle of sweetness, her heart squeezed.

  Oh, yeah. I’ve got to get out of Silverdell.

  But first she had to handle Becky. The pretty blonde had been leafing through Crimson’s sample book for nearly twenty minutes now, exclaiming like a little kid every time she passed a pretty flower or a colorful fairy.

  “I just don’t know! They’re all so cute!”

  Crimson managed not to groan. Think, think. The girl was obviously nervous, ripe for being talked out of this. She’d come in alone, hovering in the doorway without entering, grabbing the shoulder strap of her purse as if it was a lifeline, and twisting her legs so nervously it looked as if she badly needed to go to the bathroom.

  When Crimson had approached her, she’d confessed shyly that she wanted to have her boyfriend’s name, Roderick, tattooed on her left buttock, along with “something pretty.” But she had to wait for Rory to come “give the okay” to the design.

  Her body...but his decision? That had been Crimson’s first red flag. If Roderick was that bossy, he probably wouldn’t be Becky’s boyfriend for long.

  Crimson collected Becky’s ID, always the first step.

  Believe it or not, the girl—woman—was going on twenty-two. Amazing. Crimson was only twenty-six, but she would have guessed she was at least ten years older than Becky.

  Still, you could count rotations of the earth around the sun, or you could count life experience. By the latter calculation, this poor kid didn’t seem old enough to drink root beer.