Once the dust had settled, Brick had gotten his mental health clearance and gone back to work as a deputy marshal. With his father retiring, there was going to be an opening for marshal. Hud had suggested Mo might be interested. Brick had encouraged her to apply for the position.
“You really wouldn’t mind me being your boss?” Mo had asked, sounding surprised.
“Of course not. You have the experience. I think you would make a good marshal. I’d be honored to work with you. Or for you,” he added with a grin. “Just so long as when we walked through our apartment door, you remember who is really boss.” He’d laughed just in case she hadn’t realized he was joking, and she’d stepped to him and kissed him.
“Are you all right?” he asked now as he joined her. Moonlight played in the water’s ripples, the sky overhead a canopy of stars.
Mo nodded and turned to smile at him. “I was just making a wish on that star.” She pointed at a bright one sitting just over the top of Lone Peak Mountain.
“I know that star. I’ve made a few wishes on it myself.” He met her gaze. “Your sister?”
“I wish none of that had happened, but I can’t change any of it. That wasn’t what I wished for.”
“No?” he asked, eyeing her more closely. “What did you wish for?”
“If I tell, it won’t come true.”
He looked at the star and made a wish before he turned to her. “I’m glad I found you down here. There’s something I need to tell you.”
She turned her face up to him and waited as if not sure what to expect.
“I love you.”
Mo laughed. “I gathered that.”
“I don’t just love you. I’ve never told a woman that I love her because, as I once told you, if I did, it would be only if I then asked her to marry me.”
She smiled. “You were serious about that?”
He pulled her to him. “I’ve never been more serious about anything. I want to marry you. I want you to be my wife.”
MO LOOKED AT this handsome cowboy and felt her heart swell. Tricia used to tease her, saying she was too picky when it came to men, and no wonder she hadn’t gotten married. It was true.
But she’d never thought she’d ever meet a man like Brick Savage. She doubted the Lord had made more than one. She laughed in delight as she looked at him, wondering how she could have gotten so lucky.
“I love you, Brick Savage, and I would be honored to be your wife.”
He grinned and kissed her as the fireworks show at the ranch began with a boom that exploded over their heads. Twinkling lights showered down to expire before hitting the ground around them. The summer breeze stirred nearby pines as the creek next to them was bathed in moonlight.
For so long, she’d been looking back. But as Brick pulled her close, she looked to the future. She’d already fallen for his family and this amazing ranch life here in the canyon. Cardwell Ranch felt like home.
The other night, she’d found Brick sitting on the porch after dinner with his parents. He’d been playing a song on a harmonica and she hadn’t wanted for him to stop. But he must have heard her approach, because he’d finished the song and turned to her.
“I didn’t know you played,” she’d said, realizing she had so much to learn about this man and how much she was looking forward to it.
“I didn’t play for a long time,” he’d said. “For a while, I wondered if I ever would again. But then you came along. You filled my heart with music again.”
She’d smiled and whispered, “If that’s a line to get me into your bed—”
He’d grabbed her and pulled her onto his lap. “If that’s all it takes...”
She’d known long before that moment, sitting out there on his family’s porch swing, that she was in love with this man.
“Come on,” she said now. “Let’s go celebrate with your family.”
As they headed arm in arm back to the festivities, more fireworks exploded over their heads. Mo felt as if he were leading her out of the darkness. Ahead was a bright future that she couldn’t wait to share with the man she loved.
Hitched!
This one is for E-Dub. You are always an inspiration!
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter One
Jack hadn’t seen another person in miles when he spotted the woman beside the road. He was cruising along Highway 191, headed north through the most unpopulated part of Montana, when he saw her.
At first he blinked, convinced she had to be a mirage, since he hadn’t even seen another car in hours. But there she was, standing beside the road, hip cocked, thumb out, a mane of long, ginger hair falling past her shoulders, blue jeans snug-fitting from her perfect behind down her impossibly long legs.
Jack slowed, already having doubts before he stopped next to her in his vintage, pale yellow Cadillac convertible. Just the sight of her kicked up the heat on an already warm May day.
She had a face that would make any man look twice. He watched her take in the restored convertible first then sweep her green-eyed gaze over him. He thought of warm, tropical sea breezes.
Until he looked closer. As warm as the day was, she wore a jean jacket, the collar turned up. He caught a glimpse of a stained T-shirt underneath. Her sneakers looked wet, like her hair. Her clothes were dusty and the cuffs of her jeans wet and muddy.
He’d seen an empty campground in the cottonwoods as he passed the Missouri River, but it was still early in this part of Montana to be camping, since the nights would be cold. It was especially too early to be bathing in the river, but he had to assume that was exactly
