Blood pounded in her ears. Every gaze pinned on her. “What are you doing?”
Hawk had secrets in his smile. He pressed a kiss to her hand before, never taking his eyes from hers, he lowered to one knee.
Ella’s heart stopped. Instinctively, her hands flew to her mouth with a gasp.
“This,” he said, reaching into his suitcoat. His hand returned with a little black box within its grasp.
With deliberation, Hawk creaked open the tiny box, displaying a magnificent diamond ring that caught the low light and sparked in his grasp. His blue eyes held all the confidence of a doting benefactor about to bestow an outrageous gift on an unsuspecting recipient.
“Ella Marie Embers,” he began. His tone pealed with certainty, and a hint of the admiration she’d come to expect from him over the past year.
“You are the most adorable woman I’ve ever met. Your kindness, your thoughtfulness, your delight at small things and positivity in tough situations, the way you kiss when you think no one is looking—”
Her cheeks blazed at having this pronounced to the room. Still, she couldn’t help grinning. Behind Hawk, Gabby and Adrian smirked with all-too-knowing smiles. Sneaky. Considering Adrian's comment in the limo, they had to have known what Hawk was up to tonight.
“For all these reasons and more, I want to be with you for the rest of my life. Will you marry me?”
The tears answered first. They sprang without warning as she lowered her hands and declared a resounding, “Yes.”
The room exploded with applause. Hawk slipped the stunning ring on the fourth finger of her left hand, stood, and swept her into his arms. Her feet lifted from the floor as he spun her, whispering in her ear.
“I love you. I love you so much.”
She squeezed around him, bursting with warmth and bliss that could never compare with any other feeling.
“I love you too,” she said.
Though her feet returned to the ground, she continued soaring. Especially when Hawk brought his lips to hers. Though raucous applause doubled, everyone else faded. The edges of her vision blurred. Ella flew in a fog in his embrace, with his lips sealing the promise of the forever kind of love she’d always dreamed of.
Ella took a moment to admire the ring on her finger. It was spectacular, with multiple facets and tiny diamonds surrounding the circular cut of the large rock in the center. She couldn’t wait to show it to Chloe, Brandy, and Charlotte. And the kids at the hospital. She and Hawk visited them regularly.
Hawk wove his fingers through hers and kissed the back of her hand before waving to the surrounding crowd in gratitude. He must have had this planned, just as he’d done with everything else. Why else would the other dancers have responded and given them space so instinctively?
Her dad waved to her from the sidelines. No wonder Hawk had invited him to the ball this year. He patted the arm of his date, a short woman with a ready smile and an affinity for cats that Ella couldn’t fault her for. She’d take a kooky cat lady over her dad’s last choice any day. Ella hadn’t heard from Stina or Pris since her visit home when Stina had been packing up all of her belongings.
Hawk signaled, and the conductor switched gears, leading the orchestra through a jazzy accompaniment.
“Ready to dance, Mrs. Danielson?” he asked.
“I love how that sounds.”
He held her to his chest. “Which part? The dance or the name?”
“The name,” she said. “I can’t wait to marry you. Though your dancing isn’t bad either.”
His laugh rumbled in his chest as he dipped down for another mind-numbing kiss.
Sneak Peek-
Alice and the Billionaire's Wonderland
Chapter ONe
Maddox rested his hands on the edge of the rabbit enclosure and stared at the little furballs. In all the years he'd owned Wonderland, he'd never had much interaction with rabbits. Now, he stood before their display in Arbor Ranch and Supply, desperately hoping this last-straw idea of his would work.
It was hare-brained--no pun intended--but he couldn't lose the park. He had to do something. Sympathy wove through him as he took in the animals' gray, brown, and multi-colored furs. Stuck in their enclosure, no hope for escape without someone else's assistance?
"I get where you're coming from, guys," he told the rabbits.
"Tell me again why we're here," his friend and associate, Duncan Hawthorne, asked from behind him. In suit pants, a tan button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, Duncan stared at the display of animal feed and various accessories with disdain. "I've never pegged you as much of an outdoorsman. Or a pet person, for that matter."
Maddox peered down at his own suit and tie. The irony would have made him laugh if he didn't feel so downtrodden. Neither of them fit in with the store's rustic decor.
Duncan had come at Maddox's request, and he had it about right. This was the first time Maddox had ever set foot in a store offering western wear or livestock feed. He was more of a tennis player and golfer himself.
"Scavenger hunt," Maddox said. He'd given a lot of thought on how to increase interest in his declining theme park, and oddly enough, his mental deliberations had led him here of all places.
He couldn't let a rabbit loose in his theme park. Too many issues sprang up with that option. People might sneak their own white rabbit in and claim they'd found his. There also wasn't a way to humanely prevent the poor little creature from escaping the park, short of caging it, which would then make its location too obvious. And then there was the prospect of someone catching the rabbit at all, which was nearly impossible. On their own? With their bare hands?
A scavenger hunt throughout the park with a white rabbit at the finish line, though. That was totally doable.
"You're
