“I’m not the one who would have been sent to jail,” he said with that supreme confidence she sometimes envied. “Besides, I have other fish to fry.”
He tossed his hat aside and slanted a look at her that made her stomach do flip-flops. She couldn’t think of a thing to say in response. It didn’t matter, because Richard seemed to have quite a bit on his mind.
“For instance,” he continued. “I’ve been thinking I just might come back here permanently. That made this disagreement with Orville and Billy Joe a little more personal.”
She regarded him in amazement. “You have? When did you decide that? I thought you hated it here.”
“Things change,” he said, his gaze pinned on her. “More importantly, I’ve changed.”
Anna Louise’s breath seemed to be caught in her throat. Was it possible that he was ready to let go of the past? She couldn’t read his expression at all. Well, she could read that expression of longing plain as day, but she’d chosen to ignore that. “What are you saying?” she asked finally.
“Just that I’d sure hate to decide to stay here in Kiley when the woman I want as my wife is about to pack her bags and go off in search of another church. I figured I’d better do something to see that didn’t happen.”
So Tucker and Maisey were right, after all. Anna Louise couldn’t have been more flabbergasted if Richard had announced he was going off to become a Buddhist monk.
Fighting to maintain a serious expression, when her heart seemed about to burst with pure joy, Anna Louise said, “So this argument you and Orville had was motivated by purely selfish reasons?”
“That it was,” he said. A lazy, devastating grin spread across his face. “Is that a mortal sin?”
She gave the question the deliberation it deserved, then leaned down and kissed lips that were still warm from the last rays of the sun. When she lifted her head, the corners of his mouth tilted up.
“Now I know that that was a sin,” he declared. “In fact, it was just about the sweetest sin I’ve ever committed. It could become downright addictive.”
Anna Louise gazed into his warm, laughing eyes. “You’re a fraud, Richard Walton.”
His expression turned indignant. “Now that’s a fine thing to be saying to the man who’s just asked you to marry him.”
“I don’t recall hearing those precise words.”
“And here I thought you were so intuitive. I intended to wait and do this up right, but here goes.” He took her hand in his. His gaze locked with hers. “Anna Louise Perkins, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
Anna Louise wasn’t about to play coy. Richard was too darned slippery. He might wriggle off the hook. “How soon?”
He laughed at the quick response. “The minute you say yes.”
“Yes,” she said at once, leaning forward to kiss him again. “Yes, yes, yes.”
But as happy as she was, Anna Louise was afraid that Richard was making a promise he wasn’t ready to keep. “I can’t believe you’re ready to give up chasing stories around the globe,” she said.
“I’ve been sitting here all afternoon giving that a lot of thought.”
“And?”
Richard shrugged. “I’m not so sure my voice will ever effect any sort of change in places where people are intent on destroying each other. Here, though, I could start up a brand new paper and maybe make a difference. Maybe if enough people made the commitment just to try to change the world in their immediate vicinity, we could eventually fix up every single corner of the globe.”
She was startled by his new sense of purpose and pleased by it. “You want to start a paper in Kiley? That would keep you happy?”
“I’ve got some money saved. It’d probably only be a weekly at first and it would probably have to serve the whole county, but who knows what I could make of it, given time. If there had been a local paper around to cover this business between you and Orville, maybe it would never have gotten out of hand the way it has. In fact, maybe I’ll make that story the lead in my first edition.”
“Great idea, except you won’t be able to report it,” she reminded him.
“Why the hell not?”
“Conflict of interest. Unless that proposal of yours was all talk.”
“Definitely not.” He grinned. “I knew you were going to have a positive influence on me.”
“Your journalistic ethics were never in doubt.”
“But in this one instance I might have been willing to bend then. Instead, I’ll hire a freelance person to write the story. The important thing is to rally public support in your favor.”
Touched by his determination and the warmth shining in his eyes when he looked at her, Anna Louise knelt in front of him and framed his face with her hands. “I love you for wanting to do this, for wanting to sacrifice your career to stay here, but are you sure? Really sure?”
He nodded. “Thanks to you I’ve discovered that peace comes from knowing you’ve given life and love your best shot.” He glanced at her. “What? You think there’s more to it?”
Anna Louise nodded. “I understand why you were so determined to leave here in the first place. You haven’t resolved that. Can you be truly happy coming back, if you haven’t settled things with Billy Joe?”
“It’s true that I grew up hating this town and its small-minded people,” he admitted finally. “And if it hadn’t been for my grandmother, I would never have come back.”
Anna Louise’s heart thudded dully. It wasn’t over for him, at all. How could he possibly conceive of staying, even for her? How long would it take before he hated her for forcing him to make the choice?
“Those same people are here now,” she reminded him. She knew the power of forgiveness, but she wasn’t so sure that he did. “Can you let go of your bitterness toward them?”
He looked her in the eyes. “I’ll
