Mad Enough to Marry - By Christie Ridgway Page 0,69

love you."

And he loved her. Oh! No! No, she couldn't let herself beUeve—

■'Go ahead, try to doubt me," Logan said, stepping forward even as she retreated. *'Go ahead and try to push me out of your hfe. But you won't get away with it this time, Elena."

'1 never pushed you out." She continued to scurry back, afraid to let him close, afraid that he would make her weak again and hurt her even more.

Then her back bumped against the wall. Suddenly his hands were empty except for a wrist corsage of white baby roses and gauzy, sapphire-blue ribbon. She tried to dodge him, but her reflexes were still slowed by the surprise of having him here. It took just a moment for him to capture her hand and then slide the flowers over her cold fingers and onto her arm.

They both stared at it and Elena tried to pretend that the rose petals weren't clearly shaking.

His warm fingers squeezed her cold ones. *'That was a long time coming," he said.

It was the soft note in his voice that finally woke her up. It was a soft, seductive, treacherous note that tried to slip beneath her defenses. It tried to make her not oidy feel sixteen again, but be sixteen again, when

love—^and Logan—^were fairy tales she still let herself believe in.

'*No," she said, whipping her hand free of his. She couldn't set herself up for another fall. She wouldn't. **I don't want this. I don't want to go to the prom with you."

Crossing his arms over his chest, he narrowed his eyes. **Too bad. Because I'll be damned if I'm going to let you go to the stupid dance alone and then hear for the next eleven years that I stood you up again."

She went from apprehension to outrage in a split second. *'I wouldn't—"

*'Oh, yes. Yes, you would."

Elena felt her face go red. She felt her whole body flame, as if the very pores of her skin were exuding long-suppressed Latin temperament. ''Cochino,"

His Hps twitched. ^'I'm going to assume that was a compliment."

He was laughing at her! Fueled by the thought, her temper leaped. *'Go away," she spat out.

His shoes seemed to find root in the floor as he regarded her with almost cUnical interest. **Never."

*'Logan —"

*'Never."

Panicky now, she stamped her foot and didn't even feel ashamed of the childish action. Then she yanked the corsage off her arm and held it high.

His hand instantly closed over her raised wrist. *'There. There's the Elena I've been waiting for."

She tried to wound him with a look.

It only caused his lips to twitch again. *'Go ahead," he said. *'Get angry. Get really angry."

She stamped her foot once more and tried to puD free of him. *'Why are you doing this?"

He brought her hand to his mouth, then brushed his lips across her knuckles. "So that I can see the real you, the fiery, passionate Elena that I love."

*'What are you talking about?" Frustrated tears were stinging the comers of her eyes and she'd rather die than cry in front of him. 'I'm mad at you!"

"Mad enough to marry me?"

Her heart jolted and her gaze jerked up to his.

His face was serious now and his golden eyes watchful. But he was teasing her. He had to be teasing her.

**I should," she whispered, her voice lost somewhere between terror and unwarranted, silly joy. *'I should say yes and then let you suffer through a wild, tempestuous marriage."

The guarded look in his eyes evaporated and he smiled. It was that easygoing, charming Logan smile, but she sensed something new in it, an intent, a determination, that had her nerves dancing along the surface of her skin.

"I dare you," he said.

Again, her heart jolted in her chest. ''Dare me?"

Mio Dios. Logan hadn't forgotten her. He hadn't stood her up. He'd shown up. On time. Because he loved her. To ask her to marry him.

And he'd done it in just this way, because he knew

her well enough to know she'd never be able to resist a challenge. Some new emotion bubbled through her.

It wasn't passion, she'd always felt that for Logan.

It wasn't love...that she was famiUar with too, because he'd been h^ first love and now it looked as if he was going to be her last.

This new feeling was...trust.

Trust that this man would do whatever he must to have her. And because of that, she could trust that her heart would always be safe with him.

Finally, after all the years, the fight, the fear ran out