Wrangling the Redhead - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,61
being an actress meant. If he was so oblivious to that world, he might have accepted her past as easily as if she’d told him she’d been an accountant, as something of no consequence whatsoever.
But in her panic, she had frozen, and then the moment had passed. Now, cradled in his arms, she could almost convince herself that none of it mattered, that it would all turn out okay eventually.
“So,” he began, his fingers grazing her cheek as he gently brushed a wisp of hair away from her face, “where do you see this going?”
Her heart leaped. She wanted to be absolutely clear on what he was asking. “This?”
“You and me.”
She considered her answer. “Truthfully, I’ve been so content with where we are, I haven’t thought about where we might be headed. Have you?”
“Not until today,” he admitted.
“What happened today?”
“Grady asked if I intended to marry you.” He grinned at her. “He was being very big brotherly about it.”
“What did you tell him?” she asked, her heart in her throat.
“The same as what you said, that I hadn’t been thinking that far ahead.” His gaze captured hers. “Should we, though? Should we think about it?”
He looked so worried, so sweetly concerned about doing the right thing. “Only if you want to. I’m in no rush,” she reassured him.
He scanned her face intently, then smiled. “Liar. I suspect you’re the kind of woman who was born being in a rush.”
“No, I wasn’t,” she said, then reconsidered.
After all, she hadn’t been able to wait to finish school and take off. She had raced through high school with the same amount of impatience as Emma and Gina, eager to get out into the world. Of course, from the beginning they had been intent on making a name for themselves in their respective fields. She had only wanted to be away from Winding River. She had craved an adventure, but never in a million years had she imagined the kind of glamour and excitement that were in store for her. Nor had she known that eventually it would become such an albatross.
“Okay, maybe I was once,” she told him. “But no more. Since I’ve come back, I’ve learned to take one day at a time, to linger over life’s pleasures and savor them.”
She glanced up just as a vivid orange sun slid below the horizon, leaving a sky streaked with brilliant color. “There,” she said. “Just look at that. Have you ever seen anything more beautiful?”
“Yes,” Wade murmured, his gaze never leaving her face. “You.”
She reached up and touched his cheek. “You say the most amazing things. How did I ever get so lucky?”
He seemed surprised by her words. “You think you’re the lucky one?”
“I know I am,” she said. “I came back here hoping—no, praying—that I would find something that had been missing from my life, and here you are. Just like that.”
He grinned. “Just like that, huh?”
“Okay, maybe not just like that,” she said with a laugh. “We did have to get past all the animosity and distrust and your ego.”
“My ego?” he echoed incredulously, obviously recalling her high-and-mighty attitude on the day they’d met.
“Well, you were way too sure of yourself that day you found me with Midnight,” she reminded him.
“And you weren’t?”
She laughed. “Me? I was docile as a lamb.”
“My, but you do have a selective memory,” he said. “But that’s okay, as long as you remember one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“That you belong to me.”
Lauren’s gaze narrowed. “Belong?” she echoed.
“Okay,” he said, a glimmer of amusement in his eyes. “Bad choice of words. I did not mean that in a possessive way. No, indeed. A commitment way, that’s how I meant it.”
“You want me to make a commitment to you?”
He hesitated, then nodded. “Yes, I guess I do.”
“Now there’s a firm response if ever I heard one,” she teased. “Do you or don’t you?”
“I do, darlin’,” he said emphatically. “I most definitely do.”
“And you’re making this same kind of commitment to me?”
“Absolutely.”
“Is this the kind of commitment where we agree not to see anyone else for the foreseeable future or is it the forever, happily-ever-after kind?”
She saw the muscle work in Wade’s jaw as he wrestled with the question.
“Let’s start with the foreseeable future and see where it takes us. Does that work for you?”
Well enough, she thought to herself. She could envision a foreseeable future that lasted through eternity. And she was pretty sure that without much effort, she could get Wade to see that, too…if only her past didn’t