Cowboy Enchantment - By Pamela Browning Page 0,83

back to work for Rowbotham-Quigley.”

“That was my original intent, but being with you, sitting here beside you, remembering all we had together at the ranch, I know I can’t do it. I thought I’d have a better chance with you if I lived in the city, if I could see you on a regular basis, but that’s not right for us. We’d be miserable here.”

She knew he was right. “Suppose I said yes. What about my job? How could the three of us live in your little apartment at the ranch?”

“First of all, if you say yes, I’ll be the happiest man on earth. You can quit your job at McNee, Levy and Ashe and manage Justine’s administrative matters. She really needs the help. Paloma can continue as baby-sitter, at least for a while. And we can live in the old hacienda, the three of us.”

“Four,” she said. “Counting Tux.”

“Fine. There’s room for more children in that house, Erica. Three or four or however many you want.”

“I don’t do babies,” she said faintly. “Everyone knows that.”

“Except Kaylie, who loves you. You’re great with her. I don’t know how you ever got the idea that you don’t do babies.”

“In my family,” she began slowly, “Charmaine was the beautiful one, Abby was—”

“I know. You were supposed to be the smart one. So if you’re so all-fired smart, why did you leave us? We belong together, Erica, you and Kaylie and me.”

“You must have been talking with Char. That’s something like what she said.”

“What,” Hank said interestedly, “exactly did she say?”

“I don’t know, I can’t recall,” Erica said. Then the air whooshed out of her lungs as Hank pinned her back against the seat.

“I have ways of finding out,” he said. “Like this.” He began to tickle her, and she squirmed in an unsuccessful attempt to get away.

“Char—stop it, Hank!—Char said that no one is the same after falling in love and that I was a fool for leaving someone who loves me.”

“Your sister is a woman of great good sense.” He gave her ribs one last tickle for good measure and backed off, his eyes twinkling with humor. “Would you mind telling me your reply?”

Erica made an attempt to straighten her suit jacket. One button had popped off her blouse, and she groped for it on the floor with the hand that Hank wasn’t holding.

“I said that you…Oh, here it is,” she said, holding the button up before dropping it in her purse. “I said that I’d found out that you can’t change who you really are. Coloring my hair, getting contact lenses, all of that was fun. In the end, though, I’m still me. Still Erica Strong.”

“Thank God for that,” Hank said fervently. He brought her hand to his lips and kissed the palm. “Now that we’re straight about who you are, let’s talk about who you want to be.”

She looked at him as if he’d taken leave of his senses.

“Think of it this way. Who you want to be is a promise to yourself,” he prompted.

“I wanted to be a cowboy’s sweetheart,” she said in a low tone. “But you’re not a cowboy.” She was still having a hard time accepting this.

“You’re my sweetheart. Does it really matter so much what I do?”

His expression was so compelling she couldn’t look away. “Perhaps not,” she said faintly.

“Taking this one step further. If who you want to be is a promise to yourself, couldn’t who we are together be a promise to each other?”

“Maybe.”

“Hey,” the cabbie called over his shoulder. “You want me to keep driving around?”

“No, we’ll go to her place,” Hank said. “Where do you live, Erica?”

She reeled off the address, and the driver went back to driving. “I have a meeting,” she said. “It starts in ten minutes.”

“You can call and tell them you’ve been unavoidably delayed,” Hank said.

“I have?”

“Yes. First we’re going to bed, and then we’re ordering dinner in.”

“Aren’t you being a little overbearing here?”

“I think I’m downright restrained, considering that I haven’t seen you in a few weeks. I think I’m remarkably calm.” Regarding her with an expression of exasperated tenderness, he swept her into his arms and kissed her resoundingly.

She didn’t want him to stop. Ever. And she remembered what Charmaine had said: that when she met the right guy, she’d want to defer to him. She had certainly not been in the habit of deferring to guys or to anyone else, but if she was going to start, Hank might be as good a