Cowboy Take Me Away (35 page)

“If you're doing this to try to stay in Harrison's life, because you think it's the right thing, because…” He silenced her jumble of words when he stood, staring down at her with a determined look on his face that she'd never seen before.

“Hope, forget all the crap you worried about when Harrison was born, okay?” he said, cupping her face with both hands and looking into her eyes, his touch so tender, so soft it was almost painful. “I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.
And
with our son. Is that so hard to believe?”

“I'm not even officially divorced yet,” she muttered.

Chase's eyebrows shot up. “Need me to track the bastard down and kneecap him so he signs the papers?”

Hope sighed, but she wasn't even sure if Chase was kidding or not. “No.”

“You sure about that?” His eyebrows were raised, a determined look on his face as he waited for her reply.

“Maybe you could just hurt him a little,” she said with a laugh. “Although knowing you, you probably won't stop at one punch.”

“Done. A black eye but no broken bones,” Chase said. “Now I'm gonna do this again, and this time you need to give me an answer.” The no-nonsense look on his face was replaced with a softer, more loving expression.

Hope reached for Chase's hands and held them tight when he dropped on bended knee again, his smile warming her like no other man ever could have. His eyes were bright and so full of kindness, so far removed from the man who was capable of protecting her in a rowdy bar, who she knew would have no qualms about physically dealing with her ex if she asked him to.

“Hope, will you marry me?”

“Yes,” she said straightaway, unable to contain her smile any longer. “Yes, yes, yes!”

Chase was back on his feet and scooping her up into his arms within seconds, his lips closing over hers in a kiss that was almost as dizzying as the way he was twirling her.

“I love you, baby,” he whispered against her mouth.

Hope looped her arms around Chase's neck and kissed him again. “I love you, too.”

When he finally set her back down on her feet, he kept hold of her, his arm locked around her and keeping her snug against his body. They stood like that, staring out at the land, land that was a part of Hope's soul, that she would never forget for as long as she lived. It was so surreal that she was convinced she was about to wake from a dream.

“Chase, why did you bring me here?” He could have proposed to her anywhere. “Why here?”

His smile was mischievous.

“Chase?” she asked, pushing away from him so she could try to read his face.

“This is your home, sweetheart. It should belong to you.”

She stared at him, eyes wide. “What have you done?”

“I found a very helpful realtor, and even though the new owners were very happy with their purchase, I worked out that magic price that made them reconsider.”

“Chase, you didn't.…”

“You want your ranch back, it's yours,” he said simply, like he'd just offered to buy her a trinket or a piece of art, not something that cost tens of millions of dollars. “And there are no strings attached. If you'd rather be here with just Harrison, it's yours. But given what I just asked you, I think I've made my feelings very clear. About both of you.”

Hope took a few steps back, needed some space from Chase for a second as she tried to digest what he'd said. She felt her eyebrows pull together as she tried to comprehend what he'd offered her. What he'd just agreed to.

“So you're saying that we can live here? That you'll leave your family behind, that you'll give up running King Ranch to be here with us?”

Chase nodded. “I understand what it means to feel a connection with the land you love. But the only thing stronger than that is family, and you and Harrison are my family now.”

Hope couldn't hold back her tears any longer. She gasped as emotion choked her, tears rushing down her cheeks at the enormity of what Chase was offering her.

“No,” she finally said, cocooned safely in Chase's arms as she cried, pulling herself together.
“No
.
”

“What do you mean
no
?” Chase asked gruffly.

“I'm not letting you leave your family or your ranch for us,” she said, feeling even more certain about her words as she said them, empowered by what she was about to tell him. “Your home is our home, and that means we all belong at King Ranch.” She reached up to touch his face, stroking down his cheekbone and to his jaw. “You're building a new house there and I'm not going to be the one to make you leave your family. They mean too much to you.”

“So do you.” His words were simple. “I love you, Hope. Always have, always will.”

She smiled, blinking away tears that were bittersweet. “And I love you more than I love this place. Here”—she gestured around them—“is a place of memories. Beautiful, wonderful memories, but they're in the past. You?” Hope stood on tiptoe and kissed him, indulging in the feel of his full, delicious lips against hers. “You're my future, Chase. I'll choose you every single time.”

He wrapped his arms around her, held her in a bear hug so tight she could hardly breathe. “I love you,” he muttered, “and for the record, I'm still buying you this place.”

“But…”

He released her and slung his arm around her, turning them back around so they were facing the house. The realtor was nowhere to be seen, but she was probably just giving them their space.

“It's a good investment, and you have history here,” he told her as they walked, hips bumping as they made their way back toward the car. “Who knows? Maybe one day Harrison will want to run a quarter horse stud here like his mom wanted to? All I care about is making sure it's here for him if and when he wants it. It's his legacy.” He grinned. “Hey, we found a new foreman for King Ranch easily enough, so we can appoint someone great to run this place, someone who knows what they're doing. You pay enough money, you usually get the best.”

“You would do that for us?” she asked. “For our son?”

“Abso-fucking-lutely,” he replied. “But there is one condition.”

Hope groaned. “What?”

“No more keeping the truth from Harrison. We tell him,” Chase said, kissing the top of her head, “today. On the land he grew up on, with both of us together.”

Hope took a deep breath, knowing it was the right thing to do even though it terrified her. “Okay. But just because I'm letting you buy the ranch doesn't mean I don't want my own independence still.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Darlin', I wouldn't have it any other way. So long as you're mine and everyone knows it.”

“I love my work, and I want to keep practicing,” she told him.

“Promise to keep doing our insemination work on the ranch and it's a deal.”

“Damn you, Chase,” she muttered, leaning in for a kiss.

“Baby, you can punish me any way you see fit.”

*   *   *

“Okay? Just like that?” Chase asked, unable to hide his grin.

“I just didn't want to tell him without knowing we were going to be a part of your life,” Hope explained. “Long term.”

“So you've been waiting for me to propose?”

Chase intercepted Hope's punch and dodged out of her way, stopping only when a bold voice called out to him.

“Hey! Leave my mom alone!”

Chase jogged over to Harrison, laughing at the boy standing with his fist bunched and raised beside the car like he was about to take Chase on for play fighting with his mom. His little face looked happy though, mouth stretched into a massive smile as Chase ran and scooped him up, swinging him through the air.

“Hey! Put me down!”

Chase obliged when they were in front of Hope, putting Harrison down and bending so he was on the same level as his son.

“We've got some exciting news,” Chase said, one hand on his shoulder.

“Are we going to get ice cream?”

Chase laughed. “No.”

“Did you buy me a pony?”

Chase cleared his throat and made a straight face, glancing up at Hope. “Do you want a pony?”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm, well, it just so happens that I gave your mom a gift today,” Chase told him, reaching for Hope's hand. “I gave her this beautiful ring and asked her to be my wife. We're going to get married.”

Harrison looked confused and Hope dropped to her knees, too, so they were all on the same level.

“Mommy loves Chase a lot, and we're going to go live with him at King Ranch. In his new house?” She touched Harrison's shoulder. “If that's okay with you.”

Harrison was wide-eyed.

“I might move in with you guys for a couple of months until my place is ready, and by then it might be about time to give you something,” Chase told him. “I mean, since I gave your mom a present, it'd only be fair to spend the next few weeks or so looking for a pony for you. Whadda you say, kid?”

“Yes!”

Chase held his hand up for a high five and received a little body being hurtled against him at full speed instead, Harrison's arms tight around him.

“Harris, there's something else we need to tell you,” he said, an unfamiliar nervous sensation passing through him. Chase sat down on the grass, the boy still in his arms. He gestured for Hope to do the same, and he recognized what he saw reflected in her face as the same worry that was coursing through him. He'd never been responsible for anyone else before, never cared so badly about not hurting another human being, about protecting someone from harm. He smiled as he looked down at Harrison. He finally got what it meant to be a dad, to love so fiercely that it hurt.

“Some kids, like me, we had to grow up with a dad who didn't really love us. Not like a dad should love his kids. But I was lucky, because I had two pretty awesome brothers and a really great mom, just like you. And after she died, my grandparents looked after us.”

“I don't have a dad either,” Harrison said. “I had a stepdad, but not a real one.”

Chase watched as Hope took Harrison's hand, and Chase ran his fingers down her back as he took a deep breath and prepared to say the hardest thing he'd ever said in his life.

“The difference between you and me, Harris, is that you do have a dad who loves you. I'm just sorry that you've had to wait so long to find out. To have me in your life.”

“I don't understand.” Harrison looked from Chase to Hope and back again.

Chase smiled at him. “I'm your dad, Harris. And from this day forward, I promise to be the best darn dad in the world. Okay?”

Harrison stood dead still, not making noise, unblinking as he stared at Chase. “You?” he asked. “You're my dad?”

Chase grinned. “Yeah, son, I am.”

There was silence, none of them saying a word until Harris suddenly threw his arms around Chase again like he'd just received the best news of his life. Tears streamed down Chase's cheeks, emotion clogging his throat and making him cry like he'd never cried before. He didn't cry,
not ever
, but today he was in pieces.

Hope's arms went around both of them and he leaned over to kiss her.

“Can we all just go home now?” she asked.

“No,” Chase said, clearing his throat a few times and rising with Harris still in his arms. He swiped at his face, getting rid of any evidence that he'd actually given in to his emotions. “I've got a deal to close, and you,” he said, reaching into his back pocket for his iPhone and throwing it to her, “need to call Chloe and tell her that you said yes.”

“Chloe knew about this?”

He laughed at the bemused expression on Hope's face. “Chloe knows everything. That's just something you'll have to get used to.”

Chase strode forward and stole one last kiss, his lips lingering over Hope's for longer than he'd planned.

“And you,” he said to the grinning boy on his hip, “are gonna have to get used to me kissing your mom. All the time.”

“Gross,” Harrison protested, but he was still smiling.

Chase left Hope and headed back toward the house, waving to the realtor when he saw her. He appreciated that she'd given them some privacy when she must have wondered what the hell was going on.

“You still like this place?” Chase asked his son.

Harrison nodded, arms around him as they walked. “Yeah, but I like your place, too.”

“Good,” Chase said. “I'm gonna buy this place for you and your mom anyway though, so you always have somewhere to come back to, the place where your granddaddy ranched long before your mom was even born. It's important to understand your history.”

He doubted the kid cared about all that kind of stuff yet or even really got what he was saying, but one day he would.

“Now it's time for me to teach you how to negotiate a deal. You up for it?”

“Can we get ice cream after?”

Chase had never laughed so hard in all his life. “Yeah, we can get ice cream afterward.”

He stole a quick look over his shoulder at Hope. She was walking slowly, her hand held out in front of her as she looked at her ring—he knew it would be sparkling like crazy in the bright sunshine. Chase couldn't wipe the grin off his face as he turned back, taking in the mountains still tipped with snow, the dark green of the fields around them. It was a hell of a place to have as a second home, and Hope was going to make one hell of a wife.

 

Epilogue

“We really need to get downstairs.” Hope stretched out, flexing her toes against Chase's leg. He just grunted, his lips moving lazily across hers.

“Why can't we just stay here?” he mumbled.

Hope finally pushed him away. He'd sidetracked her once and if they stayed upstairs any longer it was just going to be embarrassing. “Up,” she ordered. “We can't pretend like we don't have guests any longer.”