Page 111 of The Cowboy Who Worked Late

“I’ll do it then,” Levi said.

“Thank you.” She gave him a shy look, not sure how else to tell him how much his leadership had meant to her both personally and professionally. “Do you think Henry will ever ask me to marry him?” she asked, her hands suddenly coming up to wind around each other. “Has he said anything to you, Levi?”

Levi chortled and chuckled and laughed. “Oh, I’m not telling you that.”

“So that’s a yes.”

“I didn’t say that,” Levi said. “I will be in so much trouble, Angel. Don’t youdaretell him that I told you anything.”

“Well, you haven’t told me anything,” she said. “Tell me what?”

He mimed zipping his lips. “You’re gonna have a great weekend.” He chuckled as he left the conference room, and Angel had no choice but to head home and do what she’d said: pack for the weekend.

Angel wondered as she packed if she was choosing the appropriate things. Was Henry going to propose this weekend? And if so, wouldn’t she want to be wearing a specific dress so that when the pictures got taken—because his momma would take pictures—she would look exactly how she wanted to look?

Angel put a blue dress in her suitcase and then took it back out. “Henry’s favorite color is purple,” she said. She turned back to her closet muttering, “You can’t wear purple every single day, Angel.”

And she didn’t need to please Henry anyway. She ended up packing what she felt comfortable in, what would be appropriate for the rancher’s lunch, and for looking at properties, and for riding horses and doing equine therapy.

She zipped her bag closed and set it by her front door. When Henry came to get her in the morning, he’d load it in the back of his truck for her—which was exactly what happened.

“Ready?” Henry asked.

Angel had chosen a light lavender blouse for today, and she leaned into Henry’s strong chest. He wore his usual jeans, and today’s plaid shouted in red, white, and black. “I’m ready,” she said.

“There’s been a change of plans.” Henry’s eyes skittered around her house, never really landing on anything.

“There has?” Angel straightened and turned to get her purse. It went across her body, and she lifted it over her head while Henry continued to say nothing. “Why aren’t you talking?”

“Jerry said he couldn’t meet us this afternoon.” He cleared his throat. “He’s got a couple of places for us, but we have to look this morning.”

Angel faced him again, surprise mingling with her doubts. “Do we have time for that?”

“Yeah, if we leave right now.”

“Then, let’s leave right now.”

Henry nodded in a tight burst and spun to leave her house. She followed him, something about him just not quite right. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” he said.

“I can text Alex about maybe being late.”

“Okay.” He moved to her door and opened it for her, and Angel smiled at him as she eased into his personal space.

“Hey,” she whispered, reaching up to hold his face in the palm of her hand. “Will you look at me, please?”

Henry did, blinking as if he’d just now realized where he was. “Sorry, I’m…tense right now.”

“I can see that.” She raised her eyebrows, a silentWhy?passing between them.

“I don’t know why,” Henry said, but his shoulders relaxed, and the air whooshed out of his lungs. “Let’s just go, okay? I think this first place is really nice.”

Angel got in the truck, and he walked around the hood to get in beside her. “Which place is first?” she asked. He’d handled all of the communication with Jerry, and he simply forwarded them on to her. Angel loved spending her evenings looking at real estate, and she’d discovered a hidden love of floor plans that she didn’t know she had.

“It’s the Sagebrush one,” he said. “Remember we talked about the cute name of the lane?”

“Sagebrush Lane, yes.” She smiled as it came forward in her memory. “That’s the one that needs a brand-new kitchen.”

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