Page 72 of The Cowboy Complication

Grabbing his phone, he connected Leland’s call, frowning as Isla quietly went out to where her car was parked in the garage. “You have terrible fucking timing.”

“If that’s a dig at?—”

“Calm the fuck down. It’s not a dig at you taking literal decades to tell Paige you love her.” He smirked at the sound of outrage that carried through the line. “I was working my way up to convincing Isla to move in with me and you fucking interrupted it.”

“You think she’s ready for that?” Leland asked.

“I think so.” Cooper grinned, feeling fucking fantastic about the next thing he was about to say. “Especially if I bribe her with a giant diamond ring.”

Leland snorted. “You really think that one would be swayed by jewelry?”

“Maybe not. But I don’t have time to get her a herd of goats, so she’ll have to settle for an engagement ring.”

* * *

“How in the hell do you know what size her finger is?” Leland squinted through the glass, eying a pretty ring with a square center stone and smaller diamonds all along the band.

“I’m straight up guessing.” He’d studied Isla’s finger plenty. Compared it to his own and—based on nothing scientific—was pretty sure if a ring came down to the second knuckle of his pinky, it would fit her tiny hand. “And willing to pay if I’m wrong.”

“You don’t think she’d want to pick her own out?” Leland was all fucking questions, and it made him wonder if maybe his friend was considering adopting his full speed ahead approach.

“Not Isla.” He was almost positive of that. The woman planned out every other aspect of her life. Him planning something this big on his own would hopefully keep her from worrying she was headed down the same path she’d taken once before, but was too caught up to see it. He understood why what happened with her ex still affected so much of Isla’s thoughts, but he couldn’t wait for the day that asshat was fully in the past.

“Hmm.” Leland straightened, turning to him as the woman helping them shop passed over the bag carrying the ring he’d just bought. “Let me know how it goes.”

Cooper laughed. “Man, I’m not gonna shut up about it.”

All the waiting—all the times he’d been passed over—was worth every second to get to where he was now. Hell, he’d do it all again twice to have Isla.

He’d bitch about it, but he’d do it.

Checking his phone, a little of the wind left his sails. “I gotta go and get ready for my shift.”

He and Leland piled into his truck and headed back to Leland’s place. It hadn’t taken much convincing to get his friend to come along—a fact he was for sure reading into—but the extra drive ate up minutes he didn’t have to spare.

By the time he got home, it was a rush to get changed and geared up. He spent the last few frantic seconds trying to figure out where in the hell to hide the ring. He’d cleared out part of his closet, some of his drawers, a nightstand, and more than half the bathroom cabinets, telling Isla the space was all hers.

And it was. It just made it difficult to come up with a spot she wouldn’t find.

Out of time, he decided to take the ring with him, hiding the gift bag in the console and stuffing the ring and the velvet pouch it was in into one of the buttoned pockets on his shirt. The tight strap of his protective vest over it meant there was no way for the thing to fall out. Plus, he liked having it with him. Liked knowing the next time he saw her it would go from his pocket to Isla’s finger.

As he strolled into the station, whistling like the smug bastard he was, Cooper ran straight into Grady as his friend was rushing back toward the door.

“Clock your ass in. We’ve got a call.” Grady hit the door running.

So much for his good fucking mood.

Moving as fast as he could, Cooper clocked in and raced for his cruiser, gathering details as he went. The rancher from the week before called to report another break-in, but before dispatch could get all the information, the line went dead. They’d tried calling back but didn’t get an answer, which usually wasn’t a good sign.

Cooper pulled onto the road running up one side of the ranch and found Grady and Peters parked on the shoulder, standing outside their cars. Taking the spot just behind Grady’s car, he climbed out and joined the duo. “What’s going on?”

“Jennings was the first to arrive on scene,” Grady explained. He checked the house but didn’t find any evidence of the reported break-in or the owner. He waited for backup to arrive before canvassing the rest of the residential portion of the property. When he and Murphy got close to the main barn, the perp started yelling, claiming he had the owner held hostage and would set him free if they left.”

“I love when they think it’s that easy.” Cooper blew out a breath. “Do we have anyone still on the property?”

“Jennings and Murphy are still there, but they pulled back, hoping giving him some space might calm him down.” Grady shook his head. “Doesn’t seem like it’s working.”

“It never does.” Peters scrubbed one hand over his face. “Didn’t have hostage situation on my bingo card for the night.”

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