Page 51 of The Cowboy's Best Friend

The real truth was, she couldn’t imagine it. The world didn’t make sense without Boone.

It never had. She doubted it ever would.

“I always thought so,” he said, in gruff agreement. “But on the other hand, I could have done without you marrying that guy.”

Sierra stepped in closer and looped her arms around his neck. “Maybe I had to. Because I can’t help thinking that if we got together and were this intense at fifteen, we would have been accidental teenage parents. And probably toxic. We would have broken up and hurt each other and who knows what else.”

“Speak for yourself,” he said, but he was smiling now. “I would have been a perfect gentleman in all things, as always.”

It was funny, but there was a part of her that believed he actually would have been.

“Boone,” she said now, keeping her eyes locked his. “I think you know this already, but I love you. I’ve always loved you. And I know that it makes sense to wait and see where this goes, and figure out what we’re doing—”

“Sierra,” he said, with nothing but intensity and sincerity all over him, “I’d marry you tonight.”

She felt herself smile then, so big and so wide that she was surprised it didn’t crack her face right open. She felt as if she was as bright as the moon. As if she might glow like this forever.

“That sounds like an excellent idea,” she said. “Too bad the courthouse isn’t open at this time of night.”

And then she kissed him, wild and dirty, right there on the street—where anyone and everyone could see her and report back to her parents, if they liked. She hoped they did.

But she was busy reclaiming her hometown, to Sierra’s way of thinking. No matter where in the valley she chose to live.

And she wasn’t particularly surprised when Boone swung her up in his arms, carried her to his truck, and made certain that they never made it to Grey’s Saloon that night at all.

Chapter Twelve

Boone proposed toher the very next day.

They did their early morning rounds the way they always did, and these days, Sierra came and kissed him before she took off on her milk run. He ran through a few rounds of his small batch pasteurization system while she was gone, played around with his cheesemaking, and told his brothers that he’d be unavailable for a while.

Then ignored their replies.

When Sierra came back—and before they headed down to the Farm & Craft Market—they took a walk down to the bottom of his property and out onto the large, flat rock that stuck out from a nice drop off. It was the perfect place to come and let the view take charge for a while.

It was there, the mountains stretching out like eternity—bearing witness to this moment and so many of the other moments that mattered to Boone—that he got down on his knees and asked her the right question.

“Sierra,” he said, holding out the small box he’d had in his possession for a long, long time, “will you finally marry me?”

“I finally will,” she replied at once, her green eyes shining. “I can’t think of anything I’d rather do, in fact.”

And then, grinning and giddy, she threw herself into his arms.

For a while it was a lot of kissing and damp eyes, promises andI love yous.

When he finally got around to sliding the ring onto her finger, she blinked down at it and her eyes got damper. Wider. “I know this ring.”

“You always wanted a Montana sapphire,” he said gruffly. “I saw you try this on about fifteen times at that fair we went to in Bozeman, while you were in college.”

At the time he’d told himself it was a birthday gift for his best friend, that was all. But there never seemed to be the right time to give it to her. Then she married Matty, and he’d understood that there was no way a husband was going to be okay with another man handing his wife a ring.

Boone had accepted that there were probably no ways to give another man’s wife a pretty ring. But he’d never gotten rid of it.

It felt like a perfect circle to finally be able to put it where it belonged.

Right there on the hand of the woman he intended to marry.

Sierra buried her face in his shoulder. “You had it all this time?”

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