Page 62 of Waiting for the Rancher
He peered to the mountains towering behind her, the muscles in his jaw flexing.
Was this the moment? Was he trying to formulate the words to ask her to marry him?
She clutched her hands more tightly behind her back. She didn’t want to go another day without being with Maverick. In fact, she didn’t want to return to her family’s ranch because it wasn’t really home anymore. Home was with him, wherever he was. She’d learned that lesson well enough this past week without him.
“I’m really sorry, Hazel. Hope we can start over and that you’ll give me a chance to do things right this time.”
“Okay.” But start over? What did that mean?
“Then you’ll come back to work?” His tone held a hopeful note. “And we can go on being friends like before?”
She didn’t want things to go back to the way they were before. She wanted more, so much more.
But maybe he wanted to take things slowly.
“So will you?” he asked.
Her breath caught. “Will I what?”
“Come back to work and keep being my friend?”
She could almost physically feel the letdown in her body. He wasn’t proposing to her after all. He was simply repairing their relationship and asking to be friends again. If this was all hecould offer, she’d have to be satisfied. The alternative of going on without him like she had the past week was unbearable. “Okay.”
“You sure?”
She nodded even though the disappointment weighed heavily.
Maverick cocked his head toward the box in the grass with a blanket on top, and he gave her a ghost of a smile. “This is my proposal spot.”
“I know.”
“You do?” His brows lifted.
She could feel her face flush. “I heard you and Sterling talk about it when we were younger. You two were never all that secretive.”
He dug one of his hands into his pocket. “Sterling thought he was making a grand gesture today by bringing us together out here, showing that he supports us and all.”
Even if she’d told Sterling not to talk to Maverick, she could admit she was glad that he’d done it. At least now they knew Sterling had made up his mind to support them—whatever that might mean. And from the pace Maverick was moving, it might mean they stayed just friends for a long time.
“What do you think?” Maverick asked, watching her face.
“I think it was sweet of Sterling to go to all the trouble.”
“Even if it was pushy?”
Was it pushy or was Sterling trying to give them the push they needed?
As if sensing her inner conflict, he took a step forward but then stopped. “I promise I won’t propose today and rush you the way Sterling did with Violet.”
“What?” Her thoughts slowed to a crawl as she tried to make sense of his statement. Did he think he was rushing her? Was that why he wasn’t proposing?
“I reckon us fellas get something in our heads that we want, and then it’s mighty hard to be patient for the women we love to be ready too.”
Women we love. He still loved her.
Was he holding back today because he was afraid that what happened with Sterling and Violet would happen to them?
Hazel couldn’t keep from furrowing her brow. What had she done to give Maverick the impression she wasn’t ready?
