Page 63 of Waiting for the Rancher
“Listen, angel.” Maverick’s expression remained earnest. “I ain’t gonna make the same mistake as Sterling. I’ll wait for you. All right?”
The trouble was, he wasn’t Sterling. She most certainly wasn’t Violet. And she didn’t want to wait.
She wanted Maverick today. No, in reality, she’d wanted him for years. And she didn’t want to put off being with him any longer, especially since it was clear the only reason he was waiting was because of her.
She wasn’t usually dramatic or forceful or even all that vocal, but today, she had to do something to prove she was serious about them. About him.
An idea began to formulate. She wasn’t sure it would work, but she had to try.
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She was still frowning.
Maverick’s heart knocked hard against his chest. He was botching everything real bad. He should have stopped while he was ahead. Instead, he’d gone and asked her what she thought about Sterling’s efforts to facilitate the proposal today.
He supposed on some level he’d been trying to figure out if she’d be open to it. Because there was a part of him—a really big part—that just wanted to throw caution away, get down on one knee, and ask her to marry him.
But look where throwing caution away had gotten Sterling—jilted on his wedding day.
“Let’s forget about this.” He waved his hand to the box and blanket.
She seemed to be wavering, almost as if she wasn’t sure she even wanted to come work for him again.
“Please, Hazel?” He didn’t care that he was pleading.
She finally nodded. “Will you do one thing for me first?”
He’d do literally anything for her. But he reined back his emotions and nodded. “Course I will, angel.”
She glanced warily at his horse. “Ride with me into town?”
During those couple of days when she’d tended him after his accident, they’d talked about how she’d had no choice but to get on his horse and go for help. Even though he’d been proud of her for overcoming her fear, he reckoned she was gonna have battles to face in learning to get on a horse again. So now, with hersuggestion to ride into town, he arched his brow. “You aiming to mount my horse?”
She took the reins and then brushed her hand across the gelding’s forelock. “There’s something really important I have to do. So I guess I don’t have much of a choice.”
He started to cross to her. He loved the way the sunlight streamed across her hair in a long braid, making it the finest, prettiest blond he’d ever seen. And he loved the way her cheeks were rosy, her eyes bright, and her lips set with determination.
As he reached her side, his body physically ached with the need to touch her, but he gripped his cane to keep himself from being too bold and possibly scaring her away.
She stroked the gelding another moment before more furrows appeared on her pretty forehead. “Maybe I should wait. You probably shouldn’t ride that far today anyway.”
“Ain’t that far to town.” It might cause him some pain, but it would be worth it if he could help her take one more step in facing her fear of being on a horse.
“Are you sure?” She dropped the reins. “Never mind, it was a bad idea.”
“Naw.” He stuck a foot in the stirrup and hoisted himself into the saddle. Even though every move was painful, he grinned and reached down a hand for her. “Let’s go.”
She peered up at him, her eyes wide and filled with uncertainty.
“We’ll go into town, and then when you’re done, we’ll head back to the ranch, and you can predict how many days until Blackberry has her foal.”
Her eyes narrowed for just an instant with what he could only describe as protest. But then she stuck her foot in the stirrup and grabbed hold of the pommel.
He scooted back to make room for her in front of him.
As she swung up and settled into the tight space, her proximity was almost more than he could take, with her backside tucked between his thighs, her legs touching his, and her arms and elbows bumping him.
Every curvy, beautiful part of her was there for the taking. In fact, she probably wouldn’t mind if he slipped his hand onto her waist to steady and hold her for the duration of the ride. He could lean against her as he gripped the reins and guided the horse. Or maybe he could even wrap one arm around her entirely.
