Page 90 of The Hacker
She felt Leland brush a kiss on the top of her head. “Did you enjoy the helicopter ride?”
“Oh my God, yes! Skimming right over the treetops was a rush and a half.” She’d never ridden in a chopper before, so when they’d told her it was the only way to get to this remote site, she’d been a little nervous at first. Especially when she had seen how small the aircraft was.
“I want to bring you back here to go rafting,” Leland said. “I can see you in the bow of the boat, looking like a warrior queen as you challenge the rapids.”
Dawn smiled and patted the hard wall of his chest. “You think I’m way tougher than I really am. But I’d like to try it since you guys had such a great time.”
“Yeah, it was terrific except for one thing. You weren’t with me.”
Happiness surged through Dawn as she looked up into Leland’s face. The reflected flames seemed to dance in his blue eyes. She reached up to run her fingertip over his eyebrow. “I’ve missed touching you.”
He twitched the brow she’d just traced with an expression of dismay. “You missed touching myeyebrows? I was hoping for something a little more, er, significant than that.”
“For that we have to go in the tent. And I’m so ready.”
Leland folded his long legs in and stood, taking her hand to bring her up with him. She started toward the tent that was set away from the main campsite, thanks to Tully’s insistence that they needed privacy. But Leland pulled her to a halt.
“We need to talk about something,” he said.
She looked up at him. The fire painted the elegant planes of his face in warm gold and dark shadow, both of them moving with its flicker. The light ran along strands of his hair as well, picking up gleams of blond amid the brown. “What is it?” she asked, searching his expression for a clue.
He took both her hands in his. She braced herself for some unhappy news because he looked so solemn.
“Remember when I told you all the things I wanted to do with you? Paris, Carmella’s?” He smiled. “And now I’ve added white-water rafting.”
“You’ve added a lot of things and we’ve done most of them,” she said.
“There’s something really big that I want to add.” His grip around her hands tightened and he sank down onto one knee. He brought first one of her hands and then the other to touch his lips, watching her the whole time as he made tingles waltz over her skin and butterfly wings brush against her heart.
“Darlin’, I want to grow old with you.” His voice held a rasp of deep emotion. “Will you do me the honor of marrying me?”
She couldn’t stop staring down at his face because it was so filled with love and tenderness and caring. “Yes! Of course I’ll marry you.”
“Your hands are shaking,” he said, looking down.
“Because I’m so happy. It’s zinging around inside me.” She turned her hands to grab his, trying to pull him up. “Kiss me so you can feel what I’m feeling.” Because it was too hard to find the words to tell him.
“Wait! I want to show you something first.” He bewildered her by reaching into his pocket to pull out his cell phone. She watched in bafflement as he swiped a few times before turning it toward her. “Imagine me putting this on your finger right now.”
She peered at the screen. The photo showed a ring—a large, deep-green, square emerald rimmed with diamonds was set in a wide gold band—nestled in a black velvet box. She touched the screen with one fingertip. “It’s absolutely gorgeous but—” Why did he have a picture of a ring on his phone?
“I bought it for you three months ago.” He kissed her finger just where the ring would go, making her skin shimmer with the feel of his warm lips.
“Three months?! What were you waiting for?” But more joy washed through her because he’d wanted to marry her for that long. And he’d chosen such a glorious ring for her.
“I was waiting for the perfect moment. The one so memorable you couldn’t say no.” He stood up and pulled her into his arms, his tall body a solid, comforting mass. “But being apart from you for this trip showed me that waiting was stupid.Nowis the right moment.”
He tilted her chin up with his fingertip. “I love you so much that I know why you were shaking. It’s hard to have that much emotion bottled up inside you.”
She curled her hand around the back of his neck and tugged his head down, needing to feel those warm, firm lips against hers. “Kiss me and we can share the emotion between the two of us.”
“I have a better idea.” He bent and scooped her legs off the ground, the flame in his eyes sending tendrils of electric desire curling through her as he carried her to the tent. “This way you can touch more than just my eyebrow.”
