Page 73 of The Unknown Colton
Was he going to leave her again?
“I’m sorry,” he said, his voice heavy with emotion.
As her heart broke, she closed her eyes. “Then…just go…” she choked out. She couldn’t keep doing this; she couldn’t keep saying goodbye to the man she loved and not know if he was going to be able to make it back to her.
* * *
Troy’s heart broke from the tears sliding down her face. “I’m so sorry,” he said, and he pushed down one railing so he could sit on the bed and pull her into his arms.
But her body was stiff with rejection. “If you’re going to leave again, just go,” she said. “I can’t keep saying goodbye to you.”
“I’m not leaving,” he said.
Finally she opened her eyes, wet with tears. “What?”
“I’m never leaving you again,” he said. “I’m sorry I was so stubborn and stupid to think that money mattered when the only thing that matters is love. No, the only thing that matters is you. I love you so much, Lakin, and I’m so sorry. Can you ever forgive me for putting off our future, for worrying about things that don’t really matter?”
“I thought they mattered, too,” she said. “I thought we needed more money saved before we bought our business.”
“But you did it anyway,” he said with a smile of pride at her bravery. “When the opportunity came up, you took it. Just like you must have to get away from Whitlaw.”
She shuddered and clutched him closer. “I was so scared.”
“Me, too,” he admitted. “I’ve never been so scared. Not even when I fell off that oil rig. And I realized when you were missing that nothing else matters but us being together. I was just so scared of being a burden to you.”
She pressed her fingers over his lips. “I love you. No matter what. Sickness and health.”
“Will you say those words to me?”
“I just did,” she said, her forehead furrowing a bit.
“I would drop down to one knee, but it would be a little hard right now,” he said. “What I’m asking, Lakin Colton, is for you to be my wife, my partner in business and life. I love you so much, and I will do my best to spend the rest of our lives making up for the time we’ve been apart while I’ve been stupid.”
She chuckled and pressed her fingers to his lips again. “You’ve been stubborn,” she agreed. “But you’re not stupid. I know your family struggled after your dad died, and you worry about security.”
“You’re my security,” he said. “You’re my home. You’re my everything. I asked your dad and mom for their permission to marry you. They said it’s up to you. Maybe they think I’ve already blown my chance. Have I, Lakin? Have I waited too long to start our future?”
She shook her head. “No, our future starts now. Yes, I will marry you. I will be your partner in all things. I love you so very much, Troy Amos.”
Finally she’d said the words back to him again. He had her love back. He had Lakin back.
“And I love you.” He lowered his head and kissed her lips. All the pain he’d ever felt disappeared; he felt only love and gratitude that she was safe and she was his as much as he was hers.
* * *
Kansas was irritated with Asher. He’d wanted to start the interrogation of Jasper Whitlaw without her and Eli. Sure, he figured they wanted to be there forLakin, and he wasn’t wrong about that. Even Scott had pointed that out. But he could have just waited; it was as if he hadn’t believed that Lakin was going to be okay.
Kansas hadn’t wanted to consider the possibility. Anyway, Lakin was fine. And from what Mom and Dad had insinuated when they all left her and Troy alone together, she was probably engaged by now.
Which for some reason made Kansas even more determined to find the Fiancée Killer. There was no proof yet that any of his victims had actually been engaged, though. The ones they’d identified had been single.
Except for Mrs. Whitlaw; Stella, who was undoubtedly Lakin’s biological mom, had been a married woman. But she was dead, and her husband had confessed to killing her.
Facing Jasper Whitlaw, Kansas began, “We have you on your wife’s murder as well as the abduction of Lakin Colton, kidnapping, extortion and the attempted murder of Troy Amos. You have a long list of charges being brought against you. So tell us about the other women.”
“Other women?” Whitlaw asked. “Stella was the tramp. Cheated on me when I was prison and gave birth to that little whiny brat.”
“Lakin was never whiny,” Eli defended his sister. “She was always as sweet and kind as she is now.”
