Page 52 of Texas Honor

His white teeth showed under his lips. “No.”

Her blush deepened. “Oh.”

He tossed his hat onto the hall table and went inside the room, gently closing the door behind him. “Now, come here.” He drew her in front of him, holding her by both shoulders, his face gentle and almost loving. “What do you think I want, Marianne?”

“You’ve made what you want pretty obvious,” she replied sadly.

“What you think I want,” he corrected. His eyes went over her like hands, enjoying the exciting glimpses of her silky skin that he was getting through the gossamer-thin fabric of her gown. “And you’re right about that. I could make a banquet of you in bed. But not tonight.”

She turned her head a bit, looking up at him. “Are you too tired?” she asked innocently.

He grinned. “Nope.”

None of this was getting through to her. “I don’t understand,” she said softly.

“Yes, I gathered that.” He reached into his pocket and drew out a box. It was black and velvety and small. He opened it and handed it to her.

The ring was a diamond. A big, beautiful diamond in a setting with lots of little diamonds in rows encircling the large stone. Beside it was a smaller, thinner matching diamond band.

“It’s an engagement ring,” he explained. “It goes on the third finger of your left hand, and at the wedding I’ll put the smaller one on your finger beside it.”

She was hearing things. Surely she was! But the ring looked real. She couldn’t stop staring at it.

“You don’t want to get married,” she told him patiently, her eyes big and soft. “You hate ties. You hate women. They’re all deceitful and greedy.”

He traced a slow, sensuous pattern down her silky cheek, smiling softly. “I want to get married,” he said. “I want you to share your life with me.”

It was the way he put it. She burst into tears. They rolled down her cheeks in a torrent, a sob broke from her throat. He became a big, handsome blur.

“Now, now,” he murmured gently. He bent to kiss the tears away. “It’s all right.”

“You want to marry me?” she whispered unsteadily.

“Yes,” he said, smiling.

“Really?”

“Really.” He brushed back her hair, his green eyes possessive on her oval face. “I’d be a fool to let go of a woman who loves me as much as you do.”

She froze in place. Was he fishing? Was he guessing? Did he know? If he did, how?

“You told me this afternoon,” he said gently, pulling her to him. “You offered yourself to me with no strings. You’d never make an offer like that to a man you didn’t love desperately. I knew it. And that’s why I stopped. It would have been cheap, somehow, to have our first time on the ground without doing things properly.”

“But...but...” she began, trying to find the right words.

“But how do I feel?” he probed softly, touching her lips with a faintly unsteady index finger. “Don’t you know?”

His eyes were telling her. His whole face was telling her. But despite her rising excitement, she had to have it all. The words, too.

“Please tell me,” she whispered.

He framed her face and lifted it to his darkening eyes, to his firm, hungry mouth. “I love you, Marianne,” he breathed against her mouth as he took it. “And this is how much...”

It took him a long time to show her how much. When he was through, they were lying on the bed with her gown down to her waist, and he looked as if he were going to die trying to stop himself from going the whole way. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Lillian had guessed what was going on and was trying to knock the door down.

“It’s bedtime, boss,” she called loudly. “It’s late. She’s a growing girl. Needs her sleep!”

“Oh, no, that’s not what I need at all,” Marianne said with such tender frustration that Ward laughed through his own shuddering need.