Hidden Treasure(66)

He gripped her hand as he spoke and looked at her with both hope and love in his eyes. She had a million questions, but she could see that he was tired. She’d be with him all week, and one way or another she would find better answers.

After giving her a big hug, her father went to the bedroom she kept for him, and for the first time in a week, Brielle climbed the stairs not dreading her own cold bed. She would get away, take time to think, and figure out what she was going to do next.

She didn’t want to leave the Ponderosa Pines Ranch, but she didn’t know how she could stay with Colt being her neighbor. Maybe she should just offer to sell it to him. That’s what he really wanted, wasn’t it?

She went to bed that night and finally was granted a dreamless sleep.





Chapter Thirty-Five

Colt paced Brielle’s front porch, feeling more like a fool the longer he waited. She’d been absent an entire week — she’d completely disappeared, and he had no idea where. When he first found out that she’d left, he’d thought for sure it was over, that he’d lost her for good.

Not that he would have given up so easily. Love like this didn’t just disappear. No. If she moved away, he’d follow her. Even if it took months, years, decades, he would wait for her. He’d barely slept during the last two weeks, his arms empty without her in them, his heart aching without her there to fill it.

He sounded pathetic even to himself, but that was the way it was. He was desperately in love with Brielle Storm, and whatever he had to do to prove that to her he would do. There was no way he’d live his life without her.

He’d been greatly relieved to find out from Tony that she wasn’t gone for good, but that she’d left with her father to visit one of her brothers. And Tony had let him know that she was coming home tonight.

So here he was on her front porch, where he’d been waiting for the last three hours. The ranch hands had all walked by at some point or other to snicker or just enjoy the show. Colt didn’t care. He was going to prove his love to Brielle, even if the entire town of Sterling thought him nothing but a lovesick idiot.

That’s what he was, wasn’t he?

“You know you’re going to set her house on fire, don’t you?”

Colt turned to find Hawk walking toward him. “Not now, Hawk. She should be here any minute,” Colt said, turning to pace the length of her porch yet again.

“When I got calls from three of her ranch hands who were concerned that you aren’t in your right mind, I figured I had best come out to investigate,” Hawk said as he came up onto the porch and then kept in step with Colt.

“The candles are all in jars,” Colt pointed out before stopping and looking around, making sure the scene was still set.

Her entire front railing was covered in lighted candles. There were three hundred of them. He knew this for sure, because he’d lit every single one himself.

“You do know that with the dry weather, if even one of these jars tips over, the place could go up in flames, right?”

Of course Hawk had to say it — he was the fire chief. But it was also Colt’s prerogative to ignore him. “If it burns, I’ll build her a better house,” Colt said before he resumed pacing, not even thinking about what an arrogant statement he’d just made.

“All right. Since Tony has the fire tender on standby, I guess I’ll let you be.” Hawk patted Colt on the shoulder and stepped down from the porch to go and sit with Tony, who, sure enough, had the fire truck backed up to the house. He was in a chair behind it, hose in his hand in case he needed to act quickly.

“It would sure help if you’d just go away, Tony,” Colt snapped for what seemed like the tenth time.

“Not gonna happen, Colt,” Tony drawled.

This was not going according to plan, Colt thought with frustration. Then everything else disappeared, because he saw headlights in the distance. That had to be Brielle — unless the hands had called in the sheriff, too.

Colt wouldn’t have put that past them. Still, with his heart thundering and the blood rushing through his veins, he had no doubt it was Brielle. He could feel it. His mood lifted, his heart raced, and a smile returned to his face.

He planned to spend the rest of his life proving to this woman each and every day how much he loved her, and to treat her like the princess he knew she was.

But first he had to convince her to allow him in her life.

Much easier said than done…





Chapter Thirty-Six

Exhaustion seemed to be her middle name now, but Brielle was happy to be driving down the long road that led to her home. And yes, this was her home. She’d enjoyed the visit with her oldest brother, loved meeting his soon-to-be fiancée — at least if Crew had anything to say about it — and loved spending time with her father and getting to know her uncles, but she was glad to be home.