The Cowboy's Way(53)

“I don’t think you have to worry.” His kind words were causing her heart to break all over again. “Remember, you own the Circle W now.”

“Sweetheart, did you bother looking at the documents I left here the other day after I paid the taxes?” he asked, smiling.

She shook her head. “No. I didn’t have the heart.”

“I never said I bought the ranch for back taxes,” he said, his tone indulgent. “I said I paid the taxes. And if you had bothered to look at those papers, you would have seen that I paid them in your name.”

“But it wasn’t your responsibility,” she insisted. “It was my debt. I couldn’t pay them and I—”

“I understand that, sweetheart,” he said, kissing her. “But I was going to give you the papers as a gift after I asked you something.”

A bubble of hope began to form inside of her, but she tried to tamp it down. “What were you going to ask me, T.J.?”

As she watched, he pulled a small black velvet box from his jacket pocket. “I was going to ask you if you would consider making me the happiest man on earth by becoming my wife. Then I had planned to give you those papers as an engagement present.” He flipped open the box. Resting inside was one of the biggest diamonds she had ever seen.

“Oh, my God!” she said, covering her mouth with her hand. “I never... I mean, I didn’t know... I never dreamed...” She let her voice trail off when she realized she wasn’t capable of coherent speech.

“I love you, Heather,” he said, his expression quite serious. “I will always love you. And if you’ll let me, I’d like to take care of you for the rest of my life.”

Tears trickled down her cheeks as she looked at the man she loved with all her heart. How could she have been so stubborn and let her pride get in the way of the happiness she could have with this wonderful man?

“T.J., I’m so...sorry,” she said haltingly. “I know I’m stubborn and—”

“You don’t have to apologize, sweetheart.” He shook his head. “I knew you weren’t going to be overly happy about it. But if my plan to give the paid tax receipt to you as an engagement present had worked out, it would have probably saved both of us a lot of heartache.”

When a fresh wave of tears began to roll down her cheeks, he set the ring box on the table, stood up and lifted her from the chair. Then he sat down with her on his lap. “I hope like hell those are happy tears,” he said, holding her close.

“Y-yes,” she said, putting her arms around his neck. “I love you with all my heart, T.J.”

“Yes, they’re happy tears or yes, you’ll marry me?” he asked, grinning like he already knew.

“B-both.”

“Thank God!” He removed the ring from the box to slip it on her finger. He kissed her then and the warmth of his love lit the darkest corners of her soul. When he lifted his head to gaze at her with more love shining in his eyes than she would ever deserve, he smiled. “There’s one more thing that I would like to ask you.”

“What’s that?” she asked, wiping the tears from her cheeks.

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to adopt Seth,” he said seriously. “I love that little boy and I swear I’ll be the best dad I can possibly be.”

“I’d like that,” she said, knowing he would be a wonderful father to her son.

T.J. smiled. “He’s actually another reason I wanted to pay the taxes on this place. I wanted to make things easier for you, but I also wanted to make sure it was here for him when he gets old enough to take it over. It’s been in your family for generations and I didn’t want him to lose that.”

“Thank you,” she whispered as more tears threatened.

They were silent for several minutes as they enjoyed being in each other’s arms again.

“When do you want to get married, Heather?” He chuckled. “And please don’t make this a long engagement. I want to start our lives together as soon as possible.”

“How does Valentine’s Day sound?” she asked, happy to give him his way on this particular issue.

“Better than the Fourth of July, but still further off than I’d like,” he said, kissing her again.

Happier than she ever dreamed it was possible to be, she smiled. “Since I’m going to be your wife, could I ask you something I’ve been wondering about?”

“Sweetheart, you can ask me anything,” he answered.

“What does T.J. stand for?”

Groaning, he rested his forehead against hers. “I guess you’ll find out anyway when we get our marriage license.”