She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. The tension had returned as if a rattler had slithered into the room.
“If you think I’ll sit by idly while you run Prescott for another year and a half just to look for a better offer and put me through this all over again, you can forget it. I’ll take you to court. I don’t care what Brian says. I’ll fight you even if I have no chance of winning, just to mess things up. I’ll…” She didn’t finish, having either run out of steam or threats. Instead, she glared, apparently too furious to speak.
This wasn’t going at all like he’d planned. She really did think he was the devil. The thought pained him so much more now. After they had made love, shared dreams, worked together.
“No. That won’t be necessary.” Ty slid the paper on the table toward her.
She snatched it. He watched as her eyes darted right then left. Like a football receiver who knows he’s going to get hit as he goes up for the ball, Ty steeled himself for the blow. This was his last chance and it was either going to be a touchdown or an incomplete pass.
It took several moments for her to lift her head. The accusations that had filled her eyes were gone, replaced by amazement. “You granted me your personal shares? Why?” Her voice was but a whisper.
If only he could make her understand.
“You now have forty percent of the company—all with voting rights. Along with Tucker and Harold’s share, you have more than enough to form a majority. No one can sell Prescott without all three of you agreeing to it.”
“I don’t understand. How can I accept this? This represents a lot of money, Ty.”
He knew how much to the penny. And for once in his life, it didn’t matter. “Consider it something I owe you. For putting you through all of this.”
Her smile was wobbly, just like her voice. “Does this mean you think Prescott is the better bet for the future?”
For a split second he thought about lying, but that had never been his way. Ty shook his head. “No. I still think accepting Stan’s offer is the best financial deal for future security.”
Her eyes widened, and her fragile smile vanished. “Then why didn’t you accept it? Like grandfather wanted?”
“Because I realized it wasn’t what your grandfather wanted. He wanted to make something work between us. He knew either way the family couldn’t lose. But he pinned his hope for the future on us, both of us.”
Mandy’s body heaved as she took a deep breath. “You mean you and I married, living happily ever after?”
“Yes.”
His throat constricted as if a piece of food was lodged there and he was on the verge of choking. He still had a kernel of hope that his initial decision to sell hadn’t totally decimated what they had been building, but it was just a kernel. Her emotion-packed reaction to his news had driven home how deeply his actions had hurt her.
“She looked down at the paper. “I have something to tell you too, Ty. I hardly know where to start.”
“If it is that you hate me, I already know that.”
She smiled, a sweet, delicate turn of the lips as if he’d said something clever. Was that a good sign? He wasn’t in any position to interpret.
“No. Although I did up until a few seconds ago.”
“I guess I don’t blame you. I’d hoped…” Ty took a deep breath to calm the erratic beats of his heart. “Mandy, I have one more thing to tell you before you tell me your news.”
“I will pay you back. For the stock,” she said.
“I don’t care about the stock or the money. If I did, I wouldn’t have given you the shares.”
“But you always said it was about the money. I don’t understand.” She cocked her head, her gorgeous green eyes quizzical.
This time he’d say it and let things fall where they may. He bent down on one knee. Pulling out the jeweler’s box from his shirt pocket, he opened it. The rings, studded in diamonds, sparkled even in the dim light.
He took a bracing breath. “Mandy, I have fallen in love with you. I want to be with you, and only you. Life isn’t worth anything without the right person to share it with. And these months together have proven to me you are the right person, the only person. I’m hoping you’ll give me another chance to show you that I’m the right person for you. I haven’t done a very good job of making you happy. But if you’ll take another chance on me, I promise I will give everything I have to make you happy because I love you.”
Mandy tried to process Ty’s declaration as he knelt before her, his outstretched hand holding a box with a pair of shimmering rings, but her mind was swamped with a dizzying array of emotions from joy to disbelief, to gratefulness. But the strongest emotion, the one that was swelling her heart like an air pump stuck in overdrive, was love.
“Did you hear what I said? I said I love you.”
She had heard. And it had sent her reeling like a lightweight boxer in a heavyweight fight.