He turned and gave the orchestra a cue to stop playing and everything got quiet. Also, as if on cue, someone handed him a microphone. “May I have everyone’s attention, please?”
Aghast, she tried tugging her hand from his. “What do you think you’re doing?” She wanted to run and hide when her words got captured on the mic for all to hear. She was certain before the night was over she would die of shame.
“I’m about to speak from my heart,” he said, holding tight to her hand.
“When it comes to the ladies, I didn’t know you had a heart, Derringer,” Pete called out.
She tried not to glance around since she knew all eyes were on them. They were in the middle of the ballroom’s dance floor, and everyone, curious as to what was going on, had moved closer to watch. The Westmorelands, she noted, were standing in a cluster behind Derringer as if to show a united front.
A smile touched Derringer’s lips, but when he turned around and met her gaze, his expression got serious. Then he said in a loud and clear voice, “I didn’t know I had a heart either until Lucia captured it.” He paused and then added, “And that is something no other woman has been able to do.”
She glanced away, refusing to believe what she thought she heard him saying. She didn’t want to make a mistake about what he was saying. There was no way it could be true.
As if he’d read her thoughts, he tugged on her hand to make her look back at him. “It’s true, Lucia. I am so hopelessly in love with you I can’t think straight. You are so filled with goodness, warmth and love, I can’t imagine not loving you. And it’s not anything I discovered upon waking this morning. I knew that I loved you for a while, but didn’t want to. I have this fear of loving someone and then losing that person. I think a number of us Denver Westmorelands can’t help but feel that way due to the catastrophic losses we’ve endured in the past. It can do something to you. It can make you not want to take a chance and get attached to anyone.
“But I want to get attached to you. I have to get attached to you. You make me whole. Without you I am nothing.”
Lucia couldn’t stop the tears that began falling from her eyes. She couldn’t believe what he was saying. Derringer was declaring his love and his need for her in front of everyone. His family. Her parents. Their neighbors and friends. Ashira. Ashira’s girlfriends. Ashira’s parents. Everyone who wanted to hear it.
Evidently, Ashira and her girlfriends didn’t. Lucia watched them walk out. It didn’t matter to her. The man she had loved for a lifetime was letting her know in front of everyone that he loved her back.
“And when a man has that much love for any woman,” Derringer was saying, bringing her attention back to him, “he will choose that woman as his mate for life. The woman he wants for his wife.”
She then watched in shock as he eased down on bended knee, gripped her hand tighter and then held her gaze. “Lucia, will you marry me? Will you take my name? Have my babies? And continue to make me happy? In turn, I will be the best husband to you. I will love you. Honor you and cherish you for as long as I live. Will you marry me?”
While she was still swooning from his public proposal, she felt a ring being slid onto her finger. She glanced down. The diamond sparkled so brightly it almost blinded her. She could only stare at it in amazement.
“You have a proposal on the table, Lucia. Please answer the man,” someone called out from the crowd.
She couldn’t help but smile as she swiped her tears. That had been her father’s voice. She met Derringer’s gaze. He was still on his knees waiting. “Oh, Derringer,” she said through her tears. “Yes! Yes! I will marry you!”
Smiling, he got to his feet and pulled her into his arms in a deep, passionate kiss. She was not sure how long the kiss lasted. The only thing she did know was that the orchestra was playing music again and others were dancing all around them. They didn’t care. Tonight was their night and they were going to take full advantage of it.