He nodded.
"Good. You've been her heart for as long as I have known her." Joshua stood stock still until Clay looked up at him. There was more than a little threat in his eyes and his tone when he spoke. "Don't hurt her, or I'll hurt you."
Somewhat able to understand how he felt about Elodie, and grudgingly glad that she inspired such devotion in her friends, Clay nodded, not challenging the threat as he might have. "I love her, too. I would never hurt her deliberately."
"Good. Make sure you keep it that way." He left Clay in his wake, wondering whether he had just made a rival or a friend.
Elodie's landlord hadn't wanted her to go. She was quiet, she paid on time, and it was mid-lease. But Clay had paid the rest of it off for her, and had all of her belongings moved to the ranch.
It was a bit presumptuous, he admitted, but he was going to make her stay there while she was recuperating, and he couldn't stand the idea that, at the end of that time, she might choose to just get up, like she had in the middle of the night, and leave him. He wasn't going to lose her, even if he had to tie her to the bed... which had its advantages, he had to admit.
He did his best to soothe her. "I want you to live here, where I can take care of you."
"No, Clay, it wouldn't be right!"
He scoffed. "Of course it's right! It's the best thing. I—" he almost blurted out that he loved her, then reconsidered, "I want you close at hand."
"But you don't need to take care of me like this—I'm fine on my own."
It probably wasn't the right time, or the right place, but Clay took both of her hands in his, squeezing them gently, rhythmically.
Chapter 16
Clay swallowed hard, then began to speak in a voice that cracked every once in a while with emotion. "When… when April died, I thought I was going to die, too. Sometimes I wanted to die, just so that the hurt would stop. I hated this house, and everything in it, because it all reminded me of her. But then we started to go out for our little lunches, and that—and the running of the ranch—started to give me something to look forward to, and little by little, they kind of became my lifeline. You loved April as much as I did, and seeing you was a little like seeing her."
Elodie nodded, crying. She'd felt exactly the same way about getting together with him—above and beyond the fact that it fed her obsession with him.
Clay looked her straight in the eye. "It's more than that now, though. Much, much more. I want you, Elodie. When you touch me, sparks fly. I thought I was going to unman myself while we made love—I wanted you so much. I love you, honey." He reached out to cup her still swollen and battered cheek, tears trailing slowly down his face. "I love you. I never thought I could love again, but you have proven me wrong. I love every solemn, stubborn, prideful inch of you."
Elodie couldn't believe her ears. She couldn't! He loved her? How could that be possible? He had loved April—and she was nothing like April. She couldn't take in what he was saying, not one bit.
Clay was already fishing around in his shirt pocket, and pulled out a small ring box, popping it open to reveal a huge, marquise cut diamond set in eighteen karat gold. "Will you marry me?" He already had the ring out of the box and onto her finger before she had a chance to answer him.
She couldn't say a thing. All she could do was stare at the ring sitting on her finger.
"Well? Aren't you going to say something? Preferably 'yes'?" he prodded, tugging on her hands where he had them captured with his own.
"I don't know what to say." But she did. Elodie knew what she wanted to say in her heart, more than anything, but she didn't think it was the right time. "This just seems so… fast."
He chuckled. "I don't think this has been fast at all. We have inched our way here at a very slow speed. But after your accident..." He took a deep breath. "It reminded me that life is short. We have to live for the moment. I want to do that with you, Elodie. I want us to be husband and wife and run this ranch together, make it our home, and fill every single wall with your paintings."
This was everything she had ever wanted… deep down. But could she just marry him as if they didn't have the one major road block getting in the way?
"This isn't about April anymore," he said quietly, once again reading her mind.
"But it is. It will always be."
He shook his head. "No, Elodie. Not anymore. This is about you and me. This is about the life we both deserve to live. I loved your sister so much. You know I did. But that was a long time ago, and we can't keep letting that darkness in our past get in the way of what we have. And I believe we have something really good. Really special."
She nodded in agreement. "I agree. We do."
"Then marry me."
"What will people say?"