Who Wants to Marry a Cowboy? (26 page)

“How many times have you proposed to my sister?”

One could never fault Cecelia for dancing around the subject. “I don’t know. Too many. But she was never the right woman for me, Cecelia.”

“Well, that was pretty obvious to everyone but you.” She grinned at him. “You were in love with her for a long time.”

Good thing she’d extracted that promise and kept him anchored by sitting on his lap. The conversation went way beyond anything he would call his comfort zone. “Like she told me many times, I was in love with the idea of her. But after being with you…” Moisture gathered in his eyes and he blinked rapidly to hold off the emotion threatening to spill out. How embarrassing. He shifted his gaze away from her intent stare and cleared his throat. “It was like April sixteenth.”

Her brows drew down and she tilted her head. “I don’t understand.”

“I spend the time from January through April fifteenth buried in papers and numbers and receipts. When taxes are done, I have a life again. Discovering you on the cruise ship helped me shed restrictions placed on me by our families. By society. I don’t care anymore what anyone else thinks.”

Her hand crept over his heart, the heat of her touch seeping in and warming his skin. “Be sure, Edward. Be absolutely sure that your feelings for me are genuine and you’re not just hooking up with the first girl to come around.”

“You’re my happiness, Cecelia. Not Ainsley.” He cupped her face. “I love you. Please marry me.”

Tears shimmered in her eyes and she nodded, holding each of his hands in her own. He kissed her, her sweet breath filling him with a life he had never experienced. She was going to be his forever.

Bright morning sunlight lit up Cecelia’s apartment as Edward crept naked into the living room. Good thing she lived alone. He picked his wrinkled trousers off the floor, patting the pockets until he found the ring. He kept it there and carried his pants into the bedroom.

She stirred on the bed and gave him a sleepy smile, her blond hair framing her face like a halo. “Hi there.”

He kissed her forehead and crawled back into her full-sized bed. Last night had been a bit cramped, but worth every moment. “Good morning, baby.”

She snuggled against him, one hand playing with the springy hairs on his chest. Her slight touch zinged blood to his groin and he thought about making love to her again right then. But first things first. He got on his knees.

She sat up. “What are you doing?”

“We need to make it official.” He opened the small maroon box and took out the engagement ring. She gave a small yelp as tears slid down her face. It slid on her finger perfectly and she held up her hand to admire it. The heart-shaped diamond caught the light seeping in through the curtains, splaying tiny rainbows over Cecelia’s bed sheets.

“Oh, my God. It’s amazing, Edward. It’s perfect.” She twined her arms around him, holding him tight. “You’re perfect.”

He rolled her beneath him and was about to take her mouth again when the doorbell rang. Still, he kissed her thoroughly, enjoying the contours of her lips before he stood up. “I’ll get it. You stay here.”

He grabbed his trousers and shuffled into them before opening the door to Cecelia’s apartment. Ainsley blinked at him and pressed her lips together, but a small smile cracked the corners of her mouth and a snort escaped into the air between them. He frowned and gestured for her to come in. “What’s so funny?”

Ainsley took a deep breath to stop her laughter. “It’s nothing.” The entire time she’d known Edward, she had never seen him in such a relaxed state. The lines on his face had smoothed. Even his posture was less rigid. Affection for this man surged through her and she realized she would be very happy to welcome him to the family. “This is a new look for you. You wear it well.”

He took in his naked chest. “But I’m not wearing anything.”

“Exactly.” Still trying to control herself, she entered the apartment in time to greet Cecelia coming down the hallway, tying her purple silk robe. Her hair resembled a bird’s nest, and Ainsley nearly started giggling again at the obvious case of bedhead. They rushed to each other and hugged tightly. It was so good to be home.

“Boy, my nose is itchy,” Cecelia said, scratching it with her left hand.

“Yeah? Why’s that? Are you allergic to something?”

Her sister sighed and held out her arm. “I wonder what time it is.”

Ainsley looked at Cecelia’s bare wrist and took out her own phone. “It’s a little after nine.”

Her sister frowned even as she generated playful sparks. She stretched, thrusting her left hand under Ainsley’s nose.

The light caught her finger and Cecelia’s gorgeous, heart-shaped diamond ring sparkled, matching her sister’s radiance. “Yay! Congratulations.” She hugged her sister again, then Edward, who had put on a shirt. “I know the two of you will be very happy together.”

“When did you get back?” he asked. “I looked for you after the barbeque, but no one knew where you were. Not even that hulking man of a cowboy.”

The tears she had successfully banked spilled down her cheeks. Cecelia wrapped her in a hug, murmuring soft words and stroking her hair. “Didn’t work out, huh?”

Ainsley brushed the streaming tears away. “I can’t tell you how much I don’t want to talk about it right now.”

“Hey.” Edward touched her shoulder. “Any man would be lucky to have you. Except me.”

A small grin escaped her lips. “Thanks. I needed that.”

Cecelia took her hand and squeezed. “Come by later and we’ll talk. Just the two of us.”

Edward stood behind Cecelia and wrapped his arms around her waist. She leaned into him and closed her eyes, contentment seeping over her features.

“Excellent. I can’t wait.” Ainsley looked at her watch, eager to leave the newly engaged couple alone. “But now I have to get to the store.”

How ironic that Edward was able to shed the weight of his family’s convictions and Ainsley was right back where she had started before leaving for Wyoming. While she was happy for him and Cecelia, heaviness settled over her like a large bow around a bouquet. She tapped her steering wheel and exhaled sharply. If she couldn’t make it work with the one man who had set her heart soaring, how could she make it work with anyone? She parked the car and headed into Charleston Blooms, ready to pick up with the floral creations she had started yesterday. Gerbera daisies and yellow solidago lay alongside fresh greens on the counter as Ainsley wrestled with them to make her design ideas into reality.

Nothing worked like she had envisioned. What she thought would be breathtaking and exotic only looked awkward and ordinary. On top of that, everything reminded her of Riley. Her first design had involved the Indian paintbrush. The radio station played a song she’d heard when they went driving and the daisies mocked her attempts at a bouquet. And when she went into her office to take a break from her lack of creativity, the damn photograph from the introduction packet slipped out from a stack of papers when she lifted them off the desk.

She put the papers down and stared at the picture, Riley’s handsome features twisting a thorn into her heart. It was ridiculous, but that didn’t stop her from brushing her fingertips against his lips. She had known the man a little more than a week, and here she was, upset because she’d found a photograph of him. “Get a grip, Fairfax,” she muttered to herself.

Okay, so maybe she’d fallen for him a teeny, tiny bit. She really felt like she could be herself when she was with him. Maybe she thought he returned some of that affection, and maybe she was angry and upset that it didn’t end the way she wanted. She threw the picture away in the bin beside her desk. There were other flowers in the garden of men. Surely one of them would give her the same heart-racing, pulse-pounding feelings. The same renewed and energized spirit he’d brought out in her. The same heartbreak when he decided she wasn’t worth fighting for. Stupid men.

Ainsley picked up the stack of papers again, then immediately put them down and took the picture out of the trash. After a slight bit of artistic alteration that added a pitchfork, enhanced his eyebrows and gave him some overgrown facial hair, she hung it up on her corkboard and focused on her other problem.

The deed to her building. The chances of her mother giving it up now were less than her dying her hair purple. When her mother realized Edward was now spoken for—by her rebel daughter, no less—she would be on the lookout for the next new man in Ainsley’s life and she’d need leverage.

Well.
Coward
must be tattooed on her forehead. Why else had she gone to Wyoming in the first place, instead of telling her mother no? And then to not confront Jewel and the other women about their lies and manipulations, and let Riley believe them instead of her? And not to tell him the depth of her feelings for him?

“Grow a backbone, Ainsley,” she muttered. Look what being the good girl had gotten her.

Next time. She wouldn’t keep silent when someone else tried to rule her life.

As the days passed, a strange sort of sadness overtook her. She wandered across the checkered floor of her store, taking stock of her surroundings. The familiar hum of the refrigerator pump no longer made the shop a homier place. The soft scent of lilies didn’t brighten her mood. And any time Tess tried to talk about her forced vacation or plans for Charleston Blooms, an empty ache overwhelmed her soul and she would mutter something about paperwork and retreat to her office. The store had been her haven for so long. What would she do now that it was no longer her sanctuary?

The bell above her door sounded. She fortified herself with a deep breath and grabbed a tissue before greeting her customer.

“I need some flowers,” the man announced. More nervous excitement than wariness filled his voice, and Ainsley read his tone and body cues to figure out it wasn’t for an apology. Good. Because if that were the case, she’d excuse herself and give this guy over to Tess.

“Excellent. What’s the occasion?”

“I’m meeting my girlfriend’s mother for the first time and I want to get her the perfect bouquet.”

Normally something like this would have Ainsley divining traits about the mother or daughter in order to create a spectacular arrangement for the occasion, but now she just shuffled to the display cases. The weight of Tess’s stare bore down on her and she tried to ignore her manager’s disbelief in her lack of enthusiasm. The joy had been sucked out of her job, and suggesting anything other than the most commonly enjoyed flowers took more effort than she could give. The end result of large yellow sunflowers was still beautiful, but it had no special oomph.

The man didn’t notice. He thanked her profusely as he paid for the flowers before rushing out the door. Disheartened at her own lack of interest, she wandered back to the work station, fingering plant stakes as if rubbing them would give her the answers she wanted.

“What’s going on with you?” Tess asked.

“What do you mean?” Like she didn’t know. She turned away from Tess and put the stakes away. “The bouquet was perfect. Just like he asked for.”

“Perfectly boring. Sure, it was gorgeous and colorful and the mother is going to love it. But it didn’t have the pizzazz of your normal arrangements. The special something that makes brides flock to our doors.” The store manager took Ainsley’s hands. “You’re my friend and I love you, but you’re not all here. I think more happened in Wyoming than you want to share. And that’s fine, Ains. I don’t need to hear it. But I want my friend back.”

Tess was right. Nothing was going to get solved sitting around feeling sorry for herself, and the flowers had ceased to give her their usual comfort and welcome. Stupid greenhouse with its memories and heated corners and budding flowers. Her throat closed and she choked out the words that had plagued her since she got back. “I don’t think I can do this anymore.”

“Do what? Flower arrangements? I can do the walk-ins if you want to focus on weddings for a while.”

“No, I mean…” She spread her arms, gesturing to the store she had bled for. Admitting this felt like she was kicking a one-eyed, three-legged orphaned puppy. “I’m so… unconnected. Don’t get me wrong. I still love the flowers and you and the smells and colors, but…”

“You’ve outgrown this.”

“Maybe?” Was it possible? This had been her dream and she had worked so hard for it. She shook her heard. “I don’t know.”

“Oh, honey.” Tess embraced her. “You fell hard, didn’t you?”

With a self-serving bastard who then broke her heart. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Ainsley grabbed a towel while her heart danced in her ribs. Stray leaves and trimmed stems flew off the counter as she wiped it down. Some of them even landed in the trash can.

Tess put her hand on top of Ainsley’s. “Was it the cowboy?”

“There was nothing with the stupid cowboy.”

“One of the guys on the ranch, then? You can’t hide this from me, Ainsley. I know you too well.”

Ainsley sighed and threw the towel down. Tess wasn’t going to let up. “All this over a guy. How pitiful is that?”

“Not at all. What would have been pitiful is if you kept your heart to yourself and never let anyone get in.” She moved the towel away and put her hand on Ainsley’s arm, looking intently into her eyes. “It’s not that the flowers and the shop don’t hold any excitement for you anymore, Ainsley. It’s that after years of sheltering yourself and suppressing your feelings, you finally found the man who set you free.”

Ainsley hid in her office, tapping her pen against the papers on her desk. Tess’s words had haunted her all week. For all of Riley’s completely wrong assumptions and misinterpretations and using the awful women in his past to judge her, he had also unlocked the person she always longed to be. He had set her free.

“But he also broke your heart,” she muttered. The pen tapped harder.

The bell above the door to Blooms chimed, but Ainsley let Tess help the new patrons. She’d been doing more of that—letting her store manager use her easy banter with whoever came into the shop. The woman’s quick smile and natural grace shone through and made customers comfortable. Ainsley leaned over the arm of her chair so she could watch through the office door. An idea swirled in her mind like loose petals in a breeze and she smiled with genuine happiness for the first time in ages. Tess already did most of the books. She organized bridal arrangements, special occasion flowers, and window displays. She’d run the business when Ainsley hid from her mother in Wyoming. Her creative ideas had helped grow Charleston Blooms into a successful business.