Heart of Texas Volume One (38 page)

A quick shower revitalized him. He sang as he lathered up, then raised his face to the spray, laughing as the water rushed over him. When he'd finished, he shook his head like a long-haired dog fresh from a dip in the pond. Still smiling, he dressed in a clean shirt and jeans.

He felt drunk with happiness.

Glen didn't sober up until he reached town. Then and only then did the seriousness of his mission strike him. Not once had he given any thought to how he would word his proposal.

This was quite possibly the most important conversation of his life and he hadn't even rehearsed it! His father had spoken to his potential father-in-law and not the bride. But even if Ellie's father were alive, that approach didn't really work anymore. Too old-fashioned.

He thought about getting down on one knee and spilling out his heart, but immediately dismissed the idea. No one did that sort of thing these days. Much too formal. By the same token, he didn't want to make an offer of marriage sound like an invitation to go bowling, either. All he could do was hope the right approach presented itself when the moment arrived.

It was nearly closing time when he got to the store. Ellie was on the loading dock at the far end of the building, giving instructions to a delivery-truck driver as Glen parked his own truck in front of the store and turned off the engine. She damn near fell off the dock in surprise when she saw him.

That was promising, Glen thought. She must've missed him. He'd missed
her
like hell, and telling her so was probably as good a place to start as any. Having decided that much, he climbed out of the cab and walked up the steps.

“Hello, Glen,” Ellie's assistant greeted.

“Hi, George.”

“Good to see you,” George Tucker said, then added in a low voice, “Damn good.”

“Glad to hear it.” Glen sat down in one of the lawn chairs by the front door near the soda machine, and waited until Ellie was free. It took almost ten minutes to supervise the unloading of a truckload of hay, but he was a patient man.

Ellie signed the necessary papers, then stood there for a moment, blinking into the sun. Her face was pink, and the hair at the back of her head was damp and clinging to her neck. It'd obviously been a long hot day.

“Do you have a few minutes?” he asked when she'd finished. “I'd like to talk to you—
privately.
” He added this last bit in case Richard was anywhere around.

“Privately,” Ellie repeated. Small vertical frown lines appeared between her brows.

“There's, uh, something I'd like to discuss with you. Privately,” he said again.

“Do you want a cold drink?”

It was almost like old times, he told himself. Casual, relaxed, two friends talking.

“Something cold'd hit the spot,” he said, answering Ellie's question.

She retrieved change from her pocket and slipped the coins into the pop machine. She handed him one of the cold damp cans and pressed the other to her forehead, then claimed the chair beside his.

Glen opened his drink, pulling back the tab with a small hissing sound, and took a long swallow.

George appeared. “Do you need me to do anything else?” he asked.

Ellie shook her head. “You're free to go, thanks, George.”

“I'll see you in the morning, then,” he said, turning the Open sign to Closed on his way past.

It might have been Glen's imagination, but Ellie's assistant seemed eager to be on his way.

Ellie answered his question before he could even ask it. “It's his bowling night,” she explained.

His parents were like that, Glen mused. Often, his dad didn't need to voice his thoughts for his mother to know what he was thinking. Sometimes that was true of close friends, as well. With Ellie, he could have love
and
friendship, and surely that was the best way to enter a marriage.

The late-afternoon sun blazed, but the heat didn't seem nearly as bad, now that he was sitting in the shade with Ellie. A slight breeze stirred, cooling his skin, ruffling her hair.

“You wanted to talk to me,” Ellie began.

“Yeah.” Glen had hoped to make this as natural as possible.

“You haven't been in for a while,” she said, staring straight ahead.

Ten days, not that Glen was keeping track or anything. Cal had taken care of the errands these past two weeks while Glen stayed close to the ranch.

“I've been busy,” Glen said, deciding it probably wasn't a good idea to mention he'd been waiting to hear from her.

“So have I.”

Glen could just imagine who she'd been busy with, but he didn't dare say that. Richard Weston wasn't a name he wanted to introduce into their conversation—although he did wonder how much she'd been seeing of the guy.

“I wanted to talk to you about the dance first,” he said, and although he tried, he couldn't keep his voice from sounding stiff. The events of that night still rankled him.

“I don't think it's necessary, seeing how—”

“I'd like to apologize,” he interrupted. If she wasn't willing to admit her part in the disaster, then he'd be man enough to seek her forgiveness for his own role.

“Oh.”

“I didn't mean to make us both fodder for gossip.”

“I know you didn't,” she said, her voice softening perceptibly.

“You and I've been friends for quite a while now.”

She nodded. “Very good friends.”

Glen stuck his hand in his pocket and felt for the diamond ring. Holding on to it lent him the courage to continue. This was harder than he'd thought it would be, but too important to ruin with nerves. All he had to do was remind himself that this was Ellie, his longtime friend. In the years to come he wanted to be able to tell his children and his grandchildren about this day with the same sense of wonder and excitement he'd heard in his father's voice when he'd relayed the tale of proposing to their mother.

“Since your dad's gone, I feel a certain duty to protect you.”

“A duty?” A chill edged her voice.

“Well, not a duty exactly. More of…an obligation to see that no harm befalls you.” He knew he must sound stilted, kind of old-fashioned, but he couldn't seem to help it.

“What do you mean by harm?”

The hell if he knew. “Perhaps
harm
isn't the best word, either. I want to look after you.”

“I'm not a child, Glen.”

“No, no, I don't mean to imply that you are.” He could feel the sweat starting to break out across his forehead. Working his way up to this marriage proposal was harder than freeing a stuck calf from a mud hole. He swallowed painfully as he prepared to continue.

Ellie eyed him in consternation.

“What I'm trying to say,” he started again, gulping down some air, “is— Oh, damn.” He catapulted to his feet, finding it impossible to stay seated any longer. “Listen, Ellie, I'm not good at this. I'm the one responsible for embarrassing you and—”

“What the hell are you talking about?” she demanded.

Glen paced the porch, walking past the soda machine several times. “It hasn't been easy deciding what to do, I want you to know that.”

“I'm not asking you to
do
anything.”

“I know, but I feel responsible.”

“Then I absolve you of all responsibility.” She waved one arm as if holding a magic wand.

“It isn't that easy,” he muttered.

“What's this all about?” she asked again.

Glen tilted his head back and expelled a long breath. This wasn't going well. He should have practiced on Cal first, at least gone over what he intended to say, sought his brother's advice.

Ellie had stood up, too.

It was now or never. Taking the plunge, he squared his shoulders and met her look head-on. “I think we should get married.”

“Married!” The word exploded out of her mouth. Almost as if she'd been struck, Ellie sat back down, gripping the sides of her chair with both hands. Then…she began to laugh. A deep robust laugh.

Glen was deflated. This woman had a great deal to learn about a man's pride, he reflected sadly.

“You're serious?” she asked when her laughter had dwindled to a low chuckle.

“I have a ring,” he said, pulling it out to prove his point. He held it between index finger and thumb.

Ellie's eyes widened.

Dismissing his earlier plan, he decided she should know the truth about this particular ring. “Actually I borrowed it from Cal. This is the diamond Jennifer returned when she broke the engagement.”

She stared at him as if she hadn't heard a word he said.

“I couldn't very well propose without a ring,” he explained. “If you don't like it, you can choose another one later, although I've got to tell you I think Cal would give us a good deal on it. But I'll leave that decision up to you.”

Ellie blinked back tears and Glen relaxed. He knew once he got the word out, everything would be better.

“Why now?” she asked, her voice cracking. “What made you propose today?”

“We're friends,” he said. “That's one reason. I enjoy being with you more than any woman I've ever known. You've got a lot of excellent qualities and…” He was running out of things to say. “Basically it's time.”

“Time?”

“To get married. I've been thinking along those lines recently—”

“Because of Richard?”

Glen had hoped to get through this conversation without any mention of the other man. He cleared his throat. “Not entirely.”

Her responding smile was slight. “At least you're honest enough to admit he has something to do with this.”

“Hey, it wasn't me who sat on a porch kissing one man and then having brunch with another the next morning.” He wondered how
she'd
have felt if he'd shown up at her house with another woman on his arm. She wouldn't have liked it any better than he'd liked seeing her with Richard. He wanted to tell her that, but figured he'd come off sounding jealous. Hell, he
was
jealous.

“You didn't stick around long enough for me to explain.”

“What was there to say?” It was obvious enough to Glen what had happened, and frankly he wasn't interested in hearing the details. Anyway, that was all in the past. What mattered now was the future.

“I'm flattered, Glen, that you'd ask me to marry you.”

“What do you think about the ring?” He held it up so she could get a better view. Cal had spared no expense with this beauty, but Glen realized he'd prefer to have Ellie choose her own ring. Something unique to her. To them.

Ellie's hand closed over his. “Give the ring back to Cal.”

“I'm glad because I'd rather the two of us shopped for one together.”

She shook her head. “I'm sorry.”

“I
said
I'd rather the two of us picked out a diamond together,” he told her again, only louder.

“I heard you the first time,” she said impatiently. “What I meant was that I'm sorry, but no. I can't marry you.”

It took him a moment to realize what she was saying. “You're turning me down?” Each one of those words seared a hole through his heart. When he recovered from the shock, he asked, “Do you mind telling me why?” He had to know. Maybe he should have left things as they were, collected his shattered pride and gone home—but he couldn't. “I…I thought we had something special.”

“We do. Friendship. You said it yourself, remember?”

He nodded.

“I don't want a husband who proposes marriage to me because it's an obligation.”

“I didn't mean it like that.” His voice sounded odd to his own ears. A little ragged and faraway.

“When and if I agree to marry anyone, I want it to be for specific reasons.”

“Okay, that sounds fair.” Weren't
his
reasons specific? Glen's ego came to the rescue, and the anger and pain in his voice were less evident now. More controlled.

“Reasons other than
it's time and you have excellent qualities.
Reasons other than
I should get married now and you'll do.
”

“I didn't say that!”

“No, but you might as well have. Oh, and I almost forgot, you said you
owed
me.”

“Owed you what?”

“I might not get the words right so bear with me.” He could tell she was being sarcastic but wasn't sure why. “Something about duty because you'd embarrassed me in front of the whole town.”