“Have you thought this through?” she asked, “You’ve been so set on doing those things. You’ve talked about disappointment later—”
“I’ve definitely thought it through,” he answered in a deep voice. “What about the deep-sea diving—can you tolerate it?”
“I can live with that one, I think,” she said, stunned they were discussing what he would give up and what he wanted to do. She was as surprised by his declaration that he couldn’t get along without her. All this time she’d been home he hadn’t called, tried to see her or anything else. Had he been thinking all this through before talking to her again? She pulled her attention back to him.
“I love white-water rafting and, darlin’, that isn’t as dangerous as some of the other things.”
“I can live with white-water rafting, Jared,” she replied carefully, thinking about it and unable to believe they might work this out.
“What about skydiving and hang gliding?”
“I’ve done both and don’t have any interest or inclination in doing them again. You can eliminate both of those activities. I think we’ve covered it. I ski, but you ski. Can you think of anything else?”
“What about bronc riding?”
“What about it? Does that scare you?”
She smiled at him, letting out her breath. “No.” Her smile vanished as she stared intently at him. “You would give up those things for me, the bull riding, the mountain climbing?”
Then it hit her—the irony of it all. “This proposal is connected to your propensity for taking risks,” she said. “In fact, this may be one of the wildest risks you’ve taken, Jared, this risk of giving your love and asking me to marry you.”
He looked startled. “Maybe it is, but I’ve taken risks before, and I’ll take risks again. I want to take this one with all my heart.”
Her heart began to pound. “You didn’t answer—what about the bull riding and the mountain climbing?”
“In a breath I’ll give them up,” he said. “I love you, darlin’. Allison, will you marry me?”
She felt as if shackles fell from her heart. “Jared,” she said, letting out her breath while tears of joy filled her eyes and spilled over her cheeks. She threw her arms around him, catching him by surprise. They went down on the sofa with her on top of him, and his arm tightened around her waist.
Raising slightly, she looked down at him. “Yes, I’ll marry you. Oh, yes.” Joy filled her, spilling over and making her laugh. “Jared, I can’t believe this. I was so certain it was over between us and I’d never be with you again.”
“I was, too, for a brief time, but I don’t want to be without you. I’m willing to make some sacrifices if you’re willing to put up with the things we talked about and agreed on.”
“You have a deal.”
His warm green eyes filled with love. “I seem to recall a demonstration of the benefits of being married. Well, I’m counting on that.”
She smiled at him. “Unzip this dress,” she said in a sultry voice. As soon as he did, she stood, wriggled and let the dress fall to the floor. Smiling at him, she moved closer as he smiled in return. The moment changed, and passion became a raging blaze that burned away thoughts about anything else except loving each other.
* * *
Finally she lay in his arms, close against his warm, naked body.
“Jared, I am unbelievably happy.”
“I hope so. That’s what I want. I want to always make you happy. Darlin’, you have absolutely no idea how much I need you.”
“I hope so, always and forever.” She thought of something and sat up to look down at him. “Jared, you’ll never believe this. I have a surprise for you.”
He looked amused. “What surprise? Could it possibly involve your brother?”
“Yes. Sloan feels guilty for telling me all these years how wild you are and to watch out for you. He said you are a great friend and he shouldn’t have painted such a dark picture of you.” She smiled. “You don’t seem surprised.”
“I’m not surprised, because your brother came by to see me. He told me that you were about to marry Phillip. He doesn’t want you to because he knows you and Phillip are not in love. He apologized. He feels guilty for saying the things he did about me.”
Jared grinned and pulled her down into his arms. “We’ll have to call and tell him the news, and then he’ll start worrying about us getting married. First we tell your dad. I’ve already told him I wanted to marry you and that I was going to ask you to marry me.”
“When did you do that?”
