“I was married once,” he said. “She left me.”
“Oh.” She didn’t know what to say. The thought of him married to someone else stole her breath. It shouldn’t, they were both old enough to have been married before, and he was older than she. But still, something about it cut her to the quick.
“I came home one day and she was gone. She left with nothing but the clothes on her back and the money she brought into the marriage.”
Bailey cleared her throat, feeling like a deer, frozen in the headlights of an oncoming semi. “Why didn’t you … tell me this before?”
He looked down at his hands, then back up at her. “I don’t like talking about it.”
Which meant he’d been badly hurt. Because of her father, she understood betrayal by the one you loved most. The one you trusted and depended on.
“Who have you loved and lost?”
“Everyone.”
She could hardly find her voice. “So … Why now, Logan?”
“There’s more. Ugly gossip. About me and True, my family. I’ve put up with it most of my life, but I wanted you to know before I … Marry me, Bailey.”
She froze, certain she couldn’t have heard him right.
But she had, she realized when she looked at him.
“Marry me,” he said again. “I want to spend my life with you.”
The strangest sensation moved over her. Like the prickle of static electricity. But from head to toe. With the sensation came elation. And complete terror.
“You’re crazy. We’ve only known each other—”
“Our whole lives.”
She laughed nervously. “And here I was going to say twelve days.”
He crossed to her, gathered her hands in his and looked deeply into her eyes. “Maybe it is crazy, but it feels as if my heart has known you forever.”
God help her, it felt the same way to her. “You’re serious about this, aren’t you?”
“Dead serious. Listen, Bailey, we could say good-bye with all good intentions of seeing each other again. But let’s be honest, we’d drift farther and farther apart. And that would be that.”
He tightened his fingers on hers. “But that’s not how this story goes, Bailey. It’s not how our story goes.”
He released her hands and got down on one knee. He took a small, white leather box from his pocket. “I love you, Bailey Ann Browne. Will you marry me?”
He opened the box. The most beautiful diamond ring she’d ever seen winked up at her.
She moved her gaze from the ring to his face. He loved her. She had told him a dozen times already, but he had waited. To make this perfect.
Happily ever after, she thought. That’s how their story would go.
She believed in fairy tales. And this was hers.
“Yes, Logan,” she said softly. “I love you and I will marry you.”
CHAPTER TWO
Louisiana
They drove with the convertible top down and the heat blasting. Bailey laughed out loud even as she huddled deeper into her coat. Crazy, driving this way, bundled up in their winter gear. But everything about this was completely and utterly nuts.
Logan glanced at her. “What’s so funny?”
“We are!” She stretched her gloved hands to the sky, the way she did when riding a roller coaster. And here she was, in the front car of the wildest coaster of all.
“You’re certifiable, you know that?”
“I married you, didn’t I?”
“And I’m not about to let you forget it!” he said, then motioned to the road ahead. “We’re almost there. Don’t blink, you’ll miss it.”
Bailey straightened, excited. For many miles now, every time they’d come upon another set of iron gates, she’d asked if this one was Abbott Farm.
And each time he had smiled and told her they had to reach Wholesome first.
Now, here it was, announced by a quaint wooden sign.
“‘Village of Wholesome,’” Bailey read aloud, “‘population seven hundred eighteen.’ It looks so cute!”
He reached across the seat and caught her hand. “I hope you like it here.”
“I’ll love it, Logan. Because you do. Tell me again who I’ll be meeting today.”
“My sister, Raine.”
His only family. “The artist.”
“Yes. Moody and brooding.”
“Obviously a strong family trait?” Bailey teased.
“Luckily, it skipped me.”
They both laughed.
“She teaches art at the university,” he continued. “Part-time.”
“The one in Hammond. With the good elementary education program.”
“Southeastern. Yes.”
They rolled past the closed-up Dairy Freeze, then Earl’s Quick Stop. Several patrons turned their way and stared. No doubt they recognized the car. She wondered how they would respond to the news Logan had remarried.
He didn’t seem to notice their attention. “She lives in a secondary residence on the grounds.”
“Don’t forget, you promised she’d like me.”
“I don’t recall it actually being a promise.” He cocked an eyebrow, expression wickedly amused. “Besides, it doesn’t matter if she likes you, baby. Because I love you.”
He stopped at a four-way and she sent him an arch glance. “So, you’re one of those men who’ll say anything to get a woman to say yes.”
“It worked, didn’t it?”
Bailey refused to be drawn away from the subject of his sister. “So, she’s not going to like me?”
“Raine’s a little … possessive, so her first reaction might be … cool. But once she gets to know you, and sees how happy you make me, I predict you’ll be terrific friends.”
Bailey rolled her eyes. “Great. I‘m totally screwed.”
He laughed but didn’t deny it, and eased through the intersection. “Then there’s August. Watch out for him, he’s a womanizer and complete S.O.B.”
“But you like him anyway.”
“I respect him,” he corrected. “He’s a brilliant trainer.”
Bailey imagined him. August Perez, dressage trainer. Dark and dashing. It all sounded so very romantic.
“Is this really happening?” she asked.
“It is.” His eyes crinkled at the corners. “Till death do us part.”
The sun went behind a cloud and a chill, like a shadow, moved over her. “How much farther?”
“A mile.”
“Then quick, tell me about Paul.”
“My stable manager.”