“I won’t ask you to move,” she said after a moment.

He hadn’t really thought she would.

“But I’m giving you fair warning—tread lightly when it comes to Ellie.”

He widened his eyes, disliking her brisk tone.

“And pay your bills. Once Grady gets wind of this, there’ll be trouble. His nature isn’t nearly as generous as mine.”

“You haven’t got a thing to worry about,” Richard said, and as a conciliatory gesture, he carried his plate to the sink.

***

It had sounded so simple when Glen talked to his father nearly a week earlier. Asking Ellie to marry him had seemed the right thing to do. But Richard’s interest in her had muddied an already complicated issue. From the gossip circulating around town, Weston had definitely taken advantage of the time Glen stayed away.

Fine. Great. Wonderful. If Ellie was so impressed with Richard, she could have him. At least that was what Glen told himself a dozen times a day, but no matter how often he said it, he couldn’t quite make himself believe it.

“I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do,” he muttered. He sometimes did his thinking out loud, and talking to a horse was safer than talking to certain people. As he cleaned the gelding’s hooves, Moonshine perked up his ears in apparent sympathy.

“You talking to me?” Cal shouted from the other side of the barn.

Glen didn’t realize his brother was anywhere nearby. “No,” he hollered, hoping to discourage further conversation.

It didn’t work.

“Who you talking to, then?”

“No one!” he snapped. Glen was the first to admit he hadn’t been great company lately. That was one reason he’d kept to himself as much as possible and avoided Cal.

“You still down in the mouth about Ellie?” Cal asked, sounding much closer this time.

It was on the tip of Glen’s tongue to tell his brother to mind his own damn business. Lord, but he was tired of it all. Tired of being so confused by this woman he could no longer think. Tired of worrying she’d actually marry Richard. Tired of feeling miserable.

“How’d I get into this mess?” Glen asked hopelessly.

“Women specialize in wearing a man down,” Cal said, peering into the stall.

“Ellie isn’t Jennifer,” Glen felt obliged to remind him. That was the problem with discussing things with Cal. His brother refused to look past the pain and embarrassment his ex-fiancée had caused him. Everything was tainted by their ruined relationship.

“I know.”

Glen lowered Moonshine’s foot to the ground and slowly straightened. The small of his back ached. He pressed his hand to the area and massaged the sore muscles before he opened the stall door.

Glen watched Cal carry a bucket of oats to his own gelding. Suddenly it was all too much. He couldn’t stand it anymore. Damn it all, he loved Ellie and if she wasn’t willing to come to him, then by God he’d go to her. The rush of relief he experienced was overwhelming.

“I’m asking Ellie to marry me,” he said boldly, bracing himself for the backlash of Cal’s reaction.

Cal went very still. Finally he asked, “Is that what you want?”

“Damn straight it is.”

“Then...great.”

Glen blinked, wondering if he was hearing things. The one person he’d expected to talk him out of proposing was Cal.

“You love her?”

“Of course I do,” Glen said. “I wouldn’t ask a woman to share my life if I didn’t.”

Cal laughed and slapped Glen on the shoulder. “So I guess congratulations are in order.”

Glen rubbed his hand across the back of his neck. He didn’t feel like throwing a party just yet.

“When are you going to ask her?”

“I...I don’t know yet,” Glen confessed. He’d only decided this five seconds ago.

He glanced at his watch. If he showered quickly he could make the drive into town and talk to Ellie before she left the shop. It seemed fitting that he ask her to marry him at the feed store, considering that most of their courtship had taken place there. At the time, however, he hadn’t realized he’d been courting her.

“I think I’ll do it tonight,” he said. Feeling euphoric, he’d dashed halfway out of the barn when Cal stopped him.

“Have you got her an engagement ring?”

A ring? Damn, he hadn’t thought of that. “Do I need one?”

“It doesn’t hurt.”

Glen could feel the panic rising up inside him. Cal must have seen it, too, because he offered Glen the ring he had in his bottom drawer.

“I’ve still got the one I bought for Jennifer.”

“But that belongs to you.”

“Go ahead and take it. It’s a beautiful diamond. After Ellie agrees, then the two of you can go shopping and pick out a new one if she wants. Although this one’s perfectly good.”

Things were beginning to fall nicely into place. “Thanks.” As Glen recalled, Cal had gone for broke buying Jennifer’s diamond. Damn shame to keep it buried in a drawer. If Ellie liked that ring, he’d buy it from his brother; she need never know the ring was sightly used.

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.