He kissed her gently, the movement intensifying and increasing until he’d stolen her breath with the passion and love in his stroke. She hoped she was kissing him back in the same way, and when he broke the kiss and rested his forehead against hers, his breath came quickly.
“Can you answer my questions for me now?” he asked.
“Which ones?”
“The one about when our year started,” he said. “And the one where I’d like to know if the wedding has to be after the twelve months, or the proposal has to wait until then.” He did ease back then, but Caroline couldn’t quite meet his gaze.
“If you can’t answer?—”
“I can.” She settled her pulse and looked up at him. “I think New Year’s Day was our first date. The breakfast at your cabin.”
“Great,” he said without missing a beat.
She swallowed, suddenly so unsure of herself. “And I don’t think you’ll like this, but I think the diamonds have to wait until the twelve months are up.”
His jaw tightened, but he nodded. “Fair enough.”
“Are you upset?”
He ducked his head and tracked his lips along her neck. “Only because I want to be with you,” he whispered. He kissed up to her ear. “But otherwise, no, sweetheart. I can respect your rules, and besides.”
Dawson lifted his head and stepped away from her as his stomach growled. “This gives me time to talk to Duke and my daddy about a place for us to live on the ranch.”
“You think I’m just going to come live on the ranch with you?”
He opened the door that joined their rooms, but his door was locked. He had to face her and backtrack to the door, where she stood. He grinned at her and said, “Yeah, sweetheart. I think you’re going to come live on the ranch with me, and my dog, and those crows, and we’re going to have an amazing life.”
After kissing her quickly, he said, “I’m going to go order dinner and take a shower. I’ll unlock my door when I’m done, and you can just come over, okay?”
She nodded, and Dawson pulled open her door and left. The resulting slam made her flinch, and Caroline hugged herself as she walked through the room to the window.
“Lord,” she whispered to the scene beyond her window—a courtyard with a swimming pool in it. “Did I do the right thing with my twelve-month rule?”
She didn’t get a sick feeling in her gut, and she relaxed her arms. “I love him,” she said next. “I know that, but I still want to see what life will be like during harvest, during the round-up, during the holidays, for his birthday. I want to be prepared, and that’s not a bad thing, right?”
She once again didn’t get any indication that it was, and she relaxed even more. “How am I doing?” she asked next, a dangerous question when talking to God. “I feel like I’ve been giving You more and more of my troubles to carry, and I’m real grateful for that. If there’s something specific You want from me, please let me know.”
God once again remained silent, but Caroline waited. She’d learned over the past couple of months that sometimes the Lord spoke softly, and she had to stand still to hear Him.
Her mind felt sharp despite her earlier exhaustion, and after several long, still, silent moments, she finally felt more than heard,I am pleased with you, Caroline.
She wept openly, basking in the warm love of Godright there in a hotel in Shreveport. As she calmed and wiped her eyes, she closed her eyes and murmured, “Thank you.”
For the assurance that she was on the right path.
For a second chance at a life she wanted to live.
For the love of a cowboy like Dawson Rhinehart.
Oh, and for this road-boat trip that had already changed her life.
Chapter Forty
Six Months Later:
Dawson ducked under the fence and strode toward the starter burrows he’d gotten permission to develop on the state land bordering the ranch. The burrowing owls had left the ranch in August, after their chicks had been born and taken flight.
But since they normally returned to their nests to lay their eggs during breeding season, Dawson expected them to return. Caroline did too, and while they hadn’t been that big of a problem for the eight months they’d called the Rhinehart Ranch home, Dawson had petitioned the state to build “starter burrows” on the state land only twenty yards from the border of the ranch.