The Proposal / To Tempt a Sheikh: The Proposal

Both Zane and Derringer gave him speculative looks but said nothing.

Bella stepped out of the shower and began toweling herself dry. It was the middle of the day but after going for a walk around the ranch she had gotten hot and sticky. Now she intended to slip into something comfortable and have a cup of tea and relax … and think about Jason’s proposal.

The walk had done her good and walking her land had made her even more determined to hold on to what was hers. But was Jason’s proposal the answer? Or would she be jumping out of the pot and into the fire?

After Friday night and what had gone down in her kitchen, there was no doubt in her mind that Jason was the kind of lover women dreamed of having. And he had to be the most unselfish person she knew. He had given her pleasure without seeking his own. She had read enough articles on the subject to know most men weren’t usually that generous. But he had been and her body hadn’t been the same since. Every time she thought about him and that night in the kitchen, she had to pause and catch her breath.

She hadn’t heard from him since that night but figured he was giving her time to think things through before she gave him her answer. She had talked to her attorney again and he hadn’t said anything to make her think she had a chance of getting the hold on her trust fund lifted.

She had run into her uncle yesterday when she’d gone into town and he hadn’t been at all pleasant. And neither had his son, daughter and two teenage grandsons. All of them practically cut her with their sharp looks. She just didn’t get it. Jason had wanted her land as well but he hadn’t been anything but supportive of her decision to keep it and had offered his help from the first.

She understood that she and her Denver relatives didn’t have the same bond as the Westmorelands but she would think they wouldn’t be dismissing her the way they were doing over some land.

She had dressed and was heading downstairs when something like a missile sailed through her living room window, breaking the glass in the process. “What on earth!” She nearly missed her step when she raced back up the stairs to her bedroom, closing the door and locking it behind her.

Catching her breath she grabbed her cell phone off the nightstand and called the police.

“Where is she, Marvin?” Jason asked, walking into Bella’s house with Zane and Derringer on his heels.

“She’s in the kitchen,” the man answered, moving quickly out of Jason’s way.

Jason had gotten a call from Pam to tell him what had happened. He had jumped in his truck and left Zane’s ranch immediately with Derringer and Zane following close behind in their vehicles.

From what Pam had said, someone had thrown a large rock through Bella’s window with a note tied to it saying, “Go back to where you came from.” The thought of anyone doing that angered him. Who on earth would do such a thing?

He walked into the kitchen and glanced around, dismissing memories of the last time he’d been there and his focus immediately went to Bella. She was sitting at the kitchen table talking to Pete Higgins, one of the sheriff’s deputies and a good friend of Derringer’s.

Everyone glanced up when he entered and the look on Bella’s face was like a kick in his gut. He could tell she was shaken and there was a hurt expression in her eyes he’d never seen before. His anger flared at the thought that someone could hurt her in any way. The rock may not have hit her but she’d taken a hit just the same. Whoever had thrown that rock through the window had hit her spirit and left her shaken.

“Jason, Zane and Derringer,” Pete said, acknowledging their arrival. “Why am I not surprised to see the three of you here?”

Jason didn’t respond as he moved straight toward Bella and, disregarding the onlookers, he reached out to caress the soft skin beneath her ear. “Are you all right?” he whispered in a husky tone.

She held his gaze and nodded slowly. “Yes, I’m fine. I was on my way downstairs when that rock came flying through the window. It scared me more than anything.”