To Have And To Hold: Made for Marriage / To Wed a Rancher / The Mummy Proposal

She’d said too much. He felt it with every fiber inside him. “Get away or run away?”

“Both,” she admitted.

“Have you been back?”

She nodded. “I try to get back every year to see my family.”

“You’re close to them?” he asked.

Callie nodded. “Very.”

“But you wouldn’t move back to California for good, would you?”

She looked into her glass. “I’m not sure. For the moment this is home.”

“That’s … good news. For Lily,” he clarified. “And the rest of your students.” He paused, looking at her. “How many students do you have?”

“Not nearly enough,” she replied. “I lost a few a while back. An unhappy client,” she explained. “Or an unhappy parent, to be precise.”

“Sonja Trent?”

Callie stilled. “You know her?”

“I know her.” He took a drink and looked at her over the rim of his glass. “How many more students do you need?”

“To stay afloat?” He could see her doing a quick calculation in her head. “About a dozen or so. I could advertise—but of course that takes money. If I hike up my tuition fees, I risk losing the students I have to one of the bigger equestrian clubs in town who do a group rate. And with insurance costs and the price of feed sometimes I feel like I’m …”

“You feel like what?”

“Like I’m pushing a barrow of manure uphill with a faulty wheel.”

He smiled, thinking how he knew that feeling. “I don’t think you should dismiss the idea of raising your prices,” he said after a moment. “Cheap doesn’t necessarily mean value. Sure, your clients could go to the bigger establishment—but would they get what you can give them? Probably not. One-on-one lessons with someone who has your experience is what customers will pay for. Your skills and knowledge make your time valuable, Callie—you’ve earned the right to be rewarded for it.”

Her eyes shone bright with tears, and in that moment Noah wished he knew her better. He saw vulnerability and pain and fought the instinctive urge to reach for her. Now wasn’t the time. But soon, he thought. Soon.

The compliment went straight to Callie’s heart and she fought the sting behind her eyes. Silly, but his words made her feel taller, stronger. Her defenses were down. He broke them down. No, not broke … something else. Somehow he took the barricade around her apart, piece by piece, holding each one of those pieces in his hand, showing her what he had in his palm, drawing her out, making her want and making her feel.

Making me unafraid.

She was momentarily stunned by the intensity of her feelings. What she’d first thought was just attraction suddenly seemed so much more.

She liked him…. She really liked him.

This is a good man, a tiny voice inside of her said. A good man with a dazzling smile and integrity oozing from every pore. A man who made her feel safe when she’d believed no man would ever make her feel that again.

How did she resist? She wasn’t sure she could. She wasn’t sure she wanted to.

But … to feel again? Where did she find the courage to do that? If she let herself care for him … she would also have to let herself care for his children. She had to allow them inside and into her heart. Into her heart that was only barely glued together these days.

“Callie?”

She realized she’d been staring at him and dropped her gaze. “Yes?”

“Would you like to dance?”

Instinct screamed no. “I can’t.”

“Yes, you can. It’s just a dance.”

It wasn’t just anything … she knew it as surely as she breathed.

“I really—”

“Come on,” he urged and took hold of her hand. Before she could protest further he’d pulled her gently from her seat and led her toward the dance floor.

She’d always liked the idea of dancing but had never been all that good at it. Craig had complained it was a precious waste of time when there were horses to train and competitions to prepare for.

The band played covers of popular tunes, and just as they reached the dance floor the beat changed to a much slower number. Callie didn’t move at first. At over six feet Noah was considerably taller than her, and she tilted her head back to look at him. Everything about him drew her in. The white collared shirt he wore emphasized his broad-shouldered strength and as she curled her fingers into the soft fabric and felt the hard muscle beneath, every ounce of blood in her veins surged. She hadn’t been this close to a man for so long Fiona greeted. “Good to see and never one who’d affected her so powerfully.

The music was slow and they moved well together. One hand lay gently against her hip and he held her free hand in his. She felt the intimacy right down to her toes.

She took a deep breath. “Noah …” Saying his name set off a surge of feelings inside her. Her body tensed and she knew he felt the sudden shift.

“Yes, Callie.”

“Don’t expect too much.”

He looked at her oddly. “Are we talking about your dancing skills or something else?”

“Something else,” she admitted on a sigh and wasn’t sure where the words came from. And she wasn’t sure she wanted to know. She felt like the worst kind of fraud by denying the obvious and refusing to admit to the feelings running through her.

She was suddenly paralyzed by the realization. It was impossible. She had no room in her heart for anyone. Not him. Not his children. “I have to go,” she said a moment later as she dropped her hand from his shoulder.

“I’ll drive you home,” he said quietly.

Callie stepped back, oblivious to the music, oblivious to everything other than Noah and her furiously beating heart. “I have my truck.”

“Then I’ll walk you to your truck.”

“That’s not necessary.”

“Yes, it is,” he said and continued to hold her hand.

By the time they’d left the dance floor their palms were pressed intimately together. Callie didn’t pull away. Deep down, in that place she’d switched off and never imagined she’d switch on again, she found she liked the sensation of his fingers linked with hers. She liked it a lot.

Her truck was parked midway down the car lot and the walk took a few minutes. It was dark and there were a few couples hanging by their vehicles. Callie spotted one pair kissing madly, another simply holding each other. The entire scene screamed of the kind of intimacy she hadn’t felt in a long time.

The kind of intimacy she suddenly craved.