Her Sweet Talkin' Man (16 page)

Blindly he reached out. Crystal caught his fingers and held on. He raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. He loved that he could do that, reach out for her and have her be there. Just touching her hand felt right. It balanced him and helped him to continue.

Ace looked up then and stared straight into Matt's eyes.

“You don't have to do this, big brother,” Matt said.

Ace contemplated that for a moment. “No, you're wrong about that. I need to do this, and I want to. You're all a part of this town. You've gone out of your way for me, done more than I had any right to expect. I gave you grief and yet you held out your hands. That means a lot to me. So I want you to know that this morning I bought a piece of land just outside town. It's the first bit of land I've ever owned or wanted to own. So I guess I wanted you to know that I'm planning on staying in Mission Creek. After the way I've behaved to all of you, I realize that it might be a problem for the Carsons having me here. I've done my best to embarrass you and to steal your family's business. That was unworthy. I apologize for that. And I apologize for being so ungracious when you offered me hospitality. I only hope that…” He cleared his throat and swallowed. He tried looking at Fiona and saw that she was leaning forward as if
hanging on his every word. Cara was smiling at him as if he'd never done anything wrong. Matt and Flynt were actually starting to grin.

Ace took a deep breath. “I hope that you'll find a way to forgive me someday,” he continued haltingly. He cleared his throat again. “I just wanted to let you know that I intend to keep a lower profile from here on out. I owe you that much. And I want to thank you for allowing me to come to your home to say these things and for giving me the chance to—”

But he didn't get the chance to say another word. Grace suddenly rushed toward him and threw her arms around him. “You don't owe us a thing. Not a thing. We're just so glad you're here. At last. At last you've come home,” she said, and Ace's eyes filled with tears. He didn't hesitate; he wrapped his arms around her, too.

“I'm not even related to you. Not really,” he said, his voice breaking.

“Who says you're not? Just let anyone try.” She turned toward her children with a warning glance.

Ace looked up and saw that Flynt and Matt were grinning broadly now, Fiona, too. Cara was looking a bit misty-eyed.

“Ma's always right, you know, Ace,” Fiona said. “Don't even try to argue. Just…welcome home, big brother.” Then Matt and Flynt were pounding him on the back, and Cara was hugging him and all of them were making plans to find him a room at the ranch now that he was staying.

Amidst all this, footsteps sounded in the next room.

Ace looked up and saw his father waiting in the doorway. Like a stranger. An outsider.

Glancing down at Crystal, Ace gazed into her eyes and saw a woman who didn't care if he sold cars or dug ditches or owned oil wells. She didn't care if he knew who his parents were or not. He saw a woman who loved him, a woman he would love for eternity, and he gathered strength just from looking at her. Then he stepped away until he was standing on his own.

“I thought you should know that I'm planning on staying in Mission Creek,” he told Ford. “But I wanted you to know that I'm not doing this to make you uncomfortable or to exact some kind of revenge. I'm staying because—” his glance strayed to Crystal again and he smiled “—because I've found something important here. So I hope it doesn't disturb you to know that I'll be living my life in the same town as you. I'll do my best to stay clear of you if that's what you want. I'm done with living in the past. You hurt my mother, but maybe she wouldn't have found my stepfather if things hadn't happened as they had. I wouldn't have known him. They wouldn't have shared a wonderful love. I wouldn't have all these brothers and sisters who come in and buy cars they don't need,” he said, grinning at his half siblings. “I guess what I'm saying is that I don't know what would have happened if you'd stayed with her, but I'm through wondering and wanting things that can't be, and regretting. I just wanted to let you know that I'll be around.” Then he gathered all his courage;
he risked everything he'd always thought he could never risk.

He stepped forward and held out his hand to the man who'd given him life.

Ford didn't respond.

As Ace started to draw back his hand, he looked up into his father's eyes. Tears were streaming down Ford's face.

“Don't.” Ace had wanted the word to come out gently, but it was a harsh cry.

Ford shook his head. “When I saw you that day with your stepfather, I knew what a poor excuse for a man I'd been. You were a boy any man would have been proud to call son, and I'd thrown that away. I'm not saying that Rebecca and I should have wed. I didn't love her, and it would have been unkind to pretend otherwise, but I could have done right by her in other ways. I could have at least acknowledged and taken responsibility for our child. Knowing that, I felt…I felt I didn't deserve to step in and be your father when I'd let so many years slip away. You had a father who loved you. Injecting myself into your life then seemed wrong at the time, but that was a mistake, I think. I've regretted it for years. I've made mistake after mistake where you're concerned. I'm going to spend my life regretting every one of them.”

Ace managed to shake his head. “No, don't. It's time to stop regretting. It's time to make a start.”

This time Ace didn't wait for his father's handshake. He put his arms around Ford and hugged him. When he let go, he wasn't sure which tears were Ford's and which were his.

“What made you come around?” Fiona asked, and Ace smiled.

“You.”

His little sister looked confused. “Me?”

“Yeah. Weren't you the one who kept throwing me at Crystal every time I turned around? Weren't you the wise woman who knew that I was going to fall in love with her if I spent just fifteen minutes talking to her?”

He turned to Crystal and took her hands in both of his.

“I love this woman so much,” he said, “that I'm going to spend every day of the rest of my life thanking God for making me pigheaded enough to come to Mission Creek to get revenge on the Carsons. I love this woman so much that I could kiss you, little sister, for choosing her for me.”

Crystal crossed her arms. “I'll have you know that I'm a grown woman, Ace Carson.”

He raised a brow. “Which means?”

“I do my own choosing. We're just lucky I chose you to love.”

Ace looked at her then with such a gleam in his eye that Crystal's heart seemed to leap to her throat. How could she have ever fought loving this man? She was so happy that he was going to stay in Mission Creek. But as she gazed into his eyes, he dropped to one knee before her.

“You know what my staying means, don't you?” he asked.

Her heart started hammering, and her blood heated.
She felt the rest of the room spin away as if they were the only two people there.

“Tell me what it means,” she whispered.

“It means that I want you for my wife. I would be the happiest of men, the luckiest man on earth, if you would agree to marry me.”

She smiled at him.

“And to love me.”

“You know that I love you beyond belief,” she said. “I couldn't stop loving you if I tried. And I did try hard not to love you.”

He took her hand, turned it over and placed a searing kiss on her palm. “Thank goodness you didn't succeed.”

“What woman could fail to love you?”

He chuckled at that. “Any number of them, I imagine, darlin', but I'm so very glad that you're not just any woman.”

“No, I'm not. I'm your woman.”

“And you'll let me make Timmy my son? Would you do that?”

Crystal felt tears come to her eyes. “He already is, Ace. He already loves you, talks of nothing and no one else when you're away.”

“Mmm, that's good,” he said, kissing her fingertips, one by one. “But you still haven't answered my first question. You told me once that you didn't want a husband.” His voice was slightly unsteady, slightly edgy. She knew then that telling him she loved him wasn't enough. No doubt many women had told him they loved him over the years. He'd never, though,
she'd wager, loved a woman enough to ask her to marry him.

The very thought that he loved her that much brought her to her knees. She sank down beside him, facing him.

“I can't wait to be your wife,” she whispered.

“We won't wait long,” he promised. He slipped his hands around her waist and pulled her to him, kissing her warmly, deeply, repeatedly.

Someone cleared his throat and Crystal raised her head. She grinned at Ace. Together they turned and saw that all the Carsons were smiling.

“I hope you'll let me bestow a wedding gift on you,” Ford said. “You're a Carson, you know.”

But Ace shook his head. “I'm happy to be a Carson, but I don't want my son being told that his father came to town to claim his share of the family wealth.”

“No one would dare to tell my grandson that, and Timmy will be my grandson,” Ford said sternly.

Still Ace hesitated.

“Taking my money makes you uncomfortable, doesn't it?” Ford asked, his voice laced with sadness.

Ace shook his head. “It's not that. It's just—I've lived my whole life feeling that I had to make my own way. I'm not sure that I can change that, or that I want to.”

Ford smiled. “All right, then. I won't be hurt if you won't take my money. You're a man for a father to be proud of. Will you at least let me will your share to Timmy and whatever other children you and Crystal might have?”

“Gladly,” Ace said, his voice breaking slightly.

“That's fine. That's so good. Looks like our family just got bigger and better, Grace.” Ford beamed at his wife and smiled at all of his children who were looking just as satisfied as he was. “Looks like everything's settled.”

Ace shifted from one foot to another. “Not quite everything. There is one more thing I wanted to talk to you about.”

Ford waited.

“About Lone Star Auto. I thought you might be in need of a good salesman.”

The Carson brothers and sisters whooped, but Ford smiled proudly at his oldest son.

“My boy, you're a lifesaver,” he said. “I was beginning to think I was going to have to close the place down, but if I could get you to manage it, I think we might save it.”

“I might have a few ideas,” Ace agreed, smiling at his father. “We'll talk about it later, but now, I hope all of you don't mind, but I'd like to be alone with Crystal.”

He and Crystal went into the next room, where Timmy was playing with a piece of dough the housekeeper had provided. “I heard you was going to be my daddy,” Timmy said, smiling at Ace.

“I would love to be your daddy if you'll have me, wildcat,” Ace said, kneeling by the little boy.

“I'll have you forever,” Timmy said, and he wrapped his little arms around Ace's neck and hugged tight. “Now I'm going to make a family,” he said, picking up his dough. “You go with Mommy. She's
going to cry. Happy tears, like me sometimes.” He smiled again.

Ace kissed him on the cheek and stood. He turned and took Crystal's hand.

“Aw, hell, darlin', I want you much closer than that,” he said, swinging her up into his arms and striding away, gazing into her eyes all the way.

“Don't you think you should have a wedding before you get that look in your eye, son?” Ford asked.

“As soon as possible,” Ace said, kissing Crystal.

“We'll start the plans once we're alone,” Crystal agreed, kissing him back.

But as Ace kicked the door open and walked across the porch carrying his bride-to-be, he heard Flynt laugh. “You sure you're going to plan a wedding tonight, big brother?”

“Absolutely,” he said, kissing Crystal.

“Positively, my love,” she said, kissing him twice.

“We're just going to plan it real slow.” And the last Carson brother gathered his bride-to-be close to his heart, where she was a perfect fit.