The Reluctant Bride (Montana Born Brides) (14 page)

“I’m waiting,” she said. “Or is it your intention to keep us standing out here all night?”

“
Nah, I was just thinking you look mighty dressed up for the Diner,” he said again.

She gave him a hard stare.
“What do you want me to say?”

“
I want you to admit you dressed like this for me. To get my attention.”

“
What if I did?” she asked, but the bravado was gone and in its place was that damned vulnerability that made him want to pull her into his arms and never let her go.

“
Then I’d say you did a good job. Because I’m definitely noticing you.”

She smiled at him.
“I guess that’s a yes to dinner.”

“
It certainly is,” he said, reaching around her to hold open the door to the Diner. And as they stepped inside and Lane looked up, he remembered that he’d told the boys he was going to the flower shop. They all knew he’d gone out looking for her. Something Risa didn’t know. And he wasn’t sure he wanted her to.

He liked the feeling of being sought after.

He shook his head at Lane. And his friend nodded. There weren’t many people in the world that Monty truly felt safe with. Men or women he knew who would always have his back. But Lane was one of them.

He put his hand in the center of Risa
’s back and directed her toward a booth in the corner, away from the other diners. Annie noticed them and waved that she’d be right over. As he sat, he placed his hat on the bench next to himself. Risa shrugged out of her jacket and put it on the seat next to her. She let out at long sigh.

“
Man. I didn’t think this through,” she said.

“
You do sort of jump into things without thinking them through,” he replied. He’d seen her do it often enough. It wasn’t just saying yes to him.

“
I know. My dad used to say I was too busy trying to do everything to enjoy where I was. He also had to bail me out more than once when I got cold feet after the fact.”

“
Was he right?” he asked.

“
Probably. I don’t really know.”

“
Hello, Monty. Risa, you look good tonight,” Annie said, as she placed the laminated menus in front of them.

“
Thanks,” Risa responded, blushing a little.

“
I asked her to get dressed up tonight so we could recreate our first date,” Monty said.

“
Aw, that’s sweet,” Annie said. “I’ll leave you two to look at the menus.”

Risa leaned forward, staring him straight in the eyes.
“Thank you.”

“
For?”

“
Still being my hero. You didn’t have to say that. I could have—”

“
Turned redder than the leather seat cushion?” Monty asked. “Listen, Ri, it’s okay for you and me to see each other’s battle wounds, but the rest of the world doesn’t need to know.”

She took his hand in hers and rubbed her thumb over his knuckles.
Her touch sent sparks tingling up his arm and his blood felt like it was flowing heavier in his veins. She made him feel alive and excited. Life with Risa was never just mundane stuff. Even dinner was something with sparkle.

And he realized that was exactly what he needed.

Going completely silent on her was the best thing he could have done, because it had forced them both to really take a hard look at where they were and if they wanted to still be together.

“
Do you still want to be my fiancé?” she asked.

“
Are you asking me to marry you?” he countered. With Risa he had to always be on his toes.

“
I might be.”

“
It doesn’t work that way,” he reminded her. “The one doing the asking has to be totally vulnerable and bare their heart and soul.”

“
Wow, you don’t ask for much, do you?”

“
It’s nothing less than I’ve already given you,” he said.

“
Do I still have your heart and soul?” she asked.

She
’d turned the tables on him again and he knew that he had a choice to make. He could either keep running, which would no doubt make her set off again, or he could take a stand and face whatever came next.

And running had never suited him anyway, so he took a deep breath, slid out of the booth and went down on one knee.

“You do. Risa Grant, will you marry me?”

Risa looked down at Monty and remembered clearly the last time he
’d been on his knee in front of the fountains at the Bellagio. They’d come from a five-star restaurant and show. The evening had been romance and luxury personified, and she’d felt so filled with excitement that saying no hadn’t even entered her mind.

But this time the reality of pledging her life to another person
’s filled her. She knew she couldn’t say yes and then hesitate again. And, to be honest, she didn’t want to back away. She wanted Monty. She’d missed him so much these last three weeks.

“
Woman, I need an answer,” he said.

She realized his friends and, frankly, everyone else in the diner were staring at them.
She stood up and pulled him to his feet.

“
Yes, I will marry you,” she said, looking up into his face. She saw the seriousness of his expression and, once again, he’d surprised her by taking a risk that she wouldn’t have.

She went up on her tiptoes and kissed him.
There wasn’t time for the passion that she wanted to share with him, but instead she just let their mouths brush and then stepped back. Monty reached into his pocket and took out the ring she’d given back to him. She slipped it on to her finger.

“
Let’s keep it there this time,” he said.

“
Yes.”

“
Congratulations, man,” Lane Scott said, coming over to join them.

Lane had thick blond hair and the same rock-steady look in his eyes that Monty had.
He moved with ease and if she hadn’t known that he was a double amputee she wouldn’t have guessed it. He looked normal—gawd, she knew how that sounded, but he seemed like everyone else in Marietta.

Lane hadn
’t been in Vegas when she and Monty had first got engaged. He turned to her with a very hard look. “You sure this time?”

She flushed, but linked her hand to Monty
’s lacing their fingers together. She didn’t blame Lane. He knew that she’d run away and it was obvious that he and Monty were good friends.

“
Yes, I am sure,” she said.

“
Glad to hear it,” Lane said, reaching over to pull her into a rough sort of hug. “Welcome to the tribe.”

“
The tribe?” she asked.

“
That’s what our group of Marines calls ourselves,” Monty said. “You know, Tony and Della. Then there’s Lane, Pete and Mac. Just our little squad.”

His family, she thought. Not blood relations, but the guys that he really counted on.
She wanted to be a part of that inner circle and realized that, unlike Lane, the rest of Monty’s tribe might not accept her so easily. She knew she’d have to do something to prove herself to them.

Hell, she had to prove herself to herself.
That would be the hardest thing to do. But the last three weeks apart from Monty had convinced her that she did want him in her life. It had been so different when he hadn’t known where she was.

She
’d been in that limbo of grief for her parents, and loss of him, and it had been a sort of safe cocoon. But once he’d come back into her life, she’d started to feel again, stopped hiding from what had been happening and had finally decided to start living again.

And now she felt a little bit better about saying yes to Monty.
Getting married had been her next goal. Getting married to Monty…well, it still made her a little shaky. In fact, as soon as they sat back down in the booth, she took the ring off her finger, turned it around and put it back on.

She had a tiny knot of fear in the pit of her stomach.
Because she knew what came next. It was the next part that seemed to be the root of all of her trepidation. She had to pick out a dress without her mom. She had to design flowers—well, that wasn’t going to be a problem. Designing her wedding bouquet was the one thing she would have done on her own if her parents were still here.

“
You okay?”

She nodded.
“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“
You look pale and like you are having second thoughts. If you run out on me again, I’m not coming after you.”

She knew that.
She wasn’t going to run. But even as she reassured herself, she felt waves of panic rolling over her.

“
I wouldn’t blame you at all. I don’t want to run, Monty. I missed you way more than I expected these last few weeks.”

“
Good. I wasn’t sure my plan was working when you gave me back the ring, but I should have known it would. I’m good at strategy.”

Strategy.
She wondered if he was still playing a game with her. If he’d taken her back just to do what she’d done to him. Except that this was Monty, and what? She knew him a bit better this time, but there was still so much she didn’t know about him.

“
Where is your family from?”

“
California. My dad lives in San Diego in a retirement community now.”

“
Should I meet him?”

“
You can. He’s got Alzheimer’s disease so he might not remember me. Do you have the time to take a few days off and go meet him?”

His life was complicated.
She hadn’t realized all the things he had going on, and a father who sometimes couldn’t remember him had to be hard. She thought about the fear in the pit of her stomach and it eased the tiniest bit as she thought of standing by Monty’s side as his wife. Being the one person in the world he had, as he would be for her.

He walked her home and then made love to her, and he held her in his arms, hoping that this time he’d be able to keep her.

But the one thing that his life had taught him was that the tighter he held someone to him, the more they slipped away.
His mom had left when he was younger, but that had been due to his dad’s drinking and her not being able to cope. At least that’s what she’d said in her letter. His dad was slowly leaving him and that was almost more painful, because there were times when the old man was his dad and times when he was a straight-up stranger.

And then there was Risa.

The beautiful soul that he’d met at a time before his life had changed for good. He’d been doing a job he loved, his friends surrounded him all hale and hearty and his father had been lucid. Even her folks had seemed nice enough and happy to welcome him into their fold.

But now.
Their worlds had changed. They had been to hell and back. Together. Separately.