Zeph Undercover (34 page)
He put the photos down and looked around the office again. Out the window.
Why had he wanted this?
He couldn’t do it. L. A.—smog, white bread, and loneliness. Stone’s Crossing—mountain air, Martha’s home-made bread, and Allie. Not such a hard choice after all.
Feeling fifty pounds lighter, he moved to the phone.
****
The bittersweet flavor stayed with Allie for the next three days, dogging her days and hounding her nights. More worn than she’d ever been, even in the stressful days of school, she sat at her desk and ran through the endless litany of arguments again.
She couldn’t leave her father. Sure she could. Zeph’s mother had that covered.
She hated cities. So? She loved Zeph.
She had a commitment to the town. She could find a vet to take over her practice.
She didn’t have the money to start a new practice in Los Angeles. She could work for someone else.
She loved Zeph.
She loved Zeph more than anything.
Stone’s Crossing would always be in her heart, she’d always yearn for it, but she’d have Zeph and Zeph made her blood sing.
She picked up the phone.
****
Allie slid into a parking place in front of Betty’s Café and climbed out of the truck. She waved to Hannah, who sat inside at a window table, and called, “Hey, Bill,” to the mayor, who balanced on a ladder fastening a plastic bell to a street light. “Street needs some more sand here.”
He climbed down and took her arm to help her across the ice-frosted sidewalk. “I’ll get right on that, Doctor, Ma’am.”
“More to the point than putting up decorations,” she mock grumbled. “They look very Christmassy. But it’s not even Thanksgiving. Not until tomorrow.”
“You going to be here for the party at the church?” he asked.
“No, afraid not.”
“I knew it,” he chuckled. “Los Angeles, hey?” At her grin, he opened the cafe door for her. “I’ll call Tom to put down some sand along here. You have a good lunch.”
“So, what’s up with Bill?” Hannah asked as Allie sat. “Secrets?”
“He asked if I’d be out of town for Thanksgiving.”
“Silly. You’ll be at the church party.”
“I’ll be in—” Allie began.
“Beef stew’s good today,” Betty said. “Made it this morning.”
“Great.”
The bell over the door jingled and Allie glanced up to see who had come in. Shock buzzed through her. Her vision blurred and the stodgy, familiar café swirled dizzyingly.
Not again. Didn’t we do this already?
“Zeph,” she said helplessly.
Hannah turned to look. “Zeph!” she cried. “You’re back.”
Zeph walked over to the table and looked down at Allie, the distress in his dark eyes melting her brain. “I was wrong,” he said.
“Um, I think I hear Luke calling me.” Hannah bolted from her chair and headed for the kitchen.
Zeph settled into Hannah’s seat. “Are you ready to go?”
“Go?”
“Have you eaten, I mean?”
Had she had lunch yet? Caught in his gaze, she couldn’t remember.
“It doesn’t matter. I hoped we could talk in private, but—” He shrugged, and the ghost of a grin caught at one corner of his mouth. “After all, this is Stone’s Crossing.” He took Hannah’s napkin and began to shred it.
Allie shook her head. She must be goggling like she’d just seen a five-legged cow. She picked up the glass in front of her and tried to take a sip. Water cascaded down the front of her shirt.
Zeph reached across the table to take the glass, and handed her a couple of paper napkins. “I was wrong,” he repeated.
“Wrong? About?”
“Everything. Especially, I was wrong to ask you to leave Stone’s Crossing. I’ve been wrong about everything, from the first time we met. Everything except that you’re the only woman I want to spend my life with.”
Her head swam as though she stood on the high diving board preparing to jump. She swallowed. “Me?”
“So I’m going to run for sheriff, like Monty suggested.”
“What about your partnership?”
“I gave it back. Win or lose, I’m going to be here. Whether you say yes or not. If it takes the rest of my life for you to forgive me and say yes, I’ll be here.”
Hope began to beat through the shock that held her frozen. “You want—you want—” she stammered. “You— You haven’t asked me anything yet.”
“Oh, yeah. I guess I forgot that part. I meant to do this right. I’ve been rehearsing the whole drive and then I flubbed it.” He stood, and her heart skipped a beat. But he didn’t leave. He took a couple of steps and went down on one knee. “Allie, I love you more than anything in the world. Will you marry me?”
A smile struggled and then bloomed across her face as she realized what his very public proposal meant. Mister Big City, Mister Privacy Preferred, had really gotten with the small-town program.
“You’re asking right here in public?”
“Are you kidding? They’ll find out anyway. I’d give it about ten minutes at best. Why not make it easy on them?”
He’d really gotten with the program. And he loved her.
She reached to touch his face with a hand that shook. “Yes,” she said. Love and relief clogged her throat, so only a bare thread of sound emerged. She tried again. “Oh, yes.”
“Good. I sold my house. And bought the land with Blanton’s cabins. You’re going to have your rehab center.”
She stared at him, blank with shock.
“And there’s this.” He opened the little velvet box and took out a ring as beautifully perfect and simple as the mountain town she loved. He stood and pulled her to her feet, then slid the gold band set with a diamond big enough to make her gulp on her finger. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her as though they stood alone on their mountain top.
She kissed him back, heady with the familiar taste and feel that she had thought gone forever.
When he raised his head, she realized that everyone in the café had crowded around them, and the air rang with applause and congratulations. The door jingled again, and her father’s voice rode over the happy noise. “Kissing my daughter again, Granger?”
“Oh, butt out, Lincoln,” Betty said. “And you two. Any time. Or am I supposed to stand here with this stew until it gets cold?”
“They’re getting married,” someone in the crowd shouted. “And we’ve got us a new sheriff. I’m sure gonna vote for him.”
Shouts of “Me too,” and “You’ve got that right,” and “We’ve got us a real home town hero,” filled the air.
Zeph leaned down to Allie, and she looked up at him, seeing the love in his eyes and knowing she must look totally starry-eyed with a happiness she couldn’t contain.
“Now don’t you two start again,” Betty grumbled.
“Only in Stone’s Crossing,” Zeph murmured in Allie’s ear. “But when I get you alone...”
She couldn’t wait.
A word about the author...
Jenny Andersen is the quintessential day dreamer. Writing romance was a natural thing for her to do, given her life-long fascination with stories and words. (And men.) She has an M.A. in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University in Pennsylvania; her thesis turned into
Loving Luke
, her first book for The Wild Rose Press.
Jenny lives in California with the world’s most wonderful husband and a herd of dust bunnies. In addition to writing, she plays the Celtic harp, sells antique jewelry, and does needlepoint in her copious spare time. She hates to go to the gym but does it anyway.
Visit Jenny at:
http://www.jennysfiction.com
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