Chapter 15: Chapter Fourteen

Ella drove straight from Oregon, through Garnet Valley and hit the lonely highway to the Rocking H.

It was the end of the day, and Ty should be back at the ranch already.

After the week at her parents’, Jordan’s words ringing in her head and the conversation with Lindsey fresh on her mind, Ella knew that she had to change a couple things in her life.

One, her father was completely wrong about the Hartmans, and she told him so. It had taken a couple of days to convince him that Beau wasn’t wrong to call in the debt. Her father of all people had to understand that desperate times called for desperate measures. After a couple of days, her dad seemed to come to terms with it.

The other? She was in love with Ty. She couldn’t deny it any longer, and it was time she stopped running from it. If she could put herself out there for the town, she could try harder for Ty.

She was exhausted and worn after the trip back from Oregon, but she couldn’t wait any longer to tell him. The now familiar path to the Rocking H seemed to last forever. Her truck rocked and bumped along the dirt road, and the tiny buildings seemed to be hours away instead of minutes.

At the ranch grew into view, her heart started hammering, somersaulting against her ribs in large, rolling loops. Ty’s blue truck was parked in front of the barn, so clearly he was on the ranch. The question was where?

Two seconds later, the screen door opened and slammed shut, followed by the sound of three pairs of boots on a wooden porch.

The blood seemed to rush from her head as she found herself face-to-face with all three Hartman brothers.

She had not imagined confessing her love to Ty in front of his family.

Well, either he wanted her, or he didn’t. If she had to say something in front of Colton and Jace as well, so be it.

“Uh, hi,” she said lamely as all three men stopped in their tracks. She wiggled her fingers at them, and then grimaced.

Not smooth.

One corner of Colton’s mouth quirked up. Jace’s gray eyes brightened. And Ty looked like he was experiencing his own personal rain cloud.

“I’ll meet up with you guys,” he said, not taking his eyes off her.

Thank god.

She watched the two brothers as they waved and headed to the old ranch truck, knowing grins on each of their faces.

“Hi,” she offered again after Colton and Jace drove down the dirt road, leaving her with Ty.

Ty moved until he was about a foot from her, arms crossed, shoulders rigid, stance wide. His hat, as usual, was pulled low.

Okay, not a good sign.

“I see you’re back from Oregon.” No smile. His expression careful, like he didn’t want to give anything away.

She hated that she did that to him—made him feel like he had to be on guard around her.

“I’m back. I drove straight here.” She tucked her hair behind her ear, her fingers tangling in the long lengths. “I needed some time away and some time to think. And I’ve come to the conclusion—” She laced her fingers together, suddenly nervous. “That I messed up. I should have trusted you, and I didn’t. When I overheard you saying you were using Red as a means to expand your practice, I panicked. My horse wasn’t healing on time, my dreams for this year were going down the tubes, all the money I had saved was going to my poor horse, and then finding out that you hadn’t been completely open with me just pushed me over the edge.”

It felt like her finally perfect world was crumbling down too soon.

Ty’s face softened. “I’m sorry I was trying to control the situation.”

“I’m sorry that I didn’t give you the benefit of the doubt when I should have heard you out,” she offered.

“No, I should have been clear from the get-go,” Ty said. He pushed his hat back, revealing his clear blue eyes. To her surprise, they were soft and hopeful. “Yes, I had hoped that word would get around that I worked on Red’s recovery, and the pressure point therapy would work. Honestly, it is working, but her recuperation was taking more time than I thought it would. I was worried that if I told you Red was taking a while that you would think my idea was bull, and you’d take her away. I wanted the therapy to succeed so you could succeed. Then I could use it as a means to expand my vet practice. I should have told you about my plan to begin with. I never should have hidden it from you.”

“I should have taken the time to listen to you the other day,” she said wryly, holding out her hands. “I should have trusted you.”

“You still left Red with me,” Ty said, moving closer. “That meant more to me than anything else you could have done.”

“And I told my dad about you,” she said. “It wasn’t a pretty conversation, but I think he finally understands the predicament your father was in when he called in the debt. After all, my dad knows the pain of scraping by day by day.”

“I know,” Ty laughed. “Jared called me the other day. Not the easiest discussion I’ve ever had, but he did apologize.”

He was now so close the toes of his boots nearly touched the tips of her worn black sneakers.

“And if it wasn’t for you, I never would have met up with my mom or told Jace I wanted him to stay. So you also gave me the wake-up call I needed.” The closed-off expression faded into a smile. The corners of his eyes crinkled, and she found herself smiling back.

“I’m so glad to hear that.” And whatever happened between them, she was happy to hear that Ty was finally sorting things out with Jace and his mom.

Running her hands down the sides of her jeans, she took a breath. It was now or never. “Ty, I’m sorry I hurt you.”

He seemed to melt on the spot, and his blue eyes were focused entirely on her.

“I was so afraid to put myself out there. It was the most vulnerable I’ve ever been, and I didn’t believe you wanted to be with me without an ulterior motive. That’s my fault. Not yours. I should have put my fear out there, but I didn’t. The thing is, the reason I was so afraid, is because I love you. I’ve been in love with you for years.”

She could hear his sharp intake of breath.

“Say that again?” His words were a soft plea.

Squinting against the afternoon sun, she looked at him and found him smiling. The jittery, nervous butterflies began to fade and became a different fluttery feeling as she stepped closer.

“I’m in love with you.” She laughed, suddenly feeling lighter. “I’ve been in love with you for years and never did anything about it. I just sat around like a fool afraid of how it might hurt me. And it turns out it wasn’t you that was hurting me. It was me by hiding myself away.” Ella moved closer.

“Are you still afraid?” he asked. He was so close, she could lean in and press herself against him.

She shook her head. “No. Not with you. You’ve been it for me for as long as I can remember. It just took me a long time to realize that.”

Ella reached out, wrapping her fingers around his, squeezing his hand in hers. With her free hand, she reached up onto her tiptoes, her body brushing slowly against his, causing the breath to trap in her lungs, as she swept his hat off his head.

“I want more,” she said, her gaze holding his. Her hand circled around his neck, holding his hat so it pressed against his back. “I want you. This last week without you has been horrible. It was only seven days, and I missed you.”

He wrapped his hands around her waist. “So you want to give this a go?”

Ella laughed and kissed him full on the lips. “Of course I want to give this a go, cowboy. I’d be a fool to pass you up.”

Letting out a laugh that rang happily through her, Ty hauled her close, bent her over his arm, and kissed her.

She yielded to him instantly, kissing him with all her might. This was her man and her partner—the man she wanted to move forward with.

“Do you need to catch up with your brothers?” Ella asked between kisses.

Ty ducked his head and nipped at her jawline before picking her up and carrying her toward the ranch house.

“I’ll catch up in a bit. I’ve been missing you far too much to pass on this opportunity,” he said, his eyes hooded as he gazed at her.

“There are plenty more opportunities to come,” she promised as Ty pushed the door to the ranch house open and carried her inside.

Six months later It wasn’t her best run, but it might have been just enough to put her at first or second, so Ella wasn’t going to complain. The stands were screaming, and the announcer’s words made zero sense against the rush of wind that blew past her ears as Ella and Red finished their run in a large circle to slow down.

Waving at the worked-up crowd, Ella exited the arena after their first barrel run of the season. Her face hurt, she was smiling so hard.

“And that, ladies and gents,” the announcer called, “puts this Montana cowgirl in first place. What a ride! You’ll want to keep your eye on Ella James Sanders for future rodeos. This cowgirl recently recovered from a knee injury and her horse from a tendon sprain. I understand from conversations with the cowgirl that local vet Ty Hartman used a new therapy that was the reason for her horse’s successful recovery. We expect to see her performance improve throughout the year…”

Yep, she told everyone she could that Ty was the reason for Red’s recovery, and he was getting more calls than he could handle at his vet practice. Some of the top rodeo cowboys had him on call for injuries that needed to be managed. Ty was already planning to move his vet practice to the Rocking H as soon as the ranch renovation was complete.

Red pranced past the gate and to their trailer. Her high-strung horse was fully healed, and despite the bad ending to their rodeo season last year, this one was full of promise.

Ella waved as she passed Lindsey untacking her horse at her super-fancy trailer. The blond waved back. They weren’t close friends, but they were on friendly enough terms that it wasn’t awkward running into each other.

Red’s breaths were still coming in bursts, but her delicate ears pointed back as she listened to Ella’s commands. A dog barked in the distance, but Red was nothing but attentive to her rider.

Ella and Ty had spent many hours desensitizing her horse to honks and barks, and it appeared to have worked.

Someone waved as she rode by, and she waved back easily, not even thinking twice about it as she let herself into the warm-up arena to cool down.

By the time she arrived back at her trailer, the small group from home that had come to support her—Jordan, Jace and Hailey, and Colton and Gus—were gathered around her trailer. Her parents were beaming up at her from their colorful lawn chairs set up in front of her truck.

She looked around but couldn’t find Ty.

Huh. He wasn’t working this rodeo. Maybe he was off getting food.

“Did you guys catch my run?” Ella asked as she dismounted her horse. When no one responded, she turned to find them all staring at her like they were expecting her to say or do something. “What?”

Right then Red took a couple of steps back, revealing Ty standing in front of her trailer, holding a bright green sign.

“You’ve got to be joking.” She braced her hand on her horse’s sweaty neck, trying to steady herself as she read the words scrawled in black ink.

There has never been anyone for me but you. Let me share it with the whole world. Will you marry me?

“Trust me, cowgirl,” Ty said, ambling over to grab her hands and kiss her full on the lips. “I’d never joke about this.”

“I mean, is this too fast?” Her heart already knew the answer. The man in front of her was it for her. There would never be anyone else.

“I’ve known you my whole life, and you and your horses already live on the ranch. Let’s make it official, cowgirl.” Ty spoke softly so only she could hear. A flash of worry crossed his features. “But if you want to say no—”

“Not on your life,” she said, interrupting him and giving him a playful smack on the shoulder. “But I want to see a proper proposal.”

Ty smiled, folded the sign in half, and pulled a ring from his pocket.

“I’ll take Red and cool her down,” Colton said, pulling the horse’s reins from her fingers.

Ella barely noticed because Ty was bending down on one knee for the entire rodeo world to see, and even then, it felt like they were the only two people in the world.

“Ella James Sanders—”

“Yes!” she laughed and launched herself at him before he could even get the words out. “Of course I’ll marry you.”