Page 32 of Wrangling Wade

"Prosecutor is filing to drop them as we speak," he says. "In exchange for his cooperation on that matter, they'll knock a few years off his sentence."

"How many years?" I growl, more than willing to go to fucking trial if it means he doesn't get let off. I'll gladly do my damn time if it means he does his somewhere far away from Harlow.

"Not enough to do him much good," Dillon reassures me. "He's still going to prison."

My shoulders droop, relief hitting me in a current. Fucking hell. The prick is finally going down. I've still got a future here and a way to provide for Harlow.

"Way too goddamn much happens around here without me knowing," Hudson complains.

"On your ranch or in town?" Dillon asks, his head cocked to the side. "Because I can't do shit about what happens on your ranch, but if you want to know what happens in town, feel free to take my badge off my hands. I've been trying to get rid of the damn thing for years."

"Might as well give that a rest already," Hudson says. "You can quit when you die." His gaze comes to me. "You good?"

"Depends. Are we good?"

"Depends. You got anything else you need to tell me?"

"Shit, guess so," I mutter. "As soon as we're done here, I'm going to find Harlow. I'm asking her to marry me. I'd prefer it if she lived here with me, but if that's not in the cards, I'll be moving to her place."

Hudson stares at me for a second and then grins, shaking his head. "Ask her to move in, Wade. Bishop won't be using your cabin much longer, anyway."

"What? Why?" He hasn't said jack shit about moving out of the cabin. Hell, he hasn't said much about anything lately, at least not to me. But I'm pretty fucking certain there was a girl in his room the other morning.

Hudson just shrugs. "Not my story to tell."

Well, goddamn. Guess I'll just have to wait Bishop out then. Right now, I have more important shit to do.

"We done here?" I ask, glancing between Hudson and Dillon.

"Yeah, we're done," Hudson says.

"We're good," Dillon mutters.

I turn for the door, and then pause, turning back to Dillon. "Appreciate you handling this shit. You could have just ignored it, but this town is lucky as fuck you aren't the kind of guy who does that. And that's why you won't ever get rid of that badge."

"I fucking know," he groans. "Believe me, I'm mad as hell about it, too. I could be retired, chasing my wife around all day. Instead, you assholes have me running all over creation every goddamn week, dealing with some new bullshit. In my next life, I'm coming back as a rock. Don't gotta say shit, do shit, or deal with shit. I can just fucking sit there."

Chapter Eleven

Harlow

"Wade?" I frown, alittle worried when I find him on my porch in the middle of the day, pacing in circles with his hat in his hands like he's losing his mind. He should be at the ranch right now, doing cowboy things. Judging by the mud on his boots and the dust on his jeans, he's been doing cowboy things. "What are you—?"

"Marry me," he blurts.

I gape at him. "What?"

"Shit," he mutters. "I'm doing this all wrong."

"I…"

He sets his hat on the railing before lowering himself to his knees at my feet. My heart immediately goes wild in my chest, beating like a war drum.

"I had a whole speech memorized on the way over here," he says, reaching for my hand. "And then I pulled in, and forgot every damn word of it. So I'm just going to say what I need to say, and pray to God that you say yes when I'm finished. All right?"

I nod silently, my mouth too dry to speak.

"I love you. I love you in ways I didn't know it was possible to love someone until you, Harlow. The minute you hosed me down and kicked me out of your bar, you claimed a piece of my heart. You've been claiming pieces of it every fucking minute since then. You're everywhere, every minute of the day, and that isn't going to change for me. I belong to you on a level that's so permanent, it's written into the stars, beautiful. And I've been carrying this ring around in my pocket since the day after you bailed me out of jail, because I know it's the same way for you."