Page 52 of Her Boss, Her Rancher: Sunrise On The Ranch

“Thank you, Lord. Would be awkward if I was a woman since you clearly aren’t into women.”

“I’m not intoyou,” she snapped at the same time he shut the water off.

He stuck his head out the bathroom door. His eyes glittered dangerously, temper brewing like a wild storm pushed by the dry line. “You can lie to whomever it is you need to, should it actually be important for them to believe there’s nothing between us. But with me?” He narrowed his gaze. “You tell the truth, no matter how much it hurts.”

“I didn’t know about the letter,” she whispered brokenly, twisting her hands together. “And I wasn’t trying to use you or your family. I was only trying to keep my business, to keep my people employed. I should have explained that to you, even without the letter. But I was a coward, and I’m sorry.”

She saw him coming and stood her ground. He wrapped her in his arms and put one leg around hers to keep her from breaking away. His mouth closed in on hers with a type of dominant possessiveness she’d never experienced but had dreamed of over and over again. With him, only him. “Cade,” she breathed.

Their tongues clashed this time, thrusting in a pantomime of sex. She breathed into his mouth, “We have to stop.”

He gripped her skull and tilted her head for access to her neck, kissing his way to her jawline and then her neck. “No.”

“Cade, stop.” This she managed more firmly.

For a split second, he froze. Then, with the superior control of a man on the edge, he stepped away. “My apologies, Ms. Graystone.”

“Call me Emma.”

“I’ll call you Emma when you kiss me the way you used to.”

“I know what I need, Cade, and it’s more than great sex with no foreseeable lifespan. I’m the woman who has to have longevity, commitment, certainty. Can you offer that to me? Do you trust me to live this life with you? Do you believe that I will love you and this place as much as you do?”

The emotional vacancy on his face as he turned gutted her. “Good night, Ms. Graystone.”

THEDAYOFthe wedding dawned bright and clear. Winds were out of the southwest at a very mild seven miles per hour. The high was forecast at seventy-one degrees, and there was a zero percent forecast for rain.

Cade and his brothers dressed at Emma’s former cabin following fierce threats of emasculation if any of them set foot in the main house.

He’d just tied his bow tie when Eli came into the bedroom and shut the door. “Cold feet?” Cade teased. “Because if she’s going to castrate you for seeing her before the wedding, can you imagine what she’d do if you backed out?”

Eli’s wild eyes met his.

“I was kidding,” Cade said softly, only to accept the ring box when Eli shoved it at him. “Why are you giving this to me?”

Eli took a shaky breath. “I’ve already talked to Tyson. He understands.” Eli popped his neck. “Why do they make these collars so tight, anyway?”

“To prepare you for marriage?” Cade asked innocently.

“Shut up. You’re not helping. This is harder than it was to ask her to marry me.”

Concerned, Cade didn’t comment. He did, however, wave his hand impatiently for his brother to get on with it.

“Okay, okay.” Clearing his throat, he crossed his hands in a military at-rest position. “Cade, we’ve had our differences. I missed out on a major part of your life I should have been here for.” Eli paused and found a place over Cade’s shoulder to focus on. “We didn’t get on when I first came back, and I get it. But I want you to know that I’m incredibly proud of what you managed to accomplish in spite of my absence.” Then he gestured to the ring box. “You’ve grown into the kind of man I wish I’d had the strength to become. Going into this new phase of my life, I’d be honored as hell if you’d be my best man and stand up there with me to encourage me to do just that.”

Words failed Cade. Completely. His throat tightened.Could this kind of emotional response send someone into anaphylactic shock?He closed his eyes and, taking an unsteady breath, nodded. “I’d be honored, Eli.” Then he cracked one eye open and glared at his brother. “In the future, I suggest you don’t make momentous decisions like this at the last minute. I mean, I could’ve had a mani/pedi scheduled. Then what would you have done?”

“Flown solo, minus my wingman.” Eli tagged him in the shoulder. “Would’ve sucked.”

“Yeah, it was a gamble.”

“But you’re not going to let me suffer this in silence.”

“Suffering in silence isn’t, um, my thing.” Cade stared at Eli for a moment before gesturing at the ring box. “Are you sure about this?”

“About what?”

“Me. Wanting me. To be your best man today. It’s not conventional, I know, how it all happened. Don’t you have friends you’d rather stand up for you?” Cade clutched the ring box with a death grip. “Why me?”