Page 76 of Magnolia Summer

He was pretty sure she was talking about kissing him, not tossing his hat.

“I didn’t mind.” Truett felt the goofy grin spreading across his face. “It was very nice.” He stared down at his hat.Now how was this supposed to go again? Oh, yeah.

He turned to Celia, then sank to his knees in front of her. He placed one hand over his heart while he grabbed her hand.

“Celia, I love you. You are the most beautiful, intelligent, delightful woman I’ve ever met. God said, ‘It is not good for a man to be alone,’ and since I’ve met you, I most emphatically agree with Him. You would make me the happiest man in the world if you would say yes to my proposal of marriage. Celia Wilcox, will you marry me?”

* * *

Celia couldn’t speakfor a moment, but then her spine stiffened. “You talk of your happiness. What about mine?”

Truett blinked three times in quick succession. “P-pardon?”

“You just got hurt by a crazy, mean sheriff. The same sheriff who wants to kill you. Now he knows for sure that you’re an enemy. How long before he realizes you’re the hooded horseman? And what happens to you then? What happens to me?”

He pursed his lips and sat back on his heels.

“I have dreams and goals and plans. No man wants a wife with such ambitions!” She stood, paced three steps away and back. “I never should have kissed you. I still can’t believe I did it—this was the third time! It isn’t like me.” She realized her voice was rising and she forced it back down to a hoarse whisper. “I’ve always been self-controlled. But when I’m around you, I lose my mind!” She thrust her finger at him. “And don’t you dare smile, Truett Beverly. I never should have danced with you. That’s how it all started. You made me forget how much I want to get away from here and get back to Nashville.”

“But Celia.” He leaned forward and took hold of her hands again, holding them tight so she couldn’t pull away. “I wouldn’t keep you from your goals and ambitions. We’ll go to Nashville, if that’s what you want.”

He knew it wasn’t that easy. Their families needed them here. Thoughts were churning so fast through her mind she could barely lay hold to one. “And what about those wanted posters? What happens when it all catches up to you and the sheriff hangs you?” She was getting hysterical again. “How can you even ask me—”

“Celia, please. We can figure out a way. And if we go away from here, Suggs will not be able to capture me.”

“But your family, your mother, and Griff. I couldn’t ask you to leave them.”

He let go of her hands and rubbed a hand across his face. He knew she was right. Her stomach twisted. She didn’t want to be right.

“Somehow things would work out.” His voice sounded sad, but he didn’t look up at her. He looked so vulnerable, with his bruised face and his hair falling down over his forehead. She longed to brush it back and kiss him again and make him forget what she had just said. Her gaze unintentionally settled on his perfect lips.

No, no more kissing.

He’d just asked her to marry him.Marry.The very word filled her with terror.

Truett’s voice was quiet and contrite. “I guess you’re right after all. A man whose life is in as much doubt as mine has no right to think of marriage. Forgive me.” Then he stood and strode off the porch. His boots barely skimmed the steps on his way to his horse. He mounted and started down the lane, away from her.

Celia sank weakly into her rocking chair. “Oh, Truett, I’m sorry,” she whispered, too softly for him to hear.

Maybe it was for the best. But she felt sick inside, miserable and confused as he rode away. Would she ever feel normal again, content and at peace, sure of her future, as she had before Father died?

Oh, God, please save Truett from Sheriff Suggs. And help me not to kiss him again until then.

Not that Truett would ever kiss her now anyway.

* * *

Why didn’tI kiss her?

Truett arrived at his office the next morning as the sun began to peek through the trees. He sat his desk, still mad at himself for leaving Celia the way he had the night before, and prepared to write a letter to his father.

He shouldn’t have let himself get upset, but her reaction had nettled him. Before he proposed to her, the thought had been nagging him that he didn’t actually have the right to ask her to marry him. With Sheriff Suggs breathing down his neck, his life was practically forfeit. And it was true that his family needed him to stay in Bethel Springs. But he had pushed those thoughts away because he wanted her so much, wanted Celia in his arms and in his life. So when she threw his own fear up in his face instead of happily saying yes to his marriage proposal, he’d let himself get so frustrated that he just left.

He’d imagined her accepting him willingly, coming into his arms and kissing him, but it had all turned out so differently. What had he done wrong? If he’d simply pulled her into his arms and kissed her, instead of letting her anger get to him, the night might not have ended disastrously.

Truthfully, though, she was right. She deserved actual assurance that he wasn’t going to be killed, and the only way he could give her that was to deal with Sheriff Suggs according to the law, as he should have to start with. He hadn’t.

But he would now.