Page 86 of A Curse On Black Lake (Black Lake Gothic Cowboys #1)

Chapter sixty-five

Eliana

Killian was officially cleared a week later. They didn’t take him back to jail because the case itself was too circumstantial. What happened to me forced the right questions to be asked.

It helped that they found Eddy’s fingerprints on the dress Hazel was wearing.

They found where he was living, and after that it was pretty clear he was the one.

Wyatt didn’t give us all the details, but Edward had been killing people for a long time.

In fact, multiple cold cases came up matching his fingerprints.

I shudder and push my pencil harder into the paper.

“You’re going to break the pencil,” Killian says.

I drop it and sigh.

“Talk to me,” he says, rubbing his thumb in the divot of my ankle. While we rock back and forth on the porch swing.

“I’m overwhelmed,” I mutter.

“Why?” he asks.

I glance over his shoulder at the giant greenhouse he built me. He was a man on a mission after they dropped the charges. I helped him a little, though.

Next to it is the line of garden beds where I’ve planted plenty for fall.

There was no insurance on my land. So it’s sitting there with my house in ashes.

The barn is barely intact. The other plants that stayed alive the first time were burnt from the heat of the fire.

Though some of them are trying to survive, I saw some lower growth.

Maybe one day I can have a true store. But it won’t be for a while.

Every time I step foot on my land, it still breaks my heart. What would Grams say? Would she be mad?

“You don’t have the ‘Spirits are talking to you look’ on your face, but I can see steam coming out of your ears.”

I glare at him.

Killian chuckles and tickles my feet.

I grumble, trying to pull out of his hold.

“We’ll get you back up and running. It’s going to take time, as most things do,” he says, reading my mind.

“I know,” I rasp.

“I love you,” he says.

I can’t help but smile at him.

“I love that smile,” he grins, rubbing his thumb over my cheek.

“I love you too. But I have to admit, the way I feel about you terrifies me.” “I didn’t think I was that scary. I suppose a good shave might clean things up,” he says.

“I’m serious, Killian. What if I lose you?” I ask him.

He hums and pulls me into his lap. The swing bounces a little from the springs at the top, and he grips my chin, looking me directly in the eye.

“I asked myself that question for months since you came into my life. But we got a second chance, and I’m going to take it by the horns.

I want the privilege of loving you for as long as I possibly can.

I want to love you despite the reality that we will lose each other one day.

And even after I’m gone, I’ll still love you, Eliana Greer.

Every bone in my body will love you long after it’s turned to dust. And if that’s not worth the risk of my heart and yours, then nothing ever will be. ”

I stare at him in shock, even though I shouldn’t be. He’s said that to me in so many words multiple times. But hearing it again, after everything that’s happened, erases the fears in the back of my mind.

“Take the risk with me, Eliana.”

Clasping his face between my hands, I lean in and kiss him.

“I’ve never been more willing to dive into the unknown than I am with you,” I whisper.

He grunts and pulls my mouth back to his. Our hands search and grasp until it’s too much for both of us.

Killian takes us inside and up the stairs, and it always amazes me when he does that because I’m not a small woman, but he acts as if I weigh nothing.

He carries me into our room, careful he doesn’t clip me with the doorjamb, and throws me on the bed.

“Off now,” he commands.

I grin and whip my dress off.

He groans and stares at me for a moment.

“I still can’t believe you’re mine.”

I snort. “Last time I checked, you’re mine.”

“Damn straight, darlin’. I’m all yours.” He grins and sets his hat on the dresser behind him.

I sit on the edge of the bed, leaning on my hands, watching him undress. He looks hungry as he climbs onto the bed and scoots me back into the pillows.

“I have a confession,” he says, dragging his lips over my collarbone and down.

“What?” I ask, eyes closed, hands in his hair.

His lips kiss my stomach, and I lift my head, looking down at him.

“I want to marry you, and I want to see you pregnant with our baby.”

My eyes whip open. Is he joking?

He sits up, leaning back on his heels.

Nope. Not joking.

“I’m happy to wait. I’m not saying now. But I want a family, with you, Eliana.”

I stare at him in shock, but also elated. I forced myself not to think about something that I would never have, to the point I locked it away in a vault because it wasn’t worth torturing myself over. I resigned myself to being the lonely woman in the apothecary.

Tears cloud my vision. “I never thought I’d get this. I really thought I’d die alone,” I rasp.

“We have the chance to build a life, and I want to build it with you, baby. I want to see my ring on your finger. I want to watch you walk down the aisle to me. I can’t wait to be exhausted with you raising five kids. I want to make you as happy as I can.”

I laugh and cry at the same time.

“Five?” I ask.

He shrugs. “I realize that part of the plan is mainly on you, but … yeah.”

“Okay. Five kids it is.” I smile and wipe a tear.

“Are these happy tears?” he asks.

I nod and hold my arms up, needing to touch him again.

He grins and drops down onto me. Our mouths meet, and the love I never thought I would have the blessing of flows through him into me, a continuous unbreakable bond.

Killian leans to the side, reaching for the nightstand. I lift my hips, brushing against him, and he chokes on his groan. I stare at him, noting every detail of his face, the way his hair falls into his eyes. The way his body feels against mine.

“Hold on,” he mutters.

He comes back with a little black box in his hand.

“I wanted to do this very differently, though the clothes were optional. But I wanted to go on a ride with you and maybe watch the sunset, I don’t know … romantic stuff. Then I wanted to get on one knee and ask you to be my wife.”

“Then let’s do it,” I tell him.

He grins. “Baby, do you know what it’s like to ride a horse with a hard-on? It’s not comfortable at all.”

I giggle, and he smiles.

“Then take me outside. The sun is setting, and you can take me on a ride tomorrow.”

He chuckles and leaps off of me, pulling his jeans on, and throwing my dress at me. I giggle, pulling it back over my head, and we run down the stairs.

Killian throws the door open, and I race behind him down the stairs to the grass.

The sun is setting, and the sky is beautiful oranges and pinks, with pops of blue and purple. It’s the perfect day to say yes to the love of my life.

I take a deep breath, trying to catch every detail of this moment to brand itself into my mind.

Killian grabs my hand and gets down on one knee, shirtless, in his unbuttoned jeans. Then he lets go for a second and pulls my dress out of my bra where it was stuck. He smooths the fabric and reaches for my hand.

“Eliana Lily Greer, will you marry a broken man who loves you more than the air I breathe?”

He opens the box, and I stare at it open-mouthed.

“How did you get this?” I ask him. We don’t have a jewelry store here, and he was never gone long enough to go into the other surrounding towns over an hour away.

“Online, the library’s internet cooperated with me this time.”

“That’s why you literally ran to the mailbox the other day,” I giggle.

“Yes, darlin’. I’ll tell you all about how I got it later, but I need you to—”

“Yes! I will marry you. I will make babies with you. I can’t wait to build a life with you.”

He slides the ring onto my finger and drops the box, hauling me into his arms.

“I have a question.”

“What’s that?” he asks, kissing my face.

“I’m the last of the Greers … I don’t want to lose that, and what about Lennox, and Radcliffe? You’re actually a Radcliffe.”

Killian pulls back and kisses my nose.

“I think it’s time to leave vengeance behind.

I don’t want to carry the Radcliffe name, and I know that might have hurt my great grandfather, but I would hope he understands.

I almost lost you because of what my grandmother did.

The past needs to stay in the past. And as far as I’m concerned, my parents were Gideon and Robin Lennox.

That’s my last name, and I want it to be yours. What if we combine them?” he suggests.

I smile. “Greer-Lennox?” I ask, hopping up, linking my ankles at his back.

“Perfect,” he says and kisses me until I’m breathless again.

“Can we get started on the second part now?” he asks, but he’s already carrying me towards the house.

“I thought you’d never ask.”

He grins and takes us inside, kicking the door closed behind him, and carries me up the stairs.

“Where were we?” Killian asks, dropping me to my feet.

He stops down, sliding his palms up from my knees, gathering the dress in his hands, pulling it off.

I slip my hand into his pants, and his eyes nearly go to the back of his head. He catches himself leaning in to kiss me, grunting between breaths.

“Baby,” he moans.

“Now you’re going to make love to your fiancé,” I say against his lips.

He pulls my hands from him and kicks off his jeans before pushing me backwards until I’m lying back on the bed. “I can do that,” he says, crawling over me.

Our eyes lock together, and for the first time, I lean into the future full of love I see in him.

“Kiss me, please,” I beg him.

He gives me what I want. Our mouths greedy, and bodies hungry.

“I can’t get enough of you,” he says, kissing the corner of my mouth.

“How do you think I feel?” I whisper.

Killian grunts, grabbing my hands, lacing our fingers together. He shifts his hips and slips into me. I throw my head back on a moan, everything always feels right with him.

“I love you,” he says, looking me in the eye.

His hips roll and I cry out.

“I love you too,” I say breathlessly. “Now put a baby in me, cowboy.”

He chuckles and grabs my hips. “Yes, ma’am, but you better hold on to the headboard, darlin’.”