Page 76 of Dangerous Secrets

She glanced up at him.“How does itfeel to see your dream coming together?”

“You’re my dream, Laney.Everything else is frosting on the cake.”

“Jeez, Walker, you saythings like that and my heart melts.”

“Good sign.”His gazesnagged hers.“Are you going to marry me?”

“What?Marry you?Youcan’t just throw that out there.”

“Why not?”

“You’re notserious.”

He stopped walking and brought heraround to face him.His expression looked dead serious and had thebreath backing up in her lungs.“I’ve never been more serious.Iwant to marry you.Always knew you were the one.Since I don’t knowthe first thing about rings, I thought you could go with me to pickone out.I want you to get one you’ll want to wear for the nextfifty or sixty years.”

“Fifty or sixty years?Ohmy god, Walker, you are serious.”

“‘Oh my god, Walker’ isfast becoming my favorite phrase.”He brought her hand to his lips,pressing a kiss to her knuckles.His gaze steady on hers, he said,“I love you, Laney.I want to marry you.I want children with you,to build a life with you.”He paused.“Any chance you want thosethings with me?”

Everything she’d dreamed of, wishedfor, yearned for, was being offered to her with the promise of agolden future.She felt like she was radiating the warmth of athousand suns.

She launched into his arms.“Yes!Yes,to all of it.Yes, to marrying you.Yes, to children with you.Yes,to a life with you.I love you, Walker.”

“I’ll never tire ofhearing that.”He gathered her against his heart, murmuring in herear.“Thank you for not giving up on me.You are myworld.”

Hand in hand, they walked to his cabinwhere they shared their news with an excited Bud.