Page 93 of The Rancher's Wedding Deception

“W-What—” The word came out strangled.

“If you want to try falling in love with me...then go ahead and do it.”

She stared at him.

He stared back.

And then, slowly, like a man approaching something wild and easily spooked, he reached out and cupped her face in his hands. His thumbs brushed away her tears with a gentleness that made her chest ache.

“All good now?”

A helpless laugh escaped her, but this quickly turned into a sob.

“I don’t know,” she choked out. “Do you really mean—”

“Yes.”

Please, God. Please. Please be with me.

Thirty minutes later, they were married.

The ceremony itself passed in a blur of formal words and trembling hands and a ring that Paul produced from his pocket—when had he gotten a ring?—that fit her finger like it had been made for her.

Which, knowing him, it probably had.

Harry and Star cried buckets while their husbands strongly insisted that they just had something in their eye.

And through it all, Paul had never let go of her hand.

Not once.

“By the power vested in me by the State of Texas,” the judge intoned, “I now pronounce you husband and wife.”

Husband and wife.

The words felt surreal. Like something from a dream she might wake up from at any moment.

“You may now kiss the bride.”

Paul turned to face her, and Andie’s breath caught at the expression on his face. He looked... undone. Wrecked. Like a man who had just survived something he hadn’t been sure he would.

He cupped her face in his hands, the same way he had in the hallway, the same gentle possessiveness—and slowly lowered his head.

And in his eyes, just before his mouth covered hers, and she let herself fall into his kiss—

Just for one moment, she had seen in his eyes...

The same thought she was thinking.

The same fear she was feeling.

If marrying each other felt so terrifyingly right...

Why did it also feel like they were in danger of losing each other?

Chapter Ten

ANDIE STARED AT HERphone screen for a long moment.