She wouldn’t cry, Tara thought fiercely. She wouldn’t let her suddenly precarious emotions get away from her. She blinked back the tears that threatened to flood her eyes. “Blake—”
“I knew I was all wrong for you,” he finished doggedly. “I knew I would do nothing but disrupt your life...and it turned out I was right. I couldn’t even take you out to dinner without getting you involved in something dangerous. When Doren had you...when I knew how badly he was hurting you...when I thought for just one sickening moment that he was going to snap your neck...I almost lost it. I’ve been throwing knives since I was three, and I’ve never once hesitated in a crunch...until then. I was terrified that I would miss completely. Or that I would hit you. That you would die because of my mistake. And it paralyzed me.”
Her fingers tightened on his arm. “Blake, you saved my life. You and Jeremy together. If it hadn’t been for your quick thinking, and your excellent aim, I wouldn’t be here now.”
He touched her cheek with an unsteady hand. “If you had died, I would have died with you. And no one except my sister has ever meant that much to me before. I didn’t know how to deal with that. I stayed away because I couldn’t imagine why a woman like you would want to get mixed up with a man like me. I came back because I can’t imagine living the rest of my life without you.”
“A man like you?” Tara blinked away her tears and smiled mistily up at him. “You mean a man who gave up years of his life to raise his orphaned sister? A man who sacrificed his own education to make sure that she got one. A man who has made a successful career on his own terms. A man who makes friends—good friends—wherever he goes. Who doesn’t judge them by their appearance or their circumstances or their life-style.”
She caught his hand in hers and held it against her cheek. “You came to me on that Friday afternoon after I’d been abandoned by others I’d trusted because you cared about me. Because you were worried about me. And then, when we got into trouble through circumstances you had no control over, you watched over me, and you saved my life. You believed in me when I no longer believed in myself. And even when you hurt me—when you broke my heart, damn it—you did so because you thought it was best for me. I don’t know whether to hit you or hug you for being so incredibly dense.”
“I love you, Tara. I’ve loved you for so l
ong that you’ve become a part of me.”
“And I’ve loved you since the first time you stopped by my desk, introduced yourself and told me a really corny joke,” she answered.
His eyes closed for a moment. They looked even brighter than usual when he opened them again. “I don’t deserve you, Tara McBride. But I’m going to spend the rest of my life making you happy.”
“I don’t need you to make me happy. I can do that for myself. I only need you to love me.”
“Forever,” he promised, sweeping her into his arms. “Always.”
She locked her arms around his neck. “I won’t tie you down, Blake. I have my own career, my own goals. So you keep chasing clues and solving puzzles, whatever it is you enjoy doing. But when you’re finished, when you find your answers, you come home to me.”
“Actually, I’m thinking about making a few career adjustments of my own,” he murmured against her lips. “I think it’s time I opened a real office, establish more regular office hours. Private investigation these days is done as often through a computer as through a pair of binoculars. I need a home. An identity. A family. A life.”
“That sounds a lot like a marriage proposal,” she whispered, almost afraid to hope.
His smile was sheepish. “Not exactly poetic, was it? But it came from my heart. Is it too soon to ask?”
“Oh, Blake.” She finally stopped fighting the tears, letting them slide unchecked down her cheeks. “What took you so long?”
“That had better be a yes.”
“That’s exactly what it is. I love you, Blake Fox.”
He crushed her mouth beneath his. And then he bent down to sweep her high against his chest. His hat fell to the carpet, unnoticed, his thick golden hair tumbling boyishly onto his forehead.
“Remember what I said about taking pleasure where you can find it?” he asked.
“Mmm. Are you going to juggle for me?”
A wicked smile slashed across his face. “Eventually.”
She really loved it when Blake carried her to bed, Tara thought happily. She looked forward to having him do so for many years to come.
One thing about life with Blake—it would never be boring.
She had so many more questions to ask him. So many things she wanted to tell him about herself. But they could wait.
For now, she was taking her pleasure where she could find it And she would always find it with Blake, she thought as he tumbled her onto her bed and immediately followed her down.