FROM CHAPTER TWELVE
“Are you looking for me?” he asked as he stooped down to grab his shirt from the ground.
Rachel looked over her shoulder, toward the cabin, imagining Louise staring out the window observing them. “Um, yes.”
He finished buttoning his shirt. “What is it?”
His stare became intense. She smiled to ease the serious moment, and stepped even closer to him. “Any luck?”
His eyebrows piqued in confusion.
“Catching fish?”
His features softened. “No, not yet. It’s not the best time of day.” He adjusted the Stetson on his head. “The fish like to feed in the early morning and late afternoon. I thought to try my chances before I had to head into town. Fishing relaxes me.”
Her smile diminished. “Do you have something to be nervous about?”
He gathered his fishing line. “Not really, but having the job of a sheriff can sometimes bring on the unexpected.”
“I guess it would, wouldn’t it.” How could she begin?
He carried on while tossing left over bait into the water. “And it helps keep me clear headed.”
He wanted to be clear headed and she was about to cause an explosion. Lord, help her.
“Was there something else?”
Toby jumped into the pond, going after the bait on the surface of the water. Levi didn’t react at all, he focused solely on her. Louise was right, he watched her intently. How could she never have noticed that before? Maybe because she’d been taken in by William, and with that thought, she regained courage. Her heart rate accelerated, but she went ahead with what she needed to do. She’d run out of time. “I have a question to ask you,” she told him. His focus stayed on her as she took a deep breath, fanned out the skirt of her dress, and kneeled on bended knee before him. Levi’s eyes widened, she thought because he was surprised by her actions, but out of the corner of her eye she saw a big brown, wet dog, come charging at her. In the next instant she was toppled onto her side and showered with a spray of water. Toby stood above her and tried licking at her face, but she moved her head from side to side to avoid the dog’s tongue.
Levi snapped his fingers. “Toby, that’s enough,” he said in a stern voice. The dog looked up at Levi as if to make sure he meant it, tail wagging. Levi lowered his voice. “That’s enough.” Toby got the message, put his head down and immediately trotted away. Levi leaned down and held out his hand toward her. “Sorry about that. He thought you wanted to play and he couldn’t help himself. Are you all right?” he asked as she came to her feet.
It was bad enough that she’d been nervous about proposing marriage to a man, and possibly making a fool of herself, but now she was mortified. Her white dress covered with tiny yellow flowers, the one that she had painstakingly picked out, was stained with mud marks, and her hair dangled loose and wild. She pasted on a smile to cover up her frustration with his dog. “Fine, just not clean anymore.”
He let go of her hand and looked her over. “It’s only a few smudge marks. It’s not bad.”
She examined her dress. Not bad? Her eyes found his. Sure, he was fine with it. After all he didn’t have an ounce of dirt on him. His hair was still slicked back in place beneath his Stetson. She pulled at a lock of her dangling hair. “My hair is loose and coming apart.”
He had the nerve to grin. “I rather like it loose and hanging down.”
He made that comment and she forgot about being angry, and started analyzing what he meant by it. Was he flirting with her? “Um...”
He leaned forward as if they needed to keep their conversation private. “Listen, if you want to ask me something, you don’t have to get on your knees to do it. Whatever possessed you to—”
“I was going to ask you to marry me!” She cried in frustration.
His mouth dropped open and he blinked.
Her hand covered her mouth, but the words had already come out.