Rumor Has It (22 page)

“Excuse me for just a minute, will you?” she said to no one in particular. She nearly trampled a waitress on her way to the ladies’ room.

Maggie started to go after her, but Ry caught her wrist. “Let her be alone for a few minutes,” he said. “Maybe she'll figure out once and for all she doesn't want to stay that way for the rest of her life.”

While Maggie and Zoe discussed the wisdom of leaving Katie alone, Ry eyed the basket of rolls
at one end of the table, then reached instead for one out of the basket near Katie's plate. Without bothering to tear it in two he sank his teeth into the small golden roll.

“Ouch!”

The women broke off their conversation to stare at Rylan as he examined a small diamond ring.

“Damnation! Would you look at this?” He held the tiny ring up between his thumb and forefinger. The soft light in the room turned the diamond into a prism of brilliant color. Ry scowled at it. “Jeepers cripes, I could've chipped a tooth!”

Maggie smacked his arm. “You idiot!” she said under her breath. “That's for Katie.”

“What the Sam Hill was it doin’ in a dinner roll then?”

“She was supposed to tear the roll open and find the ring. It's romantic, you big moron.”

“What am I supposed to do with it now?”

“Put it somewhere else she'll find it by accident, and be quick about it—here she comes.”

He dropped the ring into Katie's water glass, then sat back quickly.

Zoe reached out and touched Katie's arm as she sat down. “Are you all right?”

Managing to smile she nodded as she glanced around at the other dinner guests. “I'm fine.”

She was anything but fine. She didn't feel any steadier now than she had when she'd read her special menu item. What was she supposed to do? She had been certain of her motives for breaking up with Nick. Now she didn't know what to think. She wanted him back, but what if that wasn't the right thing? All her life she'd been sure of herself, of her decisions. Now she couldn't even pick out what she wanted for dinner without having second thoughts.

Nearly beside herself with nerves she reached for her water glass and lifted it to her lips, only to have it yanked away from her. Water sloshed onto the dark green tablecloth.

“Rylan, what on earth?” She stared at her brother as he stuck two fingers into her glass of water and dug out a diamond ring.

“Criminey, would you look at this?” His voice boomed across the dining room as he held up the ring. He turned toward the kitchen and bellowed, “Hey, Leone, get on out here!”

Nick emerged from the kitchen, concern knitting his brows. Then he caught sight of the flash of light off the diamond, and his stomach did a free fall to his knees.

Ry stuck the ring in Nick's face. “Just look at that. Just look at what
somehow
got into my sister's glass of water. Gosh almighty, she could have choked. What do you make of it?”

Nick stared at the ring and tried to swallow down the ball of sandpaper that seemed to be lodged in his throat. Every person in the room was staring directly at him. He'd never felt as naked when he'd been working as a stripper.

“Ah—gee—ah—it looks like an engagement ring,” he stammered. What the hell had happened? he wondered. The plan had been for Katie to read the note in the menu, find the ring, and then, after dinner—when all the other guests were gone—they would talk, and she would give him her answer. He sure as hell hadn't planned on proposing to her in front of half the town. What was he supposed to do now?

Ry pressed the ring into Nick's hand and made the decision for him. “Hadn't you better get down on one knee?”

It sounded like the only logical thing to do, since he didn't think his legs were going to hold him up much longer anyway. He dropped to one knee beside Katie's chair and took her limp hand in his. She stared down at him, looking utterly stunned by the turn of events. He took a deep breath and focused only on her.

“Katie, I love you. I've been so lost without you, so empty. Nothing in my life has meaning if I can't share it with you.” He tugged his lower lip between his teeth for an instant, never taking his sincere, dark gaze from her face. “I want you to be my wife.”

“Oh, Nick,” she whispered. The rest of the people in the room faded from her view. There was only Nick. “I don't know. I don't know what to do. I love you so much, but I don't know what the right thing is anymore. I don't want to hurt you.”

“Being away from you hurts me. I told you once, if I don't have you, I don't have anything. You're the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with, Katie. Everything else I'm willing to compromise on but not that. I need you.”

With her free hand, she tried to brush away the
tears that clung to her lashes. “I want you to be happy. I want you to have a family, but I'm just not sure I can—”

He lifted two fingers to her trembling lips. “Shhhh. We can work it out. Together. If you decide you can't make a compromise, I can live with that—”

“But—”

He silenced her again. “Listen to me. When you let me go because you thought it was best for me, that was an act of unselfish love. Do you think I'm not capable of loving you so unselfishly as to give up something that's important to me?

“I know you're afraid, kitten. And I can't make guarantees. You know as well as I do, life doesn't come with a guarantee. But I can promise you one thing: No one will ever love you the way I do.”

His words were no more than the truth, no less than her heart had longed to hear. She looked down into Nick's dark eyes and handsome face, and knew with a certainty that went soul deep, she would never love any other man the way she loved him, she would never again have the chance at happiness he was offering her now.

“Do you love me, Katie?” he asked softly.

“With all my heart.”

“Do you trust me?”

“With my life.”

“Will you marry me?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

The next instant he was on his feet and she was in his arms, exactly where she wanted to stay for the next fifty or sixty years.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“Yes, I'm sure. Rumor has it you're a pretty neat guy. I'd be the world's biggest fool to let you go.”

The sounds of women sniffling and men clearing their throats penetrated their little world. From the corner of her eye Katie could see a lot of familiar faces staring at them with soft expressions and gentle smiles.

Nick brushed stray tears from her cheek with the pad of his thumb and smiled his crooked smile. “I dare you to kiss me in front of all these people.”

With a reckless grin she raised up on tiptoe and wrapped her arms around his neck. “You're on, Yankee.”