Read Online Star Spangled Cowboy by Paige Warren - Free Book Online Page B

asked his heart in his throat.
    “I’m saying that I think I need to leave, Ty. Start over someplace where no one knows my name or my background. I need a fresh start and this town isn’t going to let me have that.”
    He felt like his heart was shattering into a million pieces.
    “What if I came with you?” he asked. “Would you even want me to?”
    “I can’t ask you to leave your ranch.”
    “Darlin’, I can’t work the ranch right now. The foreman has been in charge for years now, even while I was absent in Afghanistan. I think he can handle things a while longer, and if anything comes up, he knows my cell number. But there’s one drawback. I need to be near the VA.”
    “Well…” She looked up at him. “Casper is a larger town, right? And it’s far enough away that people might not know about my past, or have even heard of me. What if we rented a place in town, maybe near the VA, and had a fresh start together?”
    “You’re sure this is what you want?”
    “I’m sure.”
    He nodded. “Then we’ll go home and pack enough clothes to get by for now, and we’ll head into Casper. We can stay at a hotel for a few minutes and scout some places.”
    She stared into his eyes. “You’d really do that for me? Just pick up and move, leave your life behind?”
    “Yeah, sugar, I would.”
    “Then if you can give up everything you know to follow me when I run away, then maybe I can be strong enough to stay and fight. I don’t want this relationship always to be about what I need, Ty. You have needs, too, and I want to make sure they’re being met. It’s not fair of me to uproot you just because I don’t want to face the town gossips.”
    He smiled. “Then we’ll stay and fight. You know the best way to thumb your nose at them?”
    “Show up at church?”
    “Well, that would probably do it, but I had something else in mind. Something I’ve wanted to ask you for a while, but the timing is always off.”
    She looked around. “Can it wait until we’re back home? I want out of this place. I’m torn between wanting to burn it or sell it, although I doubt anyone will buy a bloodstained trailer.”
    “You’d be surprised.”
    “Instead of selling it, I think I’ll give it to the other girls Carlos owned. Some of them have their own places, but I know two who were living with him. If he’s in jail, then they’re homeless.”
    He kissed her cheek. “You have a good heart, darlin’. Let’s get out of here and we’ll talk more at home.”
    It was a struggle, but with Dacey’s help, he managed to get upright and moving again. She followed him home, parking beside his truck in front of their home. By the time Tyson was in the house, he was ready to collapse from exertion, but he had something important to do first. He went to the bedroom and retrieved the little box, hoping like hell he wasn’t about to royally fuck up, and then sought out Dacey.
    She was in the kitchen, putting the clean dishes away and re-loading the dishwasher.
    “Sugar, can you stop that a moment? I need to talk to you.”
    He pulled out a chair and collapsed onto the seat. She sank into the chair beside him and looked at him expectantly. Tyson had never been more nervous in his life, and he reached for her hand while covertly extracting the ring under the table. He gave her fingers a squeeze and then took a breath to steady his nerves.
    “When I said you were coming to live with me, I’m not sure what you had in mind, but I was thinking in the terms of forever. Before your near death experience, I had planned to ask you a really important question. It’s part of the reason I wanted you to sleep over that night, but things didn’t go as planned. Dacey, I hope you know how much I care about you, how much I admire you, and how much I…” Did he dare say the “L” word?
    “How much you what?” she asked.
    “How much I love you. I can’t think of anything else to call it. I’ve never been in love before, so I suppose