ELI HELD HIS BREATH. He wasn’t a fool. The odds of Reagan giving him a chance to fix this were slim to none. Hell, even if she gave him the chance, it didn’t mean she’d let her heart rule her mind. It only meant she’d hear what he had to say before she left him standing in a cloud of dust.
When he’d arrived at the ranch yesterday at noon, Eli had been surprised at the quiet but respectful welcome he’d received from the cowboys in the pens. They’d directed him to his brothers, who’d been up at the house putting together lunch.
Cade and Ty had been happy to see him but wary, both well aware Reagan had returned within a day of leaving with him. It had taken some explaining, a copy of his bank statements and a few raised voices before they’d settled around the table to talk things out.
Eli explained he’d pulled all his available cash together and, in a move of absolute irony, hired an attorney to liquidate his estate and all assets. Eli could’ve done it himself, but he hadn’t wanted to lose whatever hope remained with Reagan. The sooner he could get to her, the sooner he could start to make this right.
He’d made arrangements to pay off the revolving debt he held, from student loans to the balance on his credit card. The cash he held in hand plus what he expected from the sale of his physical property would fund the changes he intended to propose here at the ranch. At what would now be his permanent home. In the midst of all the work he’d been doing to come back for good, he’d come up with a very viable plan to save the Bar C—he wanted to turn the place into a fully operational dude ranch.
His father was gone. He had nothing left to prove to the old man. Eli was proud of the man he’d become, and he had a lot to offer a new business opportunity. He’d only had to convince his brothers.
At first, Eli believed Cade was going to pass out. He ranted and raved about tourists and initial investments and the liability of having kids around the place. But when Eli opened his laptop and shared the potential income figures for the first fully operational year? Cade had gone silent.
Ty had watched and listened, and then he’d nearly driven Eli to his knees. “If it means you’re home to stay? I’m in.”
They’d talked for hours, his brothers rallying around his idea with more enthusiasm than he could have hoped for. He was stunned by their support of his choice to call the ranch home once again. But it was more than that.
Eli realized for the first time in his life that these two men, his brothers, cared about his happiness. His well-being mattered to them, and their instinct was to put his needs before their own if it meant he got his shot at being happy. It had humbled him, rendering him speechless. It was Ty who’d first understood his dilemma and simply hugged him, thumping him on the back hard enough to knock loose the wedge of emotions between his shoulder blades.
Cade had stepped up to him and held out his hand, his gaze sliding temporarily to Ty and then back. “I’m not hugging you, but welcome home, man. It’s been too long coming.”
Eli had retrieved his bags, carrying only two suitcases of worldly goods that he’d deemed necessary from his old life. The rest was inconsequential, material stuff he had no emotional ties to. He dumped the bags in his childhood room and returned to the kitchen to find Cade twisting tops off Coors Light bottles and handing them around.
His middle brother took a long swallow and focused on Eli. “How’d you screw things up with Reagan?”
He felt the urge to lie, but he found himself spilling his guts like a teenage girl to her two BFFs. It was miserable. It was embarrassing. It was irritating. But above all? It was painful.
They’d argued about the best way to approach her, but in the end, Eli had put his foot down. “This isn’t about you guys. It’s about her. And me. And how bad I screwed up. I have to prove to her I’m not the man who shoved her out the door Thursday night and that I want her for who she is. If I can’t do that—I don’t deserve her.”
They’d agreed and a plan had come together, a plan that would make it very clear to Reagan exactly who had possession of his heart.
* * *
ELI HADN’T SLEPT a single minute all night. Cade and Ty had hunted Reagan down this morning as planned and, brothers being brothers, had piled into Cade’s truck with him and headed to the Jensen place for the emotional showdown.
Now he took a measured step toward her. “I’d like to talk to you,” he said softly.
“Stop treating me like an animal that might spook,” she snapped.
“Honey, I’ve never seen so much of the whites of your eyes,” Ty called out.
“Shut up, Ty,” Reagan and Eli said at the same time.
She looked at him with wary confusion. “What are you doing here?”
Eli shifted his weight from foot to foot. “I came home.”
She coiled her hair on her head and pushed her hat on tight. “Well, enjoy your stay.” She turned away from him and started for her truck.
“I’m here for good, Reagan.”
She stumbled to a stop and wheezed out a single word. “What?”
“I quit my job. A legal firm is liquidating my Austin estate. I’m home. For good. Might practice a little law on the side here if we need the money, but that’s another discussion. For now? You need to know I’m here to stay.” He stepped forward. “But none of it means anything without you. First, though, I have to apologize. Hear me out. Please.”
“You want to apologize?” she nearly shouted as she spun to face him. “Fine. Act like a normal man and pick up the phone. Don’t orchestrate an ambush.” She issued a sharp whistle and Brisket came to her side.
He’d rehearsed what he’d say to her. He’d planned his approach, practiced his lines, his tone, his delivery. But it hit him right then that this wasn’t court. This was life, and he had one shot to plead his case.
“Reagan, stop,” he snapped. “You can’t run away from this. We are going to settle things between us.”
“Oh, hell,” he heard Cade mutter.
“It gets ugly, you get to pin her, Cade. I’d rather deal with him,” Ty said just loud enough to be heard.
She slowly rounded on him, her surprise clear. “You want to do this here? Now? There are witnesses, Eli. The whole world will know everything you say and do. No way to hide it. Not in this county.”
“I’ll get the Watsons on speakerphone if it’ll get you to give me five minutes.”
“You keep the Watsons away from me,” she bit out.
“Then who? Who do you want to hear this? Name them, and I’ll make it happen.”
“Why are you doing this?” she asked quietly. “Twice wasn’t enough? You need a trifecta of hurts to make sure I’m clear on where you stand?” He saw a hard shiver raced through her before she whipped away from him.
“I want to stand beside you, as your lover, your partner, your husband. For the rest of our lives.”
* * *
REAGAN TRIPPED TO a stop. “Don’t,” she said, voice breaking.
“Look at me, Reagan.”
She shook her head.
His shadow covered her first, then he moved around her. “You won’t come to me, then I’ll come to you. From now on, baby. Every time you leave, I’ll come to you.”
Reagan’s heart stumbled in her chest as he took her hands in his. “I can’t marry you,” she said, voice breaking.
“That’s only because I haven’t officially asked yet.” Pulling a ring from his pocket, Eli went down on both knees in front of her. “You told me love shouldn’t have to beg. You were right. But it should be willing to. If begging’s the only card a man’s got up his sleeve, then it’s the hand he plays and pride be damned. I’m not down on one knee, Reagan. You’ve taken me down to both. This is what I’ve got to offer you—a lifetime of humility, humor, honesty and...” He scratched his chin then grinned up at her. “Oh, yeah. That other thing. I love you, Reagan Matthews. The strong, proud woman in front of me in jeans, a hat and cowboy boots. I wasn’t brave enough to say it before. I kept thinking I’d get around to it when the time was right. And then I almost missed my window altogether. Give me the honor and the privilege of loving you to the end of my days.”
In all her years, she’d never expected to find Elijah Covington kneeling in cow crap with a whopper of a diamond ring in one hand, his hat in his other and his heart in his eyes. For her. Only her.
“And if I say no?” she asked quietly.
He swallowed hard. “That’s your right. But it’s my right to keep asking until you change your mind.”
“You ought to know he’s got a degree in arguing,” Ty called out.
“Shut up,” Cade whispered, wiping at his eyes.
“Bro, are you crying?” Ty asked loudly. “You’re not the one he’s asking to marry him.”
Cade boxed Ty’s ear. “Shut up before your face finds out how deep the sludge is in the stock tanks.”
“Shutting up, you big weenie,” Ty muttered.
Eli looked up at Reagan. “Don’t make me chase you, Doc. I learned the hard way that with the horses these days, a man only gets three swings. This is my third.”
“I never stopped loving you,” she whispered.
Eli surged to his feet and wrapped her in a hard embrace. “Ditto that, baby. You were always the one. I’ve never loved another.” He leaned away just enough to see her face. “I don’t expect to replace Luke. I don’t,” he insisted when she opened her mouth to speak. “I’d rather honor his memory by taking the best care of you I know how.”
“And how are you going to do that?” she asked, smiling up at him.
He kissed the tip of her nose. “By adding your name to the deed to the dude ranch.”
“Dude ranch?” she asked, stunned.
“The Bar C will be undergoing major renovations and should be open for business come late spring. We’ll be a fully operational dude ranch catering to people who want the true Wild West experience.”
“You’re insane.”
“Based on his numbers, we’re going to be making bank,” Ty called out.
Eli grinned. “I’ll have the means to support myself—it will support both of us, actually, if you want to work alongside me. Regardless, you say yes and you’ll never be completely free of me again, Doc. Think long and hard on this.”
But she didn’t need to. “Ty?” she called out, gripping Eli’s hand and backing toward the Jensens’ barn. “Keep the Jensens out of their barn for a half hour.”
She squealed when Eli hoisted her over his shoulder and started for the truck. “To hell with that. We’ve got a barn of our own. Stay the hell out of it this afternoon, brothers.”
“I love you, Elijah Covington,” she said softly as he settled her into the passenger seat of her truck.
“And I love you...” he said, and grinned, “Doc Covington.”
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from ROLLING LIKE THUNDER by Vicki Lewis Thompson.