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“Are you sure you’re up for this?” Carter asked on a late May morning about two weeks later.
“I’m sure,” Amanda said.
Once again they were paddling a canoe across Elliott Lake.
“Tell me if you get tired.”
“I haven’t done a single physical thing in two weeks,” she protested. “You’re being too protective. My head is fine.”
As far as Carter was concerned, he hadn’t been protective enough, and that was how Amanda had gotten shot in the first place, but he could maneuver the canoe all on his own if she got tired, so he decided not to argue with her.
“I’m glad you agreed to this,” he said instead. “I’ve been wanting to get back out on the water. I don’t mind keeping busy, but we’ve got work enough to fill every spare minute.”
“And I haven’t been much help lately. It feels weird resting while everyone else is scurrying around.”
“You’ve helped a lot at the house,” he said, propelling them forward with his paddle.
Amanda looked over her shoulder, holding her paddle across her knees. “How? By sitting in a chair?”
“By keeping me company while I renovate and answering questions about how you want things done.”
“Well, thanks,” Amanda said, “but I’d rather be working myself. I can’t wait to get back to the library.”
“After your appointment this afternoon, I’m sure you’ll get the go-ahead.” Carter paddled on, directing them toward a small island a fair distance away from the main beach. Tucked in a cove, you couldn’t see it unless you were almost on top of it. Carter escaped here when he really wanted to get away from it all.
“Then I can get back to meal prep, too. I’ve been feeling like a slacker.”
“You needed your rest,” Carter said firmly. “Gage has lunch under control today, so don’t even worry about it.”
“Even guilt wouldn’t make me pass up a picnic on a day like this.” Amanda looked back over her shoulder at the basket Carter had stowed near his feet.
The journey to the island was uneventful. Carter kept a close watch on Amanda and noticed as they neared the cove, she was resting her paddle on her knees more often. Just as he thought, she was better but maybe not a hundred percent yet.
He angled his paddle to steer them into the cove and was rewarded when he heard Amanda give a small exclamation of surprise.
“It’s beautiful here,” she said softly. “Is that an island?”
“Sure is.”
Carter slowed the canoe with a few backstrokes. “Before we get there, I’ve got something I want to say.”
Amanda half turned on her seat. “What?”
“Remember the first time we went out on the water together?”
“Of course.”
A glow of satisfaction filled him at her smile. They wouldn’t be trying those kinds of acrobatics today, but he relished the sparkle in her eye. “The first time I saw you I knew you were special, but after we made love in the canoe, I was thoroughly hooked.”
Amanda laughed. “That’s what sold you on me? My sexual dexterity?”
“It might have sealed the deal.” He grew serious. “I mean it, Amanda. The minute I saw you get out of your plane, I wanted to marry you.”
“It didn’t take me long to want to marry you, either.”
Carter pulled a small velvet-covered box out of his pocket. He’d gone to town the day before to fetch it. Amanda let out a shaky breath when she saw it. Her gaze lifted to his, her eyes wide.
“You haven’t changed your mind, have you?” he asked her.
She shook her head quickly. “Have you?”
“I want you more than ever. I want to spend the rest of my life making you happy. Keeping you safe. Showing you how much I cherish you.”
There was too much distance between them. He set his paddle down carefully and slowly edged forward over the first thwart to the yoke at the center of the boat. Amanda just as carefully made her way to join him.
They knelt, facing each other in the middle of the canoe, the yoke between them, just as they had the first time they went for a paddle.
Carter braced his knees wide to steady the boat. He still held the small box in one hand. With the other he touched her cheek. “Will you marry me?” he asked.
“I already said yes,” she reminded him. “Of course I’ll marry you.”
“You were in the hospital. You’d just been shot. I wanted to give you the chance to change your mind.”
“I’m never going to change my mind.” Amanda carefully rose on her knees and kissed him. “You are stuck with me, Carter Elliott. I’m not going anywhere.”
“I’m not going anywhere, either.”
He kissed her back, savoring the taste of her and the knowledge he could share this with her forever. Easing away, he opened the box to show her the ring inside.
“Oh, Carter.” Amanda kept still as he lifted it out and put it on her finger.
“Do you like it?” His voice was husky. The act of giving her the ring felt more significant than he’d expected.
“I love it.” She lifted her hand to examine the triple diamonds on the band. “I never knew I could be this happy.”
He pocketed the box, wanting both hands free to touch his fiancée. As their kiss grew more heated, it was harder to keep the canoe steady.
“We’d better take this to shore,” he murmured against her cheek.
Amanda shook her head. “I wish we could stay right here. Do it like last time.”
“Not today but someday soon,” he promised her. “Stay right there. I’ll take us in.” He kissed her again, made his way back to the stern and paddled until they reached the island. Once there he scrambled out and dragged the canoe on shore. After helping Amanda out, he fetched their picnic and spread a blanket on the sand. “We can stay here as long as you like.”
“This has to be paradise,” she said as he took her in his arms.
“I agree.”
Just as Carter predicted, the doctor cleared Amanda for all normal activity at her appointment late that afternoon. Back at the Ridge, she shooed Carter out of the town hall kitchen and happily took on the chore of making dinner. It felt good to be active again after her weeks of enforced rest. Thinking about what had happened at the mine could still make her shaky, but that was fading. Her father would remain in custody until his trial, and Cab assured her he’d do jail time for coming after her. She didn’t look forward to testifying, but she knew Carter would be with her and that everyone on Elliott Ridge would look out for her from here on in. Even the mill workers had made it a point to check in to see how she was doing these past two weeks. Once or twice, she’d caught sight of Dennis lingering nearby. Carter said the old man was patrolling the Ridge constantly, looking for more invaders, as he called them.
She had put together a big pot of chili and was setting some corn bread in the oven when her phone buzzed.
To Amanda’s surprise, Melissa’s name showed on its screen.
She didn’t know if she wanted to answer the call, but in the end she did. She’d only wonder what her sister wanted to say if she declined it.
“Hello?”
“Amanda? It’s me.”
“I know,” Amanda said shortly. She really had no desire to talk after everything Melissa did.
“I just wanted to say—I’m sorry.”
Amanda grabbed another pan of cornbread and put it in the oven, untouched by her sister’s sentiment.
“Did you hear me? I said I’m sorry,” Melissa repeated.
“I heard you.” She just didn’t believe her. Melissa had gone out of her way to get her address and give it to their father, knowing full well he meant to come and steal Afternoon in Sunshine and Shadow.
“I didn’t know he had a gun,” Melissa said. “I had no idea he’d hurt you.”
“Did you think he’d show up and we’d have tea? You knew I wouldn’t give him that painting.”
“I don’t see why not.”
Amanda shut her eyes. The worst of it was that Melissa probably didn’t. She’d become so self-centered she thought everyone was the same.
“I’m not a criminal,” Amanda said. That was as blunt as she possibly could be.
“You’re saying I am?”
“You stole a painting. What would you call it?”
“Making sure I had a future. You think dancers earn a decent living? That’s the problem with you, Amanda. You have no idea what it’s like to be creative. You’re content to be a drudge in an office building. Not all of us are cut out for that.”
“You know what? That’s not my problem. You’re not my problem.” It felt good to say it. All these years, it had hurt so badly to know her sister hardly thought about her. She’d felt it was some personal failing that caused Melissa to barely remain in touch. Now she knew that wasn’t the case. Melissa wasn’t capable of a true relationship.
“I’m your sister. And I need a place to stay. I have to stick around until the trial. And my dance company let me go…” She trailed off. Amanda wondered if that was a lie, too. Had her sister quit in anticipation of the millions she thought their father would get for the painting?
Cab had told her Melissa probably wouldn’t get jail time because she had no prior record.
“You can’t stay with me,” Amanda said. She never dreamed she’d say such a thing to the sister she once had adored, but she wasn’t a child anymore, and neither was Melissa.
“Why not?”
“Because you can’t. Bye, Melissa. I hope you figure it all out.”
“But—Amanda!”
Amanda hung up.
She tried to recapture her previous happiness as she finished loading the pans of corn bread into the oven and shut its door, but the day had lost its luster, so when Carter walked into the kitchen, she was happy to see him. He was followed by a beaming woman who looked to be in her late sixties. Gray-haired and thickset, she looked around the kitchen with approval.
“Nothing’s changed!”
“You’re right, it hasn’t. Except Amanda is new,” Carter said. “Amanda, this is Carolyn Snyder, an old friend of the family. Carolyn, this is my fiancée, Amanda Stakewell.”
“Nice to meet you,” Carolyn said. “Welcome to Elliott Ridge.”
“Carolyn and her husband and kids used to live in number thirty-one,” Carter explained.
“And I’m moving back,” Carolyn proclaimed. “Just have to do the paperwork. Imagine, it’ll be the first house I’ve ever owned. We rented back in the day, and I’ve been renting in town ever since everyone moved away.”
“We’ll be glad to have you back,” Carter said.
“I look forward to having a neighbor,” Amanda said, surprised by this turn of events. Carolyn looked like a very comfortable neighbor to have.
“Just one street away. I’m working on my kids, too. Maybe I can convince one or two to move back, as well,” Carolyn said.
“We’d love to have them,” Carter said. “We’d better keep going, though. I’m giving Carolyn a tour of the place so she can be sure she wants to settle here. It’s not quite the same as it was,” he explained to Amanda.
“It’s good enough for me,” Carolyn said. “I’ve missed the place for twelve years. Wild horses couldn’t keep me away. See you soon, neighbor,” she said to Amanda.
“See you.”
Amanda found herself smiling when they left. Maybe the day wasn’t ruined, after all.
“Good morning,” Carter said when he woke up on his wedding day and found Amanda kissing him. It was the third week of June, and the sun had been up for hours, breaking through the forest canopy to light up their room.
“Morning, sleepyhead. It’s time to get up. We’ve got a busy day ahead of us.”
He chuckled. “You’re right, we do.” He reached for her, but she wriggled away.
“Plus you need to open your present first.”
“Present? Now we’re talking.” Carter pushed onto one elbow and took the tiny gift-wrapped square Amanda handed him. “What’s this?”
“Open it,” she urged him.
He undid the elaborate bow and tore open the wrapping. Inside was a dollar bill.
“Never did pay you for this house,” she said with an impish grin.
“I suppose now you’ll want paperwork saying it’s all yours.” The lawyer Megan had suggested had been working on that paperwork. Carter had it ready to go downstairs, which Amanda knew. He’d figured they didn’t need the formality of exchanging a dollar, but they did need a notary present before they signed on the dotted line.
In the weeks since Amanda was shot, they’d made great strides with their renovation, and eight days ago they’d traveled together to Los Angeles to pack up her apartment and bring her things to Elliott Ridge. Now the house was full of her treasures, but her little bear figurine still sat on the dresser, taking pride of place.
“It really did turn out to be a good-luck charm,” she’d told him last night.
Carter supposed it had. If a black bear hadn’t scared her father on his wild scramble after Amanda, his shot might not have gone wild. Carter hoped Ian Stakewell would end up in prison for a long, long time. His trial would start soon. Carter meant to do everything he could to see that justice was served.
“Absolutely,” Amanda said now. “This is my house. Of course, as soon as the ceremony is over, it’ll be yours again, too.” She leaned over and kissed him on the nose.
“Do you like your house?” This time when he reached for her, she came willingly. She didn’t wear anything to bed these days, complaining he was like a furnace lying next to her, so there was nothing to come between them when their bodies met.
“I love my house,” Amanda said. “Almost as much as I love you.” She moaned with pleasure as he swept his hands over the curves of her body, molding her closer to him. When she pushed up to straddle him, giving him a full frontal view, Carter found it hard to hold back his appreciation.
“You are so beautiful,” he told her as desire curled through him. “Have I told you how much I love you?”
“Once or twice.” She leaned forward, her breasts swinging into reach of his mouth. Carter stopped talking then and lavished his attention on them, making sure no inch of her was left out of his worship.
No matter how many times they came together like this, Carter felt like it was the first time. Her skin felt so good under his fingers. His explorations of her only heightened his desire to come to know her more.
When Amanda lifted her hips, Carter shifted into position and entered her smoothly, groaning as he pushed inside her. Amanda arched her back, taking him in, making him feel like he’d found home.
“Amanda,” he said, but that was the extent of his ability to express himself with words.
From now on his body would have to tell her what he wanted to say.
She trusted him.
Perched on top of Carter, letting him fill her and caress her and coax her to new heights of desire, Amanda finally knew what it meant to let another person have full access to her heart.
Carter treasured her in a way no one ever had. She felt safe in his arms, capable of allowing him to push the boundaries of their intimacy to bring them both pleasure. With Carter, she’d learned to love her body—and his—in a way she’d never thought possible, and that capacity for growth extended to their time out of bed, as well.
She had feared people. Amanda had never admitted that to herself, outside of a healthy terror of Buck’s potential for violence, but it was true. She was afraid other people might act as erratically as her father and Buck had. Or would abandon her the way Erik and Maddy had. Then she’d met Carter and learned how to trust. Now she was ready to rejoin the world.
Every day she learned something new about what it meant to live with a man who truly wanted the best for her. His smallest gestures sometimes brought her close to tears. The touch at the base of her spine when he ushered her through a door. The fresh flowers that appeared on her bedside table. The way he always joined in when it was her turn to clean up after a meal.
Carter was there for her. He was steady. Strong. Kind. And his body made her come alive. Feeling him inside her, moving with him as one, made her feel so good it was hard not to cry out with it.
He knew exactly how to bring her to the brink, pull back and extend the experience and then bring her to the brink all over again. When she thought she couldn’t hold on another moment, Carter gripped her hips, plunged deeper into her and brought her straight over the edge.
Amanda arched back, cried out and rode the waves of her release as they expanded within her. When Carter grunted a moment later, bucking against her in his own release, she wasn’t surprised. They were always in sync like this.
She let his love flow through her, riding the storm until it subsided, before easing down onto his broad chest. She snuggled close, pressing her mouth to the corner of his jaw, loving this man so much she thought she couldn’t contain it.
His arms wrapped around her, holding her there. “I’m going to get to spend my life with you,” Carter said.
“I’m going to get to spend my life with you,” she repeated, understanding the wonder in his voice.
He pulled back an inch or two, the better to see her face. “I’m going to be the man you need me to be. I promise.”
“You already are.”