Vivian Arend - Rocky Mountain Desire

Hope grinned.

Marion chose that moment to return, and the conversation turned to other topics. Hope listened with contentment, her pleasure increasing when the guys rambled back into the room. Matt made a beeline for her side and wrapped himself around her. Taking her into his arms, his family.

His heart? If she was lucky—

No, if they worked at it right.

The noises of the Spring Fair rose and fell around her as Hope hurried through the freestanding booths toward the main hall. There were too many things on her to-do list and not enough hours in the day right now. Which was wonderful, because it meant the shop was in full swing and doing well, and terrible because she hadn’t seen Matt in nearly three weeks.

They’d talked on the phone, briefly. When his phone didn’t die, or he didn’t get called away for the arrival of another calf, or he wasn’t crashing from exhaustion. The ranch was small enough they dealt with calving season with just the Coleman boys, but big enough they were run ragged keeping up. And when the April calving was completed, they’d be busy in the fields.

She’d been tempted to go over and crawl into his bed. To be there when he did stumble in, but figured that wouldn’t be fair when he was burnt out. Last thing he needed was her keeping him from his well-deserved sleep.

Even though she ached to be back in his arms.

Ahead was the wall where the quilts up for auction were displayed, large banners at their sides announcing the sponsors’ names.

The Thompsons had completed a simple four-patch, and she had to say she was impressed. The dark colours the guys had picked went together well, as did the bright reds and whites of the fire hall’s contribution. In all, there were eight offerings, ranging from a baby quilt to a slightly lopsided queen-sized. She’d hung them the previous night with the fire chief’s assistance, pleased to be able to give back to the place she’d chosen as her home community.

The only quilt missing when they’d set things up had been the Colemans’. Matt had called earlier in the week and promised it would be delivered by that morning. Hope had to wiggle through the crowds waiting and pointing upward, shuffling slowly along the line as they dropped their raffle tickets into the bags for the fundraiser. A whisper went ahead of her and the faces turning toward her were smile-filled—as if they all knew a secret she didn’t.

“She’s here…”

A path opened, and Hope wondered what was going on. “Don’t let me get in your way. I don’t need to do anything else for the raffle.”

Gramma Martin stood to the side and ushered her ahead. “Oh, there’s one more thing you need to take care of this morning.”

Shoot. Had one of the quilts fallen off? She hurried forward, gaze darting over the wall, but she couldn’t see anything wrong with the display. There was an extra quilt tacked up on the right edge—the space she’d left for the Colemans’ contribution. She looked eagerly to see what they’d managed to come up with.

They’d made a wall hanging. Smaller in size, maybe two feet along each side, a little rough in the finishing, but still a quilt by any definition of the word. A border filled with flying geese surrounded four different squares. A log-cabin patch on the bottom left, a lopsided star in the upper right, the brand for the SP Coleman ranch burnt straight onto a piece of fabric, and a…

Hope moved closer to examine the final square. Half triangles of icy blue contrasted against a buttery yellow. The occasional solid square strategically placed—it wasn’t the prettiest pattern she knew of, but she was swallowing hard as she reached to touch it.

Single wedding ring.

Did Matt know the symbolism of what he’d picked?

A long piece of thin twine was tacked directly in the middle of the patch, and something shiny flashed where it was nestled against the knot. Oh my God, maybe he did know.

There was a ring tied to the quilt and she was standing in front of a crowd of people and if what she thought was happening, Matt had just proposed to her and yet he was nowhere to be seen.

Her cheeks flamed hotter by the second, but she managed to get the bow undone, even with shaking fingers. The shimmer of pale gold slid down the coarse twine to land in her palm.

There were tiny diamonds on the top ridge, the gold band worn but beautiful. Behind her back, Hope heard whispers of conversation, but no one came right out and said anything. Asked anything.

And all she seemed to be able to do was stare. He’d made a quilt and used it to propose?

“He was supposed to be here.”

Hope twirled to find Mrs. Coleman smiling at her. “He…I…”

Yeah, speaking was going real fine this morning.

“The boy’s been burning the candle at both ends trying to get this done and deal with the calves. You want me to take over for you? Man the raffle table?”

Hope nodded, her fingers playing with the ring, clutching it like a lifeline.

Mrs. Colman smiled. “You go on.”

In the middle of turning away, Hope paused. She moved to the wall and removed the Coleman quilt. She couldn’t possibly let it be auctioned off. She folded it carefully, pressing it against her chest before trying to find her voice.

“Whatever the top amount is given for the other raffled quilts, I’ll match it for this one.” She looked up at Matt’s mother. “Do you think that would be okay?”

Marion Coleman grinned. “Nope, it won’t work, because Mike and I already said we’d double it.”

Hope bit her lip, fought the tears. “Really?”

“Matt talked my husband into making a quilt square. You think it’s gonna be up on anyone’s wall but family?”

Hope gasped out a laugh. There was more to the story than she’d imagined.

Marion waved a hand. “Now, go on. Go find Matt.”

Quilt tucked under her arm, ring squeezed tight in her fingers, probably the goofiest grin ever on her face. She somehow made it back to the parking lot and headed toward the Colemans’, wondering where to start looking.

Her first guess was right. She pulled in next to his truck outside his trailer and jumped down. A spring breeze floated past, songbirds escorting her on the trip to the front door and inside.

The quiet was all the hint she needed to find him, stomach down on his bed, face turned to the side and completely relaxed as he slept like a rock.

She didn’t wake him. Just stood there and soaked in the sight. He’d stripped down to boxers and dirty socks, his feet hanging off the bed as if attempting to keep the sheets clean.

The muscles in his back moved as he shifted position, rolling halfway to his back. Long, delicious arms, his wide muscular thighs, six-pack on his abdomen visible even as he lay in repose.

Waking him up seemed cruel. She’d wait until he came around on his own. It wasn’t as if she didn’t have enough to entertain herself, looking him over.

“You going to stay way over there, or come and give me some sugar?”

Hope threw decorum out the window and pounced, body slamming against him as she offered her lips.

He wasn’t as asleep as she’d thought. Not from the way he took her body under his, heavy erection pressed to her thigh, tongue and teeth working her mouth, her neck.

“I’ve missed you.” He breathed the words against her chest before going in for a second round.

“Missed you too. I didn’t want to bother you.”

Matt lifted off where he’d been using her as a chew toy, nibbling along her bra. “You bother me by not being here, got it?”

Hope nodded. Then she didn’t know what to say. There was a ring in her pocket and a quilt on the side table, both things that seemed to ask a pretty big question, but she wasn’t sure how to turn the conversation that direction.