Free What Were You Expecting? by Katy Regnery

unsure and hopeful and nervous all at the same time.
    “I’m just—all I’m saying is…don’t marry Paul.” His fingers laced themselves through hers again so naturally, it was as though they’d done so for a thousand lifetimes. “Marry me .”
    “I need to know why you’re doin’ this.” Her eyes searched his face. “And don’t say it’s because we’re friends, because I’m friends with Paul, too.”
    He swallowed. After last night, he knew what she wanted to hear, and part of him wanted to tell her. I want you. I need you. I’m crazy about you. I care so much for you, I can’t get you out of my head and if you’re going to be anyone’s wife—even if it’s on paper only—you’re going to be mine. But, if he did, he could never take it back. He’d only be confusing things between them further. He’d be giving her the hope of a real marriage when it was something he’d never be able to offer her. Instead he cocked his head to the side and shrugged.
    “I like helping you. I like…you.”
    “That’s all?”
    “Beck saw us together. It was his idea and he’s the one who’ll marry us. If he’s ever called to testify as to the legitimacy of our marriage, he can say we were together from the beginning. The story will play better if it’s me.”
    She flinched, her eyes glistening and crushed in the moonlight, and for a brief, insane moment, he had an urge to take it back and tell her the truth. But that wouldn’t be fair, so he forced himself to stay silent. He clenched his jaw and swallowed, moving back to his position beside her and tugging her forward to resume their walk.
    They crossed over the Gardiner Bridge, which spanned the icy cold Yellowstone River, and Nils gave her the time and space to figure out her answer. His heart thumped with each step they took, hoping she would say yes to his proposal. He couldn’t give her his heart, but in this one way he could offer her something she wanted, he could keep her safe, he could do something important for her. If she’d let him.
    He paused at the middle of the bridge, holding onto the railing with his free hand and looking at the rushing river below.
    “So, what do you say, Maggie May?”
    Her outside hand gripped the cold railing like his, but her inside hand was still braided with his between them. Her answer was soft and a little broken, but clear in his grateful ears. “Okay.”
    He turned to look down at her upturned face and felt a smile burst across his face. He felt like taking her cheeks in his hands and kissing her. He felt like taking her back to his place and making love to her all night. He felt like laughing. She was saying yes to being his wife. Even if it was only on paper. She was saying yes. He brought her knuckles to his lips and brushed them softly, whispering against them, “Yes?”
    “Aye.” Her eyes were wide and surprised as she watched him kiss her hand. When he raised his head, she gave him the impish grin that he loved almost more than anything else in the world, her eyes finally twinkling for him over rosy cheeks. “Yes.”

 
    Chapter 5
     
    Five days later, Maggie left the Prairie Dawn in the capable hands of her assistant, Bethany, crossed the street to sit on a picnic table overlooking the Yellowstone River, and waited for Nils to pick her up. It was finally warming up again so she unzipped her parka, leaning back on her hands and letting the high sun bathe her face as the river rushed furiously below. About thirty yards away, an elk sauntered by slowly, occasionally grazing on the brown and green grass and pointedly ignoring her. Again she experienced the wave of gratitude for Nils Lindstrom’s clumsy, unromantic proposal, gratitude for facilitating her stay in this untamed place that had come to mean so much to her. Gardiner would be her home now—would always be her home—and Nils had made it possible. Whatever unarticulated feelings lay between them, her thanks would never be ambiguous. He had