A Real Cowboy Always Protects by Stephanie Rowe

Chapter Thirty

"Logan?"

He opened his eyes at the sound of the voice he'd been burning to hear for hours, and then smiled when he saw Skylar peeking around the corner of the door to his hospital room. "Skylar." His voice was rough and scratchy, but none of that mattered. Not when she was there. "You're all right?"

She nodded. "Your family thought I should be the first to come see you." She smiled nervously. "They know we're not really engaged, but they told the hospital I was your fiancée and told me to come in first. Is that okay? I could go get Chase—"

"Come to me." He lifted his hand. "I need you."

Relief rushed across her face and she hurried across the room. She grabbed his hand and sank down into the chair next to the bed, hugging his hand to her chest. "I love you," she blurted out. "You're my forever. I'm sorry I was afraid—"

"No." He shook his head.

"No?" Her face fell. "You changed your mind?"

"Hell, no." He wanted to grab her and haul her into his arms. "Come here."

"But your stitches—"

"It's fine." He got his body to move to the right and make space for her. "Here."

She smiled and climbed up next to him. He pulled her against him, and she tucked herself against his side. For a long moment, he just held her, breathing in the feel of her against him. "When I saw his shadow fall across you," he whispered. "I thought for a second that I'd screwed up terribly. That I was going to lose you. I've never been so terrified in my life."

"You were terrified?" She laughed against his neck. "You were the one bleeding all over the mountain and unconscious!"

"I'm impossible to kill. I was fine." But he knew it had been close. Closer than he'd ever come, and he knew why. He pulled back slightly so he could look at her face. Her hair was spread over his pillow, her blue eyes full of emotion. "That's it for me, Skylar. I'm not going back. Not even to pack up my stuff. I'm going to have a moving company pack it." He watched her face as he said it, trying to get a sense of where she stood.

She bit her lip, watching him.

"I want you to stay with me. You and Abby." He lifted her hand and gently removed the diamond ring. He held it between his thumb and forefinger, turning it so it sparkled. "Pretty, isn't it?"

She nodded. "It's beautiful."

"A few years ago, I was on a mission in a town in South America. I had to deal with a situation. In the process, I saved the life of a woman and her two children." He'd never forget that moment. He wasn't about to tell Skylar that he saved them by killing her abusive husband, who had locked them all up in their mansion. Her husband had been his target. The family? One of the reasons he'd done what he did. "She gave me that ring as a thank you."

Skylar looked up at him. "Really?"

He nodded. "It was her grandmother's ring. She told me that her grandmother and grandfather had been married for seventy-eight years, and they'd loved each other deeply. She asked me to take it and give it to the woman who would give me the sunshine and freedom that I'd given them by saving their lives."

"That's so beautiful," Skylar whispered.

Logan closed his fist around the ring. "She told me that it would bless me and my wife with the same beautiful lifetime of love and happiness that her grandparents had had." He smiled. "I told her I didn't have a woman. She told me to keep it until I did. That my woman was coming." He smiled at her. "And two weeks later, you moved in across the hall."

Emotions danced in her beautiful blue eyes. "And you gave it to me."

"The moment I met you, I knew the ring was yours. I didn't believe I'd ever be in a position to give it to you, but I knew it was meant for you. Then Eugene happened. A fake engagement was all I thought I'd get, but I was happy for you to have it." He took her hand and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. "But things have changed, right?"

She nodded.

"Because I love you. I always did, but now I own it."

"And I love you," she said. "I always did as well, but now it's real."

He smiled. "Hang on." Gritting his teeth against the pain, he rolled himself off the bed, landing gingerly on his feet.

"What are you doing?" Skylar quickly got up. "Get back in bed."

"I will in a sec. Come over here." He wasn't sure he could make it around the bed, manly man that he was.

Skylar hurried around the bed and took his outstretched hand. "Logan—"

"Shh. I'm busy. Don't interrupt me." He leaned heavily on the hospital bed, and then managed to get himself down on one knee, with only a few choice profanities. Once he was down, he was pretty sure he wasn't going to be able to get back up, but it didn't matter. "Left hand, please."

Skylar was grinning as she held out her hand.

"All right, then." He clasped his hands around it, looking up at her. "I love you madly, deeply, and forever. You've changed my world in a thousand ways. I swear to you that I will stand by you, protect you, and love you every second of every day for the rest of our lives, no matter what. I give you my family, my friends, my legacy, and my heart." He grinned when her eyes began to shine with unshed tears. "Skylar Jones, will you marry me, for real?"

He didn't even have time to hold his breath or get nervous, because she nodded immediately. "Yes," she whispered. "Yes, a thousand times yes. I love you, Logan. Always and forever."

Elation leapt through him, and he held up the ring. "Your finger, ma'am."

She grinned as she watched him slip the sparkling diamond onto her ring finger. "It's a perfect fit," she teased. "What a surprise."

"You're a perfect fit for me." He tugged at her hand. "Come down here and kiss me, baby cakes. I don't think I can get up."

She laughed and fell to her knees, wrapping her arms around him. He drew her carefully against him and kissed her.

His woman.

His fiancée.

His forever.