Two men got out of the helicopter, dressed in black and looking quite commando. At the sight of Natalia, they both bowed.

At that, Mrs. Pig stopped snorting. Pickles went silent. Even Sally stopped sneering cynically and straightened.

But Tim…Tim felt his heart stop. In the back of his mind, he’d known, he’d always known, but he still felt shell-shocked. She was a princess. She was royal. And if he so much as blinked, she was going to pop out of his life as fast as she’d popped into it. Knowing he had to do something to assuage this terrible feeling that nothing was going to be the same ever again, he reached for her, needing to put his hands on her, needing to feel hers on him.

The two men in black blocked him.

Natalia gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head, and they stepped back, but just barely. He and Natalia were completely surrounded. No more being alone.

Which meant anything he wanted to say would have to be said in front of everyone.

“Goodbye,” Natalia said softly, her eyes shining. “I know it didn’t quite work out for you, but I want you to know…it was lovely.”

“Natalia, I’m not ready to say goodbye.”

“Then move out of the way, Ace.” Sally stepped in front of him, and with a sort of bewildered, affectionate smile on her mouth, she looked at Natalia. “So. It’s true. You weren’t crazy after all.”

Natalia looked at Tim and made his heart catch. “I wouldn’t say that.”

“Yeah.” Sally caught the glance between her brother and Natalia. “Look, there’s a few things you should know. I was rough on you, and I’m sorry for that.”

“No, you’re not.” But Natalia smiled.

So did Sally. “Okay, I’m not. I’m tough on everyone. But I am sorry if I ever hurt your feelings. It’s just the way you looked at my brother.” She lifted a shoulder. “You scared me because I knew you could hurt him. But then you kept trying hard to please us. You kept smiling. You kept working really hard. For us. I like that, Natalia. And even more shocking…I like you.”

“What do you know.” Natalia’s smile went a little shaky. “You’re a big softie, too.”

“Yeah.” Sally cleared her throat. “So here’s the bottom line. Your food is weird. We don’t like it. But as I just mentioned, we like you.” She startled them both when she leaned in and gave Natalia a hug. “Take care of yourself,” she whispered softly.

Tim watched the emotions flicker over Natalia’s face. She looked shocked. Overwhelmed. And near tears. His ranch hands looked the same.

Red jerked his chin toward Natalia and tried to tell Tim something. “Keep her” he mouthed.

Keep her. As if it could ever be that simple.

“Stop eating candy bars and snack food for meals,” Natalia said as she hugged Sally back.

“I will,” Sally promised, stepping aside for her brother.

Tim kept his eyes on Natalia. If she walked away, princess or not, his life would never be the same, not without her smile, her laughter, her constant challenging. She made him a better person, she opened up his heart, and he couldn’t let her go. “Natalia.”

When he stepped closer, the guards did, too. He glanced at them. “Can we have a moment alone?”

“No,” one of them said.

“Fine.” He took Natalia’s hands. “But there’s something I want to say.”

She was already impatient to be gone, glancing back at the helicopter. “Yes?”

“Don’t go.”

Her head whipped back to his, her eyes huge and wide. She shot a quick glance at the two guards, then Amelia, before looking back at him. “What?”

“I said don’t go.”

“But…” She wet her lips with her tongue, then swallowed hard. “The job was temporary. I’ve got a ride. That was your whole thing, making sure I was taken care of, and now, you can see that I will be.”

He didn’t release her hands. “This has nothing to do with any job, or seeing you taken care of.”

“What does it have to do with?”

She wanted to know right here, right now, in front of everyone.

“Do it,” Red said in a stage whisper beneath his breath. “Suck it up and do it.”

There was no sucking it up involved. He wanted to do this.

“Go ahead,” Seth called out. “Tell her.”

Tim tried to block everyone out because they wouldn’t be quiet. “It has to do with us.”

“Yeah, that’s the way to tell her!” Josh pumped his fist in the air. “Take it home, boss!”

“I’m trying.” Tim drew a deep breath. “It has to do with us, and the fact that I love you.”

A chorus of woo-hoos and whistles broke out behind them.

But in the aftermath of the commotion they made, Natalia’s uncompromising silence was like a bomb falling.

13

“YOU LOVE ME,” Natalia repeated in a slow, careful voice she couldn’t believe was hers. So calm. So together. No one could possibly know she’d had to lock her knees together to keep from falling. If she didn’t shut her mouth, the next good wind would surely tip her right over.

“Yes.” Tim smiled rather disarmingly and glanced at their cheering audience. Well, Amelia and the bodyguards weren’t cheering, but everyone else was. “Look, do you think we could go inside to discuss this?”

“Most certainly not, young man.” Amelia shook her umbrella at him. “She wouldn’t be properly chaperoned.”

“Amelia, please.” Natalia smiled apologetically at Tim. “I’ve been with him all week.”

The uptight looking woman straightened to her considerable height and looked…more uptight. “What?”

“Not like that,” Natalia said quickly, and most definitely not meeting Tim’s gaze. “I’ve been working here. Cooking. Helping out. Oh, Amelia…” She hugged the woman again. “I loved it. Working for a wage. Earning my way-”

“You don’t need money.”

“I know, but-”

“Excuse me.” Tim waved a hand in front of them. “Hello? We were in the middle of something here.” To hell with the guards, he took Natalia’s shoulders in his hands and turned her to face him.

Natalia looked into his eyes and everything she’d ever dreamed of were in them. “You love me,” she repeated. “Me, the woman.”

“I love you, the woman. The one who makes me laugh. The woman who brightens up my day. The woman I want to be with when I’m old and gray and can’t find my horse.”

“But I can’t cook American food.”

“No, but there’s always chocolate bars and fast food. Natalia, be mine.”

“What about the princess thing?” She held her breath. At her side, Amelia made a move. Natalia held her back, afraid her beloved companion would close up her umbrella and beat Tim over the head with it before he answered. “Tim? You love me, the woman-but what about me, the princess?”

“She can come along, too.” He cupped her face in his big, warm hands, just the way she loved. “I want all of you, Natalia. The leather, the denim, even the blue lip gloss. I want every part of your life.” He glanced at the men in black. “But them. They won’t come along on the honeymoon, will they?”

Okay now she really couldn’t breathe. “Honeymoon?”

He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, stroked her jaw. “Will you marry me? Make sure I don’t collect too many geriatric animals or eat too much chocolate?”

“I love your geriatric animals,” she said with tears in her voice. “But…”

“There’s a but?” He looked nervous now. “Amelia said no buts, remember?”

“I could never ask you to give up all this,” she whispered. “It means too much. And my home, my family, they mean a lot to me.”

“There has to be a way to compromise,” he said a bit desperately. “I could let Sally run this place half the time. Hell, she does it anyway-”

“Hey,” Sally said in protest.

Natalia gripped his wrist and stared up at him, truly stunned. “You’d leave this ranch? You’d come live with me in a country you’ve never even seen?”

Leaning closer, he kissed her. “Natalia, I’d live on the moon, if that’s where you were. I just want to be with you.”

She couldn’t even blink, for fear this perfect, strong, warm, amazing man would disappear. “I want to live in Texas.”

Amelia cleared her throat.

“I do,” Natalia said without taking her eyes off Tim. “I’m sorry, Amelia. I love him.”

Amelia sniffed, then opened her satchel again and pulled out a purple silk handkerchief, which she brought up to her nose and loudly blew.

Natalia gaped at her. “Amelia?”

Sniff. Sniff.

“Are you…crying?” Natalia had never seen Amelia cry, never.

“Oh, dear.” Amelia blew her nose again, so loudly Mrs. Pig squealed.

Pickles started in, too, but Natalia could only stare at Amelia. “You’re scaring me.”

“You have no idea how long I’ve waited for this event,” Amelia said. “It’s true love. It’s beautiful. You’re going to be so happy.”

“But she hasn’t agreed yet,” Tim said quietly. “Or said…it.”

“No,” Amelia agreed, swiping her eyes. “But she feels it.”

Natalia looked into Tim’s anxious eyes. “I feel it,” she seconded.

“I want to hear you say it.”

She’d never done so before. She’d never even thought it. In fact, before Texas, before Tim, she’d honestly worried about herself, wondering how she’d ever manage to find a man who would love her for her.

That was no longer a fear. In fact, all her fears…gone. “I love you,” she said with the most conviction she’d ever felt. “I love you, Timothy Banning.”

Amelia beamed at Tim through her tears. “See?”

“A moment ago you were ready to clobber me with your umbrella,” Tim pointed out, looking a little baffled by Amelia’s easy affection.

“She’s fierce, but loyal.” Natalia couldn’t help herself. Everything was perfect, and she cried and laughed at the same time. “And I don’t want you to give up anything for me. I really do want to live here.” She looked at Amelia. “You’ll come often.”