“No problem,” he said, grinning. Tm a physician. I can heal myself.”

Sarah's mouth curved into her Mona Lisa smile. “You would think so.”

He sobered as he drank in the sight of her face. “I did think so until I found out there wasn't a damn thing I could do to fix my broken heart. I came down here to look for a specialist I know, someone who helped me heal once before. But I thought I was going to have to go all the way to Ohio to- find her.”

“Oh, Matt,' she whispered, tingling all over with love. “You really did come back for me?”

“I had to. I found out I couldn't live without you. I didn't want to.” He glanced away, taking a deep breath and gathering courage, then his eyes found hers again. “I know what it would cost you to marry me, Sarah. I don't feel like I have the right to ask you, but I'm going to. I know what your family means to you, but I'll give you a family. Ill give you all the family you want. And I'll give you the chance to learn and to be anything you ever dreamed of being. I love you so much, Sarah Troyer,” he said, his dark eyes filling. “I thought I loved you enough to let you go, but I love you more than that. I love you so much I want to see you grow and flourish.”

Sarah tried to swallow down the knot of emotion in her throat and smile. “I guess I could grow some,” she said, teasing. “Seeing as how I'll be needing new clothes anyway.”

Matt didn't laugh. There was still too much hanging in the balance for joking. He wanted to believe she was saying she wanted him, but he needed to hear the actual words. “Do you mean it, Sarah? Are you willing to give up everything you have to be with me?”

She reached up and brushed her fingertips against the scar on his chin, her eyes soft and shining with love. “I have nothing without you.”

“Then why were you leaving?” Matt asked, his voice straining against the pain of the question.

“I wasn't leaving. I was coming to you. I love you, Matt Thorne. I don't know much about your world except that I want to be in it if youTl have me.”

The hydraulics of the big bus beside them hissed, and the doors snapped open like the mouth of some giant beast. Matt glanced up at the destination sign above the windshield. Minneapolis. All the tension drained out of him in a rush, leaving him feeling weak and dizzy. He threw his head back and let out a whoop of joy that turned heads all up and down Jesse's Main Street. The life force that seemed to have been missing from him for the last week surged inside him once again.

He grabbed Sarah against him and twirled her around, delighting in her squeals of surprise and embarrassment. As he set her down, he drove his fingers into her hair, sending hairpins shooting, setting free the thick mass of brown silk that fell in waves to her hips. He bent his head to kiss her, drinking in the taste of her as if she were the finest, sweetest wine, and she wound her arms around his neck and melted against him.

“Hey!” the bus driver called out the door. “Are you getting on or not?”

“No,” Matt said. He waved the bus on, never taking his eyes off the small, pretty woman who would bask in the glow of his love for the rest of his life, who would give him joy and children and make Ins world bright and new.

“Go on without us,” he said. “We're already home.”





About the Author

TAMI HOAG'S novels have appeared regularly on national bestseller lists since the publication of her first book in 1988. She lives in California.





All rights reserved.

Copyright © 1991 by Tami Hoag.