Savannah wheeled her compact car down the gravel road, heading for Rascal and the sheriff’s department to give her statement concerning the events that had happened at the Circle B earlier that day. Ginger had stayed behind to watch Cody. Later, Ginger would go give her account of the incident, and then head out to pick Todd up at the San Antonio airport.

Ginger’s words kept echoing through Savannah’s brain like a refrain from a catchy tune. If you love someone unconditionally, you have to accept them as they are.

How true. Too bad it had taken two years, a heap of heartbreak, and a confrontation with outlaws to drive home that fact.

She loved Matt. Had loved him since she was twenty-one years old. But she’d been afraid to trust him to be there for her. When she discovered she carried the breast cancer gene, she’d been so afraid of his rejection that she’d rejected him first.

At least that way, she’d been in control, not a victim of fate. But by cutting him off and not even giving him a chance to stay by her side, she’d forfeited so much happiness, so much joy.

He’d told her he loved her. It was up to her to trust him and take him at his word.

Joy engulfed her as she realized lasting happiness might actually be within her grasp. She pushed down on the accelerator, spurring the little car faster. She had to find Matt, tell him just how much she loved him, too.

Matt saw Savannah’s car whiz by him in a blur of blue. Immediately, he braked and did an erratic U-turn. She had to be doing at least seventy. Where was she headed in such an all-fired hurry?

She left him in a billow of dust.

Matt rolled down his window, then grinning, reached out to slap the portable siren onto the roof, gunned the Jeep, and took off after her. The siren wailing, he honked the horn and flashed his lights.

At last, she noticed him and pulled over onto the shoulder.

Matt glided to a stop behind her and threw the Jeep into Park. Without even shutting off the engine, he jumped out.

Her car door slammed closed at the same time his did.

She stood there, wearing a white sundress, the late-evening sun slanting through the soft material so he could see the shape of her slender legs right through the thin cotton. Her honey-blond hair framed her face in soft layers. The sight of her erected a wall of desire in his chest so strong and intense, he almost bit his tongue.

This was the woman he loved with all his heart and soul.

Savannah swallowed hard, staring at the tall, dark, and handsome man in front of her. For once he was hatless, his black hair ruffling in the wind from passing cars. His brown eyes glistened with a determined light. His hard, firm, tanned biceps just begging to be touched and caressed, bulged beneath the sleeves of his red cotton shirt.

Her arms trembled. Her mouth went dry. Her palms instantly were drenched with perspiration.

“Savvy,” he said.

The sound came to her—deep, masculine, provocative. It stirred in her a crescendo of primal emotions. The voice of her lover. The voice lost to her so long ago through sadness and misunderstanding. The voice she’d dreamed of for two long, interminable years.

“Come here,” he croaked and held his arms wide.

Savannah didn’t remember crossing the few yards toward him. She only knew that suddenly she was melting into his embrace like parched ranchland soaking up water.

He planted his mouth on hers in a kiss so powerful, she could scarcely breathe.

Who needed air when she possessed Matt’s lips as her lifeline, she wondered, inhaling the essence of him. Such heaven. Such bliss.

The world around her blurred. The cars flying by, the tinny sound of Matt’s radio wafting through the open Jeep window, and the high grass tickling her shins. None of it penetrated her mind. She experienced only his welcoming kiss.

With thirsty need, he blanketed kisses on her eyelids, her nose, her cheeks, returning time and again to drink from her lips. She marveled at his desperate hunger, astonished she created such urgency in him.

His hands rubbed her neck. His fingers stroked her body, starting from her shoulder blades, kneading downward until both hands massaged the small of her back, then lower to cup her derriere.

He tugged his mouth from her jaw, then nestled his face at the intersection of her throat and shoulder. He nibbled lightly, sending waves of delight contracting throughout her body. She laced her fingers together behind his neck, clinging to this man as if her very life depended on him.

Savannah absorbed his neediness, felt his hands tremble with excitement. She thrilled to the flagrant evidence of his growing passion. A passion equaled only by her own starving fervor.

And the ground shifted beneath her as Matt lifted her off her feet and held her aloft, pressing her tight to his chest like an impossible treasure. A surreal sensation washed over her. She’d dreamed of this reunion for so long, it seemed too good to be true.

She kneaded her fingers through his thick thatch of hair. He kissed her long and hard. A serious kiss by a man who was in love. Joy exploded inside her. Was it true? Did he still love her as he once had? Did he love her as much as she loved him?

The sky was bluer than it had ever been, the sight of his dear face so achingly tender that she wanted to cry. His mouth tasted sweeter than any confection ever concocted. His touch was more evocative than any romantic movie ever filmed. His scent was fragrant than a thousand spices.

Then she heard it. Their song on the radio, radiating out into the gathering dusk, surrounding them, engulfing them, welding them as one. The song he’d played for her on his guitar the very first night they met. “The Twelfth of Never.”

Tears came to her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.

“Savvy?” he asked with a quiver in his voice. Gently he set her down and looked into her eyes, concern knitting his brow.

“It’s okay,” she said, smiling at him through the blur of tears. She swiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. “I’m just so happy.”

He gathered her close again. “You belong to me, Savannah Raylene. You know that, don’t you? Even when you married Gary, we still belonged together. You do understand what I’m saying, don’t you?”

“You don’t mind that I can no longer have children?”

“We’ve got Cody.”

“My body is—”

“Beautiful.”

“I was on my way to find you. I wanted to tell you the same thing. Matt, I accept you unconditionally. You are a lawman, that’s who you are, and I love you for it.”

Matt looked surprised, then a chuckle rumbled through him.

“What’s so funny?”

“I’m not a lawman anymore. I quit my job today.”

“Matt!”

“Yep.”

“You did that for me?”

“Two years ago, I chose my career over you. I was wrong, Savannah. You are the most important thing in the world to me. No job, no career, no vocation should come between us.”

“But you love your job,” she protested.

“I’ll find another job to love.”

“What will you do?” she fretted.

“Who knows? I might go to law school. I’ve also thought about teaching high school. Hell,

I might even put Pat Langley’s nose out of joint and run for sheriff.”

Savannah shook her head. “You can’t quit because of me. Eventually, you’d resent it. You’re not the desk-job type.”

“It’s my choice.”

“I love you for you, and you’re a lawman.”

“Savvy, you and Cody are more important than all the jobs in the world.”

“You’ve got to call Sheriff Langley and get your job back,” she insisted.

He threaded his fingers through his hair. “I feel like a character in an O. Henry story.”

“After that standoff in the barn today with Larkins and Thompson, I finally realized how much your work means to you. You’re a superb detective. It would be a shame for you to quit. And if I love you, I accept you as you are. Just as you accept me, scars, breast cancer gene, and all.”

“Don’t you get it, honey? I no longer want to be at the wrong end of some outlaw’s gun. I want you and Cody. Taking such risks is for bachelors.”

“Matt,” she whispered. “What are you saying?”

“Marry me, Savannah. We can work everything else out. Let’s make a real family for Cody.”

“Oh, Matt.” She sighed.

“Well?” He cocked one eyebrow. “What do you say?”

“I say yes, my darling, oh, yes.”

Gazing into Matt’s eyes, Savannah saw his love shining back at her, as deep and real as her own feelings for him. Her chest tightened. An overflow of happiness inflated her heart. The loneliness and misery of the last two years were instantly swept away.

Fresh tears choked her throat. Rapture bubbled inside her. She’d learned to trust him and with that trust came a serenity she’d never before experienced. From now on, nothing would ever separate them.

“I’ve grown a lot, too,” he said, holding both her hands in his. “I’ve learned false pride is a dangerous thing. I almost lost you because I was too damned stubborn to admit I was hurt.”

“We sure put each other through the wringer, didn’t we?” She smiled.

“Ah, but, Savvy, there’s only one good thing about breaking up.”

“And that is?”

“The kissing and making up.”

“Since our fight lasted two years, I can’t wait to see what the reconciliation is going to be like.”

He bent his head and feathered another kiss along her lips. “I love you, Savannah Raylene Prentiss Markum.”

“I love you, too, Matthew Cody Forrester. Now let’s go home,” she replied, her voice coming out husky. “I can’t wait to get to the making up part.”

“Me, either, babe. Me, either.”