Chapter Ten
If the mountain wouldn’t go to Mohammed, Mohammed would go to the mountain.
Logan was tired of waiting around for Ari to come to him. He’d woken up this morning to find her gone. His first instinct had been to go looking for her. His entire body still tingled from her touch and he wanted her near him again. In fact, he didn’t want to let her out of his sight ever again. Their lovemaking had sealed the deal for him and he knew he wasn’t ever going let her go again. The tides had changed like Everett had promised it would when they had sex.
Well, they’d made love – all through the night and at various positions that his limbs still shook from. It was the most wonderful experience for him, yet. Not even when he had chased wild pleasures had he been so dazzled by a woman. She was the one. She was the one who would complete him. With her, he forgot everything that tormented him. With her, he found peace.
He intended to go to her right now and tell her every single thing he felt for her.
Of course, he still dreaded that she might refuse him. He tried not to think she would. She’d given herself to him willingly and repeatedly last night; how could she not feel something for him? She had to he kept telling himself. He understood that she might still feel a bit apprehensive about any man, but hadn’t he shown her since she got here—and certainly last night—that he wasn’t at all like her husband? Hadn’t he waited for her to lead the way?
Frustrated that an hour after he woke up, she still hadn’t come to him, he got up and grabbed his shirt and pants. He was almost out of the door before he stepped back and sat again.
What if she didn’t want to see him again?
Logan tortured himself with all kinds of thoughts. What if she really didn’t feel anything for him?
Damn!
He got up to pace the length of the room. He hadn’t been able to step out of the bunkhouse. He hadn’t even seen a soul all morning. Everett must have come in and gone sometime before Logan woke up and hadn’t wanted to disturb him. And here he was, waiting for Ari, expecting her to show up because he knew they needed privacy for the discussion he planned to have with her. But she hadn’t come.
Cursing a blue streak, Logan stormed out of the bunkhouse. He wouldn’t find out anything by staying in all day.
*****
Ari sighed for the umpteenth time.
She was at a park in town, seated on one of the swings and staring off into space. Her head was filled with all kinds of stuff and it was all about Logan. She couldn’t stop thinking about him. For the first time, someone cared selflessly about her and here she was, without a clue about what to do about it. She realized bitterly that Dan had marked her more than she’d imagined.
She was afraid to give Logan the chance to hurt her, to love her – and that was when she knew Dan had really done a number on her other than merely hitting her.
She couldn’t ignore the possibility that she might be jinxed. It was true that Logan was a good man and from all indications, he was willing to do right by her. But what if she was the problem? What if she provoked him into becoming a monster? What if he hit her too? What if her father was right? A good woman never got herself hit. What if she wasn’t good enough?
Ari knew now that she was in love with Logan. She’d started to fall in love with him since she opened her eyes and saw him at the stream that first day. She wouldn’t have slept with him otherwise. She wasn’t that kind of a woman. Dan had met her with her virginity intact upon marriage – yet, he had mistreated her. Ari knew without a doubt that Logan was nothing like Dan. She had enough evidence to show that he was a gentleman to the core. He hadn’t even been able to stand her hand going an angry red when he playfully pinched her. Then people could change, Ari knew this.
What if she brought out the worst in him? What if they got married and they ended up hating each other? What if her past caught up with her all over again?
“And when did knowing a person’s past become as relevant as his present and being a part of his future?”
Faye’s words brought clarity rushing to her. Suddenly, Ari knew that her past didn’t matter. She knew she could be the best wife in the universe if Logan would have her. She could try her darndest to make this work. Val had said Logan would do anything to have her. Well, she could go ask him for herself, couldn’t she?
First, Ari decided there was somewhere else she needed to go. She needed to see the lawyer first. She needed that divorce over and done with fast!
*****
The ladies were all in the kitchen by the time Logan made it into the house. Ari was nowhere to be found.
“Where is she?” Logan asked unceremoniously.
They all turned to him and he could see that Khloe and Faye wouldn’t quite meet his gaze.
They all knew, he thought. She had told them and she hadn’t bothered to come to him.
“She went into town,” Val said, as direct as ever.
“Town?” Logan almost shouted down the building. Had she run from him? Did they let her go? “What the hell for?”
“Calm down, Logan. I think she just needs to think things through,” Khloe told him gently.
“She will be back,” Val told him.
He shook his head. “You don’t know that. What if I scared her away? She’s been through a lot.”
Faye glared at him, hands crossed over her breasts. “Give the girl some credit, will you? So what if she has been through a lot? She is moving past that and you shouldn’t remind her of her past every time you get. Gosh! Do people in love really have to be so stupid?” With that, the girl left the kitchen, throwing him one last scathing look for effect.
“I apologize for her but she said the truth, Logan,” Khloe said. “Ari is stronger than she looks. She will come back for you.”
She also strolled outside and it was him and Val in the kitchen.
“My girls have said it all,” the woman said and left too.
Logan slumped into a chair. All the women had told him to wait for Ari to come to him. Logan felt like running to town and combing every corner till he found her. He was afraid—afraid of losing her.
But at the same time, he wanted to trust her. He wanted to trust her to choose him. He knew he needed to wait.
He had to.
He only hoped he wouldn’t die of anxiety before she came back.
*****
“Your ex-husband came by only a few minutes ago,” Mr. Green told her. “In fact, I am surprised you didn’t run into each other on your way in. He called to ask if he could come sign the papers. And if you will just sign your part, you are a free woman, Miss Ari.”
Ari couldn’t believe her ears. Dan had signed the papers! Her hands shook as she signed, thinking only of Logan. She couldn’t wait to go home to him. She would tell him how sorry she was for wasting his time, for ignoring him…
“I guess congratulations are in order now,” the lawyer said, breaking into her thoughts. “Logan Cartwright will make you a very good husband. You will forget about Dan Jackson in no time at all.”
“Excuse me?” she said in confusion.
“Oh, I am sorry.” Guilt was riddled on the lawyer’s face. “I thought since Logan asked me to draw the papers of the Tanner’s cottage in your name… I thought he had proposed…and now, I have ruined his surprise for you.”
Ari left the Mr. Green’s office in a daze. Logan had even bought the Tanner’s cottage for her and paid the lawyer’s fee. How had she been so blind where he was concerned? How hadn’t she seen how much she was loved?
Well, no more, she thought as she reached the door to the car and pulled it open. Her mind registered that she hadn’t locked the door but she was too excited to care. She was going home to Logan.
The last thing she remembered was hearing a sound in the passenger seat at the back and turning to check. Something hit her on the head and she was knocked out cold.