Sage rolled over, early morning sunlight filtering through white, semi-opaque curtains that provided a thin veil of privacy. Twisting into a position that offered maximum room on the foldout bed, she thrust her arms above her head, stretching and yawning, the ocean roaring in her ears as her mouth gaped wide.

“Gah,” she said, collapsing inward once more.

Sleep had been a stranger most of the night. For the first few hours, when the rain and winds were kicking around, she had dreaded some government agent showing up and hauling her away for visiting Sutton. When she finally released that particular fear, she realized all the fretting was a deflection from where her mind truly wanted to twist and turn.

Adler—and what Sutton had suggested. The soldier was right about there being room for one more in the Turk family. And another and another. But not for her. She had burned that bridge because she knew deep down that Sutton was wrong when he suggested Adler was in love with her.

Back when she was still in Montana, Jake had made the same suggestion—and been equally wrong. She had left Willow Gap and never heard from Adler again. He couldn’t even stand to be in a room where Leah was on Skype with Sage.

“Not going to cry about it,” she growled, rocking up into a sitting position. Unlike so many other nights in the last three weeks, she had finally made it to the morning without crying when she thought about Adler, about what she’d lost and what she’d never really had with him.

Getting out of bed, she went into the bathroom, peed, washed her hands and face then brushed her teeth. Putting on the short robe hanging on the back of the door, she left the bathroom to make some morning tea.

In between waiting for Templeton to come through on Sutton’s status and then his location, Sage had finished all the new work she had picked up since her return to Baltimore. She had even mailed out the invoices. That meant she needed to find more work or watch her bank account begin to bleed red.

Work always came when it was needed, she reminded herself. As much as she might want to feel sorry for her situation, she had been blessed in some ways. Good health, a brother she had finally reconnected with, Leah in her life, and the fact that she could always find a job when she needed one.

Pouring some water into a mug, she jerked as the front doorbell rang. Water splashed around the counter. She barked out a command for the person to wait then tossed a hand towel over the spill.

Reaching the door, she peered through the peephole, once again expecting some Federal cop come to arrest her, or maybe Gloria with some dire warning or threat.

She saw nothing.

Moving to the window, she inched back the curtain. The view above the hedge was empty.

Was she having auditory hallucinations now?

She shook her head. She knew what her doorbell sounded like and it was loud. Someone was being a jerk on their way to work.

Or Lowe had figured out her new address.

Nausea swirled around her gut. Nausea and a hot anger. The man had already caused her to lose more than one deposit and incur an early move out fee because of his stalking. If he was back to playing those games, it would be months before she could afford to move.

Finished wiping up the spilled water, she added a tea bag to the mug and popped it in the microwave. She punched the time in then plugged in the toaster.

The doorbell rang again.

Sage stomped across the room, her hand deftly snatching up a metal baseball bat as she passed it. She took one look through the peephole then ripped the chain off and yanked the door open, her hand quick to return to the bat and lift it in a striking position.

At eye level, there was nothing.

She dropped her gaze.

Waiting on bended knee, Adler Turk looked up at her, a cautious smile on his face.

And an open ring box in his hand.

*

Sage looked like she had rolled out of bed and grabbed a bat. Her hair was a tousle of pale gold. The batter’s stance parted the lapels of her robe, the champagne colored camisole and pajama shorts visible in the gap.

She didn’t see him at first, was looking too high. He couldn’t find his voice to tell her to look lower. After three weeks of actively avoiding having to see or hear her when she Skyped with Leah, his tongue was knotted up and his heart kept trying to race ahead of him.

Finally, she looked down to where he waited, one knee planted in a puddle, the foot on the other leg barely managing to keep him stable. A bad case of nerves rattled his arm as he kept the ring box held up.

He was sure he had run through words on the plane, rehearsed them in the lavatory and again walking through the airport to reach his connecting flight and still again on the cab ride from the airport. But seeing Sage struck him dumb all over again.

The woman made him crazy and mute.

She shook her head. Adler’s heart seized, the muscles trying to kick back the blood flowing in. Was she saying “no” to his proposal before the words even left his mouth?

“This guy a problem, Sage?” a husky, accented voice asked from just behind, and high above, Adler.

Tilting his head back, he saw a red-haired giant in hospital scrubs, one big fist rubbing against the palm of an equally mammoth hand.

“Sage?” the giant repeated.

Slowly, she shook her head again.

“He isn’t that Greg guy?”

“No,” she said, speaking at last.

“Wow, that’s a big ring,” the giant laughed. “If she won’t marry you, buddy, I will.”

Enough was enough. Adler got to his feet and turned around, tilting his head up ever so slightly so he could look directly into the man’s eyes.

“Move along,” Adler ordered. “She’s safe and we have…things…to discuss.”

The giant turned friendly, hands up and fingers splayed in mock surrender.

“You might want me to stay,” he suggested playfully. “She’s got an aluminum bat and I’m a trauma surgeon.”

“Move along,” Adler repeated, turning back to Sage.

She wasn’t there. The door was shut.

“Ouch,” the stranger laughed before posing a question. “You’re not the one that went on a walkabout, are you?”

Still staring at the door, Adler felt the rush of blood to his cheeks. He wasn’t angry, he was ashamed.

Forever etched in his mind was the image of having one of his hands around Greg Lowe’s neck and the other over the man’s nose and mouth. Losing his cool like that had been the biggest failure of his life because it meant he couldn’t protect Sage. A man who couldn’t control his temper was weak in a fight.

Weak in life.

Sage deserved better, something he had demonstrated a second time that day with his “walkabout.”

“She makes me crazy,” Adler confessed.

“The right kind of crazy?” the giant asked.

“Yeah,” he answered, the pretty words he’d rehearsed stringing together coming back to him now that Sage had shut the door on his face.

“Well, then…” Pausing, the man leaned forward, his arm extending past Adler’s shoulder. Curled in a fist, the big hand gently rapped against the door to Sage’s apartment then pulled back.

Starting down the sidewalk, he offered a piece of advice. “Try starting with that.”

*

Baseball bat put away and a pair of jeans and t-shirt covering her body, Sage twisted her hair into a ponytail and opened the door.

Thorne was gone. Adler remained.

“I love you, Sage.”

Hand wrapped around the door handle, she jiggled the knob as she shook her head.

“The last three days have been stressful for you and your family—”

“The last three weeks,” he corrected. “Those have been the worst days of my life, worse than losing my father and sister.”

Sage blinked, shock and tears blending together.

“I’m sorry I stayed away from the house for so long—you didn’t deserve that after Lowe’s visit…I needed to come to terms with what I was feeling. How crazy it was to feel so much so soon.”

Adler took a step closer. She rattled the knob again in warning. He froze, his expression so damn earnest she couldn’t bear to look at him.

“People don’t fall in love that quickly,” she admonished.

His head dipped, his gaze dropping away from his attempt to hold hers. “Meaning you don’t love me back. I understand.”

“It’s not that simple.”

The words slipped out, their meaning different from what Adler heard. Sage did love him. She had fallen hard twice in Willow Gap, first for Leah and then, almost as quickly, for Adler. But life didn’t hand out easy solutions where Adler could love her back just like that.

Especially after all the problems she had carried with her to Montana.

“Explain it, then,” he whispered.

The words so softly spoken tried to tug her across the threshold. She took a step back instead. Then another step and another, until she was clear of the doorway, her hand sweeping in an invitation for him to come inside.

He stepped in, looked around for a place to sit. A blush warmed Sage’s cheeks because she hadn’t had time to fold the couch up.

“I had just gotten up when you knocked.”

“I sort of noticed,” he answered with a touch of humor.

“You’re more than a little rumply, too,” she countered. “I don’t have coffee. I could make you some tea or there’s juice or water.”

“Water, please. I would have changed but…” Trailing off, he laughed. “You won’t believe it.”

She paused to puzzle out what fact she should be able to guess but wouldn’t believe.

“They lost your luggage?”

“Yeah.”

He drifted closer to where she stood in the kitchen. Taking down a glass from the cupboard, Sage froze.

Adler closed the distance between them. Carefully, he took the glass and put it on the counter then turned her body to face him. Folding her hands in his, he brought them close to his mouth and kissed the fingers.

She could hear him breathing. The sound reminded her to draw in enough oxygen that she wouldn’t fall to the floor and crack her head open.

“I feel dizzy,” she warned.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got you.”

Adler brought her hands around his neck. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her close. His fingers lacing together, he braced them just below the curve of her bottom and lifted.

With slow, careful steps, he carried her like that over to the fold out couch. Sitting her down on the furniture, he stayed on the ground, one knee pressed against the linoleum.

Reaching into his pocket, he retrieved the ring box. He flipped the lid open, pinched the ring between his fingers and drew it out.

“I love you, Sage. I didn’t know being in love would make me crazy—but you’re worth being crazy for…I mean…”

Through the fast-falling tears, Sage laughed. Reaching up, she stroked the unshaven cheek then pressed her forehead against his.

“Do you think you could love me?” he rasped.

She nodded, her hands cupping the sides of his face, her thumbs stroking the ridge of his strong cheekbones.

“I already do,” she confessed.

Capturing her left hand, Adler slid the ring on her finger as he stared into her eyes.

“Then say you’ll marry me.”

“Yes,” she answered, throwing her arms around his neck and pressing her face to the warm flesh. “I’ll marry you!”