to get her alone. “Sit down,” he said when she scooted past him for the seventh time.
She gave him a distracted smile. “After a bit.”
It was the last straw. “Hannah Liggett,” he roared. “I want to propose! So, will you or won’t you marry me?” Ross regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth, but it was too late and he was too frazzled to care.
Except for an excited titter next to the food table, the room fell silent.
Hannah turned white and stared at him. “What?”
He loosened the collar around his neck. “I…uh, asked you to marry me.”
“That’s what I thought.” Turning, she headed straight for the door of the restaurant. Ross thought there were tears in her eyes and he swore under his breath.
“Watch Jamie for a minute, okay?” he asked Hannah’s father before heading out the door himself.
If there was one thing he hated, it was seeing Hannah cry. She’d always been so brave when they were growing up, taking her lumps and smiling through everything. There was only one other time he’d seen her really crying, and he still remembered the horrid feeling it gave him.
More from instinct than memory, he found her in the small copse of trees where she’d always gone to be alone. Ross sighed at the sight of her standing there, her hands clenched into fists.
“Ah, Hannah. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
Her chin lifted and he saw she wasn’t upset—she was furious. “How could you say something like that in front of everyone? Do you enjoy making a fool out of me?”
“But I do want to marry you.”
Hannah wanted to kick him. He didn’t get it at all. It couldn’t have been more obvious to the entire town that Ross didn’t have any romantic feelings for her. They were probably having a rib-splitting chuckle over the whole thing.
“Jamie needs a mother,” Ross continued quietly. “And you’re the only woman I could ever trust him with.”
She ground her teeth. Ross wanted to marry reliable old Hannah—cook, baby-sitter and all-around good sport. She’d moaned about being the last single woman in Quicksilver, but this wasn’t what she’d had in mind to correct the matter. Jeez, she felt so stupid for getting worked up about Ross; he didn’t have any interest in her, not as a woman.
“You should wait to fall in love,” she muttered. “That’ll be best for Jamie.”
Ross studied her, his hands thrust in his pockets. “I was in love with my first wife and it was a disaster. But this would be great—two friends getting married. Don’t you see how perfect it is? We always backed each other up when things got bad. And friendship is a much better basis for marriage than some fleeting emotion based mostly on lust.”
Hannah wanted to scream “no.” No she wouldn’t marry him. And no, love meant more than just lust. Yet she couldn’t help remembering Jamie’s solemn, almost worried face; her pride wasn’t the only thing to consider. And Ross obviously valued their friendship, so it wasn’t like he didn’t care about her. In a way he’d paid her a huge compliment.
“Maybe I could be your housekeeper,” she suggested.
“No.” Ross shook his head. “My ex-wife signed over custody for a large monetary settlement, but she’s already making noises about getting Jamie back. I need a wife and a stable family life so any judge in the world will agree that Jamie belongs in Alaska with me. And I need to do it fast, Honeycomb…before she has a chance to file any papers with the court. It’ll look better.”
“I don’t understand,” Hannah murmured, still getting a rush of pleasure that he remembered her old nickname. “If she signed over custody, then how can she do anything?”
He sighed heavily. “According to my lawyer, when it comes to kids and the legal system, you never know what could happen. Besides, Jamie needs to feel secure. I want him to have a real mother.”
Hannah pressed her hand to her throat, feeling the familiar, longing ache. A real mother.
She loved her brothers, but she wasn’t their mother; now Ross was offering her a dream come true. It had felt so right, talking to Jamie and holding him…and it wasn’t like men were hanging around, begging her to marry them. This could be her last chance. Should she settle for part of what she wanted, rather than risk not getting anything at all?
But marrying Ross? Hannah swallowed.
Just how married did he expect them to be? Married as in really married, or married as in separate bedrooms? She peeked at him from beneath her lashes, but didn’t know how to ask. Of course, she doubted he expected anything physical. They were friends, not lovers. He’d made that very clear.
“So…for how long were you thinking we’d be married? A year or two?”
“At least till Jamie is eighteen,” he said decisively. “He needs someone he knows will always be there for him. And you never know, we might really like it. I could see us staying together, can’t you?”
Oh, sure, Hannah thought wryly. A nice platonic little marriage—every woman’s lifelong dream.
“Think about it,” Ross urged. “I know I should have handled things differently, but this is your chance to leave Quicksilver. We’d live down on the Kenai Peninsula, but you could go to Anchorage whenever you like. I’m a partner in an air transit business—I can give you a good life.”
Once again Hannah’s foot itched to kick him. Honestly, the man had developed a genuine talent for making her angry. Not that it was anything new. They may have been buddies, but they’d fought like cats and dogs when they were kids. Why should anything be different now?
“My big chance, huh? Do you think I’d marry you for that?”
He sighed. “Of course not. I just wanted to reassure you that…well, that I’m—”
“A good provider?” she asked, a little too sweetly.
“If you want to put it that way. I couldn’t blame you for wondering what you’d get out of the arrangement.”
Get out of the arrangement?
All at once Hannah realized there was a part of Ross she no longer knew…the part that had gotten cynical. More confused than ever, she stared at the Sitka spruce trees surrounding them. A long time ago Ross had found her here, crying after her mother’s funeral. He’d held her and comforted her, though he’d hardly said a word.
Where was that Ross? The tall, strong boy who understood her grief more than anyone else? She might have been comfortable marrying the boy she’d once known, but he’d gone and turned into a sexy hunk who didn’t believe in love.
“Please…I didn’t mean to hurt you, Hannah. You’re very special to me. You always have been.”
She tapped her fingers on her arm. “I suppose you thought I’d be thrilled to get a proposal from anyone.”
Ross winced, realizing how badly he’d handled
