Taming Clint Westmoreland - Brenda Jackson [58]
“Now that’s where you’re wrong. I do love you. I think I fell in love with you the first time we played our own special game,” he said.
“Oh, Clint,” she said, smiling through her tears.
He pulled her into his arms and murmured against her ear, “Is that a yes?”
She pulled back and smiled up at him. “That’s definitely a yes! Oh, Clint, I will marry you again,” she said.
“Thank you, sweetheart,” he said. And then he was lowering his mouth to hers while pulling her closer into his arms. The kiss was long, deep and passionate. Clint knew that it wasn’t enough, but he broke the kiss off anyway. He knew there was something else he had to tell her.
“You know when we left the ranch and you asked where everyone was?” he asked her.
She nodded. “You told me they were probably sleeping in,” she said.
“I lied.”
Alyssa lifted a brow. “They aren’t sleeping in?”
“No.”
A confused looked touched her features. “Where are they?”
“In the barn getting things ready.”
He could tell by her expression that now she was really confused so he decided to explain things. “I told everyone last night that I planned to ask you to marry me today. Abby suggested that while we had everyone here, we might as well renew our vows today. We can always have a reception for the rest of the family later, preferably on my father’s mountain in Montana when the weather gets warm,” he said.
Alyssa truly didn’t know what to say at first.
“Your family is doing that for me?”
Clint smiled. “They are doing it for us. They know how much I love you. I think they realized it before I did because all of them, with the exception of Cole and Reggie, have been there, done that. They know what it is like to fall in love with your heart even when your mind is still in denial,” he said.
He leaned down and kissed her again and when she wrapped her arms around his neck and returned the kiss, he knew that when they married this time around, it would be forever.
Epilogue
“Y ou tricked me,” Alyssa said.
She looked at herself in the full-length mirror before turning around and giving Casey an all-accusing look.
Casey laughed. “I did not. I just know my brother and figured he would get around to popping the question sooner or later. I just thought you should be prepared when he did. Like I said, he’s slow. And since we were going shopping that day, I figured you might as well purchase a second dress just in case.”
Alyssa shook her head. She had tried on several outfits for the ball and Casey had convinced her to buy the two she liked the best instead of just one. Now it seemed the second outfit, a beautiful off-white tea-length gown, would be the one she would marry Clint in. She had to admit that it was simply perfect.
“You look beautiful, Alyssa,” Aunt Claudine said from across the room.
“Thanks, Aunt Claudine,” Alyssa said lovingly to her aunt.
Her aunt’s arrival had been another surprise the Westmorelands had sprung on her. They had contacted Claudine the night before and made arrangements for the older woman to fly in for today’s festivities.
Alyssa still couldn’t believe what the Westmorelands had accomplished in a single night. When she had been in her bedroom wondering how they felt about her after that embarrassing fiasco with Kim and Kevin, they’d huddled together somewhere with Clint and planned the ceremony for today. They were determined to make her one of them. And in her heart, she knew her marriage today would be more than just a renewing of her and Clint’s vows. The marriage ceremony would affirm her love for Clint, but it would also proclaim her membership in the Westmoreland clan.
Tara Westmoreland glanced at her watch. “It’s about time for you to make an entrance,” she said, smiling. “The last thing you want to do is to keep a Westmoreland man waiting on his wedding day.”
Alyssa smiled as she glanced around at all the women in the room. Westmoreland women, all of them, except for her aunt. “Thanks for everything. I already feel blessed having all of you in my life,” Alyssa said. She had a feeling they knew what