She studied his flawless skin. “It isn’t there now.”
Ian lifted his right knee. “There was another scar here,” he said, pointing to his kneecap. “I fell on a piece of glass while playing tag with Anna.”
“You were an accident-prone child, weren’t you? But I don’t see any scars, Ian.”
He shook his head, leaning back against the tiled wall. “I don’t understand any of this.”
“Maybe we aren’t supposed to understand. Let’s just be grateful.”
He touched her face. “I am grateful. For you.”
She smiled and kissed his palm. “Good. Don’t ever change your mind.”
“Never.”
“You are going to marry me, aren’t you?”
He sighed. “Is it the women who propose marriage in your time, Bailey?”
“Our time now,” she reminded him. “And, yeah, sometimes they do. When they get tired of waiting for the men to get around to it.”
“You’ll have to teach me more about your rules,” he said lightly enough, but his eyes were troubled.
She searched his face. “You’re not going to turn out to be a male chauvinist or anything, are you, Ian? Because I warn you, if you expect me to be some mealymouthed little woman,’ I’m going to have to disappoint you.”
“I don’t understand half of what you just said, but I think I get the gist of it. I don’t expect you to be mealymouthed, Bailey. I’ve always admired your candor. But I’m still loath to be wholly dependent on you. I want to learn about your world. To make my own way.”
“Then you will,” she said steadily. “What do you want to do, Bran? Oh, sorry. I mean Ian.”
“Maybe you should keep calling me Bran. It’ll save a lot of uncomfortable questions. As for what I want to do, I’m an innkeepe
r,” he answered simply. “I always have been. But this inn isn’t mine now—to be honest, it never was. What do you think about finding a new place with me?”
“An inn?” She bit her lip, intrigued. “With your experience at managing an inn, and mine with antiques and computer bookkeeping, we should be able to make a go of it,” she murmured.
“Does that mean yes?”
She smiled and pressed her wet body to his. “Yes,” she said. “But let’s find a place where we won’t be in competition with Dean and Anna. Just to keep harmony in the family.”
“Good idea.” He quickly lost interest in business.
A few moments later, Bailey decided breathlessly that Ian was the one with the truly spectacular ideas.
“BAILEY?” Ian murmured later as she clung to him in the now-cool shower, gasping for breath.
“Mmm?”
“I’ll marry you.”
She smiled. “I know.”
BAILEY HAD JUST finished tying her sneakers when she heard a knock from the front of the cottage.
“Bailey? Bailey, are you in there? Damn, this place is a mess.”
Bailey stood with a gasp. “That’s Dean!”
Ian paused with one hand at the top button of his shirt. His dark eyes flared with a mixture of anxiety and anticipation. “They’re home,” he murmured.