Harlequin Romance March 2021 Box Set Cara Colter (the mitten read aloud TXT) 📖

claiming her. Of her hands exploring him. Like how much she enjoyed making him laugh.

How could she possibly go look at a ring with Jonas—an engagement ring—and not have the lines she had drawn around him blur even more than they already were?

She could not do this!

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“MAYBE WE SHOULD go hiking first,” Krissy suggested to Jonas.

He gave her a puzzled look. “The store is right there.”

She snapped her fingers. “I have an idea. You go in and pick out the ring, and I’ll take Chance for a walk. Then you can lock the vehicle.”

“I’m not sure why you’re so worried about that. It doesn’t exactly look like a hotbed of criminal activity,” Jonas said, looking up and down the sleepy main street.

She acted as if it was decided. “And then, after you’ve picked the ring, I’ll go in and get it sized.”

There. That seemed like a safe way of getting out of a totally awkward situation.

“He’ll be fine for a few minutes in the vehicle with the windows down.” Was Jonas deliberately missing the point of Krissy’s reluctance?

She made one last desperate effort. “Someone could steal Chance!”

He looked back at Chance and made a face. “Now that seems highly unlikely. Come on. Half the fun is going to be seeing what you pick.”

Fun, Krissy reminded herself sternly. She got out of the vehicle, took a deep breath and went around to where Jonas waited by the door. Sanderson was etched into the glass. A bell jangled as he opened it and held it for her.

She hesitated, her reluctance to do this deepening. Jonas put his hand on the small of her back and gave her a firm push.

It took a second for her eyes to adjust to the light. They were the only customers. In fact, they were the only people. The store appeared to be unmanned.

“I told you it wasn’t a hotbed of criminal activity,” Jonas said quietly. He took her hand and tugged. “Come on, why don’t we start over here?”

She let him guide her over to the display case. The rings glittered up at her. She felt as if she couldn’t breathe. She recoiled when she caught sight of the price on one.

“That seems a little much for a ruse,” she said, shocked.

“Just play along. Show me the ring you would get if money was no object.”

She glanced at him. Could he not see they were messing with a moment most women spent a good deal of their lives dreaming of? Could he not see that after last night this felt like the worst kind of lie?

Not that Krissy had ever indulged such fantasies, but now that she was here, it was hard to ignore the longing. The wish that it was all different.

The wish that she had entered this store with a man that she loved. That they were looking for a ring that symbolized their commitment to each other, a ring that shone with their hopes and dreams for the future.

Jonas was the kind of man who inspired exactly that kind of fantasy.

“What’s wrong?” he asked her softly. “Don’t be so serious. You’re going to get a permanent line, right here.”

And then he gently touched her brow with the knuckle of his hand, and she could feel the line of tension evaporate under his touch.

Of course, he was right. She didn’t need to be so serious. She could have fun! She could! She pointed at a ring with a huge solitaire diamond. The tag said it was one karat. And that it was worth ten thousand dollars.

“How about that one?”

She had hoped he would reward her choice with shock, and that they would both have a good laugh to break some tension she still held, despite him erasing it from her brow. But Jonas tilted his head and regarded the ring as if it was a serious contender.

“I don’t think you could lift up your hand with that thing on it,” he said. “How about this one?”

She gazed at the one he was pointing at. It was a smaller diamond, flanked by two emeralds. The price made her gulp.

“It’s too much money.”

“We weren’t going to think about money. Yet. It’s just preliminary, to see what you like.”

She peered at the display cases. It was making her head ache. There were too many rings, and they represented too many things, and she was pretty sure the frown line was burrowing in deep between her eyes again.

Get it over with, Krissy ordered herself. “How about this one?”

“You’re picking it because it’s cheaper.”

“It’s good enough.”

“Why do I think the ring out of a candied popcorn box would be good enough for you?”

“Because it would be. It’s a game,” she reminded him tersely. “You could buy this less expensive one and donate the rest of your budget to a holiday for veterans.”

“You really aren’t getting into the spirit of this,” he chided her. “Most women like shopping for jewelry.”

“And you are an expert on that, why?”

He didn’t need to answer. She could see it in his face. This was not his first shopping excursion in a jewelry store with a woman.

And probably not his first one the morning after, either. What on earth was she doing?

As the tension snapped in the air between them, a little old man came out from the back. He looked surprised to see customers. He was wearing a jeweler’s loupe on a chain around his neck. “My hearing isn’t what it used to be. Didn’t hear the door.” He sized them up, smiled. “Sam Sanderson. How can I help?”

“We were just leaving.”

“We’re looking for an engagement ring,” Jonas said, firmly.

“Inexpensive,” she said.

“Ignore her,” Jonas said.

Sam’s eyes went back and forth between them. Krissy was pretty sure he was thinking This will never work.

“My favorite thing,” Sam declared happily. “I can feel the hopes and dreams in the air.”

She felt a shiver go up and down her spine. Wasn’t that exactly the thought she just had about what an engagement ring shopping excursion