Annabelle went after a gravy spot on the tablecloth.

“Just because I was slow to catch on,” he said, “doesn’t mean I’m stupid. I recognize quality when I see it, and Annabelle is an amazing woman.” Now he had her full attention, and he got that familiar adrenaline rush that signaled the final moments before he closed on a deal. “I know today is your birthday, sweetheart, and that means you should be the one getting the present instead of me, but I’m feeling greedy.” He turned, first to one end of the table, and then to the other. “Chet, Kate, I’d like to ask permission to marry your daughter.”

Shocked silence fell over the room. A candle sputtered. A spoon clattered against a dish. Annabelle sat frozen while the rest of her family gradually came back to life.

“Why would you want to marry Annabelle?” Candace wailed.

“But I thought you were—”

“Oh, sweetheart…”

“Marry her?”

“Our Annabelle?”

“She never said anything about—”

Kate dove for her tissues. “This is the happiest moment of my life.”

“Permission granted, Champion.”

Grinning, Doug reached across the table to poke his mother. “Make it a Christmas wedding before he realizes what he’s gotten into and changes his mind.”

Heath stayed focused on Annabelle, giving her time to adjust. Her lips formed a lopsided oval; her eyes turned into puddles of spilled honey …And then her eyebrows slammed together. “What are you talking about?”

At the very least, he’d expected a joyous gasp. “I want to marry you,” he said again.

Her frown grew more ominous, and he found himself remembering Annabelle seldom did what he expected, something he should possibly have recalled before he’d stood up.

“And when did you have this magical revelation?” she asked. “No, let me guess. Tonight after you met my family.”

“Wrong.” Here, at least, he was on solid ground.

“Then when?”

“Last weekend, at the party.”

Disbelief shone in her eyes. “Why didn’t you say something then?”

Too late, he realized he should have stuck with his original plan, but he refused to let himself panic. Always meet strength with strength. “I’d only broken up with Delaney a few hours earlier. It seemed a little premature.”

“This whole thing seems a little premature.”

Kate braced her hand on the tablecloth. “Annabelle, you’re being peevish.”

“That doesn’t begin to describe how I feel.” He winced as Annabelle shot up from her chair. “Did anybody hear him mention the L-word? Because I sure didn’t.”

Just like that, she’d cornered him. Had he really thought she wouldn’t notice? Was that why he’d decided to do this in front of her family? He began to sweat. If he didn’t handle this exactly right, the whole deal would collapse around him. He knew what he had to do, but at the precise moment when he most needed to keep his head, he lost it. “I hired the Northwestern marching band!”

Stunned silence greeted this revelation.

He’d made himself look like an ass. Annabelle shook her head with a quiet dignity that unnerved him. “You have lost your mind. I only wish you could have done it privately.”