Forever Cowboy (Montana Brides Book 5) (23 page)

Heat spiked in all sorts of uncomfortable places inside Alex’s body. His brain went into melt down mode. If he wasn’t careful, he’d get distracted by the grin on Emily’s face and start bringing a few of her ideas to life.
 

He cleared his throat. He needed to focus. Hold on tight and never let go. “I’m going to lift the scarf off your face. Keep your eyes closed.”

Emily scrunched her eyes tight. “It’s just as well I’m not a high maintenance kind of woman or my mascara would be running all over the place. Ow, you’re pulling my hair.”

“Sorry.” He wiggled the scarf a bit higher, cursing himself for tying the knot so tight. With one last pull he had the scarf off her head and a grumpy Emily standing in front of him. Her hair stood out all over the place, like she’d been zapped by electricity.

“Can I open my eyes now?”

“In a minute.”

She sighed, and he finally managed a smile. He took one last look around the boutique and hoped she was impressed. “Okay, you can open your eyes.” He watched Emily’s face as she stared at what he’d done.

“Oh-My-God,” she whispered. “It’s beautiful.”

Dozens of red roses filled every counter and table. From the entrance to the staircase, the floor was covered in a carpet of rose petals. And hanging above the staircase was the chandelier Emily had wanted to buy. With its satin gold finish and thirty-five lights, it filled the boutique with enough sparkle to dazzle half of Bozeman.

Emily’s mouth dropped open and her eyes filled with tears. “It’s my chandelier. The one I can’t afford.”

“It’s yours now. It’s my present to you.”

Emily wiped her eyes with trembling hands. “I don’t know what to say…it’s all so amazing. Thank you.” She walked toward the chandelier, watched a rainbow of light bounce off the walls and ceiling.
 

Even Alex had stopped and stared as the lighting contractor had carefully placed the crystals on the frame. It looked better than the picture on Emily’s mood board. Better than any light he’d ever seen.

She was getting close to the chandelier. Too close. He picked up a rose and held it out to her. “I want to tell you something. Something important.” She turned around and he forgot what he was about to say. Her blue eyes tore through his heart, reached out to his soul and connected with something he thought he’d never feel again.

He loved her more than life itself and he didn’t know how to tell her. He’d practiced everything, replayed what he wanted to say so many times that his head hurt from remembering. And now he’d forgotten.

“I…I um…I want you to have this.” He passed her the rose, then reached inside his jacket pocket. His gold buckle, the last one he’d earned, glowed from the light spilling down from the chandelier. It was heavy, filled his hand and then some. He’d been proud to accept it after winning his third World Bull Riding Championship title. Proud to carry the Green name into the rodeo history books.
 

But he was more proud of Emily. She’d followed her dreams, worked hard, become a crazy, important part of his life. And he wanted more. So much more than he’d ever wanted or needed from anyone. He passed her the buckle.

She ran her hands across the embossed front, stared at the words carved into the gold. Tears slid down her face. “Why are you giving me your buckle?”

This was where his carefully planned words would have come in handy. He’d figured everything out, made sense of what he felt, what he wanted to know from Emily.
 

“I love you.” The words rushed out his mouth, tumbled around the room and landed with a thud at Emily’s feet.

Her lips trembled. “Oh, Alex.”

He didn’t know if that was a good thing or not. Did it mean that she loved him? Maybe she did. But maybe she liked him as a friend and nothing more.
 

She stepped closer, wrapped her arms around his waist. “I love you too.”

His knees nearly gave way, his heart rate hammered. He felt like all the air had left his body in one gigantic rush. Emily loved him. Really loved him. He pulled her against his body, held on tight and didn’t want to let go.

“I never stopped loving you.” Emily said softly. “I tried so hard to blame you for what happened two years ago, but it was me. I didn’t want to listen to you because I’d have to admit I was wrong. I couldn’t trust anyone because I’d forgotten how.” She took a deep breath and stepped out of his arms. “I need to tell you something.”
 

A surge of adrenaline swept through his body. He didn’t know what she was about to say, but it didn’t look good.
 

“I contacted my dad. Tonight, before you arrived.” Emily lifted her chin. “I can’t forget about him. He’s part of who I am.”

Alex thought about the heartache, the disappointment and all the worry her father had caused. Then he thought about the man who’d stood in front of him. Emily’s dad wanted to try and fix what he’d broken, mend his daughter’s heart. And that was something Alex wanted too.

Alex wiped the tears off her face. “It sounds like we’ll have a full house at Christmas.”
 

Emily smiled. The slowest, sweetest smile Alex had ever seen.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

His eyes filled with tears. “I’ve got something to tell you, too.” He held her hands, tried to remember what he wanted to say. “I bought my ranch when we were still dating. Even then I knew you were special. I wanted you to be a big part of my future, but then you left and I lost my way for a while. I always thought the rodeo was the most important thing in my life, but it isn’t. The buckle is for you. It’s part of my past, but you’re my future. Will you marry me?”

Emily smiled. “I’ll marry you as long as you let me design your wedding suit.”

“You mean I’ll have to wear a tie?”

Emily’s eyes shone brightly. “Only if you promise to be creative with it on our wedding night.”

He spun her in circles, laughed at the way she buried her head in his chest. “You’ve got yourself a deal, Mrs. Green.”
 

He stopped below the chandelier, needing to do the next part right. When their grandkids asked how he’d proposed, he wanted it to sound romantic and perfect. A story to fill their heads with sweet dreams and hope.
 

“Do you like the chandelier?”

Emily glanced up, then frowned at Alex. “It’s lovely. The prettiest chandelier in Montana.”

He waited for her to see what he’d hidden. She stared at him with a blank look on her face.
 

“Take another look.”
 

Emily stared at the chandelier. Her eyes followed the crystals, jumped from light to light, then stopped. “There’s something…Oh, Alex. It’s beautiful.”

He’d tied a long nylon thread to the chandelier, with a paper clip knotted on the end. A diamond engagement ring sparkled from the middle of the paper clip. He reached up, unhooked the ring and turned to face her. “I wanted to give you something special, to remember what we’ve done together.” He held Emily’s hand and slipped the ring onto her finger. The square cut diamond twinkled in the overhead light.

“I’ve fallen in love all over again.” Emily sighed.
 

“If I’d known it was that easy I would have proposed sooner.”

“Now was just right,” Emily said. “Welcome to the rest of your life, Alex Green.”

“I’m looking forward to it.” And he was. More than bull riding, more than the rodeo. Emily was the beginning, the middle and the end of his life, and it all began today.

The End

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Forever Cowboy.
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Turn the page for a preview of
Forever Together
, Kate and Dan’s story.

Forever Together

BOOK SIX IN THE MONTANA BRIDES SERIES

Excerpt

Kate’s nightmare began with a phone call. Three weeks later that nightmare brought her thousands of miles across the country to Montana to help save the life of a half sister she’d never met.
 

She glanced at the crumpled piece of paper in her hands, then up at the red brick building. Bozeman Deaconess Hospital stretched out in front of her, ready to swallow her whole. If she ever made it through the entrance.

“Are you lost, ma’am?”
 

Kate looked at the unsmiling cowboy standing in front of the glass doors, then looked over her shoulder, expecting to see someone behind her. No one was there. “I’m not lost. I...” She stuffed the paper into her back pocket and squared her shoulders. She could do this. She could walk into the hospital and find her father. She could slap a smile on her face and pretend the last twenty years hadn’t mattered, that she didn’t care if Tom Jennings only wanted her here because a genetic fluke made her a perfect match for his eight-year-old daughter.
 

“Ma’am?”

“Sorry...I was...” Kate looked up into the man’s clear blue eyes. They stayed leveled on hers, steady and calm. For the second time in as many minutes she forgot what she was about to say. Except this time her forgetfulness had nothing to do with why she was here, and everything to do with the man standing in front of her.
 

The last time she’d been this tongue-tied was when Billy Anderson asked her to marry him. Except Billy hadn’t cocked his head to the side, lifting one expressive brow. Waiting for her brain to catch up with her mouth.

“I’m going to the children’s ward. To see my half sister. She’s sick and I’ve just arrived in town. I live in San Diego.” She shut her mouth before any more Jennings’ family history sprouted forth. “Thanks for asking if I needed help. I guess I’ll go in now and, well...thanks.” She rushed past his six-foot denim clad body before he thought she should be looking for the mental health clinic.
 

She ignored the heat of his gaze on her back, ignored everything but what she was here to do. The phone message from her father said to take the elevator to the second floor and keep walking until she reached the end of the corridor. The pediatric ward would be on her right. She couldn’t miss it, even if she wanted to.

She punched the elevator button, hoping Mr Tall, Dark and Handsome didn’t want to share a ride. She wasn’t capable of making small talk and he didn’t seem like the type to try.

“I hope everything works out for you, ma’am.”
 

He took his hat off and Kate stared at his jet black hair. It curled a little wildly over the collar of his white cotton shirt, not at all like the buzz cut she’d half expected. And why she’d thought that was beyond her. Except for the way he moved, he could have been anyone. But by the time he’d disappeared up the stairs she knew what set him apart. He had a don’t-mess-with-me attitude, a way of being that belonged on a soldier or someone that was as far removed from Montana as she was.
 

She took a deep breath and stepped into the waiting elevator, preparing herself for what would happen next. Her father would be waiting for her. His wife and her sister, too. A ready-made family waiting for her bone marrow.
 

She couldn’t remember what her father looked like and that worried her. If he was in the corridor she might walk straight past him, ignoring him for the stranger he’d become. The only family photos her mom had kept were of Kate and her sister, Rosie. So she’d done what she did best. She’d spent the first few days after her father’s phone call trawling though the Internet, searching newspaper articles and whatever else she could get her hands on. Just to find something that would make her father real. Give her some idea of what she was coming back too.
 

But as hard as she’d looked, she hadn’t found anything. She could have rung him back and asked him for a photo, asked him about his new family. About his life after he’d left. But talking to him would start to build a relationship and she didn’t want to go there.
 

She crossed her arms in front of her chest, regretting not bringing her tote bag with her. She needed something to hold onto. Something to stop her hands from trembling and her head from remembering other hospital visits that had ended in heartbreak.

The elevator came to a smooth stop. It opened onto a wide corridor painted with rainbows, fairies and pirates.
 

Pediatrics.
 

Bear footprints on the white vinyl floor led her toward a large orange desk. One sniff of the antiseptic smell was enough to make her almost turn and run. She hated hospitals almost as much as she hated her father for divorcing her mom. For leaving her with nothing except his DNA and a lot of broken promises.

A smiling nurse dressed from head to toe in purple greeted her at the desk. “Hi, honey. Can I help you?”

Kate stuck her hands in her pockets, feeling about as comfortable as a goldfish swimming in a tank of sharks. “I’m looking for Kaylee Jennings’ father. I’m supposed to meet him here.” There was no point telling her that Tom was her father, too. It would lead to too many questions. Too much of everything she wasn’t ready to answer.

The nurse’s smiled slipped. “Let me get Kaylee’s doctor for you.” She stood up and waved Kate across to an alcove beside her desk. Instead of pirates and fairies this area was painted like a wildlife safari. Elephants, tigers and crocodiles smiled at each other beneath a clear blue sky. “Have a seat in the waiting room. I’ll be back in a minute.”

Kate sat on the edge of a bright red chair and tried not to stare at a little boy drawing a picture in front of her. He leaned across the table, picked up a yellow crayon, and glanced at her before adding more color to his masterpiece. Apart from the dark circles under his eyes, his face was as white as the bandages wrapped around his head. Two thin tubes ran from the side of his neck into bags of fluid strapped onto a pole beside him. She glanced back to the nurse’s desk, hoping Dr. Anderson wasn’t far away.