The Reluctant Bride (Montana Born Brides) (13 page)

Telling herself she
’d straighten him out tomorrow, she rested her head on his shoulder as the piano played and that lovely baritone filled the room. It was easy to believe the fantasy. It felt like Vegas all over again.

But then she remembered what happened after their engagement in Vegas.
How her entire world crumbled in the space of a few days and she couldn’t do it. She pulled back.

“
I’m sorry,” she said. Grabbing her purse, she ran for the door and didn’t look back.

Once outside, she realized she had nowhere to go and had to wait for Monty.
It was true that maybe she could find someone to give her a ride, but she didn’t want to talk to anyone. She walked to the end of the porch area and down a lighted path toward the river.

It was cold and she shivered a little, letting the tears that streamed down her face warm her and then dry cold.

If she were Monty, she’d get in that big ass truck of his and drive away from her and never look back.

“
Sweetheart?”

She shook her head.

“What’s the matter?”

“
I just…” Her voice broke and sounded way too deep as the tears she was fighting overwhelmed her.

“
Ssh,” he said, walking over to her and draping his arm over her shoulder. She turned her head into his chest and let him hold her and soothe her—but this was part of the problem.

Part of what she feared so very much.
His strength. Not hers. His agenda. Not hers. Her fears. Not his.

She pulled back.

“You are the sweetest man in the world, you know that?”

He raised both eyebrows at her.
“Because I followed you? I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure the good diners in the Long River would have lynched me if I hadn’t. By the way, I said it was your parents’ song and that’s why you broke down.”

“
Covering for me again. Playing the game the way I asked you to, but by your own rules.”

“
You don’t get to set the tone for everything,” he said, stepping back. “I’m doing my best to keep you happy, but I have needs, too.”

She knew that.
She understood that, for him, when she’d said she needed more time, it meant that everything was back on. But for her…what had she meant? She’d meant she needed time. Time for everything.

“
It’s too fast.”

“
It wasn’t in Vegas,” he said. “In Vegas, you would have thrown yourself in my arms and kissed me until neither of us remembered where we were.”

“
This isn’t Vegas,” she said.

“
I know that. A lot has changed but we’re still—”

“
No, we’re not. You’ve changed, Monty. So have I,” she said.

“
Fine. What do you think we should do next?” he asked.

“
Take it slow,” she said, but now that he’d set a date she knew that was impossible. Everything was going to be focused on June and the days and weeks would fly by. Weddings were like that.

“
Maybe postpone—”

“
Forget it. Either you want to marry me or you don’t.”

He was right.
She had to make a decision. Tonight she realized how special he was. And how much she cared for him. But caring for him meant not compromising on their relationship. “At this moment…I don’t.”

She took the ring off and handed it to him.

He gave her a hard scary look. One she was sure sent insurgents running for the hills when they saw him coming. “Fine. Come on. I’ll take you home.”

She had a long list of bridal appointments and focused on her part in the Great Wedding Giveaway, ignoring the fact that Monty hadn’t called since he’d dropped her back off at her shop nearly three weeks ago.

Coward.

The word echoed in her head like a maniacal voice from a fair funhouse, but it didn’t change the truth of it. In a fit of anger and to prove something to herself, she’d taken off her engagement ring. To be honest, she’d thought. Hell, she didn’t know what she’d thought.

She had her first inkling of what it must have felt like to him when she
’d just disappeared. The only difference was that she knew where he was.

Why had she given the ring back?

When they’d made love in the field on his property, something had changed deep in her core and she’d felt that being with him was where she was meant to be. Some of the guilt she’d felt at allowing happiness into her life after her parents’ deaths had ebbed away, and she’d hoped…that Monty would keep pushing her to break down the walls that had been way too comfortable to keep hiding behind.

But he hadn
’t.

He
’d gone completely silent and now it was Wednesday night. Not of particular significance to anybody but herself. It was the night the Scott brothers all ate at the Main Street Diner and Annie had let slip—okay, told Risa when she’d asked—that Monty had taken to joining them every week.

So she
’d closed her shop early after sending Ella Emerson her weekly flower delivery, given her delivery boy the rest of the afternoon off and taken herself over to the beauty salon and gotten highlights in her thick dark brown hair, eyebrows waxed, optimistically gotten her legs waxed as well, and put on the new dress she’d gotten while shopping with Sienna in Bozeman last weekend.

She was way overdressed for the Diner on a Wednesday night but, given her mission, desperate measures were called for.

She had a pair of ridiculously expensive shoes—the Louboutin heels she’d worn to the Barn Dance and she slipped them on. If she didn’t get Monty’s attention tonight, then she would have to admit that their relationship was truly over. Something these three weeks apart had convinced her she didn’t want.

She took a deep breath before she started the somewhat short walk to the Diner. Her palms were sweaty and she felt like she couldn
’t get a good deep breath. What if he rejected her in front of everyone? What if he didn’t? Oh, God, what if he wasn’t even there?

She stopped outside the Diner, glancing in at the light crowd.
She saw the Scott brothers all crammed around two tables that had been dragged together. There was an empty spot at the table but no Monty.

She
’d wasted her time. She should have stopped playing games and just driven out to his property and talked to him like a normal girl, instead doing something like this.

A wolf-whistle broke the quiet on the street and she glanced over her shoulder to see who
’d issued it.

Monty.

All the bravado that she’d channeled to carry her to the Diner was gone. She could only stare into his grey-green eyes and wonder why he hadn’t called her.

He looked good in a pair of faded denim jeans that fit him in all the right places and a pearl-button western shirt.
He wore a black Stetson on his head and, to her eyes, he looked tired and a little weary.

“
Where have you been?”

“
Getting on with my life. My fiancée dumped me.”

She gave him a hard look.
“I thought that you would call me.”

“
I was tired of chasing you, Risa. It’d be nice to feel wanted.”

“
I practically killed myself riding a horse for you, and we both know you’re lying if you say I didn’t make you feel wanted at our breakfast.”

He tipped his head to the side and the wide brim of his black Stetson obscured his expression.
She didn’t know if that was a good or a bad thing. She wanted to stomp her feet and scream, but she knew that wouldn’t change him or make him say what she needed to hear.

“
I’m sorry I gave the ring back.”

“
Then why did you?” he asked.

That deep silky voice gave her the sweetest chills and she knew that they weren
’t through. She’d known that for the longest time. They still had unfinished business.

“
To get your attention,” she admitted. “You were pushing me and not listening to what I was saying.”

“
Gotta be honest with you, love muffin, it just sort of pissed me off,” he admitted.

“
You ticked me off by not calling. Why didn’t you call?”

“
Like I said, I got tired of chasing you. You ran to Marietta, I followed you. You hid in your flower shop, I coaxed you out. Maybe I needed you to be the one to come after me.”

She saw his point.
“I’m still scared. But not enough to let you go.”

“
You think I’m not?” he asked.

She knew he was scared.
She’d seen inside his carefully constructed walls and knew that he had his own fears.

“
Will you have dinner with me tonight?” she asked.

“
I’m not dressed up,” he said.

“
We can eat here at the Diner,” she said. She sort of held her breath as he didn’t say anything, but she felt the weight of his stare from under that Stetson. Damn, how had Monty done this when he’d come to get her for breakfast? She hadn’t realized how vulnerable she’d feel asking him out and waiting to see if he’d say yes.

She knew she still cared for him and it was only tonight, as she stood a few feet away from him, that she realized exactly how much she wanted him to say yes.
She wanted him to keep chasing her. This time, though, she knew she was going to let him catch her. She needed him to catch her because the last three weeks had proven to her how much she wanted to be in his arms.

Monty knew in a town the size of Marietta he
’d run into Risa again, and frankly he’d been hoping it would happen sooner than it had. But everything happened in the good Lord’s time, or at least that was the tale his old man had been peddling since Monty was old enough to be impatient.

She looked good.
Damned good. And he felt like he’d been sucker-punched by her once again.

She
’d given his ring back. He’d guessed he’d made her mad when he hadn’t called, but he couldn’t keep putting himself out there and not getting anything back. He wanted to see what she’d do and being Risa, instead of calling like any other woman would have, she’d dressed to the nines and planned to surprise him tonight at the Diner.

The playing field was even though.
He wasn’t about to admit it, but he’d been late to dinner with the Scotts because he’d gone by Sweetpea Flowers with the excuse that he wanted to send a gift basket to his dad at the care home. But the shop had been closed. Who knew all his careful planning was for nothing. He could have stayed in the Diner.

Risa had come for him.

And he wasn’t going to give her a chance to pretend she hadn’t. That fancy dress and her hair all done. She had on make-up and looked so pretty she damn near took his breath away. He wanted to be cool and walk on by, but he never had been able to with Risa.

She was the one woman who made all the others disappear.