Page 12 of Marrying a Cowboy

Seriously? This judge was going to hold their certificate hostage unless theykissed?

“Come on, Emma. Break the ruleonce.”

Emma took a deep breath and then nodded. As much as she wanted to keep her lips on this side of the aisle, she also didn’t want to stay in this judge’s presence much longer. She seemed to be making a bigger fool of herself by theminute.

“Sure,” shesaid.

Austin raised his eyebrow as he turned to her. “Sure?”

Emma nodded. “Yes.”

“Wonderful,” Judge Matthewssaid.

It felt strange, sitting there waiting for Austin to kiss her. Especially with Judge Matthews a few feet away, watchingthem.

Austin cleared his throat as he steadied his gaze. “Okay. I’m going to kissyou.”

Emma took slight pleasure in the wavering of his voice. Suddenly, cool-headed Austin didn’t seem so confident anymore. Was he worried that she wouldn’t be believable enough with the kiss and the judge would revoke his signature? Emma straightened. There was no way their fake kiss would tip Judge Matthews off. At least not fromher.

Austin leaned in, his lips centimeters from her. He paused, as if he were preparing himself. Having enough of his stalling, Emma pressed her lips against his. For a moment, she sensed hesitation from him. But then a rush of energy raced through her as he reached out and cradled her cheek with hishand.

Jolts of electricity surged through her body as he deepened the kiss. There was something both familiar and scary about the feeling of his lips pressed to hers. Her heart pounded and her mind swam. Never before had a kiss caused her body to react thisway.

But then thoughts of doubt flooded her mind. What was she doing? Was she crazy? Then the realization that she might not be making this kiss believable hit her. Her hands felt paralyzed to her sides. Was she supposed to wrap her arms around him? How did fake kissing go? Why hadn’t he told her the rules before they went inhere?

Before she went crazy trying to understand what her feelings meant, she pulled away. “Yay, we’re married,” she said, cursing her voice for sounding so strange. Her emotions were really out of whack. She wasn’t supposed to have anything but platonic feelings for her fake husband. And he certainly wasn’t supposed to have feelings for her. She was a means to anend.

“Well, if you keep this loving attitude for each other, I’m sure I’ll be putting your picture up on my wall of success.” Judge Matthews said as he nodded toward the wall on his left. Pictures scattered the bulletin board hanging fromit.

“Sounds good,” Austin said. Emma tried not to stare at him. He seemed so relaxed. Not like they’d just kissed moments ago. He was either a really good actor, or he didn’t feel anything. Either explanation scaredher.

“Thanks,” she said, extending her hand and shaking thejudges.

“You’re welcome,” hesaid.

After he handed over the certificate, Emma turned and hightailed it out of the room. She didn’t want to stand there with the judge and his wall of marriage successes. There was nothing real about this marriage. It was all a sham. An act that Austin played amazingly. She on the other hand, would have been kicked out had it not been forhim.

When they got out into the hall, Austin turned and smiled ather.

“Nice going in there,” he said, nodding at theroom.

“Uh huh,” Emma said. Austin was being nice. She knew that she’d completely stunk at faking anything. She needed to get better if she was going to survive all of this. Desperate for a distraction, Emma glanced down at the marriage certificate that she now had clutched in her hand. She was married. Married.Whoa.

“Emma?”

She swallowed. Why did Austin sound just like Vincent? Was this a joke? Glancing up, her heart sank. Vincent was coming straight toward her. His was smiling, in that ridiculous way he’d done so many times in the past. It was the smile that turned her knees to Jell-O. Blasthim.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, as heapproached.

Feeling numb, Emma let her body take control. When he got closer, he reached out his hand but for some reason, she thought he was trying to hug her. Stepping forward, she tried to wrap her arms around him. He hesitated and heat rushed hercheeks.

“Oh, hand shake,” he said, reaching over and grabbing herhand.

“I knew that,” she stumbled over her words. What was wrong with her? It’d been a year since he’d broken her heart. Why hadn’t her body gotten the memo? She didn’t care about him anymore. He was a jerk. But, as she studied his expression her insides softened. Jerks didn’t look sogenuine.

“I’m Austin,” Austinsaid.

Vincent’s gaze made its way over to Austin. “Vincent,” he said. He extended his hand and they shook. “How do you know,Emma?”

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