Page 15 of Marrying a Cowboy

The woman’s expression turned nostalgic. "Alfred died two years ago. We’d been married for fortyyears."

“I’m so sorry.” Emma studied the woman as shesmiled.

“We had a good life. But it didn’t always start that way. See, our marriage was arranged. I’d been in love with this man from my home town. But, I had to marry Alfred.” She sighed as she tapped her heart with her hand. “Now I can’t imagine my life going any different.” She reached out and patted Emma’s hand that was propped up on thechair.

Emma’s heart surged. What a sweet lady. That’s what she wanted. It wasn’t just the marriage. It was the love that went along with it. Turning, she glanced over at Austin who was watching the other passengers filter out of theplane.

“Although, they say that the success of the marriage is based on the sentiment of the ring.” The woman waved at her hand. “Where’s yourring?”

“I, um. . .” Emma smiled over at her. She didn’t want to get into the logistics of their arrangement so thought it best to keep it simple. “We just eloped. Haven’t got to that partyet.”

The woman’s eyes widened as she nodded. “Oh, how romantic.” Then she leaned forward to get Austin’s attention. “A romantic as that is, you make sure you get her a ring, you hear me? Every woman deserves a fantasticring.”

Austin turned and studied the woman. “You have my word,” he said, smiling over ather.

“Good. Now, you two love birds have a fabulous honeymoon.” Then she leaned forward again. “And make lots of adorable babies. You two are going to have handsome kids. I can justtell.”

At the mention of having children with Austin, Emma’s cheeks blushed. She allowed her gaze to slip over to him where she studied his broad shoulders and muscular forearms. After they got to the airport, he’d changed into a plaid button-up shirt and jeans. And she couldn’t help but stare at how amazing he looked. Like he was in hiselement.

Swallowing, she dropped her gaze and studied the lights that ran the length of the aisle. He was her fake husband. Sure, she was married to him, but it wasn’t like that. It could never be likethat.

Austin

Austin slammed the tailgate of his truck after he finished loading up their suitcases. The woman on the plane’s words kept rolling around in his mind. Kids. Emma. All those thoughts were bogging his minddown.

And why had his heart picked up speed at the thought of getting close to her? Emma wasn’t really his wife. He’d promised her that after he got his farm, he’d release her from the marriage. Everything that woman talked about wasn’tpossible.

He flexed his hands as he walked over to the driver’s door. The itch to get back to his ranch was stronger than ever. He needed to get back to a place where everything made sense. Where he didn’t feel soconfused.

If he were honest with himself, he’d really enjoyed it when Emma had slept on his shoulder. It was calming to listen to her breath. When she shifted, the smell of her shampoo had made his senses go haywire. And when his thoughts returned to how she’d acted when her ex-fiancé had been around, the need to protect her surged in hischest.

She’d seemed so out of sorts around Vincent. Like a lost person in need of help. And he wanted to give her that help. Even at this moment, he wanted to wrap her up in hisarms.

“Get a grip, Austin,” he muttered under his breath as he pulled on the door handle and hopped into his truck. Emma was staring at her phone and jumped when he gotin.

“Hey,” she said, slipping her phone into herpurse.

Why did she look so guilty? Pushing the thought from his mind, Austin started up his truck and pulled out of the parking lot. The sun was setting, streaking the sky with various shades of purple and orange. It was beautiful in Montana, especially in the summer, when the grass was green—his muscles relaxed as he took in the familiarsights.

The open fields with occasional rolling hills.Perfection.

“Wow,” Emma breathed as he pulled onto the interstate and settled back into hisseat.

“What?”

“It’s beautifulhere.”

Austin nodded. “If you think this is amazing, you should see the Lewis and Clark National Forest. It’s a completely different worldthere.”

He could feel Emma’s gaze on him when she turned to look at him. He swallowed. What was she thinking? Probably not what hewas.

“I’m excited,” she said. Her voice was quiet, almost shy. For a moment he hoped that perhaps, she just might be feeling things too. And then he pushed those thoughts out. He needed to get a grip on hismind.

They drove in silence. He lived over an hour away from Great Falls. Keeping his lips shut was probably the best thing for him. Lessened his chance of saying somethingstupid.

“Can you believe that lady on the plane?” Emmaasked.

He glanced over at her. “Whatpart?”

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