Page 29 of Marrying a Cowboy

Jasmine pulled back and studied her. After a moment, she smiled. “Good. Cause, if you were doing that, I’d say shame on you.” She sighed. “Besides, I’d hate to be the one to go head to head with Alayna Maverick. That woman can sniff out a fake a mileaway.”

What was with this town and Austin’s grandma? A small nagging feeling tugged at the back of her mind. Should she really be worried? Austin seemed pretty confident that she should be. But what did he know? Emma finished off her Coke and slipped off the stool. “Well, Austin and I are in love. I’m not going anywhere.” She grabbed her purse and gave Jasmine a smallsmile.

“I hope so,” Jasmine said. “For your sake, I hopeso.”

Emma just nodded and headed for the front door. She’d had just about enough of this Tavern to last her a lifetime. Right now, she wanted to get back to Austin’s ranch and get this whole trip over with. Not only was she about to meet Austin’s grandmother—who seemed to have this town of locals terrified, but against her better judgement, she was starting to have feelings for her fakehusband.

Pushing on the door, she stepped into the night air. It’d cooled in the absence of the sun, but humidity still clung to the air. She rounded the corner of the building and leaned against it, letting her head fall back to rest on thebrick.

What a fool she’d been to come here. Why had she allowed her heart to open up to Austin? Especially when he’d pretty much told her over and over again that it wasn’t going to work. Right now, she needed to forget her heart and listen to her head. And her head was saying, if what the town felt about Alayna was true, they needed to get their story straight before she gothere.

Her phone chimed. Pulling it from her purse, she glanced down at it. Vincent had texted her back. She read the first few words that scrolled across herscreen.

I’d be lying if I said I’m sorry to hearthat. . .

Did she want to know what the rest of the message said? Truth was, Austin had terrible reception at his ranch. If she wanted to know or have a chance to respond, right now would be the time to do it. But, the longer she stared at his words, the less she wanted to know what they said. If she answered, she’d be opening the door to a past she’d decided to close a long timeago.

“Importantmessage?”

Emma squealed and jumped at the deep tone of Austin’s voice. He was standing a few feet away with his hands in his front pockets. He looked nervous, like he didn’t know how she was going torespond.

“No,” she said, slipping her phone into her purse and turning to look at him. “Feelbetter?”

Austin’s cheeks reddened. “Yeah, sorry about that.” Then a look of embarrassment passed over his face. “Oh, no. That wasn’t what you thought it was. I wasn’t. . . you know, using the bathroom.” He cleared his throat as he turned and squinted toward the road. “I’m feeling justfine.”

Emma snorted as she rubbed her upper arms with her hands. “I get it. You’re completely healthy. Although, while you were in the bathroom, Jasmine was sneaking around, asking questions about you. About us.” She eyed him, waiting for aresponse.

“Really? What did yousay?”

“That you had some badfish.”

He ran his hand through his hair. “Goodcall.”

“Although, she’s been the second person here to warn me about your grandmother. I’m starting to think you’re not being truthful about all of this.” She raised her eyebrows. It was time for him to comeclean.

He sighed. “Well. Gran. . . She’s particular. She has a way of doing things. After my dad left, she took my mom and me in and cared for us. My dad—her son—caused her a lot of grief. I guess, she’s trying to make up forthat.”

Emma pushed her purse strap up higher on her shoulder. “Well, if that’s the case, then we need to get started making sure she’ll believeus.”

Austin reached out and brushed his fingers against her arm. “Wait,” hesaid.

Emma hesitated and then turned to look at him. There was an uneasy look on his face. What was goingon?

“If you want to call it quits, I understand.” He focused on the ground where he kicked a rock with hisshoe.

What was he saying? Emma took a step back. “What are you trying tosay?”

He cleared his throat. “I guess I just wanted to let you back out if you wanted to. What I asked you to do—it wasn’t right.” He glanced over at her like he wasn’t sure what she was going to do with what he’dsaid.

“You don’t have faith in me, doyou?”

He parted his lips as he stared at her. “That’s not what I’msaying.”

Emma snorted. “So, it’s true. Your grandmother is a Blood Hound and you think she’s going to find out about our fake marriage.” Heat coursed through her body at his words. Why his statement frustrated her, she didn’t quite understand. But she knew that there was nothing in the world that would keep her from meeting his grandmother. That would keep her from fulfilling her end of theirplan.

Having enough of his ridiculous words, she made her way over to his truck. “Come on, husband,” she said, pulling open the side door and climbing in. “It’s time we get our house ready for guests.” She shut the door andbuckled.

He watched her. She could see his jaw muscles twitch from where she sat. She could tell she’d made him uncomfortable, but she wasn’t going to let him out of this deal now. Not when they’d come this far. She was going to help him. She could dothat.

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