Page 17 of Marrying a Cowboy

"I know, I know. It just happened so fast that we didn't have time to get rings. And we needed to make it back in time for when Gran getshere.”

Susan's skin paled. "Your granny’scoming?"

Austin tried not to groan. His grandmother had a reputation for being particular in this town. After his grandfather died, she moved to Florida to live the retired life much to the joy of everyone here. Her visits were not well received. Austin shrugged and took the menu from Susan and opened it up. "Well, now that I'm married and have fulfilled her stipulation, she probably won't be making trips up hereanymore."

Susan nodded. "Well that's good. She is one cranky woman. The town got better once she left.” Her cheeks turn pink as she glanced over at Emma. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to scareyou."

Emma glanced at Susan and then back to him. "Why would I bescared?"

Susan let out a forced laugh. "I am sorry. You're right. Alayna Maverick is nothing to be scaredof."

This conversation was heading south fast. The sudden urge to be alone with Emma hit Austin. He needed to get Susan out of here before Emma changed her mind. "I'll take some ice water," hesaid.

"I’ll have some water too," Emmasaid.

“Two ice waters coming up." Susan tapped the pad of paper in her hand with the eraser of her pencil and made her way to the kitchendoor.

Once she was gone, Austin turned and eyed Emma. She was studying her menu. What did she think of all of this? Did he dareask?

"Don't listen to Susan. She talks crazy sometimes. She and my grandmother had a falling out." Why wasn't Emma saying anything? It frustrated him that he couldn't read her. It also didn't help that her face was half covered by themenu.

"Why would I be scared? We're married. That's all you said I needed to do. Unless your grandmothers going to have some ridiculous questions for me to answer." She fell silent and then peeked at him from over her menu. "There isn’t going to be a test isthere?"

Honestly, Austin didn't know. When it came to his grandmother, he never knew. But the last thing she'd heard was that his marriage to Georgia didn't work out. It was going to be difficult to convince her that his sudden marriage to Emma was real. He's been so focused on the thought that he could finally get the ranch that he'd work so hard for, that he really didn't think this process through. Or the fact that he'd now caught Emma up ineverything.

So, he forced a smile and shook his head. "Oh no. No test. My grandmother is sweet. We’ll be fine. But just in case, maybe we should learn a little bit more about each other. To make this all seem more believable.” He kept his gaze locked with hers, hoping to instill a feeling of confidence that he was sorelylacking.

She hesitated and then turned her attention back to her menu. "You're probably right. If we want to make this fake marriage work, we should probably know more about each other." He watched her as she turned the next page of her menu. "You startfirst."

Grateful that Emma seemed so relaxed about going with his plan, Austin made a mental note. He was going to help her get over her ex so that when they had their annulment, she'd be able to startagain.

She was being so helpful to him and he wanted to return the favor. After all, what were fake husbands for? He wasn't going to be the only one to benefit from thisarrangement.

Chapter Seven

Emma

After a platefull of country fried steak, Emma leaned back in the booth and studied Austin. She couldn’t quite figure him out. Ever since their conversation with Susan, he’d seemed really jumpy. Was he really as relaxed about his grandmother as he wassaying?

But she pushed away those thoughts. She knew that there was probably going to be some convincing she’d need to do. After all, he leaves for New York only to come back with a wife? It sounded fishy, even in her mind. And shewasthewife.

“Favorite sports team?” Austin asked as he cut off a chunk of steak and slipped it into hismouth.

“Um, don’t know any. Well, besides the something Soxs. Does that count?” She wrinkled her nose and shook her head. She and sports don’tmix.

Austin smiled over at her. “I’ll just say, doesn’t dosports.”

Emma nodded as she took a sip of her water. “Yeah. Probably for the best. I failed gym class in middleschool.”

He snorted just as he was taking a drink of his water. Grabbing a napkin, he wiped his chin where the water had spilled. “Wow. That has to be a first.” He set his cup down and glanced over at her. She wondered what he was thinking. Hopefully, not that she had food on her face. Grabbing her napkin, she nonchalantly wiped her chin. “Can I ask yousomething?”

“Justone?”

He set his napkin down next to his plate. “Okay, a fewthings.”

She smiled. “Sure.”

“Earlier today, when we were talking you said something about not liking animals? Do you really not likethem?”

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