Page 61 of The Cowboy Comes Home

The shepherd’s head came up from where he was on the floor by the door. “He’s got a date with Chance on Wednesday,” Emily told him. “You go ahead and have fun.” She looked at Nic. “Tell Keller and Maggie hello for me.”

“Will do. Close up, will you?” Nic asked. “And if we don’t see you again before, see you both Friday night!”

The place seemed stunningly quiet after the three of them plus the golden dog had gone. Emily looked at Tucker, who was smiling as he watched them leave.

“Your friend,” she said with a slow shake of her head, “is a presence.”

“Yeah. He is.” He turned back to look at her. “What are you supposed to explain to me?”

It took her a moment—why did everything, when she was around him?—to remember what Nic had said. “Sydney Rafferty, Keller’s wife. Who happens to have built a worldwide business, selling artisan items from everywhere. Ever heard ofThe World In A Gift?”

He blinked. “Uh…yeah. Heard about it all over Hollywood and L.A. That’s her?” She nodded. Tucker gave a slow shake of his head. “This place is…amazing. And Kane’s really your boss’s brother?”

“Yes.” Her mind was racing now, and she was glad she hadn’t blurted out the thought that had come to her earlier. It would be much more effective coming from the man himself. “And he’s doing a show Friday night, out at the Hickory Creek Inn. Where he used to work as a handyman.”

Tucker blinked. “He was a handyman at an inn?”

“Yes.” She grinned. “It was really something to pull in there in the middle of the day and hear him singing while he went about some mundane task like weeding or hauling trash. I confess, more than once I just sat there with the windows down, listening. Anyway, he does this now and then, puts on a show strictly for locals.”

“Leaves me out, then.” He sounded regretful, which gave her hope. “I’ve only been here two weeks, so I don’t count as a local.”

Emily blinked. Had it truly only been two weeks? How on earth had he occupied so much of her mind in such a short time? She shoved aside the unsettling thoughts and went for one thing she truly wanted.

“You do if you show up with a local.”

He stared at her for a moment. And when he spoke, there was a low, almost rough undertone in his voice that sent a shiver through her. “You asking me to go with you, Officer Emily?”

With an effort she kept her own voice light, but held his gaze steadily, even knowing what he might be able to read there. “Only if it means you’ll say yes. I don’t think I could handle a rejection.”

“Who,” he said slowly, “could ever reject you?”

Her heart gave a little leap in her chest. For a split second she thought of the man who had indeed rejected her at the last minute, but he didn’t matter anymore. Not one bit. The only thing that mattered was that Tucker hadn’t said no.

Which gave her the nerve to ask it more bluntly.

“Was that a yes?”

He gave her a smile she’d never seen from him before. Open, wide, and without hesitation.

“Yeah,” he said, “it was.”

It wasn’t until she was back in her car, with Lobo loaded up, and heading for the Baylor ranch gate, that she really let herself realize what had just happened. She had actually, impossibly, asked Tucker Culhane on a date.

Even more impossibly, he’d said yes.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Somehow he kneweven before he got out of the car that Emily was there. Not that it was unusual—she had, after all, made a point of being around when summer school let out. But still, it was as if there was something in the air, in the atmosphere around her that he could sense.

She was leaning against her vehicle, the official one, and he realized it was running and all the windows were up. No doubt because of the extreme heat today, she probably had the A/C cranked up for Lobo.

She was watching the school, but when he closed the door of the ranch truck she looked over. When she saw him, she smiled so widely it made his throat want to tighten up until he had to work a little to get the deep breath he needed to steady himself.

He was already walking toward her before he’d consciously decided to. It was as if that smile was some kind of magnet.

Good thing magnets don’t pull toward titanium, or I’d probably be running.

He was almost there when it hit him that he should probably have thought of something to say. But he hadn’t, so he went with the first—and no doubt stupid—thing that came to him.

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