Page 14 of A Miracle for the Confident Cowboy

Duke swallowed the thought with frustration. She had a soft spot for animals. She was gorgeous. And dang it, if she wasn’t one of the sharpest people he’d met in a long time. It had been a long time since he had been able to banter with a woman like he did with Sophie.

As much as he wanted to avoid her, it was becoming increasingly harder to do so. He craved being in her presence, and yet his heart only sank with the knowledge she felt the opposite about him.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Sophie staredat the schedule when she showed up at the shelter. Duke might be here today. She’d done her best over the last couple of days to avoid him, but she usually didn’t know his schedule. It almost felt like he was showing up every single day of the week. How was she supposed to volunteer in peace if he was always here?

She groaned as she headed down the hall. If she was lucky, he wouldn’t be here, he’d be at work. She’d arrived earlier than she usually did because it was such a nice day. Duke couldn’t possibly be?—”

Freezing where she stood in the doorway to the dog’s kennels, Sophie watched in near horror as Duke clipped a leash onto one of the dogs. He glanced at her then resumed his task without a word.

Oh, how she wanted to march over there and shake some sense into him. He was doing this on purpose. He had to be. Every day was a new opportunity for him to humiliate her. What a total jerk!

Her jaw tightened and she hurried through the room, past him toward the smaller dogs. She’d learned her lesson the last time. She couldn’t take the bigger ones out on a walk by herself. Duke in particular was a pain to control—the dog, not the cowboy—though the latter definitely had his own issues.

There were several who needed a walk more than they needed to be released into the common area outside. By the time she got three dogs leashed, she found Duke waiting by the door—the cowboy, not the dog. His expression was blank, but he’d clearly been waiting for her.

She wasn’t willing to give him any attention. The last thing he needed was for her to feed that part of him. Sophie marched right past him and headed for the exit, her dogs tugging on the leash with excitement.

They left the decorated lobby that was filled with garlands, Christmas lights, and seasonal wreathes. It was a beautiful day—unseasonably warm for December, even for Sweet Bloom, Texas. The sky was a brilliant shade of blue—the sort that reminded her of spring back home.

Duke remained at her back, walking his own pack of animals. It was quiet except for the few times their wards barked at a critter scurrying across their path. The longer they walked in silence, the harder it became for her to ignore the guilt that started to build in her chest. At the current rate, it would consume her and she’d end up blurting an apology she probably didn’t need to give him.

Okay, okay.

She hadn’t exactly been the most cordial the last time they’d gone on a walk within one another’s company. But she couldn’texactly apologize for her behavior because that would only put a smug look on Duke’s face and she’d rather die than be the one to cause that.

It wasn’t that she liked him. Absolutely not. Duke was still infuriating. He was the kind of person she preferred to avoid.

Her face flamed at the thought. She was supposed to be avoiding him, but lately they seemed to be bumping into each other no matter what she did. The worst part was she didn’t really mind it. Oh she talked a big game of dislike and annoyance, but he was starting to grow on her. And nobody was more surprised by this turn of events than her. She tried to avoid the truth and tell herself she couldn’t stand him, but she wasn’t buying her own tall tales.

Duke fell into step beside her, his long legs easily helping him close the distance. She half-expected him to pull ahead so they didn’t have to bother sharing the same space on the path.

He didn’t.

She could feel his eyes land on her every so often. Sophie didn’t know what was making it so easy to sense his attention, then again it could all be in her head. She glanced at him to see if she was right, and her heart stumbled.

Duke didn’t even look away when he got caught initially. When he did, she didn’t know what to say or think. She was all flutters and shivers. Then she got mad at herself.

Just because a cute guy was showing interest in her didn’t mean she should be excited about it. This was Duke. He might actually be from Europe and he might actually like animals, but he was still obnoxious and judgmental. She wasn’t ever going toforget what he’d said about her career choice. And anyone who wouldn’t support her choices wasn’t worth the air in front of her.

They made it to the dog park without incident. If it weren’t for the garlands the city had draped over the city street lights, she might have forgotten Christmas was right around the corner. She hummed the tune to Jingle Bells to herself as she kept a keen eye on the pups she’d brought to the park.

Sensing Duke’s presence before seeing him, Sophie exhaled with a resigned sigh. “What do you want?”

He came into view but only barely and she peered at him briefly. Already she could feel her core warming from his presence. Even though her head told her to stay far, far away, the rest of her body didn’t seem to agree with that sentiment. “I don’t want anything.” He said it so simply, so honestly she was almost disappointed in his answer.

“Oh.”

He turned to face her, leaning his elbow on the fence behind them. “That’s not true, actually. I wanted you to answer something for me.”

Sophie’s eyes narrowed. While his tone didn’t hint at anything rude, she couldn’t help but expect he was going to mock her in some way.

Duke chuckled then glanced out in the field at the dozen or so dogs running around with their pals. “Why are you here?”

She lifted a single brow.

He laughed again. “I don’t mean here, here. I mean why are you volunteering at the shelter? I’m sure you have much better things you could be doing with your time.”

---