Page 10 of The Way to a Cowboy's Heart

She very nearly dropped her glass and did not contain her gasp of surprise. The man standing behind Carolyn, hanging back a bit at the door was—

“Em!” Jess pulled her into a hug. “So great to see you again. You don’t know how much we’ve been looking forward to this.”

“It’s been months since we’ve done anything fun,” Carolyn said. “Because… baby.”

Over Jess’s shoulder, her eyes met the cowboy’s. He appeared to be every bit as stunned as she was to find himself standing in her living room. A small, disbelieving grin tipped his mouth, and he doffed his black cowboy hat and held it in his hands, revealing his thick, dark hair that was ruffled and wavy.

“Oh. My. God,” she whispered against Jess’s ear as he hugged her.

He pulled back. “Oh, Emily, this is our friend, Liam Hardesty from Montana. I’ve braced him for an incredible meal.”

Liam swallowed hard before reaching a hand out to her. “We’ve already met, actually,” he said quietly.

His fingers closed around hers, still warm, and for the second time in one day, sent a little charge through her hand and a shiver of surprise through her.

“Wait,” Carolyn said. “You two have… met?How?”

“On a train,” they both said at once, their eyes locked on each other.

Jess turned to Liam. “Thisis her?Emilyis the girl on the train?”

Muriel widened her eyes at Emily, hardly suppressing a look of shock. Heat crept to Emily’s cheeks, and she was suddenly speechless. First, at the sight of him, standing in her living room and second—he’d mentioned their meeting to Jess? There was no way that the two of them had randomly met on that train today, only to find themselves together tonight, here, in her home. What were the odds of something like that happening? She couldn’t even—

“He’s been talking about you all day,” Jess said. “About this girl he met on the train.”

If a cowboy could blush, Liam did just that. “I wouldn’t sayallday. Just—”

“Until we walked in the door,” Carolyn finished.

Liam dipped his head and grinned at Emily. She smiled back.

Jess said, “Well, then, let me actually introduce you. Emily Quinn, meet Liam Hardesty. Liam, Emily. Dear friend, the queen of the dinner party, and chef extraordinaire.”

“No, no. I’m…I’m not a proper chef.” Emily reached for Carolyn’s coat. “I just love to cook for my friends. Of which you are officially now one,” she told Liam. “Welcome. Please, come in.”

“I can’t believe it’s you,” he said, handing her his coat, too.

“I’m a bit gobsmacked myself. I’m so happy you came. I’ll take these coats back and Muriel will get you something to drink and there’s a few nibble boards around. Please, help yourself.”

Carolyn grabbed her arm as she moved toward the bedroom and whispered, “Are you okay? I saw the news.”

Was she? Okay? Who knew? “Ugh. Yes. I’m fine. But let’s not talk about it tonight. Let’s just eat, drink, and forget all that. It’s Valentine’s Day, after all. Let’s not spoil it with talk of how the giant of finance who made me has also ruined me.”

She hugged her quickly. “I’m sorry. Okay, but you know if there’s anything I can do…”

Carolyn, when she wasn’t being the world’s best mum, was a crack defense attorney who worked for one of the best firms in town. And even though she’d promised them she’d be back after the baby, Emily knew she was torn about putting Zoe in daycare, or even with a nanny.

Emily often wondered what she would do if she ever got so lucky to even have the choice, and decided it wasn’t worth thinking about. Her career was demanding and few women survived who decided to have families. And she hadn’t even managed to find a partner, let alone consider having a family. Now, her free hours would be consumed with finding a new job and starting all over again, working twice as hard as every man in the place just to justify her existence. No time for partners or children.

After dumping the coats off in the other room, she returned, taking a gulp of wine, watching as Liam moved into the room with the graceful prowl of an athlete. Or a cowboy. Though, truthfully, the only experience she had with the latter was watching spaghetti westerns with her brother when they were kids, speculating about the romanticism of the American west. She tried to picture Liam on a horse. Roping. Or galloping up a hill. And she found herself mildly overheating.

She chugged the rest of her wine and took a deep breath.

Refilling her glass, she found him standing beside her. “You know, if you and I were to randomly run into each other twice in one day in the small town I come from in Montana, nobody would blink an eye. But here? Those odds are closer to finding a four-leaf clover in a field of alfalfa. Or worse.”

“I’m quite happy it happened, though. I never really got to thank you properly for your kindness. Or to ask what exactly you said to that boy to make him vacate the train like his hair was on fire.”

Liam just chuckled. “I told him you were an undercover detective, working vice and truancy.”

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