Page 7 of The Way to a Cowboy's Heart

The seat was immediately taken by an elderly Hispanic woman who definitely needed it more than Emily did. Emily shook her head with a secret smile at him. He smiled back on his way out the door. And with one more touch of his hat, Liam—whose last name she would never know—disappeared into the crowded subway platform and out of her life forever.

“People who love to eat are always the best people.”

–Julia Child–

Chapter Two

“And you didn’tget her name?” Jess Brody, Liam’s host in the city and best friend from childhood, looked at him askance as they walked down Forty-Second Street after they’d met in front of the M&M store. “Your skills are a little rusty, my friend, from spending too much time with all those cattle.”

“Stating the obvious,” Liam replied, staring up at a skyscraper whose top he couldn’t see.

“Right. But you gotta remember, the city moves at a pace that makes Marietta, Montana, look like it’s standing still. You gotta jump at your chances here. No hesitation.”

He glared up at the rainy sky. “She looked like she was having a really bad day.”

“Maybe it’s just as well, then.”

But Liam didn’t agree. She might have been having a terrible day, but he felt something in those few minutes with her. Something… good.

“Sorry, man. But on the upside, Carolyn’s got a babysitter for tonight, because we’re all invited to an event.”

“What kind of event?”

Jess rubbed his hands together. “You’ll like it. Trust me.”

Liam hedged, tucking his hands in the pockets of his sheepskin jacket. “If you don’t mind, I might just stay in tonight. I’m a little jet-lagged from that red-eye. I was thinking I’d go to bed early to be ready for the christening tomorrow.”

“Hell, no. I mind. This thing? This event? It’s kind of exclusive. An invite-only thing and Carolyn made sure we added our out-of-town guest to the list. My wife is a new, exhausted, housebound mom of a newborn, and believe me, you don’t want to cross her.” The two men exchanged smiles. “Anyway, the trick to jet lag is to go with whatever time zone you’re in and just act as if it’s yours.”

This time zone would never belong to him. On the other hand, it felt good to be out on his own for a while. Away from the constant work and the early mornings and the aloneness.

Though truthfully, he was rarelyalone, alone. There were always people around, whether it was family or construction crews. For the past year and a half, there had been a never-ending cast of characters at the ranch as the Hard Eight reinvented itself into a guest ranch. So it wasn’t that there was a dearth of company on the ranch. Just… just not the kind he craved.

It was only slightly ironic that his siblings, all three of them—Will, Shay, and even his baby sister, Cami, had lately gotten coupled up with life partners or married, when only two years ago, they’d all sworn off even the idea of that. Even his widowed mom had reunited with an old love, Ray Lane, and it looked like they were heading down the aisle soon, too.

And here he was, still single, walking the streets of New York with his old friend, who’d married the love of his life and had already started a family.

Two years ago, before his oldest brother, Will—the Hardesty’s own prodigal son—had returned home to the Hard Eight ranch, Liam would have jumped at the chance to leave everything behind, move to a city like Jess had, start his life over… do what he thought he wanted to do—escape. But Will’s arrival had turned everything around. Leaving wasn’t what Liam wanted anymore. With the guest ranch development and reinventing his life from a beleaguered rancher to being an entrepreneur, architect, developer… He loved what he was doing. But there was something missing and it was no big secret what that something was.

Meeting that woman on the train… he couldn’t say what it was about her, but it hit him like a bolt of heat lightning.

She was important. She was someone he wanted to know.

But, dammit, that wasn’t to be.

It was still drizzling a cold rain as they passed a TICKT booth that claimed to sell cheap seats for Broadway shows, something he didn’t expect he’d have time for. Along the way, he drew stares and looks from passersby, one of whom loudly speculated that he was the Marlboro Man.

He didn’t fit in here. No denying that. He stuck out like a Guernsey in a field of Black Angus. A few steps up the street, he was almost heartened to catch a glimpse of a cowboy hat in the crowd. But the closer he got the sight of the guy caught him off guard.

Good God.

The guy was standing, nearly naked, with only boots and a hat and a pair of tighty-whities, half-heartedly covered by the guitar he was strumming. There was a small crowd gathered around him taking pictures. He had an open guitar case in front of him and a sign that read, THENAKEDCOWBOY.

Liam rubbed a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing. The man was soaking wet from the earlier rain and had to be freezing. But he did not show it at all. There was a small, curious crowd around him taking photos with their cell phones.

“Hey, brother from another mother!” the guy shouted at him, noticing Liam was apparently one of his kind. “What brings you so far from home to the city that never sleeps?”

Jess grinned, looking expectantly at Liam as if waiting for some kind of sensible answer.

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