Page 40 of The Way to a Cowboy's Heart

“There’s your fish story.”

“Quite.”

Deke was holding the falcons when he and Jake walked in. Emily stared at the birds in awe. “Ah. They’re magnificent. They come when you call?”

“They’re pets now,” he told Emily. “Both of them were injured when I found them, and I nursed them back to health. But they both have issues still. Kind of ruined them for being in the wild. But we have a symbiotic relationship. They hunt rabbits and squirrels and bring them back home. We share the bounty. They come when they’re called and don’t miss a meal. It’s a win-win for them and company for me.”

She blinked. “You eat… squirrel?”

“No. I let them fight over the squirrel. To be honest, aside from a rabbit or two, I grow most of what I eat here. Can I interest you in a little early lunch?”

Jake leaned in. “You two will hit it off. Deke’s a gourmet cook.”

“Are you then?”

“My cooking is pretty basic, and I only have to please myself most of the time. But good food made with care is essential, don’t you think?”

“Absolutely. I’d love to see your kitchen.”

Deke beamed at that. “Let me put the girls in the aviary and I’ll show you around.”

The pair walked off together and, even after spending the morning with her, Liam couldn’t take his eyes off her.

“I’ve seen that look before,” Jake mused aloud. “Just never on you.”

Liam chuckled. “Yeah. She’s something. Meeting her in New York was like… it was like getting hit with a thunderbolt. Knocked me sideways.”

“We talking the real deal?”

“Maybe. If it were up to me,” Liam said. “But she’s a city girl and she’s heading back there after this short trip.”

“You sure about that?”

Liam found the leather sofa and slouched down into it. “Pretty sure. That’s the ground rules anyway.”

“My mind, rules are meant to be broken.” He sat down across from Liam. “Livvy took her sweet time letting go of some of her past to see clear to marry me. But I knew long before she did. I knew when we were just kids.”

Liam nodded. “Just now, when that bear came at us, the thought that I could’ve gotten her killed today just about broke me. She’s a city girl, like I said. She doesn’t have a clue about things like bears and wildcats.”

Jake ran a hand through his hair and leaned back. “She doesn’t look like a wallflower to me. She handled it all pretty well, for a city girl. And even city girls can learn to love the country. And cowboys who’ve been hit by a thunderbolt should be ready for the storm, but never underestimate their need for the rain.”

*

Emily and Dekeended up making lunch together, and he filled her in on the fascinating sci-tech work he was researching alone here in the mountains, from solar road technology to advanced aviation technology that had been inspired by his birds. By the time they’d all eaten lunch in his beautiful glass-surrounded atrium, she was in awe of him and wishing she could get to know him better.

She’d shaken off the scare with the bear, but Liam was strangely quiet during the meal. Now and then, he’d meet her eye and the distance in his stare would narrow in on her. She wondered if it was the bear he was still thinking about and how close they’d come to disaster. But, to her, this day had turned out to be practically perfect. A fully exciting, out-of-the-box kind of day, which was exactly what she’d had in mind in coming to Montana. Well, perhaps not the bear, but even that, with Liam acting all take-charge, protecting her, keeping her calm? That was all incredibly attractive and at the same time, confusing. Not because she hadn’t expected him to do just that, but perhaps, because that was exactly who he was. She’d just never met anyone quite like him.

And most likely never would again.

After they retrieved the things they’d left down by the river once the bears had gone, they said goodbye to Deke and flew back home. Jake’s dog, Monday, who had played relentlessly with Deke’s dogs, moped in the back seat with Liam, unhappy to leave his best doggie friends, but ended up on Liam’s lap, staring out the window.

The ride home took on a different tone though as each of them seemed lost in thought about the day’s happenings. For her part, Emily watched the beautiful landscape slide by, realizing that all the firsts she’d experienced today were also, no doubt,lasts. She’d be leaving Montana all too soon and once she returned to London, would likely never be back. Never see this incredible countryside again. Never get close enough to a bear to meet its eye. Never feel Liam’s strong hand, holding hers. Protecting her.

But that was how things were, and she had to accept them. Time was ticking away on her visa and, all too soon, she would be back in her father’s world again, an even smaller fish in a pond that was quite out of her depth.

Stop now. Don’t focus on what will happen. Focus on the now. If it all has to end, enjoy it while you can.

Those words resonated and she repeated them like an affirmation. She would enjoy this time, despite what loomed ahead. She’d come to leave all that behind her and to savor this moment in time with Liam—a man she hardly knew yet felt closer to than men she’d known for years. How was that possible? She’d only experienced that kind of connection in her life with women, insta-friends who’d become friends for life. But men? Never. Not until him.

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