Page 18 of Pretend To Be My Cowboy
She laughed. “Fair enough. But if your mother asks, be sure to tell her I tried.”
Nash shook his head with a snicker. His mother had enlisted every female in town to try and find out who he was bringing as his date to his sister’s wedding. Those who weren’t attempting to pry were trying to play matchmaker.
He grimaced at the memory of Janna Elliot’s not-so-subtle flirting the other night when he’d gone down to the local pub with JJ and Kit.
Those who weren’t trying to pry or play matchmaker were attempting to get invited themselves.
Not that Nash was all that irresistible. He supposed he was attractive enough, but he had none of Kit or JJ’s charm or wit. He wasn’t half as good looking as either. But there was some pull that came with the Donahue name. They had money, property, and power within the community, which seemed to be a draw for some people, though it likely meant nothing to a city girl from Chicago.
He waved Lisa off and turned back to stalk the lawyer’s building some more, but ran into Casey and her fiancé, Ryan, walking out of Mama’s Kitchen.
“There’s my big bro,” Casey shouted out.
She was beaming and waving wildly in her nurse’s scrubs, her dark hair pulled back in a low ponytail. She gave him a quick hug and then Ryan, her fiancé who she’d met in college and who now worked as a pharmacist, shook his hand with a warm smile. “What are you doing in town?”
Nash told them the same half-truth he’d told his aunt. “What about you two? Aren’t you supposed to be working?”
Casey nudged his arm playfully. “They do let us out for lunch breaks, you know.” She gave her fiancé a dreamy smile. “I wasn’t about to pass up the chance to have a romantic lunch with my man.”
“At Mama’s Kitchen,” Nash teased with a wink.
She laughed and wrapped her arm around Ryan’s waist. “Anywhere’s romantic if you’re with the right person.”
Ryan kissed her forehead, looking like he’d just won first prize at the county fair.
Nash was happy for his little sister, he really was. But he wouldn’t be sad to see the day when they grew out of this honeymoon phase. He imagined he’d have to wait until the actual honeymoon came and went, at the very least.
Until then he was stuck with two dopey lovebirds who couldn’t go more than two seconds without fawning all over each other.
“So?” Casey asked when she turned to face him again. Gone was the sappy smile and in its place was wide-eyed expectation.
“So...what?”
She smacked his arm. “Who are you bringing as your date?”
His head fell back and Ryan chuckled at his exasperated groan. “Not you too, Casey.”
“Hey, I’m just trying to get Mom off my back. She can’t even focus on the important stuff because she’s so invested in you and who you’re going to bring to my wedding. You’re running out of days to ask someone, you know?”
Nash looked to the ground, scratching the back of his neck and avoiding eye-contact.
Casey huffed. “I think she believes you’re going to get so caught up in the romance of it all that you’ll drop to one knee and propose to the lucky lady right then and there.”
He shook his head. “Not likely.”
“I know. But Mama’s got a bee in her bonnet over this whole thing. You know how she gets.”
Boy, did he. The Donahue children knew better than anybody how stubborn their mother could be.
“If you don’t hurry up and tell her who you’re bringing, she’ll set you up with someone you don’t want to take. It can’t be that hard, Nash. Why don’t you just ask Susie or Anna-Mae? They’re both sweethearts.”
“Stop trying to set me up with your friends and let me be.” He spotted Emma coming out of the building across the street and snatched the chance to escape. “I gotta run,” he said. “Ranch business calls.”
Casey started to ask questions but he was already halfway across the street. And he almost stopped right in the center of Main Street traffic when he caught sight of Emma’s face.
She was too pale. Shell-shocked.
Aw heck.
