Page 14 of Pretend To Be My Cowboy
Nash wondered if Kit could hear the steel in her voice, like she was bracing herself for what was to come next. His heart gave a sharp pang in response.
She was brave, all right. Coming here alone, dealing with her family’s business. Not just anyone would step up to the plate like that and face it head-on when she could have just let someone handle it for her.
Kit leaned back, getting ready to stand. “If you’re heading into town with Miss Emma here, I’ll help JJ finish the fence.”
Nash nodded. His men had been working for him long enough that he rarely had to tell them what to do anymore. They saw what needed to be done and made it happen, a fact that made his life as foreman of this property a whole lot easier. “Appreciate that,” he said. “But if you need to get back to Chloe—”
“Nah, she’s with Aunt Marsha right now and is no doubt being spoiled rotten with too much TV.” To Emma, he added a rueful, “Next door neighbor to the rescue yet again. Summer break is challenging with no preschool to keep them occupied, and poor little Chlo-Chlo has a cold too.”
“You have a child?” she asked.
Kit held up two fingers. “Twins. Corbin and Chloe. My lovable pigeon pair.”
Nash wasn’t sure Kit even knew how much his entire demeanor changed when he talked about his children, but he was certain Emma didn’t miss it.
Smitten was the only word Nash could think of. And with good reason. Nobody in the world would deny that Corbin and Chloe were the cutest little preschoolers who’d ever existed.
“How old?” Emma asked. She seemed to forget all about the upcoming appointment as she leaned forward, all eager interest. She peppered Kit with questions once she realized they were about the same age she taught, and next thing Nash knew he was on the outside looking in as his best friend bonded with his newfound crush over the latest Disney movie.
The only question Emma didn’t ask, and which Kit didn’t offer an explanation for, was what had happened to their mother.
Nash was selfishly grateful. If women didn’t fall for Kit’s smile, or his looks, or his charming, easy demeanor, they almost certainly got dewy-eyed and soft as molasses when he told the story of how his ex-wife up and left him and the twins when they were only one.
Nash took a glance at the clock over the oven and grunted. “I hate to break up the party, but we’d really better get going if you want to be there on time.”
“Oh. Right.” Emma pushed her chair back from the counter and started to clear the plates. “Kit, it was such a pleasure meeting you. I hope I get to meet your twins before I leave.”
Before I leave. The words were like a splash of cold water and Nash barely heard the rest of Kit and Emma’s conversation.
She was leaving. In one week, if he remembered their email exchange correctly.
He glanced over at her as she gathered her belongings to head out. Angelic smile and pretty face withstanding, she had no place here in Aspire—not for the long run.
He couldn’t afford to forget that.
He shouldn’twantto forget that.
This intoxicating woman had just caught him off guard, is all. He was smart enough to know that her bright blue eyes and sunshine smiles were an unexpected surprise. All he needed was a good night’s sleep and a little logical perspective, then this silly crush would become nothing but a blip in his memory.
5
Mr. Billman’s office might have been located in the quaintest town Emma had ever seen, but once inside that small stuffy space, it felt like any other lawyer’s office anywhere in the world.
The walls were a deep maroon, the furniture heavy, cumbersome oak, and old men stared down at her from portraits on the wall when she entered. The thick carpet muffled her footsteps while Mr. Billman led her to his desk with a warm smile. He hadn’t stopped with the small talk since she’d arrived in his lobby a minute ago and she was still ill at ease.
“Please, take a seat.” Mr. Billman gestured to the plush chair on the other side of his desk. With his thick black glasses and the silver hair parted down the middle, he reminded her of the guy from those popcorn commercials, Orville Redenbacher.
Nothing about this man was intimidating, so it definitely wasn’t his fault that her insides were twisted into knots. She found herself wishing she’d asked Nash to come along for moral support.
But she couldn’t have done that, of course. She’d already imposed on the poor man enough as it was. He spent the whole ride into town giving her a lay of the land, and when they drove down Main Street, with its picture-perfect two-story brick buildings and charmingly cheerful signs and storefronts, she’d almost managed to forget why she was here.
For a second, she felt like the heroine in one of those cheesy romance novels her sister always teased her for reading. The kind that were basically Hallmark movies in paperback form.
But that feeling had long since dwindled since Nash had dropped her off at the front door marked Billman & Billman, Esq.
She’d briefly wondered who the second Billman might be. She didn’t have a chance to ask, because Mr. Billman wasted no time getting down to business the moment they were seated. “As you know, your father left his property to his daughters…”
She only half listened as he recapped exactly what he’d already told her in their first correspondence.
