Page 72 of Bad Reputation

“No!” Emma says.

“Em—” I try to interject, but she shoots me a look that makes me shut up.

“Listen to me,” she says, taking my hand. “You already lost Asher over trying to dictate who he could and could not marry. Anything you do to punish me? It will only drive me away, just like it did with him. Are you ready to do that?”

Her father loses his shit. “You foolish little—”

“Stop!” Nancy shouts, drawing the eyes of everyone in the restaurant. She stands up, folding her napkin and putting it on the table. “Would you two like to sit?”

“Like hell they’re going to sit!” Albert growls.

Nancy looks at him, and there is something that passes between them, some sort of argument. After a second, it’s clear that Nancy wins. She turns to us with a frosty smile.

“You’ll sit, won’t you?” She motions to the two unoccupied chairs at the table.

I blink, confused. Albert is still furious and red, but he just sits back down, yanking his napkin off the table. Nancy continues to look at us questioningly.

I look to Emma, who looks like she’s just won some kind of war. “Are we going to sit?”

“Yes, I think so.” Her lips curve upwards in a smile.

I pull out her chair for her, and then sit beside her. Nancy sits too, tucking her napkin back on her lap.

“Champagne?” Nancy asks, her expression unreadable. “One should toast good news, like that of being engaged. Right?”

“Right,” Emma says lightly. “We definitely should.”

Her mother snaps her fingers, calling for the waiter. When Emma picks her menu up, I can see her trembling. I stare for a second, then reach out and cover her shaking fingers with my own.

Emma looks at me. For a moment, I can see everything she has been hiding since the moment we walked into this restaurant. The fear, the pain, the anxiety, all pent up.

She was just as nervous as I was, just as afraid. She just spoke up anyway.

I kiss her knuckles, unbelievably glad that I somehow got so damned lucky to be with this incredible, amazing girl.

And I know that with every bit of my soul, I will do my best to keep this girl safe and happy.

Forever.

Want more? Read an excerpt from How To Love A Cowboy

Pete

I closed the ledger and leaned back into the rich cherry colored leather of the desk chair. I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples, thinking about how much easier things had been when my father was around running things at Killarny Estate. It wasn’t anything I hadn’t become accustomed to over the years. Being the oldest of the five Killarny brothers, it was expected from birth that I would be the one to take over the day to day running of the ranch. While all the brothers were equal partners in running the ranch, it was I who was the most responsible. Ask anyone. It was also me that my dad had turned to back when my mother, Emily Killarny, had first been diagnosed with breast cancer.

At my mother’s request, I took on the additional tasks that my father had usually taken care of. Most of it was business, the sort of thing that didn’t capture my attention quite like the quiet, meditative work with the horses, but I knew what had to be done. Most of all, I hadn’t wanted to let my mother down.

Emily Killarny was a force unto herself, but she had a kind and good heart, and above all, she loved her children. I was aware that I had a special place in her heart when she had gone out of her way to be the best kind of grandmother she could be to Emma. I’d been dejected and alone, raising a two year old daughter alone after my ex-wife, Kelly, decided one day that motherhood and married life wasn’t for her. My parents had been so kind to us in the days following that abandonment, and I would forever be grateful to both of them. My mother had especially done all that she could to make sure that Emma felt safe and loved after her mother’s abrupt departure.

Back then my major responsibilities had been tending to the horses, something I still loved and wished I was able to do more of, but being the oldest, and since my father had relocated to Costa Rica, I knew I had to be the one to step up to the plate. My mother’s death three years prior had taken a toll on the family patriarch, and after suffering a severe bout of depression, he finally decided to make some major changes. One of those changes included leaving the states and relocating to a warmer climate, leaving the green Kentucky hills behind him in favor of sun and sand. Some days I couldn’t help but feel a little jealous of that, but I knew that my heart would always be right here, wherever Emma was.

I opened my eyes again and looked at my computer screen for a moment before getting up and heading for the door, grabbing my jacket on the way. There was still a chill in the air that early in the Kentucky spring and it was invigorating to step out into the morning air, breathing in the fresh smell of new grass and the less pleasing scent wafting from the nearest barn. The smell of manure might not have appealed to everyone, but for me, it was a reminder of home and childhood.

I breathed in the air and made my way over to the stables where my brother Alex was brushing out the coat of a two year old mare.

“She looks beautiful,” I said as I came up to stand on the other side of the stall door.

Alex nodded. “Siobhan is quite a looker.” He brushed her russet coat to a glistening sheen that caught the early morning sun and made the horse look like a copper penny.

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