Page 69 of A Jilted Bride for the Cowboy

Marrying Paul was a no-go. They couldn’t talk her into that, no matter what.

Marrying Graham was far more tempting, but she couldn’t bring herself to agree to it. Not when she knew it was only his rescuer complex talking, because the real Graham Sullivan was much too shy to make such an offer without that knight-on-a-white-horse syndrome going on.

Which meant he didn’t love her, for all he’d tacked the words onto his awkward proposal. He loved the idea of her. Of saving her.

Paisley rocked from one foot to the other. “Well, it’s the shower for me. Are you sure you won’t come down to the dining room with the gang?”

“You go ahead.”

“I worry about you.”

Cadence forced out a smile and made certain it reached her eyes. “I’m fine, really. Have fun with the girls.”

“Okay. If you’re sure.”

“Absolutely. I’m peopled out after a busy day around the resort. I’m only here for another two weeks, so—”

“Wait. What? You’re leaving?”

“I only promised to stay through Labor Day.”

“Yeah, but…” Paisley shook her head. “Never mind. You do you. Just so you know Graham Sullivan is madly in love with you.”

Cadence chuckled. Did it sound natural? She could hope. “I’m pretty sure you’re wrong about that, but nice try.”

“Where are you going? Not back to Chicago, I hope.”

“Never.”

“Then where? Why? I don’t understand.”

“I haven’t given my notice yet, so don’t go blabbing, you hear? Not to the big boss, but not to Kaci or Heather or the others, either.”

Paisley sighed. “You drop a bombshell like that on me and tell me to zip? You need to do a better job explaining why.”

“It’s time. There’s no future for me here. I need to find where there is.” And with whom, if not Graham. Did he truly love her and was just weird about it? Maybe. But how did a woman ask a question like that of the man she crushed on? She couldn’t.

Although she was pretty sure it was more than a crush. Graham was everything she could ever want, if only he’d stop trying to rescue her from herself. Or… if only she could let him.

Or make the first move.

Hmm. Was it worth making a fool of herself to find out if Graham’s interest was real and genuine and not just because she couldn’t seem to manage without help?

It wasn’t like she could walk up to him and ask him point-blank. He had too much honor to back down. So, if not that way, then how could she know for sure?

Chapter Nineteen

Graham grabbed his laptop and headed across the great room to the conference room. Tate didn’t usually schedule meetings over there, and there hadn’t been one on the company calendar yesterday. Maybe Tate had baby brain and had forgotten to enter it in the agenda in advance? Ever since he and Stephanie had announced they were expecting, Tate’s head had been stuck in some cloud or other.

Nice for them.

Graham winced. Even the tone of his internal thoughts had turned sour over this thing with Cadence. Why was he such a bumbling idiot?

He entered the conference room, flipped on the lights, and closed the door. Where were Tate and everyone else? He turned and blinked.

Cadence stood leaning against the window ledge. She turned toward him as he entered. “Hi.”

“Hi.” His voice cracked like an adolescent. But man, she was beautiful. He’d missed seeing her so much that now his eyes couldn’t get enough of looking at her. “I thought Tate called a meeting?”

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