Forever Cowboy (Montana Brides Book 5) (12 page)

He moved closer, opening his arms out of habit, maybe even necessity. She dove into his chest, threw her arms around his middle and hung on tight. Somewhere along the way he pulled her close. She didn’t step back. Didn’t speak. She just stayed there, absorbing his heat and struggling with whatever was churning up inside her.

The front door banged opened and Cody ran up the stairs. “Emily?”
 

She stepped back and wiped her face with her hands.

Cody rushed toward her. “It’ll be all right. You know what dad’s like. He never stays anywhere for too long.”

A sad smile slid across Emily’s face. “There’s usually a reason for that.”

“Wait…” Alex looked between Emily and Cody. “Are you telling me that your dad’s in Bozeman?”

Emily nodded. “He saw me outside Tess’ café about an hour ago. I was worried about him finding out about the boutique, so I hid in the library until Cody could get here.”

“Why didn’t you call me?” Alex asked. Emily didn’t scare easily. If seeing her dad did this to her, then he must have destroyed every ounce of trust she had in him.
 

“I didn’t call because I felt like an idiot.”
 

Cody picked a wooden crate off the floor and flipped it on its side. “You don’t need to worry. Between Alex, Sam and I we won’t let him get anywhere near you.”

Alex felt a surge of pride that Cody realized he’d do anything to protect Emily. If her father wanted to make trouble, he’d have to get through all of them first.

“Sit here…” Cody pushed the crate closer to Emily. “What did he say?”

“Not much. He wanted to know how I was. I told him not to contact me again.”

Alex stared between Cody and Emily. Something else was going on. “Do you think he’ll listen?”

Cody glanced at Emily, then back at Alex. “How much do you know about our father?”

“I know he wasn’t around much when you were kids and that he was convicted of fraud after your parents’ divorced.” Cody looked uneasily at Emily. “There’s more?”

Emily dropped her chin to her chest.
 

“Emily?” Cody walked across and rested his hand on his sister’s shoulder.

She looked up, and Alex could have drowned in the misery clouding her eyes. “Four years ago dad turned up out of nowhere.” Emily stared miserably toward the window, then glanced back at him. It didn’t look as though what she was about to say would be easy.
 

“I hadn’t seen him in over ten years. He said he’d been working hard, building a life that we’d be proud of. He spent two weeks here, talking about what he’d been doing and getting to know us. At the end of his visit he offered me an interest free loan of two hundred thousand dollars. He was going to help me start my own business.”

“That’s a lot of money,” Alex said carefully.

“It sounded too good to be true, but he convinced me that he’d earned it legally.”

“He convinced
us
,” Cody added. “You did nothing wrong. He manipulated everyone and didn’t give a shit about who he hurt.”

Emily took a deep breath. “He transferred the money into my account and left Bozeman. We were going to meet in Los Angeles after my final exams. He had contacts, people who worked in the fashion industry. The day before I was supposed to leave, the Police arrested me for fraud.”

Alex’s jaw dropped. “They what?”

“Fraud,” Cody repeated. “The low life scum set Emily up. He wanted somewhere to stash some of the money he’d stolen from his business partner. When the Police got to the bottom of his lies they found over a million dollars worth of debt. He’d used his finance company as a cover. He owed people hundreds of thousands of dollars. Money that none of them could afford to lose.”

Emily bit her bottom lip. Her hands were clasped together so tightly that they turned white.

“What happened next?” Alex asked.

“The charges against me were dropped.” Emily glanced at Cody. “But not before mom and my step-dad spent a fortune on a team of lawyers to prove my innocence.”

Cody squeezed her shoulder. “Tell him about Doug.”
 

“I don’t think…”

“If we’re telling Alex everything he needs to know.”

“But it won’t make any difference.”

Alex knelt down in front of Emily and held her hands. “I know this isn’t easy for you. But I can’t help if you don’t tell me everything.”

“No one can help. Dad’s devious. He uses people and doesn’t look back.”

“I don’t care about your father. I care about you.” Alex heard the words leave his mouth and realized they were true. He did care about Emily. He wanted her to be happy, to achieve everything she set out to do. “You trusted him and he let you down. You’re not responsible for the way your father lives his life.”

“You don’t understand,” Emily said. “Dad doesn’t care about anyone. Doug Fraser had known him for years. He was dad’s business partner and he invested a lot of money in their company. He lost everything; his house, his retirement savings, everything he’d worked hard for. There was nothing anyone could do to get the money back. Six months after dad went to prison, Doug committed suicide.”

Alex tried to think rationally, he really did. But the more he heard about Emily and Cody’s father, the more worried he was.

Cody walked across to the window and stared toward the center of town. “Emily spent the last three years paying back some of the money dad stole from Doug’s family.”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I had to help them. They had nothing.”

At least Alex now understood why she didn’t want to borrow money from anyone. Why she hadn’t listened when he’d tried to explain why she’d seen a woman wrapped around his waist. He gave her hands a final squeeze before standing up. “What do we do next?”

“There’s nothing we can do,” Emily said. “He hasn’t broken any laws. I don’t even know where he’s staying.”
 

“The further away from here the better,” Cody muttered. “Dad’s trouble and I don’t want him anywhere near you.”

“I’m a big girl now. I don’t need you babysitting me.”

“I agree with Cody,” Alex said. “Which is why you’re coming home with me.”
 

Emily’s eyes turned a dangerous shade of blue. “Are you nuts? There’s no way I’m going anywhere with you. I have my own home and business to run. Not to mention a boutique that needs my attention.”

“You’re not going back to your house on your own. You can stay with me until the floors are finished and then we’ll move your design studio upstairs. There’s no reason why you can’t start working from here straight away.”

“And in this grand plan of yours, where am I going to live if dad stays in town?”

“I own a converted barn with four bedrooms and a den.” Emily looked totally unimpressed. Alex was beyond caring. “You might as well get that stubborn look off your face because you’re coming with me. Cody can stay with us if you’re worried about anything.”

“Worried?” Emily’s voice rose to a smidgen below a screech. “I admit that seeing dad freaked me out. But I’m not some helpless female that needs a white knight to save the day. Both of you can back off and let me run my own life.”
 

Cody crossed his arms in front of his chest. “We’re not backing off. Why do you think dad picked on you last time? You’re a soft touch. He knew you wouldn’t question his motives.”

“Sometimes, Cody Scotson, I don’t know whether you’re insulting me or paying me a compliment.” Emily stood up. “I’ve got a meeting with Molly. There’s a perfectly good lock on my front door and my neighbor’s less than thirty yards away. I’ll be fine.”

Alex wasn’t convinced and neither was Emily if the wobbly smile on her face was anything to go by.
 

“Make sure you keep your cell phone with you,” Cody said.
 

Emily walked toward her brother and kissed his cheek. “Thanks for caring. Don’t tell mom that dad’s in town. She’ll get upset.”

And then it was Alex’s turn. He half hoped that she’d give him a kiss too. He wasn’t disappointed. Her lips brushed his cheek and he felt the impact like an atomic explosion in the pit of his stomach.

“Thanks for listening. Are you sorry you took me on as a business partner?”

Alex was still getting over the aftershock of her kiss. He wasn’t sorry about anything, but he was about to be. With more speed than finesse he pulled her close and kissed her. Right there in the middle of construction chaos, with her brother looking on, and God knew what about to happen with her father. And it couldn’t have felt more right.

He pulled back and stared into her eyes. “Call me if you need anything.”

Emily touched her hand to her lips, then nodded before disappearing down the stairs.

Alex glanced at Cody. “Are you going to stand there grinning or give me a hand with the sheets of plywood?”

“You two are made for each other, only you can’t see what’s in front of your noses.”

Alex handed Cody his hammer. “Front window. I’ll get a drop sheet and a crowbar.” And maybe, he thought, another brain to replace the one that had just gone to mush.

“Then he kissed me. On the lips. Right in front of my brother.”

Molly swung her camera toward Emily, catching her in the middle of remembering. “Lord almighty. A man who makes a woman’s toes curl needs to be held onto. Tilt your head to the right. That’s grand.”

Emily leaned against the wall of Alex’s barn. They’d come out to his ranch to take the photos for her catalog. Partly because Molly had been looking for a location that screamed Montana. Mostly because Alex hadn’t given her a choice.
 

“I’m sorry Alex decided to be so weird about where we ended up today.”

“You’re sorry for a lot, it seems. Now turn to face the sun. That’s right, just a little more.”

Emily turned and tried not to squint. She imagined it was Fall. Aspen trees turning a brilliant gold, a cold wind tugging at the silk swing coat floating around her body.
 

Molly hummed as she worked and Emily relaxed. Nicky and Gracie were inside Alex’s home, getting ready for their modeling debut. The sun was shining, the cows were mooing, and she couldn’t get Alex’s kiss out of her head. And it annoyed her…not the kiss. The man. How a two second kiss could give her sleepless nights was beyond her. Even her dad’s unwelcome arrival hadn’t unsettled her as much as Alex.
 

“You’ve gone all tense. Think of that gorgeous man.” Molly grinned. “Unless it’s the gorgeous man that’s the problem.”

Gracie waddled toward them. “What gorgeous man are we talking about?”

“I believe the man would be your brother,” Molly said. “Emily’s got more on her mind than this beautiful morning in May.”
 

“Are you talking about the kiss?”
 

Emily’s mouth dropped open. “You know?”

“Half of Montana knows you kissed Alex.”

“I didn’t kiss him. He kissed me, and it wasn’t even a real kiss.”

Nicky joined them, her sapphire blue chiffon dress billowing in the breeze behind her. Molly lifted her camera and started shooting.
 

“Alex didn’t say anything.” Nicky pulled a white fur lined shawl around her shoulders, smiling at the scowl on Emily’s face. “It was Cody. You can’t keep secrets around our brother.”

Gracie walked across to Molly, standing beside her as she shot image after image of Nicky and Emily.
 

“It’s all in the light,” she said softly to Gracie as the conversation in front of her turned into laughter. “The colors and the angles. But mostly it’s in the heart.”

Gracie sighed. “If you’re still here when my baby is born would you take some photos for me?”

“Sure, I would. Now stand in front of that pile of hay. Spin in a slow circle with your arms open wide. I want to capture your glorious red hair in the sunshine.” Molly lifted her camera and made some adjustments to the settings. “You look beautiful.”

A soft blush touched Gracie’s cheeks. “It’s not easy feeling pretty when you’re the size of a whale, but today’s special.”

“That it is. New beginnings for everyone, Gracie.”
 

Emily nudged Nicky as they watched Gracie lift her hands in the air and twirl like a princess.
 

“We’re doing more than taking photos for your catalog,” Nicky whispered. “We’re creating memories. Look how beautiful Gracie is. All baby and love. We rush around trying to do everything and miss making moments like this.”

Emily thought about her friends, her family, and Alex. She hadn’t trusted him two years ago and she hadn’t wanted to now. But he’d helped her build her dream, create something more than she could have achieved on her own. He’d wanted to be her knight in shining armor. He’d kissed her.
 

And maybe one day, when the time was right, she might kiss him back.

Alex had never liked hospitals. He liked them even less now. It didn’t matter how many vases of flowers he saw, or how many brightly lit rooms he walked past, he could still smell the disinfectant, almost taste the sharp tang of sick people.
 

He’d come to see Doc Johnson, get the results of his last specialist appointment. The one that would tell him whether he could go back to riding.

He stopped outside an office, took a deep breath and opened the door. Mrs. Gibbs had been Doc Johnson’s receptionist for as long as Alex had been alive. She greeted him like a long lost relative, or someone that needed preferential treatment because of the news he was about to hear.

“We’re running about fifteen minutes late, Alex. Take a seat and I’ll let you know when you can go in.”

Alex did as he was told, choosing a chair under an open window, hoping the smell of the outside world would calm his nerves. He picked up a magazine, flipped through the pages and found an article on land irrigation techniques.
 

As he settled in to be inspired, a little kid opposite him nudged his older brother. The older kid glared at his sibling, but nudged his dad all the same. The little kid looked as though he was fit to burst with something he couldn’t hold in any longer.

Before Alex had finished reading the first paragraph, the two boys made their way across the room, stopping in front of him.