Forever Cowboy (Montana Brides Book 5) (16 page)

“I’m not sure. Soon.” Emily jumped when the computer restarted. Every screen in the row flashed the same start-up image.
 

Doris packed away her knitting and rubbed her hands together. She noticed Emily watching her and grimaced. “Arthritis. Makes my finger joints as stiff as ironing boards some days. Did you see the photo of Alex Green on Mac’s Facebook page? One day that boy’s going to get himself into so much hot water that he’ll boil himself alive. It must be interesting working with a man like that?”

Emily typed in her library card number and password.
 

“You can tell me about Alex later. I’m sending you a friend request,” Doris boasted with a note of pride in her voice. “Erin showed me how at our last social media class. It’s not all that difficult when you know what you’re doing. Then all you need to do is confirm me as a friend and I’ll send you the photo.”

Emily wasn’t sure she wanted to be Doris’ Facebook friend. For as long as she could remember, her husband’s hardware store had been at the center of gossip in Bozeman. There didn’t seem to be a scrap of information that didn’t pass through the big wooden doors at one time or another. With Doris’ new found social media expertise, that gossip had gone online, whisking around the world faster than a bolt of lightning.
 

Doris tapped away on her keyboard, then turned her screen toward Emily. “We don’t need Facebook. Alex and his mystery lady made the pages of the Bozeman Chronicle.”

Emily didn’t want to look. The mystery lady wouldn’t be her, or Doris would have asked what was going on. The sick feeling in her stomach got a whole lot worse.

“He looks mighty comfortable with her. Jake thought it could be Kelly’s sister. What do you think?”

Emily stared at her computer, trying to block Doris’ screen out of her line of vision. But it didn’t work. Curiosity got the better of her. So she looked. Then looked again. The photo was grainy, as if the photographer had taken it from a distance. But the blurry image didn’t hide what was happening.
 

Molly was holding Alex’s half-open shirt, looking for all the world like she was about to rip the whole thing off his body. A body that by anyone’s standards was a sight to behold. Rippling muscles and the outline of his gold buckle tattoo leapt off the screen, a poisoned arrow aimed straight for her heart.

Emily swallowed and hit the end session button on her keyboard. “I don’t know who it is, Doris. I’ve got to go. Bye.” She pushed her chair out and left the library as fast as she could go.

Alex heard a truck come to a standstill outside Nicky’s home. He glanced at Jacob, hoping his brother hadn’t noticed. Hoping he wouldn’t say anything about the photo that was about to cause major fireworks over Montana.

Jacob stared back at him with the quiet, reserved face that he used on everyone except family. A door slammed. Jacob raised his eyebrows, something close to compassion in his eyes. Or maybe that was his brother’s sick sense of humor kicking in.

“That might be Emily,” Nicky said. Christopher fell onto his diaper clad bottom. “Do you want to see Auntie Em, Christopher?” He threw his arms in the air, grinning with his one tooth smile. “Come on then, little man.”

Nicky walked across to the front door with her son in her arms. She disappeared onto the porch and Alex started sweating. If Emily hadn’t seen the photo then he might be okay. He could explain, tell her why Molly was undressing him behind his barn. God, even he knew he sounded lame, like a man who knew he was on the losing end of something bigger than life itself.

If Emily had seen Mac’s photo, then he was in trouble. More trouble than he’d ever been in. She’d think history had repeated itself. That he was nothing but a two timing bastard who’d used her. Again.

He rubbed his hands down the top of his thighs, glancing at the door. Waiting for any sign of what was to come.
 

‘Oh for God’s sake,” Jacob muttered. “Go and look through the window. You know you want to see what’s going on.”

Alex was on his feet and across the room before Jacob finished. “Don’t say anything about the photo. If you so much as…” He watched Nicky wrap her arm around Emily. It wasn’t the kind of hug you gave someone to say hello. It was the kind that offered comfort to a sister who was close to tears. He turned back to the couch and sat down. She knew.
 

“You forgot to tell me about the part where you’ve fallen in love with her.”
 

The deep, pissed off tone of Jacob’s voice rattled Alex’s nerves. “I didn’t forget.” Jacob snorted and Alex dropped his head into his hands. “She crept under my skin. Got there before I knew what was happening.”

“We’ll you’d better make your mind up pretty quick about what you’re going to do. In a few minutes you’re not going to have one unhappy woman to deal with, but two. And believe me, you don’t want to mess with Nicky if she thinks you’ve hurt her sister.”

Alex didn’t know what to do. If he left now, Emily would hate him for the rest of his life. If he stayed, she might still hate him. She’d yell at him. Call him every name she could think of, then add a few more for good measure. But at least they’d be talking. He could explain, tell her it wasn’t what it looked like. Try to make her listen to the explanation she wouldn’t want to hear.

The front door opened. Alex jumped to his feet and Jacob stood beside him, drawing the lines on the war that was about to erupt.

“I think you’d better leave.” Nicky kept her hand on the door, waiting for them to make a move.

“Where’s Emily?” Alex asked.

“She’s taken Christopher down to the river. I don’t know what’s happened, but she needs time away from you.”

Alex felt the intention of the words and flinched.
 

Jacob picked up their hats and shoved Alex’s into his chest. “Thanks for the coffee. Tell Sam I’ll stop by and say hello in the next few days.”

“I’ll do that,” Nicky said. She turned to Alex. “Emily cares about you. Don’t make a mess of things otherwise you’ll have me to answer to.”

“It’s just a misunderstanding.” Jacob pushed him from behind and he stumbled forward. He glared at his brother and all he got was a scowl back. Alex moved toward the door, down the porch steps and out into the warm Montana sunshine.
 

He couldn’t leave things as they were. He’d done nothing wrong. If Emily didn’t choose to believe him, then that was her problem. He wouldn’t leave the ranch until he’d spoken to her, even if she didn’t want to listen.

He fished his keys out of his pocket and threw them at Jacob. “I’ll be back soon.”

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

“I’m sure about what’s not going to happen,” he mumbled. “I can’t leave things as they are. If I’m not back in twenty minutes, don’t come looking for me. I’ll make my own way into town.”

“If you get stuck, give me a call.”
 

Alex nodded and headed across the yard. Wild flowers grew everywhere, painting the pasture in a kaleidoscope of color. He’d been out to Sam’s place a few times when poker nights had rolled around to his turn. They’d thrown steak on the barbecue, devoured a ton of potato salad and talked about anything and everything that mattered in their lives.

He followed a well worn path, heading toward the river that wound through the ranch. He heard Christopher giggle and knew Emily wouldn’t be far away.

She was sitting on the grass with Christopher beside her. They were throwing stones into the water, laughing when the water splashed into the air.
 

He cleared his throat. Emily froze. “Jacob showed me the picture. It’s not what you think.”

Christopher looked at Alex and grinned. His chubby fingers picked up a stone from the pile beside them and threw it on the grass in front of him. His smile dipped as he looked between the river and the grass.

Alex sat beside him and launched the stone toward the river. The splash brought a smile to Christopher’s face and the offer of another stone from his fingers.

Alex pickup up the stone, worn flat and smooth from navigating God knew how many rivers. “Molly had an idea for raising money for Kaylee’s transplant. She wants to publish a book, photos about life in Montana. She’s going to donate the profits to Kaylee.”

Emily didn’t say anything. She stared straight ahead, watching sunlight dance of the water and disappear into the flowers on the other side of the bank.
 

Christopher nudged Alex’s hand. “Tone.” He pointed to the water, his big blue eyes waiting, eager for another splash of water.

“In a minute, buddy.” Alex moved the stone to his other hand. “She took the photos of me the day after your photo shoot. Mac must have been working on the ranch and saw us. He didn’t tell me, otherwise I would have explained so that it didn’t look so…wrong.” He threw the stone. Christopher clapped and handed Alex another one. The little guy was persistent.

Emily took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “I thought…”
 

She left the sentence hanging in mid air. It twisted, turned and landed with a thud against Alex’s chest. He knew what she’d been thinking. Most of Bozeman would have thought the same thing. Especially if they’d known what had happened in the old library building that morning.
 

“When Jacob showed me the photo on Mac’s Facebook page I had to find you. Explain what had happened.”

Christopher handed Emily a stone. As she threw it toward the water her gaze caught at Alex, held him tight until he had to force himself to look away. So much more than disappointment clouded her eyes.

He carried on. He didn’t know what he was going to say, but he knew something needed to be said. “I can’t…” He stopped. Tried again. “I blamed myself for what happened two years ago. You didn’t trust me. Maybe I didn’t give you reason to. We hadn’t known each other for more than a few months. I wasn’t in one place long enough to help you see that I’m not the person you think I am.”
 

Christopher had used up his arsenal of stones and had stumbled across to the base of a pine tree. He bent down, fell over and wobbled to his feet, waving a small twig in the air.
 

“I didn’t think you were anyone apart from who you are.”

Alex sighed. “You jumped to conclusions. Painted me black before I had a chance to talk with you. You thought you knew me, knew my intentions before I did. You did the same thing today. I can’t make you trust me. That has to come from you.”

He stood up, unsure about where they’d go to from here. He wanted to be a part of Emily’s life, for her to know that she could rely on him. Trust him to always be there for her. But he couldn’t do that on his own.

He glanced at Christopher. “Sam and Cody are giving me a hand in the boutique tomorrow. If you’ve got some spare time we’d appreciate your input.”
 

Emily looked up at him, shading her eyes with her hand. “I’ll try and get there by ten.”

Alex turned to leave.

“Wait.” She scrambled to her feet. “You’re right. I did jump to the wrong conclusion. I just…I just need time. To work out…everything.”
 

Alex wanted to wrap her in his arms. Tell her they could work on whatever she needed together. He wanted to make everything all right, make them all right. But it wouldn’t help, wouldn’t fix what was broken. So he simply nodded and kept his thoughts to himself.
 

“I’ll see you around ten.” He walked toward his truck, left his heart in her hands and hoped she realized how much was at stake.

“Are you okay?”

Emily took the washcloth from Nicky and wiped Christopher’s hands. A single tear fell down her face. Like the pressure valve on a steam engine, more tears followed. Crazy, heartfelt tears that made her catch her breath and pray that it had all been a mistake. That the last four hours hadn’t gone from the most amazing in her life to the worst.

“Here…” Nicky lifted her son into her arms and passed Emily a handful of tissues. “I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.”

A little while later Christopher started rummaging around inside his toy box, the kettle boiled and the fridge door opened. And still the tears fell. Great big blobby tears that soaked through her shirt and left her feeling miserable.

“Drink this. It might make you feel better.”
 

Nicky pushed a mug of coffee toward her and Emily took a sip, wincing as the sweetness hit her taste buds. “How much sugar did you put in here?”

“More than usual. Drink up, it won’t do you any harm.”

Emily took another sip before reaching for more tissues.

“Do you want to tell me what happened?”

Instead of trying to explain, Emily walked to the kitchen counter and picked up her cell phone. She found the newspaper’s website and passed the phone to her sister.

“Is that Alex? And Molly? What are they doing?”

“Take a guess,” Emily said quietly.
 

“Is this one of your trick questions?”

“There’s no tricks. Tell me what you see.”

“Well…” Nicky moved her head to the side, staring intently at the screen in front of her. “The quality of the photo isn’t great, so I’d say it was taken from a distance. It doesn’t look as though either of them know the photo is being taken. Molly’s got her hands on Alex’s shirt. She looks as though she’s smiling.” Nicky tapped the screen and enlarged the image. “And he’s smiling back. Not in a sexy, come and get me kind of way. But like he’s standing there under sufferance. Like Sam looks when I make him do something he doesn’t want to do.”

Nicky handed the phone back to Emily. “I don’t know what they’re up to, but knowing Alex it won’t be what you think it is.”

“What do you think I saw?”

“Alex and Molly about to tear each other’s clothes off and have sex.”

Emily choked on a mouthful of coffee.
 

Nicky passed her a tissue. “Nod if I’m right.”

Emily nodded.

“There you go. I know you better than you think I do, and that’s a worry.”

Emily blew her nose. “I’ve got trust issues.”

“No kidding.”