COWBOY TAKES A WIFE, THE

by Milburn, Trish

  “Yeah.” She took a quick breath then dived into what had to be said. “Listen, I wanted to thank you for being willing to do the whole fake-dating thing, but the more I think about it the more I realize how unfair it is. I pulled you into a lie that I shouldn’t have.”

  “Seems I remember volunteering.”

  “People offer all kinds of things to be nice, never expecting the other person to take them up on it.”

  “So you think it was an empty gesture?”

  “No, that’s not what I mean.”

  “Devon, just stop. You’re worrying for no reason. I like hanging out with you. I’ve been away for so long that the friends I had in high school have such different lives than I do now. I mean, we’re still friends but not close. They’ve got jobs, wives, kids and all that comes with those things. It’s nice to have someone to just have fun with.”

  How was she supposed to respond to that? She couldn’t very well say no because she was afraid spending more time with him would only make her like him more.

  “Okay, if you’re sure.”

  “Trust me when I say there are way worse things than pretending to date a pretty woman.”

  An extra jolt hit her heart. Had he just called her pretty? Even if he wasn’t thinking romantic thoughts toward her, that simple comment filled her with a joy that wasn’t wise but that there was no stopping.

  “Well, I better get home,” she said as she reached for the door handle.

  “Wait,” he said. He hopped out of the truck and hurried over to her side to open the door.

  “This isn’t necessary,” she said when she allowed him to hold her hand as she slipped out of the truck. “No one is around.”

  He glanced beyond her for a moment then started to lower his head toward her.

  Oh, my God! He was going to kiss her. Her heart thumped hard, like it was trying to break through the ribs imprisoning it.

  But in the next moment, he whispered close to her ear, “Your parents just walked out of La Cantina.”

  “Oh,” she managed, perhaps a bit too breathy.

  Whom was she kidding? She sounded like she was about to cry out with release. At least in her mind she did.

  She tried to calm her pulse and her breathing, but she lost control of both when he planted a soft kiss on her cheek. It took all her waning willpower to not turn so that her lips met his.

  Several torturously long seconds passed before Cole took a step back. She made the mistake of meeting his gaze. Was there any hope her feelings weren’t visible, hanging there between them doing their best to scare him away?

  “Uh, they’re driving away,” he said.

  “Okay.”

  A couple more seconds ticked by in slow motion before Cole seemed to remember he was standing too close to her and took a couple of steps back, releasing her upper arms. He broke eye contact and motioned toward her car.

  “I’ll wait until you’re safely inside.”

  Though Blue Falls was about as safe a place as she could imagine, it still touched her that he wanted to ensure her safety before heading for home himself.

  Devon hoped the shakiness she felt in her legs didn’t show as she walked toward her car. When she reached the driver’s side door and opened it, she glanced back at Cole.

  “Good night, Cole.”

  “Good night, Devon.”

  As she sank into her car, she couldn’t help imagining Cole whispering good-night to her as they drifted off to sleep beside each other.

  The entire drive home, she replayed the feel of his hands on her arms and that beautifully terrifying moment when she’d thought he might kiss her. She called herself a fool for thinking that only moments after he’d been talking about how she was definitely in the friend zone. If he was the kind of friend who’d pretend to date her, who would plant a warm kiss on her cheek in an effort to keep her mother at bay, how was she going to survive that friendship?

  When she walked through her front door, Honeysuckle greeted her by entwining herself around Devon’s legs. Devon leaned over to pick up the buff tabby. Honeysuckle proceeded to nuzzle Devon’s cheek very near where Cole had kissed her.

  Cole had kissed her!

  Okay, so it was on the cheek and just another part of their romantic ruse, but it was still so much more than she could have even imagined only days ago.

  “I suppose you’re hungry,” she said and placed the cat back on the floor.

  Just as she finished filling Honeysuckle’s bowl, her phone rang. Her heart started that banging-to-break-free thing again as she wondered if Cole might be calling her. But when she saw it was Mandy, she tried not to be disappointed.

  But she hid that disappointment when she answered the call. “Hey.”

  “Hey, yourself. You okay? You and Cole left kind of quickly. I was sort of hoping it was so he could ravish you.”

  “Ravish? Really? Who even uses that word anymore?”

  “It’s a perfectly good word for a perfectly good time.”

  Devon rolled her eyes. “When the rider got hurt, we just didn’t feel like watching anymore.”

  “I heard he’s going to be okay. Sore, but okay.”

  “That’s good.” A tremendous amount of relief allowed the tension camping out within her to lessen. Even though she didn’t know the man, she was thankful he hadn’t been seriously injured or worse. Again the image of Cole lying motionless in the dirt threatened to make her sick.

  “You’re falling for him, aren’t you?”

  “What?”

  “Cole. I saw how you took his hand, how you two looked at each other.”

  “You are imagining things. We’re pretending in order to stem my mother’s assaults, remember?”

  “Maybe at first.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean? We’ve been out exactly twice. We’re friends, that’s it.”

  “You don’t have to pretend for me. I know you better than that.”

  Devon walked to her living room and sank into her favorite chair. “I tried to end our little act tonight, but Cole didn’t want to.”

  “Oh, really?”

  “No, it’s not like that.” She told Mandy what he’d said about it being nice having a single friend with whom to hang out.

  “Friends? Are you sure he’s not just using that as an excuse?”

  “Trust me. He has about as much interest in a serious relationship as I do in walking down the aisle with the next guy my mom plops in my path.”

  But he’d lingered a little after that kiss, hadn’t he?

  No, she was imagining it, or it had simply been for her parents’ benefit.

  “Well, that’s disappointing,” Mandy said. “Though I’m still not one hundred percent convinced.”

  “I can’t think that way.”

  “Because you like him?”

  “Yeah. I’d have to be brainless and blind not to. But that doesn’t change anything, and he’s right. It is fun hanging out together. Surely time will erase any nonfriend feelings and it’ll all be okay.”

  When Mandy didn’t respond, Devon feared she knew what her friend was thinking.

  “You think this is all a mistake, don’t you?”

  “I just worry that you’re going to end up getting hurt.”

  Devon had to admit, at least to herself, that she was beginning to fear the same thing.

  She was still worrying about it after hanging up with Mandy, when she received a call from her mother. Of course receiving a sweet kiss from Cole without her mother having something to say about it was too good to be true.

  * * *

  “HOW DID YOUR date go?” Cole’s mom asked as soon as he walked into the house.

  “Fine, as far as fake dates go.”

  “I th
ought you’d be out later.”

  “We both have to work in the morning. Ranches and stores don’t run themselves.” He almost told her about the rider who’d been injured, but he stopped himself in time. He might be home now, but Cooper was still out there riding. His mom didn’t need another vivid reminder of the danger her youngest son put himself in each time he climbed onto the back of a bull. “Speaking of, Devon might be calling you about doing some sort of quilting class at her shop.”

  “Oh, that might be interesting.”

  “She’s doing a special event for the anniversary of her opening.”

  “Maybe you should do something, too.”

  He laughed as he kicked off his boots next to the front door. “I doubt she wants a welding iron in the middle of her shop.”

  His mom sighed. “You might have a point there.”

  Cole wandered into the kitchen when his stomach growled, reminding him he’d not eaten anything for dinner. A pang of guilt hit him. Even if it had been a fake date, he should have offered to get Devon something to eat.

  He grabbed a cold, fried chicken leg and stepped to the sink to eat over it.

  “You didn’t have dinner?” his mom asked as she joined him in the kitchen.

  “Nope.” He’d been too busy paying attention to the rodeo, talking with people he hadn’t seen in a while. And then there’d been that moment when Devon had captured his hand with hers, giving him support he hadn’t even realized he needed.

  He sensed his mom wanted to say something else, but she refrained. Instead, she walked across the room and into the laundry room. He wondered if she was brainstorming another way to get him on the topic of Devon. Wanting to avoid that, perhaps for a different reason than he’d had only the night before, he ate the rest of the chicken leg and washed his hands.

  “I’m beat. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “Okay.”

  Had she just given up a little too easily? Deciding not to risk finding out, he beat a retreat to his bedroom. But after chucking his clothes, he sank onto the edge of his bed and realized that he might not be going to sleep anytime soon. His brain kept coming back to that warm, comforting feeling that had spread through him when Devon had taken his hand. He couldn’t shake the feeling that the moment had been special, important, one that somehow created a bond between them that no amount of joking around and pretend dating ever could.

  He thought about her driving home alone and found he wanted to make sure she’d gotten there safely. But that would seem odd when she’d made the drive countless times before. Still, he picked up his phone and started a text to her. He stared at the empty text box for a few seconds before figuring out a way to check on her without saying he was checking on her.

  Told Mom about the quilting class idea. She says it sounds interesting.

  After hitting the send button, he stared at the phone for several long seconds. No response came, and he tossed his phone onto his nightstand, reminding himself that they were friends, that he didn’t want anything more than that. He was mistaking his reaction to her kindness for something more.

  He slid into bed and turned out his light, but damn if he didn’t just end up staring at the shadows on the ceiling. When his phone buzzed with a text, he chose not to think too hard about how quickly he grabbed the phone to read it.

  Okay. Thanks.

  Her response seemed abrupt, not like the person he’d begun to get to know over the past few days.

  Everything okay?

  Again, she didn’t respond immediately.

  Yeah, fine.

  He’d swear he could hear the tone of her voice in the two-word text, and it said that all was not fine.

  Your mom?

  He watched the screen, telling himself that he was just concerned for a friend. He wasn’t going to focus on the odd thought that he wished he was with Devon to comfort her as she had him earlier.

  Let’s just say she’s not a fan of PDA, says it’s crass.

  Because of the kiss?

  Again, a hesitation.

  Yeah.

  Sorry.

  Maybe he’d taken the pretending a little too far, but he’d not given it that much thought. He’d gone with his instinct. Warning bells should be going off that his instinct had been to plant a kiss on her cheek, but they weren’t. Maybe that should be the biggest warning bell of all.

  Another text from her appeared on his phone.

  Don’t worry about it. I’m used to it.

  He’d swear he could hear the resignation in her voice, and it made him angry that her mother was so hard on her. Devon didn’t deserve it. After getting to know her again, really for the first time, he didn’t understand how anyone, especially her mother, could be so harsh toward her. Everything he’d seen and heard pointed toward Devon being a good, kind person, which was a miracle considering her mother’s personality. It made him like Devon even more, and he wanted to find a way to cheer her up.

  Resorting to teasing, he typed a response. So I guess she would have had steam coming out her ears if I’d really laid one on you, huh?

  A rush of heat ran through him at the image that brought to mind. It was dumb to allow himself to think of Devon that way when he didn’t plan to act on it. Or maybe it was better to just let his brain wander where it wanted to since he was safely miles away from her, where he couldn’t make an even bigger mistake and do something that might lead her to think there was a future for them.

  If she would even want such a thing.

  The memories of all their interactions zipped past like a recording on fast forward. A look here, a smile there, the tenderness when she’d taken his hand. Was she interested in making their relationship a real one? Or was he inserting meaning where there wasn’t any? History had shown he wasn’t the best at reading women.

  He wondered if he’d gone too far with that last text, if maybe Devon couldn’t tell he was teasing.

  Or was he? Was he fishing to see how she’d respond?

  Forget steam. More like flames.

  He chuckled at her response. That sounds painful.

  It does, doesn’t it?

  He imagined her smiling, hoped he’d made her smile.

  I’m not keeping you awake, am I?

  No. I was pacing when you texted. Probably cursing a little.

  You, curse? I’m shocked!

  Ha. Ha.

  They continued texting back and forth, everything from more jokes about how they could rile her mother to her plans for her anniversary celebration to tales from his rodeo days.

  He typed a new message. Hope you have unlimited texting.

  I do. But I should probably hit the hay. I’ll be dead on my feet tomorrow.

  Sorry to keep you up so late.

  Don’t apologize. I enjoyed it. I feel better now.

  I’m glad.

  Good night, Cole.

  Good night, Devon. He damn near told her to have sweet dreams but caught himself in time. That was more than a friend would say. That stepped over into real romantic relationship territory.

  When he slipped his phone onto his nightstand, he stared up at the ceiling and wondered if Devon was doing the same. He was certain he’d never texted that much with anyone in his life. Anytime he was dating anyone—hell, even married to anyone—he’d actually talked on the phone or in person. So why did he feel like the texting back and forth with Devon was more intimate?

  Here in the safety of his own room, he allowed himself to wonder what things might have been like had he gotten involved with Devon first, or even second. Anytime before his two divorces had soured him on long-term relationships. She was so different from both Amy and Bridget. He couldn’t help but think that maybe he’d been a bigger idiot in high school than he’d previously thought. Had he stuck
with Amy despite signs he shouldn’t and overlooked someone who might have been a better match?

  He shook his head on his pillow. There was no rewriting the past, and he doubted he and Devon would have worked out any better than he and Amy, though it likely would have been for a different reason. Considering she still put up with her mother’s meddling so she could stay in Blue Falls, there was no way she would have accompanied him on the road. He couldn’t imagine her waiting at home for long stretches while he rode the circuit either.

  No, Devon had made a good life for herself doing the things she wanted despite the way her mother tried to steer her daughter’s life. She believed in finding her very own Prince Charming, and he couldn’t be further from that description.

  He needed to stick to the plan, simply helping out a friend with a bit of harmless fibbing. Remembering that he’d made a promise to himself of never making the mistake of a “lifelong” commitment to a woman again.

  Chapter Eight

  Cole pulled out of the feed store’s parking lot and pointed his truck toward home. But when he reached the downtown area, his gaze landed on A Good Yarn. If he and Devon were really dating, people would expect him to stop to see her if he was in town, right? Maybe take her out to lunch as a surprise.

  He knew full well that he was walking awfully close to the line between fake and real but he told himself he wouldn’t take the step over. It wasn’t as if he was going to walk into her store and take her up against the nearest display counter.

  Cole’s hands gripped the steering wheel tightly, and his heart rate shot into overdrive at that image. He whipped into a parallel parking space but didn’t immediately turn off the truck’s engine. Instead, he wondered if he should have agreed with Devon when she’d said they should stop pretending.

  What the hell was wrong with him? Couldn’t he just be friends with a woman?

  Yes, he could, and he was going to prove it to himself even if to everyone else it would appear that he and Devon were a couple.

  He turned off the engine and jerked the keys out of the ignition. By the time he reached the front door to A Good Yarn, he’d told himself about a dozen times that he was just imagining any attraction toward Devon. It was only because he hadn’t gone out with anyone for real in a long time, and he was still stinging from Bridget’s betrayal.