Runaway Lone Star Bride

“You sound like my parents.”

“They’re doctors, aren’t they?”

Maggie smiled. “My dad is a general surgeon. My mom is a pediatrician.”

“Is that why you’re so good with kids?” Hart asked curiously.

She shook her head and scooped up the last bite of broth-soaked tortilla chip. She got up and went to the fridge, returning with a bowl of freshly cut-up peaches, a can of whipped cream and two dessert dishes. “I babysat all through junior high and high school, and then became a nanny during the summer while I was in college.”

Nanny. Now there was a good idea. If he could convince her to build on the loving rapport she’d already developed with Henry. “Ever think of going back to it?” he asked casually, beginning to wish he hadn’t kissed her earlier. Especially if it messed up his long game.

“No.” Their gazes met and she inhaled deeply. She scooped peaches into the dishes, then poured generous amounts of whipped cream onto the fruit. “I like being a business analyst.”

“That’s not exactly what you’re doing here, is it?”

Maggie stiffened abruptly, her hand briefly touching his as she handed over the last course. “You’re right. I’m more of a Jill-of-all-trades, as well as assistant manager for the Double Knot Wedding Ranch business. But this is only temporary.”

So she kept saying every time he razzed her on it. Which was, as it happened, every time they spoke on the phone.

“Still not tired of remaining at the scene of the um...abandoned vows?” he asked, taking a bite of some of the delicious fruit.

She looked at him for a long, quelling moment. “Staying here was for the best, all around,” she said.

Hart moved his gaze from her silky soft lips and focused on the tumult in her pretty blue eyes. “Maybe it was best in the beginning when you were working to pay off the debt and hiding out from your family and ditched groom, but your bill has been paid for a while now. Hasn’t it?” Maggie focused on her dessert. Finally, she swallowed, dabbed the corners of her lips with her napkin. “I’m not ready to leave just yet. Maybe in the fall, if your parents can find a replacement for me, but nothing is definite.”

Silently, she pushed back her chair. He stood to help her with the dishes.

They both reached to open the dishwasher at the same time. Their shoulders and arms brushed before they could draw back. She sucked in a little breath, her eyes widening in a way that let him know she was physically aware of him, too.

Wishing he could kiss her again—without driving her further away than she was at this moment—he stepped back, to give her the physical space she craved.

Knowing nothing would be solved by pretending there wasn’t a problem, he asked, “Why isn’t anything definite?”

She moved past him with a glare. “Because I don’t know what I want to do next.”

He watched her clear the table with the ease of someone who had helped out at many a reception and rehearsal dinner. She set the tall stack in the sink. As she turned to face him, her hip brushed his. Not so accidentally this time. More to push him out of the way.

He stayed his ground, and blocking her now, he began to fill the dishwasher, despite her obvious wish to do so herself. “What about where you were working and living before you married Gus?”

She put the whipped cream and leftover soup back in the fridge. “Dallas?”

“Yes. Why didn’t you go back there when you decided not to marry Gus?”

“For starters, I had no place to live, since Gus and I had been sharing a house with Callie and Seth in the year leading up to the wedding. We had planned to get separate places, once our lease was up, but in the meantime I couldn’t live with Callie and Seth and spoil their happiness. Gus felt the same way. He moved out immediately, too.”

Hart took the soiled pot and filled it with soapy water, while she grabbed the spray cleaner and a cloth and began wiping down the counters. “But you had a job—”

“Which was even worse, because at that time, Gus and I worked at the same company. A number of our coworkers were at the ceremony. Going back to that would have meant facing all the gossip.” Finished with her task, she turned to him and wearily recounted, “It just seemed simpler to start over somewhere else. So, when your parents found themselves shorthanded after you left for Los Angeles, I volunteered to fill in to work off my wedding debt.”

“And decided to stay.”

Abruptly, tears glistened in her eyes. “It was quiet here. Between weddings, anyway.” She leaned against the counter and dropped her gaze to the floor. “I needed to think. And it was far enough away from my family, and Gus’s, so I didn’t have to deal with their anger. Up close, anyway.”

Hart dried his hands on a towel and approached her. Standing opposite her, he said quietly. “That was two years ago. Surely you can stop punishing yourself and finally move on.”

Her chin lifted. “I’m not punishing myself.”

He gave her a look that had her gazing away again. “My point is, surely there are other options for you now,” he said quietly.

* * *

MAGGIE STARED AT HART, not sure why her well-being was so important to him. Just instinctively knowing that it was, and maybe always had been.

Not sure she wanted to be that important to anyone, never mind shake up her life the way he and his infant son were threatening to do, Maggie took a deep breath and walked outside onto the stone patio. The summer air was warm and clear. In the distance, Sanders Mountain loomed. In the other direction was another mountain owned by a neighboring ranch. It was also covered with trees, most of them pine.

For now, all was silent.

Except for the occasional sound of the birds and the wind.

And the man coming up behind her.

He set his cell phone, serving as his baby monitor, on the table. Straightened. “You were talking about your options.

Feeling restless, Maggie moved a short distance away on the stone patio and sat down on one of the wooden chairs. “Well, if you must know, my parents want me to come back to my hometown of Laramie and find a job there. Possibly with the hospital. Or their thriving medical practices.”

Hart drew up a chair and settled in front of her. His dark brown eyes took in everything. “But you’re not sold on the idea.”

The look on his face was so understanding, Maggie began to relax, despite herself. “Gus is living there now. In the end, he had to leave Dallas, too. It was just too uncomfortable.”

“So, if Laramie is out, what are your other options?” he pressed.

She let out a slow breath. “I went to college in Austin, so I might go back there.” Restless again, Maggie stood and began to pace. She stopped at the edge of the patio and stared down at the flowers. Reminded of her wedding, she swung away from the prodigious blooms. “Or maybe San Antonio. Wherever I can find a job. It all sort of depends on how my parents react to the rest of my plans.”