Her Perfect Cowboy

“I’m going to remember that when she eventually has you in her sights.”

“Honey, I don’t slow down enough for her to catch me.”

“You live with her. How is that possible?”

“I’m good.”

India snorted.

“Be careful not to snort in front of the gorgeous Mr. Parrish. You might run him off.”

“Good. The last thing I need is a dusty cowboy tracking up my store.” And her life.

“He didn’t look dusty to me.”

“Then you go out with him.”

“Oh, no. I don’t horn in on my friends’ guys.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, he’s not my guy. We’ve had this conversation a million times. I’m not interested in getting involved with anyone right now. I’m too busy. And even if I were looking, I wouldn’t be looking toward someone like Liam.” No matter how good-looking he was. No matter how he’d shown her more than once that chivalry wasn’t dead.

“I know, you want James Bond without the danger.”

“Well, thanks for making that sound deadly dull.”

“You and Skyler need to live a little.”

“Elissa, I love you like a sister, but lay off, okay? You know how much this store means to me, and how much work it takes to make a small business successful.”

Elissa threw up her hands. “Fine, I’ll hush.”

“Thank you.”

“But you can’t blame me for saying ‘I told you so’ when you find working side by side with the sexy Mr. Parrish proves distracting.”

India pointed at her friend. “I swear, I’m going to find a pocket-protector-wearing accountant and convince him that you’re madly in love with him.”

Elissa, blast her, just wiggled her eyebrows. “If he’s cute underneath all the geek, I just might enjoy convincing him to shed the pocket protector.”

India shook her head. “I’m so going to laugh myself into stomach cramps when you fall hard for some guy.”

“You, too, missy. You, too.”

And damned if Liam Parrish’s sexy smile didn’t take up residence in India’s mind and refuse to vacate the premises.

Chapter Three

“So what do you think?” India asked Keri Teague after she finished pitching her idea for a cupcake contest as one of the activities to accompany the rodeo. “We’re trying to get a wide variety of offerings so that people who might otherwise skip the rodeo will come out.”

“It’s a good idea,” Keri said. “We’ll need to do blind judging. I’m not about to take the heat for telling some little grandma that her cupcake recipe didn’t win the blue ribbon.”

India laughed. “Good point. So, what, maybe three judges?”

“That should be enough. And then we can sell the cupcakes after the judging is over. I can put some entry forms in the bakery.”

“That would be great. Thanks.” India glanced out the front window of Yesterwear for what felt like the millionth time.

“Something wrong?” Keri asked.

India jerked her attention back to Keri, owner of the popular Mehlerhaus Bakery and new wife to Sheriff Simon Teague. “Sorry. Just have so many things going on that I feel like there’s a constant to-do list running in my brain.” No way was she admitting that one of those items was watching for Liam Parrish to roll into town. As small as Blue Falls was, that snippet would get back to Elissa and Verona before the sun set.

There really was no reason for him to come by the shop before heading to the fairgrounds to oversee the preparations for the rodeo, but that didn’t keep her from jumping every time the front door opened or looking out the window whenever she heard a truck. She mentally shook her head. This was Texas. Everyone and their dog had a truck.

“I know what you mean. Speaking of, I better get back to the bakery. I’ve got a five-tier wedding cake covered with fondant songbirds to make this afternoon.”

“I’ll take unboxing a new shipment of hats any day.”

Keri laughed, waved and was out the door. But the idea of that cake left India hungry. Deciding to take advantage of the lull in what had been a busy Thursday, she flipped the sign on the front door to say she’d return in fifteen minutes, locked up and headed down the sidewalk toward the Primrose Café.

Despite telling Elissa the previous week that she wasn’t interested in Liam, she nevertheless found herself scanning the café’s parking lot for his black pickup truck. She breathed a sigh of relief when she didn’t see it. At least that’s what she told herself. If she were being honest, their limited time together had generated a couple of very nice dreams.

After the dream the night before, she hadn’t been able to go back to sleep. Instead, she’d gotten up and started digging through the wooden chest at the end of her bed. Beneath the handmade quilts, she’d rifled through the few keepsakes she’d kept from a childhood she largely wanted to forget. Below the high school yearbooks and the box containing the sash she’d worn after being crowned the Belle of Blue Falls, she found the old manila folder she’d been looking for, the one filled with magazine clippings of handsome guys and articles about successful businessmen in fields she admired. She forced herself to look through every piece of paper, reminding herself of how she’d always dreamed of a man as opposite to her deadbeat father as she could get.

Not that Liam Parrish was a deadbeat. He obviously wasn’t since he owned his own company. Still, she got the impression that at heart he was a wandering rodeo cowboy. She couldn’t imagine him eating at a café in Paris with a view of the Eiffel Tower or hiking through the Scottish Highlands or building schools in rural villages for girls who would otherwise not get an education. No, Liam was more than likely a “what you see is what you get” sort of guy, and she wanted a man with many layers, one who got more interesting and sexier with each layer that was exposed.

India ordered a chef salad to go, and she somehow found the willpower to resist caving in to the desire for a slice of fudge pie. Would she ever be able to eat her favorite dessert again without thinking of Liam? She half wished she hadn’t come up with the rodeo idea in the first place, but hopefully it was going to generate a lot of money to help little Mia and her dad. India figured she could handle a bit of unexpected and unwanted attraction to Liam. After all, it was nothing compared to what Mia was going through.

Plus, after the rodeo was over, chances were she’d never see Liam again. She could get back to life as normal and let time and distance erode the memory of him.

After Gretchen handed over the salad, India headed back to the store in case the afternoon was as busy as the morning. She’d taken several steps across the Primrose’s parking lot when she spotted a familiar black pickup. She nearly tripped over her own feet as she watched Liam slide out of the driver’s seat. Damn, why did he have to do such nice things for a pair of jeans? He almost made her forget that she preferred stylish suits to jeans and scuffed cowboy boots, which were a dime a dozen in the heart of Texas. Didn’t she?

After a deep, fortifying breath, India resumed her trek back to work. She didn’t alter her path even though it would take her right past Liam. It wasn’t as if she could avoid him in the days ahead, so she might as well just get used to seeing him now. Maybe the infatuation would actually fade if she talked to him more.

“Hey, Liam,” she said as she drew close. See, that wasn’t so hard.

But then his eyes met hers, and they widened the slightest bit. It was enough to make her wonder why. Had she simply surprised him, or was there something more there?

Now she was just being crazy. If she thought she had nothing in common with him, chances were he felt the same. She’d seen the deer-in-headlights look he’d worn when he’d stepped foot into Yesterwear the first time, as if he’d fallen through a hole into a different world. She’d seen it before on the faces of the men whose wives or girlfriends dragged them into the shop.

“India,” Liam finally said after a moment’s hesitation. He glanced at the box in her hand. “That’s a big slice of pie.”

“Actually, it’s salad. I’m being good today.”

“What a shame.”

Heat flooded India’s extremities, and she tried to tell herself that it was because of the midday heat. It couldn’t be because Liam had meant anything other than it was a shame she wasn’t going to enjoy a slice of pie. Her brain had trouble coming up with an appropriate response, but she was saved when Liam’s attention shifted to the back of his truck.

A little girl with a dark brown ponytail stepped up beside him. It took a moment for the pieces to click into place. The girl’s eyes were what clinched it.