Marry Me for Real, Cowboy - Valerie Comer Page 0,15
girlfriend was a famous pop star.”
“I hope he likes pop music, then.” Riley restrained herself from smacking her hand over her mouth. If she’d known Adam for months, she should know his preferences. “I meant, it’s a good thing he likes it.” Did he? His sisters probably knew the answer.
“She sang the national anthem at a big rodeo and thought Adam was pretty hot.”
“Alexia.”
The teen rolled her eyes. “What, Mother?”
If Kathryn caught the slightly snarky tone of voice, she ignored it. “We don’t talk that way.”
“You might not,” the girl muttered.
“Have you ever listened to Chantelle Devereaux’s music?” Emma leaned both elbows on the table as she studied Riley.
“Some, yes. She’s got that new song, If I Only Knew, that’s really awesome.” It had been released as a single just a few weeks ago... suddenly Riley’s brain caught up.
Alexia crossed her arms. “That song is about Adam.”
“Alexia.”
The girl raised her eyebrows at her mother. “Have you even listened to it? All that stuff about the cowboy who got away and how disillusioned she was to discover she’d been deceived? There’s nothing else she could have been referring to.”
The lyrics jostled through Riley’s brain, each successive stanza elbowing the others out of the way. Maybe Alexia was right. The song reeked of Adam.
Riley forced a laugh. “Oh, that’s one way to look at it, I guess. Her loss is my gain.” She’d keep the lyrics in mind for her personal theme song after she and Adam split up. Who knew she’d have something in common with someone so famous? A broken heart, courtesy of Adam Cavanagh.
Broken heart? Nah. She knew better. The guy might be a total charmer, but she knew where she stood from the start. No time to wallow in that right now.
Not when she had to keep her wits about her to keep their ruse up in front of Adam’s mother and sisters.
Adam edged Jupiter closer to Nathaniel as they moved a herd of cattle to the east range. The grass was dry on the stalk there, thinner than over the summer, but plenty of grazing remained until the snow came. The western flanks of the Continental Divide south of Glacier Park got more rain than much of the rest of Montana. Certainly more than central Texas.
He might not think of Rockstead as home, but the rangeland? Definitely. A guy could sit atop his horse and breathe in the clean mountain air. Could see the vistas and the conifers and maybe a glimpse of some wildlife. Next year he’d be here for hunting season. He’d bring home an elk for the freezer to Riley — no, she’d be gone by then.
What good was Running Creek’s old-fashioned farmhouse without a woman in it?
Nathaniel drew up Kingpin beside him. “And now you see why I never wanted to leave.”
“It’s gorgeous every time of year.”
“Yep. Never figured why you didn’t want to be here. I see the love of the land all over your face.”
“It’s Declan’s.”
Nathaniel shrugged.
Why didn’t his brother understand? “I want Running Creek back. Then I’ll stay.” Adam shot a sidelong look at Nat. “Join me?”
“Sounds good. It’s still in Mom’s name, right?”
Adam shook his head. “She signed it over to Declan when they got married.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“Wish I were, bro, but no. It was part of their deal, along with him adopting us boys. I don’t know what Mom was thinking.”
“I didn’t think to ask.”
Nathaniel had never seemed to have the same drive his brothers did. Adam had never been able to figure out why. Even Noah had apprenticed as a blacksmith then bought out his mentor when the older man retired. He might keep his home base at Rockstead, but he shod horses on a circuit through western Montana, even around Saddle Springs where some of Adam’s friends lived.
“Well, I asked.” Declan had cuffed him on the head for being a cheeky upstart. Adam had left for the rodeo circuit a week later. “I’ll get it now, though, one way or another.”
The cattle milled at the narrow entrance to the valley below them, stalling, and Adam nudged Jupiter into action, circling to the north while Nathaniel headed south. Together they encouraged the cows to keep moving through the gap.
No shock when Travis angled his mount toward him.
The moment had been building all day, with Travis shooting glowering looks whenever they neared each other. Thankfully, his stepbrother hadn’t let his antagonism keep him from focusing on the day’s task, but now that they were on the homestretch, Adam’s