Marry Me for Real, Cowboy - Valerie Comer Page 0,3
do you say?”
Her jaw dropped as she stared at him. “What’s in it for me? Besides you keep your hands to yourself.” She couldn’t believe for one minute she was entertaining his ridiculous offer.
Amusement glinted in his eyes. “Wouldn’t it look odd if I didn’t touch my future wife? Besides, she’s pretty demanding about being kissed.”
A flush crept up Riley’s cheeks.
“There will be honest hard work you’ll get paid for. A good reference at the other end.” He leaned on the table, wholly focused on her. “And did I mention kissing?”
What a preposterous offer. She really ought to laugh him off.
Chapter Two
Even the sudden silence from the woman across the table couldn’t keep Adam from enjoying his dinner. Not every cook had mastered perfectly tender, delectable liver, but it was a Golden Grill specialty. Estelle must still be in the kitchen.
For all that Riley had ordered the biggest entree on the menu, she seemed to have lost her appetite.
Adam didn’t usually have this effect on women. Well, except the ones who spent their lives calling half a cup of salad a meal so they could stay in their size zero jeans.
Riley was a healthier armful.
She caught his gaze and offered a narrowed look in return.
He grinned at her. “Well, what do you think?”
“I think you’re loco. What I’m not sure of is if I should call the cops.”
“I’m not that kind of crazy.” He cut a breaded onion ring in half and forked a piece into his mouth.
“Normal people don’t ask strangers to pretend-marry them. And they don’t eat liver.”
“Liver’s loaded with nutrients your body needs, like Vitamin A. It’s tasty besides. Want a bite?”
Riley pulled back, her lip curling. “Not a chance. It even smells gross.”
“Your loss.” Adam shrugged and scooped up a large dollop of mashed potatoes dripping with gravy.
“You know what they tell you in Stranger Danger 101, right? Suspect everyone.”
Adam snorted a laugh. “Says the girl who hitchhiked from... where? I don’t think you ever did say.”
“I didn’t.” She focused on sprinkling bacon bits over her sour-cream-loaded baked potato.
“I told you everything there was to know about me.” Okay, that wasn’t totally true, but she knew where he lived, his family dynamics, and why he’d proposed. Fake proposed.
“You have two brothers?”
He chuckled. Okay, so he’d missed some details. “More like five of them. And two sisters.”
Her eyes widened. “That’s a huge family.”
Once upon a time he’d lived with two parents who loved him and his younger brothers. It had been an idyllic life at Running Creek Ranch, even if the twins were a unit and he’d been solo. That didn’t mean he’d approved of Mom marrying Declan, especially with some nonsense of it being better for her sons.
It had not been better. From the very first minute, it had been Declan’s sons versus Kathryn’s sons. Great way to grow up, and why he’d left Rockstead Ranch right after high school and never looked back. Until now.
He met Riley’s gaze. “One of those his-and-hers-and-theirs families. Declan’s wife left him with three boys. My dad passed away and my mom married Declan. So that accounts for the six boys. Then Mom and Declan had a set of twins. Girls, this time. They turned thirteen last spring.”
Alexia and Emma were the only bright spot in the entire fiasco that was his mother’s second marriage. But, man, they were a handful. Declan might have figured out how to keep six young bucks roughly pointed toward the straight-and-narrow, but those girls tap-danced all over him. Mom had given up, as well. Without the intervention of their big brothers, the twins would be in much worse shape.
Sore spot. Adam had been gone too much to be much help. Now that he was home, he’d make sure his sisters straightened up.
He eyed Riley. “How are you with teenage girls?” At least she’d been one once.
Riley choked on a crouton and coughed it up. She dabbed her mouth with a folded paper napkin, mumbled “excuse me” and bolted toward the restrooms, her backpack dangling from her hand.
Adam finished his plate, but still she didn’t return. Had she left the restaurant? Maybe she’d just been after a meal — not that she was anywhere near done — and decided to go back to Scotty. Maybe it had all been a setup to get free food.
Nah. He was better at reading people than that.
Wasn’t he?
He stretched out in the booth with his back to the wall, settled his hat on his head, dug out his phone,