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  “Resentful?” Jude repeated with a laugh. “Hell, no, he’s downright grateful. It’s for the kids, after all, not him. And Toby doesn’t see it as being charity so much as he sees it as being charitable.” Jude looked at him for a long moment.

  Long enough for Liam to know that something was on Jude’s mind that the latter was chewing on. “You have something more to say?” he asked Jude.

  “Yeah,” he said, picking out his words slowly, the way he might pick his path through a minefield. “Don’t you think it’s about time you got over your grudge—whatever started it—and accept Mom’s family? You know that Mom has. And even Dad finally has, in a way. You’re the family holdout.”

  Shoving his hands into his back pockets, Liam sighed. Ordinarily he wouldn’t have cared about being the lone holdout. But he couldn’t do it if he’d been wrong to begin with. “Yeah, I guess they really are good people, after all.”

  “So,” Jude began, humor dancing in his eyes, “you don’t want to tar and feather them and run them out of town anymore?”

  Liam shrugged, doing his best to keep a straight face. “I guess we can hold off on that for a while, seeing as how they are family and all.”

  “There’s that generous soul of yours, coming through again.” Jude pretended to marvel as he slapped him on the back. “Well, I’ll let Mom know. Your change of heart will make her very happy.”

  “You do that,” Liam murmured. “There been any takers?” he asked his brother, switching gears out of the blue.

  “What?” Jude stared at him in confusion. “What kind of takers?”

  Liam nodded toward the sign. “You know if anyone’s applied for a job yet?”

  “Why, you looking to branch out?” Jude teased.

  The scowl that came over Liam’s face had his brother backing off. “Just wondering, that’s all,” Liam said flatly.

  “Why don’t you go and ask Julia about it?” Jude suggested innocently. “She’d be the one to know.” His eyes narrowed as he looked at his brother intently. The truth came to him riding on a lightning bolt. “You haven’t gone to see her yet, have you?”

  “I’ve been busy,” Liam answered, a vague, dismissive shrug punctuating his reply.

  It was Jude’s turn to shake his head in absolute wonder.

  “You’re my older brother, Liam, and I’ve always looked up to you. I know you don’t exactly welcome advice, but you’re selling yourself a bill of goods if you think you can use that excuse indefinitely.”

  “You’re right.” Liam turned to look at his younger brother. “I don’t welcome advice.”

  And with that, he got into his truck and drove back to his ranch instead of toward the Superette the way he had initially intended when he had driven into town.

  It wasn’t that he had lost his nerve—exactly, he told himself—it was just that he realized he still hadn’t found the right words to use in framing his apology. He didn’t want to come across as either a sap or some gutless, spineless cowboy.

  And even though he missed her like crazy, he wasn’t about to go crawling to her, either. For one thing, she wouldn’t respect him if he did. For another, he wouldn’t respect himself, either, and once respect was gone, there was nothing left.

  So he went home, to stare at his phone and mull over his situation.

  When he did finally pick up the receiver, it wasn’t Julia that he called but her future boss. Marcos Mendoza.

  The latter was surprised to hear from Liam and even more surprised to hear the reason for Liam’s unexpected phone call.

  “You want to reserve two tables for the restaurant’s grand opening?” Marcos questioned as if he was fairly sure he hadn’t heard correctly.

  But he had.

  “That’s what I said. Two,” Liam confirmed.

  “You do know that we’re not opening for another two months, right?” He obviously thought the reservations were a bit premature, since the building hadn’t even gone up yet. But Liam always liked being two steps ahead of everything.

  “Yeah, I know,” Liam answered.

  Marcos quoted a cover charge and Liam remained unfazed, saying that was fine with him.

  “Okay, consider them reserved,” Marcos assured him.

  Liam gave him all the particulars Marcos required—phone number, name, etc.—and then hung up.

  And crossed his fingers.

  *

  “Two tables?” Julia questioned when Marcos called her about the reservation a few minutes later. “You sure it was Liam and not one of his brothers?”

  “I’m sure. I verified it twice,” he added. “You’re off to a really good start, Julia,” Marcos told her. He was obviously very pleased. “I just wanted to let you know,” he concluded.

  Julia thanked him as she hung up, more than a little stunned.

  Had she misjudged Liam, after all? She needed to untangle this before it made her crazy.

  “Mom,” she announced, taking her coverall apron off and leaving it bunched up beneath the counter. “I’ve got to take off for a couple of hours. Think you can cover for me?”

  “If I can’t, I’m gonna have to learn, sweetie,” Annie told her, patting her daughter’s face. “Go, do what you have to do,” she told her, all but shooing her out of the store.

  Julia was out of the Superette and in her SUV within five minutes of hanging up with Marcos. Her destination was Liam’s ranch, to corner the lion in his den to find out what sort of games he was playing now. Or had he changed his mind, after all?

  She knew what she wanted more than anything was for Liam to come around, to have him on her side and wishing her well in this brand-new, exciting venture she was undertaking. Because, despite the fact that this was what she really wanted to do, she couldn’t pretend that she wasn’t exceedingly nervous about undertaking this project. Assistant manager of the first real restaurant in Horseback Hollow was a huge amount of responsibility, no matter how clear-eyed she was about the benefits of the venture.

  Her hands were damp as she clutched the steering wheel and drove a little faster than was her custom to Liam’s ranch. She was going to have it out with him once and for all. One way or another, this was all going to get resolved.

  Today.

  Her heart was pounding madly by the time she pulled up in his driveway. The thought had also occurred to her less than five minutes ago that he might not even be at the house. After all, he could be breaking in a horse, repairing a length of fence—perhaps even out somewhere, finding a new companion for his bed.

  The last thought succeeded in making her stomach flip over and churn wildly, which in turn made her nauseous.

  This was not the way she wanted to feel when she finally saw Liam for the first time in more than a week.

  Searching for courage, Julia raised her hand to knock on the door only to drop it before her knuckles touched the wood. Not once, but twice.

  The third time, she succeeded in making contact with the door. There was no answer. Taking a deep breath, she knocked again, harder this time.

  There was still no answer.

  Frustrated, she tried again, all but pounding on the door.

  “Maybe I’m not home.”

  Julia jumped, stifling a scream with her hands over her mouth as she swung around. That deep voice seemed to echo all around her.

  “Liam!” she cried breathlessly, her heart leaping up into her throat. She dug her fingernails into her palms, trying to force herself to calm down.

  Liam cocked his head and looked at her. “I take it that you weren’t expecting me.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  It took Julia another thirty seconds before she could finally think straight. Even so, about 90 percent of her brain was still shrouded in a fog, offering only shadows for her to work with.

  She found herself torn between wanting to throw her arms around Liam—and wanting to pound on him for putting her through this hell she found herself in.

  Get a grip, Jules. Remember why you’re here.<
br />
  “Yes, of course I expected to see you, just not standing behind me,” she told him coolly. “But then, you were never exactly predictable, were you?” She couldn’t help adding the small dig. Given what she’d been through, Julia thought, she could be forgiven for being a little testy.

  “Guess not,” Liam replied. Circling around her, he opened the front door and then took a step back. “Why don’t we go inside and you can tell me why you’re here. Unless,” he added as an afterthought, “you’d feel safer standing outside.”

  Liam looked at her, waiting for her to make her choice.

  Julia raised her chin, braced for a fight. Was he hinting that she was afraid of him for some reason? That certainly wasn’t the case. They were still the same people they’d always been—basically.

  So, instead of taking the bait—if that was what he intended it to be, she thought—she merely breezed by Liam and walked inside his house.

  A smile played on his lips as he followed her in. Maybe things were not quite as dire as he’d thought.

  Liam mentally crossed his fingers.

  Maybe, just maybe, there was a glimmer of light coming into the coffin before it was nailed shut. Enough light to detect life if there was any to be had. Because as far as he was concerned, there was a great deal of life left in the romance that she had pronounced dead.

  He just needed to convince her of that.

  “Can I offer you something to eat or to drink?” he asked, letting his voice trail off so that Julia felt free to make her own suggestion if she was so inclined.

  She did.

  “You can offer me an explanation,” Julia told him.

  Liam closed the door behind him and then turned to face her. “About?”

  Liam struggled to keep his voice as cool and distant as hers, but it was taking everything he had not to just pull her into his arms and kiss her the way he’d been aching to do ever since he’d walked out on her at the Superette.

  Pride had made him go. But pride was a pretty damn poor substitute for a living, breathing woman who had his heart shoved into her back pocket and probably didn’t even know it. Pride couldn’t keep him warm at night, or make him happy in any manner.

  He’d come to realize in these past few days that pride was an empty, hollow thing that was liable to break at any moment and when it did, it would reveal a gaping hole inside his chest and nothing more.

  “Marcos called and told me that you reserved two tables for the Cantina’s grand opening. Did you?” she asked.

  His eyes met hers. There had to be more, he told himself. But for now, he’d answer Julia’s question. “I did.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense. You were completely against the restaurant being built here in Horseback Hollow. Are you planning on burning the place down on opening night?” she asked him point-blank.

  Try as she might, she couldn’t think of a single reason why Liam would have reserved one table, much less two, in a restaurant he had been so determined to sabotage in the first place.

  What was he up to?

  “No, Julia,” Liam told her calmly. “I’m planning on eating.”

  Yeah, right. Julia regarded him suspiciously. “And you need two tables for that?”

  Her gaze was meant to nail him to the wall. He never flinched. “I’m not planning on eating alone.”

  “Oh. I see,” she said slowly, her mind casting around for a viable scenario. She saw the first thing that occurred to her. “Is this going to be some kind of a reunion of your last dozen or so girlfriends?” she asked coolly.

  “No, it’s not,” he answered, never missing a beat. “I was thinking of having my family accompany me. You know, Jude and Gabi, Toby and those kids, my sisters and even my parents. I thought it might make a nice event for my family,” Liam concluded, leaving her completely dumbfounded.

  Julia shook her head. “I don’t understand. You were so dead set against having this…invasion, I believe was the word you used—having this invasion coming into the town just a few weeks ago. Now you want to bring your family on opening night?” she questioned.

  Liam took a deep breath, swallowed the last of his pride and told her, “I was wrong.”

  Julia blinked. Had she not been looking at his mouth as he’d said it, she would have sworn she was hearing things. But he had actually said that.

  Still, she had to make sure she wasn’t suddenly hallucinating. “You’re admitting that.”

  His eyes never left hers. This was for all the marbles, he thought. The old Liam would have never gone this far. But he’d already lost everything. This was his only chance to gain it back and he knew it.

  “Yeah.”

  Julia blew out a breath. “Okay, what’s the catch?” She wanted to know.

  There had to be a catch. Much as she wanted to believe Liam, much as she wanted to trust him, a part of her held back, afraid of being proved wrong yet again. She’d barely survived—if you could call it that—once. Twice would kill her.

  “There isn’t one. I’m telling you the truth,” he swore. He had to make her believe him. “I’ve made more than my share of mistakes, Julia, and I don’t want to make any more. And while I’m at it, here’s another ‘truth’ for you—”

  Julia braced herself, expecting the worst.

  “You were right. I did start out romancing you to get you to change your mind about backing the restaurant.” His eyes on hers, he prayed what he was about to say wasn’t a mistake. But if he was to win her back, there had to be nothing but honesty between them. “I thought if I could get you into my bed, I could make you forget all about your project. Instead, I was the one who forgot all about it. The first time we made love, I realized that the only thing that really mattered to me was you—and,” he admitted, “that pretty much scared the hell out of me.”

  She knew it took a lot for him to admit that. What she couldn’t understand was why something as special as what they’d had would scare him. “Why?”

  “Because I couldn’t seem to control the feelings I had for you. Instead they were controlling me. So when you broke things off, telling me you had done the same thing that I had set out to do, part of me thought, okay, maybe it was better this way. I thought I could get over you.”

  “Like a cold,” she concluded with finality. She tried to appear indifferent to what he was saying, but the thought hurt.

  He laughed shortly. He could see why she’d say that. Liam shook his head. “People get over colds,” he replied. And he had certainly not gotten over her. “You’re more like a fever of the blood.”

  “People get over fevers, too,” she pointed out in a low voice, doing her best to contain her feelings.

  Was it too late? she wondered, the thought all but squeezing the air out of her lungs. Was Liam telling her that he was “over” her?

  “I haven’t,” he told her. “And here’s another truth for you. I don’t think I’m going to. Ever.”

  She took in a long, shaky breath. She knew how hard that had been for him. The least she could do was come clean herself.

  “All right,” she began, “since we’re telling the truth, I might as well tell you that I lied, too.”

  “You?” he asked. He braced himself for anything. “About what?”

  She would rather not look him in the eye when she said this. But to look anywhere else would have been cowardly. “About seducing you.”

  “But you did seduce me,” he reminded her. And with no effort at all, she’d held him in the palm of her small hand.

  “If I did, it wasn’t to get you to forget about convincing people to vote against the proposal.” She could feel her cheeks growing warm as they turned a shade of pink, but she pushed on. “My only ulterior motive was to get you to want me for a while longer.”

  Relief swept through him. He smiled at her then, his eyes caressing her, making love to her even though his hands remained at his sides. For now.

  “You succeeded beyond your wildest dreams,” he told her. “Bec
ause I do.”

  “You want me?” she asked uncertainly, afraid to hope. “After everything that happened?”

  “More than I ever did,” he admitted freely. “I want you now. I’ll want you tomorrow and all the tomorrows for the rest of my life.”

  She looked at him, afraid that she was hearing what she wanted to hear and not what Liam was really saying. So, at the risk of looking like an idiot to him, she asked, “What are you saying, Liam?”

  He’d never tripped over his tongue before. Words had come so easily to him because they’d required no thought and had no heart behind them. But everything was different now. His heart—and the rest of his life—were on the line.

  “I guess, what I’m saying—awkwardly—is that I want you to marry me.”

  Julia’s mouth suddenly went dry as she stared at him. It was as close to dumbfounded as she’d ever been. “You’re proposing.” It was half a statement, half a mystified question.

  “I did mention that I was saying it awkwardly,” he reminded her.

  Her eyes smiled and then the corners of her mouth began to curve ever so slightly. “You want me to be your wife?”

  “I could act it out with hand puppets if you’d like,” he offered.

  “What I would like,” she told him, still careful to keep any emotion out of her voice, “is to have you make me understand why you’re asking me to marry you.”

  He could see why she would be skeptical. He wasn’t doing this very well. But then, he’d never done this before and in all honesty, had never thought he would. “Because I’ve seen what living without you after having you in my life is like and I hate it. I don’t want to live without you anymore and I’ll do whatever I have to, to get you to say yes.”

  He took a breath, then, carefully taking her hands in his, he looked into her eyes and said, “I love you, Julia. I’ve never said that to another woman—other than my mother and I think I was five at the time. Point is, I’ll never say that again to any other woman. I don’t want anyone else. I want you.”