A Bride For Liam Brand. Joanna Sims

You can taste when someone has put their heart into their cookin’.”

      It wasn’t awkward, the frequent silences. Both of them were exhausted from their busy days, and speaking seemed like a chore. After Liam finished his coffee, he sighed heavily, and she understood exactly what that meant. He still had a long drive and reports to write.

      “Well...” he finally said, “I suppose it’s time for me to hit the road.”

      Kate stood as well and held out her hand for his empty cup. She put the cups on a small table just outside the front door before walking with the veterinarian to his truck.

      “I feel like I’ve had an awful lot to thank you for these last couple of weeks,” she said, her eyes looking off into the distance.

      They were standing closer than usual, Liam by his open driver’s door and she facing him.

      “I feel the same way.” He reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear.

      She looked at him then, drawn in by the kindness she saw in his bright blue eyes. “All we did was feed you a couple of times.”

      “No.” Liam was slow to withdraw his hand as if he enjoyed touching her as much as she realized she liked being touched by him. “You’ve given me much more than just a couple of meals. I feel like I belong somewhere again.”

      He added with a laugh, “But don’t give me wrong—the food matters too.”

      Kate felt a knot form in the pit of her stomach—was she ready to encourage Liam to feel like a part of the Triple K? It seemed too fast.

      “Hey.” Liam drew her back to the conversation, back to the present. “Go out with me.”

      Kate crossed her arms in front of her body, hunched her shoulders forward protectively. “Won’t that be a conflict of interest? You being my vet, me being your client?”

      Liam, who usually laughed off things like that, didn’t crack a smile. “Did you hire me just so you could keep me an arm’s length away?”

      “No.” She laughed in a way that made it sound like a lie. “I hired you because you are a damn good vet, and I need a damn good vet.”

      For a second time, Liam seemed to want to jump several spaces on a game board. He put his hands on her face and kissed her. This time, it wasn’t a peck. He took his time, explored her lips with his. And she let him. And she liked it.

      Slowly, the most eligible bachelor in the greater Bozeman area lifted his lips from hers. But he didn’t step away from her. His hands resting on either side of her neck, Liam waited until she was looking at him once again.

      “I’ll promise not to overcharge you, you promise to pay me on time. How’s about that?”

      “I always pay my bills on time,” Kate said.

      “And I never overcharge.”

      Any retort she was formulating in this oddly flirtatious banter was cut off by another kiss. Kate felt this kiss all over her body—little lightning bolts fired in her stomach, on her spine and between her legs. By the time Liam moved his head away, her head naturally followed.

      When she opened her eyes, he was smiling at her, so fondly, and with a little humor.

      “Where do you want to take me?” she asked him, knowing now that what they were feeling between them—this pull, this chemistry—wasn’t something that she wanted to deny or ignore.

      “Let me think on it.” Liam gave her a final kiss on the lips. “I want it to be something real special for you.”

      * * *

      “I think that’s awesome.” Lorrie had trailered one of her horses to the ranch for training. “You realized you’ve just bagged a man who has a high bounty on his head.”

      “I didn’t bag him.” Kate laughed. “He came willingly.”

      “That’s the best way.” Lorrie swung a Western saddle on her Appaloosa’s back. “If I weren’t already married, I’d have been all over that a long time ago.”

      That seemed to be the general consensus on Liam Brand. She knew that he was smart and handsome and successful, but she didn’t know just how sought after he was. There were going to be a lot of sad bachelorettes if this “thing” with Liam worked out. Kate knew that the town was talking about them, and she didn’t like it. What was there to be done about it?

      “Hey, he likes you.” Lorrie slipped a bitless bridle onto her horse’s head. “They lost, you won. That’s how the cookie crumbles.”

      Kate walked with her friend out to the nearby round pen where they would work for the next hour. Once Lorrie mounted and walked her horse into the pen, Kate followed and shut the gate behind them.

      “It’s not like this is a done deal,” she told her friend. “We haven’t even had one date.”

      “I’ve got a feeling about this.” Lorrie told her. The woman was always having “feelings” about things—truth was, she was more often right than wrong.

      Kate tightened the horse’s girth before she patted the Appaloosa on the haunch. “Okay. Let’s focus on training for now. We can start planning my wedding later.”

      * * *

      It was an afternoon date, and Liam insisted that he pick her up at the ranch like a real date. They had talked on the phone every day since she had agreed to go out with him; they both agreed that going into town, the hotbed of gossip, wasn’t the way they wanted to do it for their first date. Instead, Liam took her to his family’s ranch, Sugar Creek, where there was enough room for them to ride up to the mountains on the property and have a private picnic.