The Unexpected Bride (Montana Born Brides) (10 page)

Laurent’s eyes scanned her face.
“So you decided to head west, and that’s how you came to Copper Creek?”

“Yes. I left everything behind.” She pulled her hands away from his.
“Changed my mobile number and my email address, so Tom couldn’t come after me. I never want to see him again. He’s put me off getting involved with another man for the foreseeable future,” she said vehemently. “So, I got an interview with Wilton’s, the nanny agency, and they recommended me to their LA office; there’s a great demand for British nannies there. But when they mentioned your position, I was really intrigued. It sounded like the kind of challenge I’d always wanted in my career.”

Laurent frowned.
“It’s a challenge, okay, but you’re more than equal to it,” he muttered. He carried on circling her palm with his thumb, a thoughtful expression on his face. Then he pulled his hand away and Emma felt strangely bereft. She watched as he raked his hand through his hair and then it slid down to his neck, where it rubbed gently back and forth for a while, then landed in his lap. “I want you to know that you’re safe with me,” he said firmly. “Emma, you have my word that, from now on, we’ll keep it strictly business and friendship. You’re too special to my family for anything else.”

“Thanks.”
She fished for the tissue in her jeans pocket and blew her nose. Then they sat in silence for a few minutes.

“How’s the beer?” Laurent asked.

“It’s good.”

Laurent looked at his watch.
“I guess we’d better drink up and head on over to Rocco’s. They’ll be waiting on us.”

They put on their jackets and left Grey’s Saloon, Laurent waving his thanks to Reese Kendrick, the manager.
Emma was glad of a chance to breathe in the cold evening air and compose herself as they walked to Rocco’s on Church Avenue, which, as she guessed by the name, was an Italian restaurant. They were shown to a quiet table and sat down. Emma appreciated that Laurent was familiar with the menu, and chatted away to her as he recommended dishes that she might want to try.

“My parents, my brother and I come here regularly,” he told her, after pointing out a couple of the chef’s signature dishes.
“It reminds Mom and Dad of Europe. You’ll have to tell me if it’s the real deal.”

“All right!” Emma picked herself up and ran with his easy conversation.
“I’m not an expert, but I’ve travelled to Italy a couple of times. I’ll give it my best shot.”

“Or you could just tell me whether you like the food or not.” Laurent closed his menu and put it down.
“Brooke loved eating here.”

Emma wanted to ask him about his late wife, but sensed that he wasn’t yet ready to open up about her any further, or what had taken her from him and their children.
She decided to keep it light. “Well, in that case, I’m sure I’ll love it.” She looked around her. There were a couple of families having dinner. “We could think about the children eating here at an early supper one evening.”

Laurent gave her an exaggerated, long-suffering look.
“Do we have to bring the marbles and the jars with us too?”

Emma couldn’t help giggling.
“No. But it could be part of their reward for collecting the marbles. She looked again at her menu. “Spaghetti and meatballs, followed by ice cream. That could go down well. And we could go to the toy store beforehand.”

“Do you they’re ready for that?
Or, come to think about it, are we ready for that?” Laurent raised both his eyebrows and gazed at her mock-quizzically.

“Almost. Give them a few more weeks and I think they’ll have cracked it.”

“Okay.” He sounded hopeful and he was smiling. At that moment, a member of the serving team arrived to take their order.

The meal was delicious, and Emma pronounced it as good as anything she’d tasted in Italy.
The talk flowed easily, aided by a glass each of Chianti, and she found herself listening raptly as Laurent told her tales of his boyhood growing up in Marietta with his older brother, Ren.

“How did you get into making furniture?” Emma asked, as dessert was set before them—
tiramisu
for Laurent and pistachio and watermelon
gelato
for her.

“I already knew by the time I graduated high school that I wanted to do something creative with wood.
And I also had big ideas about running my own business.” Laurent stopped off to take a mouthful of
tiramisu
. “How’s your ice cream?”

“It’s yummy,” Emma said, licking her spoon.
She noticed Laurent’s eyes going to her mouth as her tongue reached for every last drop of the creamy dessert and she stopped abruptly. “So, you knew you wanted to be creative with wood and run your own business. And…?”

Laurent tore his gaze away and resumed explaining the course of his career path.
“My parents were really supportive. I think my mom was delighted that I had chosen to indulge the Deslongchamps artistic gene—that was her maiden name. I knew I had to get qualifications and experience, so I enrolled at the University of Montana School of Business Administration at Missoula and studied for my master’s, then got myself apprenticed to a custom-build furniture place in Santa Monica in California, where I learned about building furniture, repairing it and restoring it. I also met Brooke. She worked in the local health food store. They did great healthful salads and I started getting my lunches there. And…well, the rest is history.”

Emma smiled and finished her ice cream.
“Sounds as if you really put the work in to get River Bend Interiors off the ground?”

“Yeah.
You need a lot of skills to run a custom-build business, like creating design systems and supervising production lines, and then there’s all the boring stuff like tax, law, licensing and so on. I’ve never regretted doing it the long, hard way. ”

“And Brooke came back with you to Marietta?” Emma ventured, hoping he might open up a bit more.

“She did. I proposed marriage and Montana to her, and she agreed to both.”

There was a silence, which Emma decided not to fill, as she could see the shutters closing up again.
After a while, Laurent said, “I guess we’d better head on back to the ranch. It’s past the kids’ bedtime. I’ll get the check.”

When they’d picked up the children from their grandparents and got home to Copper Creek, Evie and Jerome willingly made their way upstairs to prepare for bed, tired out after spending time with Pascale and Robert making cupcakes. Before following them, Emma turned to Laurent in the hallway and said warmly, “Thank you. That was a lovely meal, and I really enjoyed your company.”

He studied her, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “I enjoyed it too, Emma. We must do it again some time.”

“I’d like that.
And thanks for listening tonight.”

“You’re welcome. Goodnight, friend.”
Laurent leaned forward, and surprised her by taking her face in both hands and kissed her on the forehead. For a moment she stiffened, but then she closed her eyes and let herself lean in, savoring the gentleness of his lips as they feathered against her skin. He pulled back from her and dropped his hands by his side, and the spell was broken.

They stood in silence for seconds, and then Emma turned on her heel and made her way upstairs. “Goodnight.”

Laurent didn’t follow. Instead he went to the living room and poured himself a French brandy. He sat down in one of the big leather chairs and regarded the amber liquid as he swirled it around in the globe glass. Bobo trotted in and settled at his master’s feet.

He had really enjoyed spending time with Emma this evening.
He dreaded losing her more than ever. But she seemed content with her role of friend and carer, and he was relieved that they’d been able to smooth things over after that
incident
in the kitchen that night. He could understand now why she’d been so upset by it. The abusive fiancé, and that bastard, Sir Giles Toffee-Nose. Laurent knew that if he ever was in England, he’d seek the lord out and teach him a lesson he’d never forget. Emma was such a lovely, sweet girl and she needed protecting; she clearly had no idea of the effect that she had on men.

He took a swig of his drink and his mood became reflective.
She had no idea of the effect she had on
him
, either. It was going to be hard. Her pretty, elfin features…that curvy, compact body…her luxurious platinum-blond hair that he longed to run his fingers through…her peaches-and-cream soft skin…and that way she had of making you feel as though you were the center of her universe. He pulled his thoughts up short. All of her was so damn tempting, and he wanted her, badly. If truth be told, he’d find it a struggle to control his physical reaction to her. But he had to, for where could it lead? He had no intention of becoming emotionally involved with anybody for a very long time. And she had said very openly that neither did she…

His mind turned back to the previous spring, when he’d had that ill-fated fling with Eloise Dexter.
With hindsight, Eloise hadn’t been the right woman for him, or for a potential life at Copper Creek. She’d been very attractive, an attorney from Bozeman who’d known Ren since law school. Her groomed poise and coolness had seemed beguiling to him then, offering an escape from the aftermath of Brooke’s death and the chaos of his family life, he supposed. But Eloise liked fine dining, beautiful clothes and everything in its place. She wouldn’t have lasted five minutes at Copper Creek, with the kids and the dog on the rampage. As it was, she’d grown tired of his turning up late because there had been some domestic crisis, or River Bend Interiors had demanded that he work late. She hadn’t appreciated his battered sheepskin jacket, dirty fingernails or his truck, where there was often sawdust and wood shavings on the seats and the floor. Emma didn’t seemed to notice any of it, and was frequently to be seen with her hair mussed and her clothes wet through with mud or snow, because she’d had Evie, Jerome and Bobo outside running around and playing, her turquoise eyes sparkling with fun and fresh air. She was sunshine on even the cloudiest day.

Yes, it was going to be hard.
But no matter how much he wanted to bed her, Emma deserved better than a lonely guy who just wanted to forget by burying himself in her body, then pulling away. And his kids deserved to have a constant female figure in their life who loved them. They couldn’t afford to lose her now. It would be hard, but he could turn away. It was the right thing to do…

As Emma was discovering, spring in Montana was a time of miraculous and grand reawakening: the winter snows slowly melted away from every place but the highest mountain peaks into the fast-flowing rivers, the sap rose in the trees and the first flowers began peeping their colorful heads above the hard, frost-bitten ground; everything was coming alive.

She inhaled the crystal-clear air. She felt very much settled in and part of the little community at Copper Creek now, and any thoughts of leaving had disappeared. The trouble and strife of her last months in England also seemed further away, memories of Tom and Sir Giles only pricking at her every now and then, which was a huge relief. In fact, she was a little amazed how quickly she was feeling able to put Tom behind. Had he meant as much to her as she’d thought? Being here in Paradise Valley, with the children and Laurent was coming to mean far more.