The Reluctant Bride (Montana Born Brides) by Katherine Garbera Page B

Vegas. They’d both been carefree and easy to love. She’d changed, but last night she’d had her first glimpse of how much Monty had changed.
    Foolish that she hadn ’t realized that before now.
    Her phone rang and she glanced at it. San Diego area code. Monty. So much for giving her a little breathing room. But she knew he’d push her. Part of the reason she’d run was she had a hard time saying no to him.
    “ Hello?”
    “ Want to see my new place? I know you have to open your shop up at ten, but if you have time for a quick drive and maybe some coffee I’d love to show it to you.”
    Tempting. She glanced at the window across her loft apartment. The florist’s shop occupied the ground floor and she’d made this area into her home. It was full of wide open spaces that made her feel like she wasn’t trapped.
    “ Okay. I can be ready in thirty minutes.”
    “ I’m downstairs. Could you do it in ten?” he asked.
    Ten minutes? She jumped from her bed, glancing in the mirror. Naturally curly hair meant she looked like Medusa or her scary kid sister in the mornings. “I might be able to. I’ll be down as quickly as I can be.”
    “ Sounds good. Just remember, I think you’re beautiful.”
    “ Ha. If you saw me right now you’d run screaming for the hills, that’s a promise,” she said. She disconnected the call as she rummaged through the antique armoire that she’d had shipped her from her parents’ home in Florida. She found a pair of faded jeans, a lace-topped undershirt and her big leather belt. Then she pulled on a thick Irish wool sweater.
    Hair. OMG, it was sticking out in every direction. She tried taming it with her hands and then fumbled around in the bathroom drawer, finding a ski headband she hadn’t remembered purchasing. She put it on and found she now looked even scarier.
    Why couldn ’t she have hair that was just naturally easy to manage or long? Her hair grew out instead of down. She stuck her comb under the water and drew it through her tresses until they were at least lying flat. Then she remembered it was cold and morning and she could wear one of her knit caps.
    She spritzed herself with perfume and stomped her feet into her leather boots with the turquoise trim before putting on the hat and her jacket. She locked her door behind her and walked down the stairs that led to the back of Sweetpea Flowers. The stairwell opened onto the neatly organized workroom, and as she looked at the long bench she used for her work, she felt a sense of pride.
    She was good at what she did, and the number of regular orders she had in Marietta proved that the town recognized her talent. She might have stumbled on Marietta when running from her life, but as she opened the back door and stepped out into the alley, it seemed to her she’d found it as well.
    Monty was sitting behind the wheel of a mud-splattered, navy blue Chevy S-10 quad cab. It looked solid, but despite the wear, it was in good condition. A bit like the owner, she thought.
    He was in good shape and looked like he could get any job done, but he ’d been used and she knew he needed something from her. Something other than just standing still so he could catch her.
    “ Morning,” she said, as she walked to the passenger side and opened the door.
    “ Morning. Glad you said yes. Otherwise I would have felt pretty foolish having driven all the way out here.”
    “ I’m glad I did, too. What’d you have in mind?” she asked, as the warmth of the cab wrapped around her. He smelled of woodsy aftershave and coffee.
    “ A surprise. I figured part of our problem is that we never really got to know each other. Vegas was a romantic fantasy. It was a crazy whirlwind.”
    She nodded. “It was. I mean, I was caught up in the romance and fun of Vegas weddings, and you and your friends were...so different from other guys I’ve known.”
    “ They were, or I am?”
    “ You are,” she said, glancing over at him. But he had his face forward,