Last Dance with a Cowboy: Includes a Bonus Novella by Sara Richardson

Author:Sara Richardson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2021-12-28T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Are you sure you want to come?”

August peered at his mother’s grim frown as he navigated the truck over the washed-out potholes in the ranch’s driveway. “Because I can turn around and take you back to your house if you’d like.” No sense in ruining her day by forcing her to lie for him.

“I haven’t missed one harvest at the vineyard in thirteen years.” His mother gave him the same stern look she used to wear when he and his siblings would come up with some elaborate story after they’d broken a vase or a window back in the day.

“And I won’t miss one because of this harebrained charade you and Leila have going on either.” Her brows pinched tightly together. “How do you think it would look if I didn’t show up? Nonna has already left me two messages about scheduling a dinner so we can celebrate your engagement. I can’t keep avoiding her.”

“I know.” She’d mentioned that a couple of times already this morning, and he deserved every bit of her irritation. “I’ll tell her we need to wait to have the dinner until things slow down a little. Or maybe until Wes can come back out.” He couldn’t stomach the thought of a faking his way through an engagement celebration right now anyway.

All he’d wanted to do last night was drive to Leila’s cottage and hold her in his arms the way he had the night before, but she’d shut him out. It was the right thing for both of them—he knew that in his head. Having any kind of real relationship with her wasn’t practical or logical or even smart right now. No matter what happened, he had to help her increase the revenue, even if it cost him his job. So far, he’d managed to call a few Denver news stations to tip them off to a heartwarming story about a local family that was trying to save their winery. With any luck, the stations would put the word out, and Valentino Bellas would get some free publicity.

“How is the ruse going, anyway?” his mother asked, crossing her arms—another maneuver meant to incite guilt.

“It got a lot more complicated when Forrest showed up.” Sure, his boss had agreed to keep things quiet and go along with their supposed engagement, but now he would be here keeping an eye on them, which would put a lot more pressure on them both.

At least he’d managed to convince Forrest to stay at the ranch for the time being. Then he could babysit him as much as possible.

“Does this mean I’ll finally get to meet your boss?” his mother asked.

“Yep.” Not that he wanted his mom anywhere near Forrest’s charm. “He was on a conference call this morning, but he said he’ll meet us up at the winery later.”

“That should be interesting.” She buzzed her window down. “So Forrest has no problem with you pretending to be engaged to the woman he’s trying to fire?”

“Nope.” Especially because he fully believed August was only pretending so he could ensure a Kingston takeover.

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