The Cowboy's Return by Danica Favorite

Author:Danica Favorite
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2024-01-08T19:17:52+00:00

* * *

Maybe he shouldn’t have said that about her faith. Luke was painfully aware of how stiffly she stood next to him at the Cattlemen’s Ball. He just didn’t understand why this woman who seemed to have everything going for her would be so afraid to take a chance on love.

But maybe it was better this way. He’d thought things would be easier once he got out of the army and women weren’t afraid of his dangerous job. Yet here he was, attracted to a woman who’d made it quite clear she wasn’t interested in him. Even though he’d called her out on her excuses, it didn’t matter what the excuses were. The bottom line was that she didn’t want to date him, and he needed to leave it alone.

He stole another glance at Maddie. He had not been lying when he told her that he thought she was beautiful. She looked like the belle of the ball. He kinda liked her better in her scrubs. She always found something fun to wear and used her outfits as another way of keeping people’s spirits up. He liked that about her. But he couldn’t express that to her. He wanted to say a lot of the things to her, but because he’d already messed things up, he felt like he couldn’t. Still, he should’ve been more complimentary about the dress.

“You look really nice tonight,” he said. “I should’ve made a bigger deal about it than I did because I know it’s special.”

She gave him a funny look, like she wasn’t sure why he was bothering now.

“And I’m sorry about what I said about your fear and your faith. That was out of line. Your reasons are your reasons, and I need to respect them, just like everyone else should.”

Maddie gave a small smile. “Thank you.”

Finally. Progress. At least her posture had softened, and she didn’t look like she wanted to run as far away as possible from an event she’d been looking forward to.

“It’s not you, you know,” she said slowly. “I’m sure you’d be a great person to date. It’s just not where I’m at in my life right now.”

The firmness in her voice made him realize just how hard it was on her to have everyone pushing her to date. All she really wanted was for people to respect her and her wishes. He’d messed that up tonight.

“I get it,” he said. “In all honesty, I should probably figure out my own life priorities first as well. In just a few short weeks, it seems like my whole life has changed.”

She gave him a tender smile. “And you’re doing great managing it.”

For a moment, it looked like she wanted to say something else, but a woman came up to them and greeted Maddie warmly.

“I’m so glad to see you here,” she said. “I feel like it’s been ages since I’ve seen you at the senior center. It’s always fun catching up with you when you pop in to check on Mom.

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