Read Online Heartland by Sara Walter Ellwood - Free Book Online Page A

dispersed, going back to work or to their half-eaten meals.
    “My name’s Rory.” A young waitress, who was the daughter of the owners, laid two menus on the table. She stepped back and fidgeted with her pad and pen. “I love you. Wow. I can’t believe you’re here in my restaurant. Will you sign my pad? Please.”
    “Sure. Rory, right?” The girl nodded and smiled widely. Emily took the girl’s pad and signed it. “This is my hometown.”
    Rory giggled as she took the tablet back and held it to her chest. “I know. How awesome is that?”
    With a smile that seemed bright and dead at the same time, Emily moved into the booth.
    “ Follow your dreams. Love, Emily Kendall, ” read the girl in an awestruck voice she might have used to speak to God Himself. She stared at Emily’s sprawled message for a moment. “Wow. Thank you!”
    “You’re welcome.” With a smile, Emily opened the menu. “I think I’m ready to order. EJ?”
    “Okay.” Rory flipped the pages to a blank and dropped her pen. “Oops. Sorry about that.”
    “I’m good. Go ahead when Rory’s all set.” He had no idea what he wanted to eat. The experience with Emily had him rattled almost as badly as it did poor Rory. But for him, he had a sudden desire to protect her from all the prying eyes and the nervous waitress. No wonder she seemed relieved when he’d offered to buy her jeans on a whim. Seeing the fear in her eyes when he’d noticed the maternity sizes had caused a weight to settle in his gut. Was this what her life was like?
    She closed her menu. “I’d like the American burger with a side of French fries and sweet tea.”
    Surprised by her order, he raised a brow and smiled. “I’ll have the same thing.”
    Rory grinned and looked from him to Emily as she took their menus. “Are y’all friends?”
    Emily nodded. “Yes. We’ve known each other since we were kids.”
    “Wow.” Rory shook her head as if trying to get her starstruck brain to function. “I’ll be right back with your teas.”
    “Sorry about all that,” Emily said when the girl was out of earshot. She fussed with the silverware on the paper placemat advertising various local businesses. “I should have known what coming in here would be like.”
    Before he had a chance to answer, Rory brought two tall glasses of iced tea and set them on the table. Thankfully, she scurried away before she had a chance to gush over Emily any more than she already had.
    He propped his elbows on the table and rested his chin on his folded hands. “Does this kind of thing happen to you everywhere you go? Because if it does, what a royal pain in the behind.”
    She laughed, and the sound, all husky and sexy, landed somewhere low in his belly. “I can’t go anywhere without being noticed. I’ve gotten good at disguises. I even have a few wigs I’ve worn when I don’t want anyone to recognize me. But then I run the chance of being noticed and people thinking I’ve changed my hair, or worse.”
    He leaned back in his seat. “How the hell do you stand it?”
    With a shrug, she looked around the room at the people still staring at her. When she turned her gaze to his, her eyes held a shadow. “To be perfectly honest, I have no idea how I’ll deal with it. For the past couple years, I’ve always been too… eh… high to care.”
    Her honesty had him blinking. “How did you handle it before? You’ve been famous for a long time.”
    “Thanks for being diplomatic.” She picked up her tea and gave him a mock toast, then took a sip.
    Did she wish it was something stronger?
    Sighing, she set the glass down and played with the condensation on the surface. “When I first started getting popular, I had my dad. I think he protected me a lot from the price of being a celebrity. Then I started touring on my own and rebelling against what I considered his control over me, I…” She took a deep breath and shrugged.
    “That’s about the same time you met the rock star.” Who, if