Read Online Montana Homecoming by Jillian Hart - Free Book Online

Oscar had dropped in the grass and the dog bounded over to him. Why he was admitting this, he didn’t know. “I used to travel a lot with my job.”
    “That sounds exciting. Did she travel a lot, too?”
    “Yes. That was the beauty of it. We were both busy, on the go. She understood my life because it was hers, too.” For a brief moment, the flash of remembered love he’d once felt for the woman transformed him, made him magnificent. He must have loved his Sidney so much. “We talked the entire flight. We just couldn’t stop.”
    “Sounds like you two were a good match.”
    “I thought so.” He took a few steps in the direction of the parking lot and let the Frisbee sail through the air. “I didn’t want that plane ride to end. But the wheels touched down and we had to say goodbye. I gave her my cell number, sure I’d never hear from her.”
    “She called you.” Who wouldn’t? Brooke could hardly blame the woman. Liam, with the lowering sun slanting behind him like heaven’s light, could make even a woman like her want to believe in Prince Charming.
    “I knew the moment I heard her voice on the other end of the line that my life would change. I thought it would be for the better.” Self-conscious, he shrugged his impressive shoulders, the ones that would make any woman sigh.
    Not that she was sighing.
    “Sidney met me for dinner.” He stared off in the distance, hardly noticing when Oscar bounded up. The dog had to nudge the Frisbee into his master’s hand to draw him back. Liam grabbed the disk and sent it sailing again. “We talked, we laughed, we walked along the Thames. It just felt so right.”
    “When it wasn’t?”
    “Exactly.” Regret burned dark blue as his gaze narrowed. “I should have known better. Love leads to heartbreak regardless of what books and movies tell us.”
    “Not every time.” She had to believe that was true, that love could flourish somewhere, somehow.
    Not for her but for someone. The world would be a very bleak place without everlasting love on it. But then again, maybe it was just wishful thinking.
    “How many relationships do you know that have stood the test of time?” Oscar rushed up to him, panting hard, his prize clamped between his teeth. Liam scrubbed the dog’s head.
    “Oh, tough question.” She wrestled with that one herself. “My parents are divorced. My father has divorced twice. The twins’ mother has been in and out of marriages.”
    “My parents are divorced, too. Although they both live in Washington, D.C.”
    “The lawyers?”
    “Both workaholics. Both are Type A.”
    “Things you inherited?”
    “Mostly.” He tugged his keys from his pocket, the parking lot nearer now. “Maybe I inherited the bad marriage gene.”
    “I know the feeling.”
    “That’s why you’re still single?”
    “One reason.” The truth sat on the tip of her tongue, ready to be told. What was she doing? She swallowed hard, holding back the words. What was it about Liam that made her guards weaken? She’d nearly opened up to him. She shook her head. No way did she know him enough to trust him. “It’s my opinion men cause destruction and ruin wherever they go.”
    “Funny, that’s my opinion about women.” His slow grin made her heart skip a beat.
    Good thing her heart wasn’t in charge. She was. And she wasn’t going to let his stunning smile weaken her defenses any further. Time to shore them up. She hiked her chin and steeled her spine.
    “I know that’s not fair.” Liam winked. “But that’s how it feels.”
    So hard to ignore that wink. She let it bounce off her, unaffected. She’d gotten as close to him as she was going to. Best to remember she worked for him, she was leaving as soon as the trial was over and the last thing she wanted was a man to complicate things. She had a life again. No way was she going to mess that up.
    “Hey, Liam!” A man waved, heading in their direction. He wasn’t alone. He held a pretty woman’s hand, their