Page 40 of A Montana Rodeo Star

Brent paused and nodded.

“The wedding is going to be early afternoon. Then we’re going to have a reception and party here later in the day after pictures. That work for you?”

Stiffening, Brent forced his expression to remain calm. He swallowed thickly. The big event he wanted to compete in was later that night. He was the best man and he still hadn’t figured out a way to make both events work. Even if he attended the ceremony and ducked out early during the reception, his family would most definitely think he wasn’t prioritizing them. It made him feel more than a little ill and he’d been avoiding dealing with it as much as he could.

All he could do was nod for fear that his voice would give him away.

Tripp smiled. “Good.”

Brent couldn’t stick around after that. With Tripp being here at the ranch and the wedding day looming, Brent needed to leave. But he couldn’t hang out with Tate and Jason out of fear he’d bump into Faith.

Behind the wheel, Brent drove to town with no goal but to avoid the big issues that threatened to choke him. He ended up parking near the Sweet Everything Bakery and for no other reason than his last meeting in town with Faith, he wandered inside.

He peered through the glass displays at the brownies then wrinkled his nose. Who in their right mind would want to put fruit in their chocolate desserts?

“Can I help you?”

He glanced up and smiled at the woman behind the counter. Then he moved farther down and pointed to some miniature chocolate chip cookies. “A couple of those.”

She placed some inside a paper bag and he was on his way. Brent wandered down the sidewalk and reached inside his bag for a cookie, his thoughts immediately returning to the night he’d made this treat with Faith. The first bite told him everything he’d expected.

They were not the same.

He scrunched up his nose and stared at the cookie. It wasn’t bad, but it definitely wasn’t… hers. How did she make them taste so good? But it wasn’t just the cookies, was it? The question popped into his head without provocation.

Everything about Faith made him feel different. His days brightened when she was around him. And yet his reasons for putting distance between them felt less and less important.

Yes, she was his friend’s sister.

Yes, he was busy with the rodeo and it wasn’t fair to ask her to be with a guy who might not be around a lot if he got a sponsorship.

But none of that seemed to matter in the grand scheme of things. What if she was worth the risk and he wasn’t giving her the benefit of the doubt?

A familiar flash of brown hair and a body he would have recognized anywhere caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. He turned and saw Faith in the bookstore windows.

Of course she’d be in the bookstore. The woman would have lived there if she wasn’t so interested in medicine. Heck, she was probably looking for a book on that topic.

He felt ridiculous, watching her through the glass. All she would have to do was turn slightly in his direction and then she would have noticed him.

Should he go inside and talk to her?

No. Bad idea.

Really bad idea.

With all the effort he’d put into avoiding her today and the last couple of days, he couldn’t get weak now.

Brent was just about ready to head farther down the street when a man approached Faith. Brent squinted, not getting a clear view of him until he turned in just the right way.

Then Brent saw red.

Garth was definitely someone Faith’s brothers wouldn’t approve of. The guy was a sleaze ball. There had been plenty of gossip circulating about him and how he’d cheated on his last girlfriend.

Normally, Brent wouldn’t have given any thought to the gossip circulating about someone like Garth. The guy got what had been coming. His girlfriend had dumped him, and he’d been roughed up by her younger brother. The incident had been months ago and he’d overheard Hallie talking about how it had gone down in the lodge parking lot.

The fact that Garth was showing his face in town wasn’t an anomaly. The guy didn’t have a shameful bone in his body. It was the fact that he was talking to Faith that had Brent all riled up.

He gripped the bag of cookies with one hand and curled the other hand into a fist.