Teresa Southwick - Her Montana Christmas Groom

And another frog it was.

There was no way Rose would kiss Harvey French. With her elbow on the wooden table, she rested her cheek in her palm and tried to look interested in what the guy was saying. Two days ago she’d been at the wedding with Austin and now, with her tush perched on the red vinyl seat in a booth lining the big room at Lipsmackin’ Ribs, she was missing him more than she could say.

Harvey was an attorney she’d met in the mayor’s office that morning and he’d asked her to dinner. Note to self, she thought, when a guy asks you to dinner, be sure to find out where. This place was a big clue that would, as Mr. I’m-the-best-attorney-on-the-planet say, go to character. And his was as repulsive as the short, tight, blue-and-white, belly-baring T-shirts this restaurant made its waitresses wear.

It was a big red flag. Not only was this place competition for her cousin DJ, there’d been some weird stuff going on between the competing restaurants.

As far as a kiss transforming this guy, in the fairy tale it was all about looks and Harvey was already handsome. He was blond, blue-eyed and broad-shouldered. The gray suit and red silk tie he wore were expensive. And yet…

Kill me now, she wanted to say. A direct meteor strike would be sudden and painless, unlike this never-ending, excruciating date. And they hadn’t ordered yet, just drinks. But there wasn’t enough liquor in the world to improve his personality.

“I really took them apart in court,” he was saying. “It wasn’t even a contest.”

“Oh?”

“It cost them a bundle to defend against my client’s cause of action. I buried them in paperwork, tied up the legal team answering motions in court. It was a beautiful thing to behold.”

“Really?” Rose kicked herself. The single word would signal encouragement to continue, which was the last thing she wanted. He was probably black and blue from patting himself on the back. If she heard one more party-of-the-first-part, fiduciary duty or jurisprudence, she’d scream. Or choke him.

“They were forced to finally settle out of court. I was making it too expensive for them to continue defending against it. Although, just between you and me, there was no merit to my client’s lawsuit.”

Rose stared at him. It was lawyers like him who gave every attorney who’d passed the bar a bad reputation. Time to change the subject to something neutral. Like her new hometown. The weather.

“Thunder Canyon is a great place to live,” she said. No “I” anywhere in that sentence.

“I’ve lived here all my life. Did I mention I played football?”

By her count he’d mentioned it four times. She remembered because she’d responded the same way three times and this made number four. “In Texas we take our football seriously.”

“So you said.” Harvey sipped his whiskey and soda.

Color her surprised that he’d noticed. She’d hoped that bringing up Thunder Canyon would segue into his asking why she’d moved. How she liked Montana. Did the cold bother her? Was it true that the best way to ride out a snowstorm was in front of a fire? She remembered Austin offering to help her build one and just the memory had her sizzling.

Rose flashed back to how handsome he’d looked in his traditional black tux at the wedding. She remembered delivering dinners with him on Thanksgiving and his joking about boring her into a coma. No danger of that happening. He was fun. Unlike the buffoon sitting across from her.

The buffoon continued, “In high school, I was quarterback of the football team when we won our division and went on to state.”

“Is this a colder winter than usual in Montana?” she asked.

“No, I remember football practice and games in the snow. Although our season went longer because we were always in playoffs when I was the quarterback.” The ice in his empty glass clinked when he swirled it. “It was good training for practicing law. Everyone tries to knock you down, but you dig in and don’t let them.”

“Words to live by.” That was as close to neutral as she could get.

She studied him. Good-looking. Smart enough to become a lawyer. From a nice family. On paper he was everything she wanted in a man if you left out the boring and self-centered part. He hadn’t asked her anything and apparently didn’t care how she was adjusting to her new life in town. Call her perverse, but she let the awkward silence drag on because everything that popped into her mind to say would only lead him into another topic about himself.

“I’m pretty good on a pair of skis,” he said. “But there’s nothing like the adrenaline rush of snowboarding.”

“Oh?” She couldn’t resist. “I bet that’s good practice for a career as a lawyer, too. Fall down, get back up.”

“Smart girl. I decided on a career as an attorney because knowing the law gives you power. And the money’s good, too.” He grinned and winked.

Dear God, did he really just wink at her? She barely held back a shudder. “So I’ve heard.”

“I’ve got the mayor’s ear.” He lowered his voice as if he was sharing a national security secret and all the families eating ribs in booths and wooden tables around the room were spies. “If your brother Ethan needs local legal counsel for Traub Oil, I’m his guy. Or if he’s looking to merge the legal departments of Texas and Montana under one roof, I could help with that, too.”

The “aha” light came on and all became clear to Rose. This blowhard wasn’t attracted to her any more than she was to him. He had an ulterior motive for asking her out. If Harvey hadn’t picked her up at her apartment, she’d have walked out right that second. But her place was a long hike in the cold and she was wearing heels.

She stood up suddenly. “Excuse me, Harvey. I’m going to the ladies’ room.”

Before he could answer, she turned and hurried through the place. She passed waitresses wearing short, tight blue shorts and a big red lip imprint on their T-shirts feeling as exploited as they probably did. Following the back wall, she finally found the alcove with doors that said “Men” and “Women” staring at each other. She pushed open the female door and blew out a long breath, grateful that it was quiet and she was alone.

“That pompous windbag. Conniving, underhanded, self-absorbed jerk. How dare he use me to get Ethan’s legal business?”

There must be a way to cut this abomination of an experience short. It wasn’t practical to simply walk out and she couldn’t insist he take her home immediately. Working with him could get awkward if he wasn’t exaggerating the truth and really did have access to the mayor.

Bo Clifton had probably known Harvey a long time. There could be press releases with critical wording that might require legal tweaking, to keep the mayor out of hot water because of unfortunate phrasing. How could she gracefully end this horrid encounter before committing justifiable homicide? It would be self-defense because if it lasted any longer, Harvey French would bore her to death. But if she choked him, there could be jail time involved. That would upset her family and she didn’t think she’d do well in jail.

Although she was sick of Harvey, pretending to come down with an illness was problematic. Her acting skills weren’t that good. There was only one thing to do, what she always did when she was in trouble.

She pulled her cell phone out of her purse and brought up her contact list, then hit Jackson’s number. The last thing he said to her at the wedding was that if she needed him he would be there. Time to put up or shut up.

Rose worried her lip as the phone rang three, four, five times. Darn it. He wasn’t answering. Just when she was afraid the call was going straight to his voice mail, Jackson finally picked up.