A Miracle for the Confident Cowboy (Love in Sweet Bloom)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

Soft Christmas melodies drifted through The Local Table. Delicate strands of Christmas lights were strung everywhere. Even the smells emanating from the kitchen proved that everyone was deeply entrenched in the Christmas season.

Sophie groaned. The sound was part playful and part serious. “I really can’t believe I let you do this.” She placed her cheek in her hand as she rested her elbow on the counter and gave her sister-in-law a look. “Blind dates never work out the way we want them to. I don’t care that this guy works at your brother’s ranch, it doesn’t mean he’s a good fit.”

Pippa placed a hand on her hip as she sent a pointed look right back to Sophie. “You’ve been here for five months already and you haven’t gone on a single date.”

“That’s because I’m picky. I’m perfectly fine getting my own?—”

Her friend laughed. “ Clearly . So why haven’t you found anyone yet? Besides being picky?” she drawled.

Sophie frowned. “I’m busy. I have a lot going on with my food blog. It’s picked up so much speed that I’m entertaining partnerships.”

Pippa gasped and threw down the towel in her other hand. “You didn’t tell me that. The last I heard was that you signed an agent to help you showcase some of the bigger restaurants!” She leaned forward and pulled Sophie into an awkward hug over the bar. “That’s so exciting!”

“See? I’m busy . I don’t have the time to dedicate to a new relationship. This is really a bad idea.”

“Well, it’s too late to back out now,” Pippa laughed. “Or are you forgetting the whole reason you’re sitting at the bar right now is because Duke is going to be showing up in about ten minutes?”

Sophie grimaced. Her friend was right, of course. She couldn’t exactly cancel when they were officially in the countdown. She put her face in her hands and groaned again. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Just because she hadn’t been on a date in over a year didn’t mean this one would be bad. She needed to dive back into the dating pool—like Pippa had said.

“You need to relax. Duke is great. I’ve met him. You might have met him. He works with Rob a lot.”

She let out another groan. “I can’t believe Rob agreed to this.”

“It was his idea.”

Sophie’s head snapped up to find amusement twinkling in Pippa’s eyes. “You’re joking,” she said with a flat voice.

Pippa shook her head. “I told him I was going to set you up and he said no.”

“How exactly does that make this his idea?” Sophie asked.

Her friend shrugged. “I told him he could pick the guy or I would.” She leaned forward conspiratorially. “Honestly, I think he wanted to make sure his baby sister didn’t get saddled with someone he didn’t like. Then again, he might not have wanted me talking to any of the guys.” She laughed again. “So he picked Duke.”

Sophie soaked up this information like it was the last remaining body of water in the desert and she hadn’t had a drink in weeks. Rob had been the wall preventing her from dating any of his high school buddies back in Rocky Ridge. He’d always said they weren’t good enough for her but she thought it had more to do with him not liking to share.

Maybe Pippa had softened him up.

“So this… Duke… that’s a strange name.”

“Oh, his name isn’t Duke. It’s a nickname. I can’t remember how he got it.” Pippa turned back to the work she was doing on her side of the bar then she stopped and glanced at Sophie with a strange sort of smile. “Guess what?”

“What?” Sophie hedged.

“I threw a coin in the wishing well for you.”

Sophie rolled her eyes. “You know I don’t believe in that nonsense.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Well, what did you wish for?”

Pippa’s smile stretched wider. “I can’t tell you until it comes true.”

Once again, Sophie made a face. “You’re ridiculous.” She turned away from her friend and let her eyes sweep through the restaurant. “He’s still not here.”

“He’s still got five minutes.” Pippa leaned forward onto the bar again, this time resting on her forearms. “And you know what else? I’m going to put another coin in the well for you just to prove it works.”

“Pippa, that’s nonsense?—”

“I’m going to wish that you get some big breakthrough with your blog. When it happens, you’ll see.”

Sophie narrowed her eyes as she stared hard at her friend. “I thought you couldn’t tell me what you wished for.”

“It’s an experiment. One’s a secret and you’ll know the other one.” She grinned. “And when your life is better in a few weeks, you’ll know who to thank.”

A snort escaped Sophie’s chest. “There is only one way to survive in this world and move up. Hard work. You know better than anyone. If something does happen, I’ll know it’s because I made some good business decisions.”

“And it doesn’t help that your sister-in-law made a few wishes.”

Sophie shook her head, but didn’t argue with her. Instead, she glanced around the restaurant. “You really went all out with your decorations. It’s only missing one thing.”

Pippa frowned and glanced around where Sophie was staring. “It’s not missing anything,” she argued. “It’s perfect.”

“Santa,” Sophie snickered. “I would have thought the great and wonderful Pippa would have brought in a Santa for the kids.”

She laughed and grabbed her damp rag before flinging toward Sophie like a whip. “Now who’s being ridiculous? But I do hear they’re going to have Santa at the big event this year. They almost couldn’t find one who was available.”

“That’s good.” Sophie said with an absent tone. “I’d hate to see the kids miss out on seeing Santa.” Her thoughts drifted back to this mystery guy she might have already met. She couldn’t recall meeting anyone who called themselves Duke.

A cowboy pushed his way into the restaurant and Sophie stilled. The man was gorgeous even from this distance. She couldn’t see his eyes, but the cut of his jaw and the way his dark hair curled at his collar immediately caught her attention. He removed his hat the second he came inside.

He was a gentleman, too.

The man wandered up to the hostess and spoke to her. Sophie wished she could hear what was being said—mostly so she could hear his voice. A lot could be said by the way a man spoke. Her mouth went dry as she watched him be led to a booth near a window.

A sharp elbow dug into her side. Sophie didn’t know when or how Pippa had managed to come out from behind the bar to stand beside her, but she was there and her elbow was sharper than half of the knives in her kitchen. “There he is,” she hissed with glee. “See? I told you he was cute.”

That was an understatement. The neatly trimmed facial hair made him look rugged and respectable. She couldn’t tell from here, but it appeared he was an average height which meant he would come to about three inches taller than she was.

Pippa elbowed her again. “Well? You can’t keep him waiting. You need to go introduce yourself.” She tugged on Sophie’s arm and pushed her forward.

Sophie shuffled a few steps and glanced back over her shoulder to Pippa who waved her fingers in a flicking motion. Sophie couldn’t recall another time when Pippa looked more excited. Swallowing hard, Sophie wandered toward the table. She stopped a few feet away, considering what it would do to not only her reputation but her brother’s if she chose to bail.

Nope. She couldn’t do that.

Taking a deep breath, she strode forward and effortlessly dropped into the booth across from him.

Duke’s lashes lifted, revealing the greenest eyes Sophie had ever seen. She’d always been jealous of those with eye color. Her own dark eyes made it difficult to even see her pupils.

A lump formed in her throat and she forced a smile as she held her hand across to him. “Sophie.”

“Duke.”

Immediately, she frowned and settled back in her seat, the magic lost. “Please don’t tell me you’re one of those guys.”

He shifted in his seat, his eyes narrowing. “One of what guys,” he asked, his English accent far too strong to be real.

“Boy, you’re really laying it on thick, aren’t you?” She folded her arms and looked out the window. She should have known better than to believe this was real. Her brother wasn’t going to set her up with someone serious. Sometimes it felt like he didn’t want her to date anyone at all. At this rate, she could end up a spinster.

“I’m not laying anything… on… anyone,” he muttered.

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye then sighed as she rolled her eyes and faced him again. “Will you knock it off? I know your kind. I’ve actually dated a handful of them.”

He looked utterly bewildered.

“The accent. Just talk with your normal voice. You’re not fooling anyone.” She leaned forward and her voice lowered to a whisper. “Some girls might find it endearing or irresistible, but I don’t like it when people are fake .”

His brows shot up and his eyes widened before he ultimately returned her scowl with one of his own. “You think my accent is fake?”

She settled back in her seat and huffed. “Maybe next time you shouldn’t make it so strong. People don’t talk like that even in England.”

“Have you been to England?” he muttered, refusing to drop his accent.

“Well… no… but I’ve seen the movies.” She flushed, having been caught. It shouldn’t matter because she wasn’t the one faking her voice. She was being real. Sophie Clifford was nothing if not an open book.

This time he leaned forward. His voice dropped to something resembling a growl, only not quite as scary. “I was born and raised in a town named Hawes. It’s in the Yorkshire Dales area of England. I’ve been here long enough to figure out the different words you people use here in the states, but alas, my accent isn’t so easy to change. My apologies.”

She blinked several times. A flurry of emotions ripped through her. Embarrassment, frustration, surprise, but most of all uncertainty. “Pippa didn’t tell me you were from England,” she whispered.

“Pippa never asked. Apparently it’s not common for people to question my place of birth.”

The lump in her throat returned and she nearly choked on it. Heat attacked her cheeks and she wanted to melt into the floor. This was why she shouldn’t be going on dates. That was probably what he wanted her to do. And she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction.

So, she was wrong on one thing. That didn’t mean she was wrong about everything. Fidgeting until she found a comfortable position, she reached for the menu. Sophie pulled her lower lip between her teeth and focused on that rather than the handsome stud in front of her. He didn’t speak until the waitress came to take their orders.

Once the menus were gone and they were once again alone, he broke the silence. “You’re Rob’s sister, right? Now, I could be mistaken, but your accent doesn’t quite fit with the other Texans.” His eyes flashed, still clearly irritated by her accusation from earlier.

Fury returned to her chest and she sat up a little straighter. “The United States is a pretty big country, if you haven’t noticed. I bet there are more dialects here than you can count.”

“Or maybe you’re hiding something, too.”