Free The Unexpected Bride (Montana Born Brides) by Joanne Walsh Page B

love it.” She looked around her. There were a couple of families having dinner. “We could think about the children eating here at an early supper one evening.”
    Laurent gave her an exaggerated, long-suffering look. “Do we have to bring the marbles and the jars with us too?”
    Emma couldn’t help giggling. “No. But it could be part of their reward for collecting the marbles. She looked again at her menu. “Spaghetti and meatballs, followed by ice cream. That could go down well. And we could go to the toy store beforehand.”
    “Do you they’re ready for that? Or, come to think about it, are we ready for that?” Laurent raised both his eyebrows and gazed at her mock-quizzically.
    “Almost. Give them a few more weeks and I think they’ll have cracked it.”
    “Okay.” He sounded hopeful and he was smiling. At that moment, a member of the serving team arrived to take their order.
    The meal was delicious, and Emma pronounced it as good as anything she’d tasted in Italy. The talk flowed easily, aided by a glass each of Chianti, and she found herself listening raptly as Laurent told her tales of his boyhood growing up in Marietta with his older brother, Ren.
    “How did you get into making furniture?” Emma asked, as dessert was set before them— tiramisu for Laurent and pistachio and watermelon gelato for her.
    “I already knew by the time I graduated high school that I wanted to do something creative with wood. And I also had big ideas about running my own business.” Laurent stopped off to take a mouthful of tiramisu . “How’s your ice cream?”
    “It’s yummy,” Emma said, licking her spoon. She noticed Laurent’s eyes going to her mouth as her tongue reached for every last drop of the creamy dessert and she stopped abruptly. “So, you knew you wanted to be creative with wood and run your own business. And…?”
    Laurent tore his gaze away and resumed explaining the course of his career path. “My parents were really supportive. I think my mom was delighted that I had chosen to indulge the Deslongchamps artistic gene—that was her maiden name. I knew I had to get qualifications and experience, so I enrolled at the University of Montana School of Business Administration at Missoula and studied for my master’s, then got myself apprenticed to a custom-build furniture place in Santa Monica in California, where I learned about building furniture, repairing it and restoring it. I also met Brooke. She worked in the local health food store. They did great healthful salads and I started getting my lunches there. And…well, the rest is history.”
    Emma smiled and finished her ice cream. “Sounds as if you really put the work in to get River Bend Interiors off the ground?”
    “Yeah. You need a lot of skills to run a custom-build business, like creating design systems and supervising production lines, and then there’s all the boring stuff like tax, law, licensing and so on. I’ve never regretted doing it the long, hard way. ”
    “And Brooke came back with you to Marietta?” Emma ventured, hoping he might open up a bit more.
    “She did. I proposed marriage and Montana to her, and she agreed to both.”
    There was a silence, which Emma decided not to fill, as she could see the shutters closing up again. After a while, Laurent said, “I guess we’d better head on back to the ranch. It’s past the kids’ bedtime. I’ll get the check.”
    When they’d picked up the children from their grandparents and got home to Copper Creek, Evie and Jerome willingly made their way upstairs to prepare for bed, tired out after spending time with Pascale and Robert making cupcakes. Before following them, Emma turned to Laurent in the hallway and said warmly, “Thank you. That was a lovely meal, and I really enjoyed your company.”
    He studied her, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “I enjoyed it too, Emma. We must do it again some time.”
    “I’d like that. And thanks for listening