The Rancher's Fake Fiancée
Amy Vastine
“I’m coming home…with my bride-to-be” Hadley Sullivan only agreed to marry her boss, Tyler Blackwell, in exchange for a promotion. But moving up the corporate ladder pales beside her growing feelings for Tyler. Will his past secrets sabotage what Hadley wants more than anything—a real wedding?
“I’m coming home...
With my bride-to-be.”
Tyler Blackwell just announced that he and Hadley Sullivan are getting married. And they’ve never even dated! Now she and her boss are in Montana so Tyler can sell his family ranch. Hadley only agreed to continue the deception in exchange for a promotion. But moving up the corporate ladder pales beside her growing feelings for Tyler. Will his past and Blackwell family secrets sabotage what Hadley wants more than anything—a real wedding?
AMY VASTINE has been plotting stories in her head for as long as she can remember. An eternal optimist, she studied social work, hoping to teach others how to find their silver lining. Now she enjoys creating happily-everafters for all to read. Amy lives outside Chicago with her high school sweetheart turned husband, three fun-loving children and their sweet but mischievous puppy dog. Visit her at amyvastine.com (http://www.amyvastine.com).
Also by Amy Vastine
The Girl He Used to Love
Catch a Fallen Star
Love Songs and Lullabies
The Better Man
The Best Laid Plans
The Hardest Fight
The Weather Girl
“Snow Day Baby” in A Heartwarming Thanksgiving
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
The Rancher’s Fake Fiancée
Amy Vastine
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-09063-6
THE RANCHER’S FAKE FIANCÉE
© 2018 Amy Vastine
Published in Great Britain 2019
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
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www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
To my amazing writer friends—
Carol, Cari, Melinda and Anna.
Your support and friendship are priceless.
Contents
Cover (#ub0fcdf64-3b60-53f2-aed8-45a8642c5066)
Back Cover Text (#ua17560e7-0f08-5748-9ca2-6e3a247b093a)
About the Author (#u3f79c192-dd0f-56a6-a794-252547a585e6)
Booklist (#u85ff80bb-2bf8-52e3-ba0a-4843b754d454)
Title Page (#u6686d7bd-567f-5995-92ff-fb9de10ff697)
Copyright (#udb16bce7-14bc-54ed-ab0d-3fe85226c509)
Dedication (#u12917b10-dbf2-5328-bf26-9f7dc3542d18)
CHAPTER ONE (#u02f725c0-b9c9-5ebc-8bce-30e1d2f0d514)
CHAPTER TWO (#u0356d846-e240-5705-b084-20e760b9dfd9)
CHAPTER THREE (#ud98b2653-ab70-5feb-a3a6-9acf1256522c)
CHAPTER FOUR (#u6c62be3f-8ee1-536a-b547-d0e1903bea32)
CHAPTER FIVE (#u5b5603ea-3738-5d4a-a9c8-061a9042f360)
CHAPTER SIX (#ub36ee4f7-7725-59db-91ba-2a9d052b5b0f)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIFTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIXTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINETEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWENTY (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)
EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#u36372717-44dd-5719-8ea7-2082793397aa)
“FOR THE LOVE of all that’s good in the world, would you please call your brothers back?”
Tyler Blackwell glanced up at his obviously infuriated employee. Tucking her wavy blond hair behind her ears, Hadley Sullivan scowled. That meant she was serious this time.
Tyler’s gaze returned to his computer screen. Regardless of her ire, finishing the presentation for Lodi Organics was a bit higher on the priority list than his bothersome brothers. “Which one?”
Hadley let out an exasperated sigh. “Take your pick. That was Ethan just now, but Ben has bombarded the office with at least a dozen calls this week and Jonathan phoned yesterday while you were at lunch. I know you know this. We put all the messages on your desk.”
Tyler had seen the notes and promptly tossed those slips of pink paper in the recycling bin because he was nothing if not ecologically minded.
“The next time they call, tell them I can only be reached on my cell.”
“The same cell they’ve called five hundred times already?” Hadley paused even though it was a rhetorical question. “They’ve caught on to the fact that you’ll decline their call, Tyler. They’ve resorted to harassing the people in this office who actually answer their phones.”
Clicking Save on the Lodi Organics file, Tyler ran a hand through his thick hair. He’d successfully made himself too busy to return a hundred phone calls from his overreacting brothers but also too busy for a much-needed haircut.
“I’ll talk to Kellen about hiring a real office manager who will help us screen all of our calls.”
Hadley wasn’t appeased. She mumbled something about how she’d love to talk to Kellen.
Tyler wasn’t Hadley’s favorite person at 2K Marketing. He wasn’t sure why that was. He thought she was competent at her job and often asked her to do things for him because he knew she’d get them done. It seemed strange that she was so bothered by his brothers’ constant calls. They weren’t really her problem. They were all his.
“They’ve got to be close to giving up,” he said.
“Ethan said it was an emergency.”
“That’s what they keep telling me.” For the last three months. He dropped his chin to his chest. These calls were literally a pain in the neck. He gave it a rub.
First, their grandfather ran away from home. The way Tyler saw it, Big E was a grown man with every right to go where he pleased. That was hardly an emergency.
Jonathan and Ethan came to the rescue and managed to get the guest ranch ready for the summer rush. Obviously, they wouldn’t be able to manage it forever. Jonathan had his own ranch to run and Ethan couldn’t do it on his own. If that meant they had to get rid of the Blackwell Family Ranch, so be it. Tyler wouldn’t shed any tears over the end of it.
“Maybe they haven’t been able to get things settled with the water,” Hadley offered. She’d been privy to more information than she needed because she didn’t have the option of hanging up the phone when they called. “Maybe they need your help with that.”
Emergency number two had to do with water rights and bad deals Big E was most likely responsible for orchestrating. Tyler had replied via text that he was way too busy at work to talk about something he had no control over. “Ben’s the lawyer, not me. From what I heard, they got it settled.”
“Knock, knock.” Tyler’s business partner pushed open the door. Kellen Kettering clearly had more time on his hands and less stress than Tyler did given his perfectly coiffed hair and easy smile. “Is this a bad time?”
Hadley sighed as if relieved. “You’re back.”
Kellen gave her a crooked smile and adjusted his black-framed glasses. His salt-and-pepper hair was damp from the morning rainstorm that had swept in. “My flight got in early. I hear I’ve been missing all the fun around here.”
“If by fun you mean work, you are correct,” Tyler said, leaning back in his chair.
Kellen had the title of company president while Tyler was the executive creative director. When they started the business five years ago, the two of them worked on every project together. In the last year or so, their accounts had almost tripled. It could have been more, but it seemed the harder Tyler worked, the more Kellen pushed him to slow down.
“Well, I will let you two catch up,” Hadley said to Kellen before turning her baby blue gaze on Tyler. “Call your brothers back, Ty. I’m begging.”
Kellen picked up the shadowbox of arrowheads Tyler had on display on his bookshelf. Tyler resisted the urge to wrestle them away. They had belonged to his father, one of the few mementos he had from either of his parents.
“I heard you accepted a meeting with Rockwell’s Hardware,” Kellen said, setting the box down. “I thought we agreed we weren’t going to take on any other clients until we cleared a couple projects.”
“It’s a simple rebrand.”
“I’m not sure Eric’s ready to take on another rebranding account. He’s still trying to get his bearings here.”
“I’ll do most of the work.” If he didn’t bother sleeping, he’d get it all done easily. Tyler didn’t have any other choice. Eric would most likely never find his bearings.
Kellen sat down across from him. “Tyler, you know I appreciate your drive. It’s why I partnered with you. But we can’t overextend ourselves. We run the risk of choosing quantity over quality.”
Tyler tried to sound reassuring. “I got this. Don’t worry.”
“You sent me thirty-two emails between the hours of nine at night and six in the morning. I hate to say it, but you’ve got to slow down.”
This was how Tyler worked. People appreciated hard work. If he wanted to get noticed in this competitive world of marketing, he had to rise above the rest. “All of this will be worth it. We’re going to be the number one advertising agency in Portland this year.”
“Tyler.” Kellen rested his elbows on his knees. “Maybe after the Lodi Organics presentation, you should take some time off. Relax. Get away for a couple weeks.”
Tyler’s brow furrowed. He must not have heard Kellen correctly. “Are you suggesting I take a vacation?”
“I’m not suggesting. More like telling you. You need a break. We all need a break.” Kellen sat back and seemed to struggle with the right words. “Let me be straight with you. There’s been some grumbling. People are feeling...stressed.”
“Like who?” Tyler looked out at the office cubicles. The eight-person staff all scurried around, refusing to make eye contact.
“Like everyone.”
They had planned this. They had gone to Kellen behind his back. He felt his blood pressure rise, which made it difficult to control his volume. “Stressed about what? Having a job?”
* * *
THE GLASS WALLS of Tyler’s office were far from soundproof. It wasn’t surprising that he was taking Kellen’s feedback poorly. Hadley had warned Kellen that Tyler was on a mission. A mission to work himself into an early grave. The main problem with that was he was taking the rest of the office with him.
“On a scale of one to ten, how mad is he going to be with us?” Veronica was the web designer and one of the biggest complainers over the last couple of weeks. She fidgeted with her oversize gold hoop earrings.
“Fifty-seven,” Lee, one of the project managers, guessed as he made his way over to Hadley’s desk. He stroked his goatee. “Look how red his face is.”
“Fifty-seven?” Hadley shook her head at the random number choice. “I don’t know if it’s that bad.”
She glanced over at the two of them having it out, secretly hoping Tyler was stubborn enough to dig his heels in. Maybe the two of them would realize that Tyler had too much on his plate for a reason. Perhaps they’d admit the real problem was that they had given the brand strategist position to someone so woefully unqualified instead of her.
Hadley could manage a hundred more accounts than Eric. She had deserved that job and hated Tyler for not going to bat for her. She blamed him even more than his partner. Had Tyler called Kellen out on his nepotism and fought for her, Kellen would have backed down and given the job to Hadley.
“Look at how tight his jaw is. That is not a good sign,” Lee said.
“Don’t worry,” Eric assured them. “My uncle will get Ty to chill. I made it clear we could not work under these conditions any longer, right?”
Hadley bit her tongue and tried not to roll her eyes. Eric couldn’t work under any conditions. He was so far over his head, it was ridiculous. He probably asked her close to fifty questions a day, trying to get her to do his job as well as hers.
Tyler’s glare zeroed in on her. The open layout of the converted warehouse left nowhere for people to hide. He pushed open his door and folded his arms across his chest. Even though Hadley may have had her issues him, she couldn’t deny that Tyler Blackwell was attractive. Broad chest, dark hair, denim-blue eyes and a jawline that could make Hollywood’s A-list leading men jealous.
“Anyone here want to tell me they’re unhappy to my face? Are some of you unhappy with...I don’t know...having a job? Because last time I checked, without clients there’s no work and with no work there’s no jobs. Anyone out here who doesn’t want a job?”
“Tyler, come on,” Kellen said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, everybody. No one is losing their job!”
Tyler shrugged him off. “I hope you enjoy the amount of work you’re all going to have while I’m on vacation.” He pointed at Hadley. “I need you.”
This was her chance. If she could convince Tyler he could trust that the work he’d started would be finished to his standards while he was on his forced getaway, maybe she could make him see she should be the brand strategist instead of Eric.
He dropped into his chair and shuffled through some papers on his desk. His frustration came off him like smoke from a fire. “Did you talk to him about being overworked?”
“Me? No,” she asserted. “I think all this business is great. I wish I could do more to help.” She had to be cautious about how she proceeded. She needed Tyler’s help if she was going to convince Kellen to get rid of his nephew. Kellen always preached about the importance of family, but giving a job to someone who didn’t know what he was doing was bad business.
“Well, I need help figuring out how I can pretend to be on vacation while still getting things done.”
The main line rang, lighting up the buttons on Tyler’s phone. Hadley reached over and picked it up. “2K Marketing, this is Hadley. How may I direct your call?”
“Hi, Hadley. It’s Ben, Ben Blackwell. I know you told Ethan that Tyler was on another call, but I am done with this. Tell him he doesn’t need to call any of us back.”
Hadley couldn’t believe Tyler had been right. Rejoice! They had finally given up.
Ben continued, “He needs to get on a plane and get his butt out here or else he will be served a subpoena and forced to appear in court instead.”
“Wait, what? Hang on a second.” Hadley pushed the hold button. “Your brother is going to take you to court if you don’t take this.” She held the phone out.
Tyler folded his arms across his chest and rolled his eyes like a petulant child. “He’s bluffing. He can’t take me to court because I won’t answer the phone.”
“Please just talk to him. I will help you with anything you need if you answer this call.”
He narrowed his eyes and let out a gruff breath. Refusing to take the phone from her, he pressed the button to put the call on speaker. “What part of I am extremely busy are you three not understanding?”
“You need to come home, Ty. I know you don’t want to. I know you are so busy out there in Portland and your company will probably fold if you aren’t there for one second, but you need to come home.”
“Why? What do you need me to do that I can’t do from here?”
“We want to sell the ranch, but we need your help. We need you here to make it happen.”
Hadley scribbled a note: Perfect vacation! You should go. Tyler could go help his family, Hadley could prove she was worthy of the brand strategist job, and when he returned, he would have to convince Kellen to give it to her.
* * *
TYLER PICKED THE receiver up. He didn’t need Hadley hearing anything else. He definitely didn’t need anyone else trying to encourage him to go to Montana.
“Sell it,” he said. “Send me whatever you need me to sign. I’ll be happy when all my ties to the ranch are cut.”
“Can’t sell it unless it’s a profitable place.”
“I thought Ethan got the guest ranch booked through the summer.”
“Yeah, with Sarah Ashley’s friends. Not real, honest-to-goodness customers. We need your help with marketing. Ethan tried to revamp the website and it’s a disaster.”
“I wouldn’t call it a disaster,” Ethan could be heard saying in the background.
“The sooner you get out here, Ty, the sooner we can get this place for a fair price.”
“Or maybe you’ll realize that this place is worth keeping in the family!” Ethan shouted.
Tyler could picture the glare Ben was most likely giving his twin. “Stop dragging your feet, Ty. Ethan is in over his head. Don’t say anything,” he obviously said in warning to Ethan. “You know it’s true.”
Ethan knew everything there was to know about animals, but marketing and brand management had very little to do with animal biology. If Ethan’s only plan for getting customers in the door was to beg friends for a favor, the ranch was done for.
“You gave up your job in New York, Ben. Use your free time to help Ethan make things work.”
“I have my own ranch to take care of.” Ben had come home to solve the water rights dispute with their neighbors, the Thompsons, and somehow ended up giving them everything they wanted. He even married into their family. The Double T Ranch was Ben and Rachel’s responsibility now. “Get on a plane and come do your part.”
Tyler loosened his tie. His breathing became unsteady. He cleared his throat. “I can’t come back, Ben.”
“You mean you won’t. You could if you really wanted to.”
“I can’t. It’s not only work. I have other things going on, too.”
“Well, Jon and Ethan also have things going on. Both of them are planning weddings. On top of that, Jon has the girls and Ethan has a baby on the way. You, on the other hand, have no one to worry about but yourself.”
Something inside Tyler snapped. If there was one thing he couldn’t stand, it was being the last Blackwell to accomplish something. In the last three months, his three older brothers had fallen in love and gotten either engaged or married. Tyler’s twin, Chance, had been the first to get married years ago when they were only twenty. Jon had married next and divorced a few years later. Of course, Jonathan the overachiever had managed to find someone else before Tyler even met one woman he cared enough about to marry.
“Well, I’m busy...planning a wedding, too.”
Hadley giggled, quickly covering her mouth. He shot her a look that took all the humor out of the situation. The best way to get through to his brothers was to speak their language, and apparently love was the only language they spoke recently.
“Really? Whose wedding are you planning exactly?” Ben’s tone clearly suggested he wasn’t buying it.
Tyler locked eyes with Hadley and put a finger to his lips, hoping she’d stay silent. She tipped her head and her eyes narrowed in curiosity.
“Mine and Hadley’s.”
CHAPTER TWO (#u36372717-44dd-5719-8ea7-2082793397aa)
THERE WAS NO way this was happening. Hadley felt her heart stop for a second. What in the world would make Tyler say such an outrageous lie?
“You guys aren’t the only ones who can fall in love and get married. I’m in the same boat and probably headed down the aisle before Ethan and Jon. I can’t leave now when Hadley and I have so much going on professionally and personally.”
Hadley must have been hallucinating. Why in the world would Tyler be telling his brother they were getting married? How was that the best idea he could come up with to get out of going to Montana to help them out?
Tyler’s face turned red. “Subpoena me for what? I have nothing to do with anything that’s going on out there.”
Hadley underlined the word vacation on the piece of paper she had shown him a minute ago before he had announced to his family that she was his betrothed. The man needed to go. It was the only way she was going to prove her worth around here.
“Hold on, my fiancée needs me for a second.” Tyler put the call on Hold. “Listen, I know this isn’t making any sense.”
“You mean you didn’t just reveal your love for me and propose?”
Tyler sighed and his shoulders slumped. “It’s a long story and I just need them to understand that I can’t come to Montana right now.”
“Why not? Kellen just told you to take a break. I’ve been begging you to get your brothers to stop calling. You taking a vacation to Montana and helping your brothers sell your family’s ranch seems like it solves all of our problems.”
“It won’t work,” Tyler argued. “Even if I went to Falcon Creek for my two-week ‘vacation,’ there’s no way that I could turn things around enough to make a difference.” He paused and stared at her for a second. “Not by myself.”
Hadley felt her face warm. She didn’t like how he was looking at her. Feeding his ego was her only hope. “You’re Tyler Blackwell. You can rebrand companies in your sleep. You can do anything.”
Tyler put the phone back to his ear and resumed his call. “Hadley and I will be there in a week.”
“No,” she interrupted. “I can’t go with you.”
Tyler ignored her. “We’ll do what we can for two weeks.”
Two weeks? In Montana? With Tyler Blackwell, pretending to be his fiancée? No. No. And no.
“I’ll do some research, find some potential buyers and paint a pretty picture for them. With any luck, someone will take it off our hands before the summer is over.”
Hadley shifted in her seat and took a deep breath. This was not the plan. The plan was Tyler goes to Montana by himself. Hadley stays in Portland and manages Tyler’s accounts while he’s gone. Tyler comes back and gives her the job she deserved in the first place.
As soon as Tyler hung up the phone, she pounced. “Ty, I can’t go with you. Who’s going to handle everything you’ve got going on here if we both go? You wanted my help getting things done while you were on vacation. I can’t do that if I go on vacation with you.”
“I need you to come with me. If both of us work on this, we’ll have the place sold in no time. Plus, my brothers can’t wait to meet the woman who convinced me to settle down.”
The knot in the pit of her stomach got tighter. And then it hit her. He needed her. He needed her to do something for him. “If I go, what do I get in return?”
Tyler blinked. “What do you get in return? What do you want?”
Hadley leaned forward as a sly smile spread across her face. “You know what I want. I want the same thing I wanted a couple months ago, but you let Kellen give it to Eric.”
* * *
SHE WAS SO darn smart. He’d have to give her that much.
“Looking back, I probably should have gotten a little more information about Eric’s qualifications,” he said. “Or maybe I should say lack thereof.”
“He’s Kellen’s nephew. That’s it. He does not know how to do the job. You know that. I know that. Kellen would know it if he was here day in and day out. You need to tell him. Convince him to give the job to me. If you do that, I’ll go to Montana with you and help you sell your ranch.”
She wasn’t wrong. Hadley was the better choice for brand strategist. Given Eric’s difficulty finding his bearings, Kellen might not be so reluctant to reassign him to a more suitable position.
“And you’ll pretend to be my fiancée.”
“I was thinking a better plan would be telling your brothers you were just kidding about that part.”
His spur-of-the-moment lie about getting married was supposed to keep him from going to Montana. He never imagined having to pretend, but if she wanted him to go, Hadley had to come with and there was no way he was letting his brothers know he wasn’t as blissfully in love as they were.
“Nope,” he said, folding his arms across his chest. “Fake engagement is a go. Either you’re in or you’re out. And if you’re out, Eric keeps his job.”
Hadley sank back in her chair, contemplating her options. There were no options. If she wanted the job, she had to go along with this plan.
“If I do this, there will be very strict rules. I don’t know what you expect out of a fake fiancée, but there is no way I will compromise myself or my morals.”
“Come on, Hadley. I’m not going to ask you to make out with me in front of my brothers.” Clearly, there was no way the thought of kissing him could be unappealing, but he wouldn’t ask her to do anything that would make either of them uncomfortable. He didn’t need a harassment charge brought against him. This was still a business arrangement.
“As soon as we’re done and back in Portland, you will let your family know the wedding is off.”
“No problem.” Hadley wasn’t his type anyways. He’d be lucky if they didn’t notice how incompatible they were as soon as they got there. Tyler would have to put on a real show if he wanted to keep them in the dark.
Hadley stood up and smoothed her skirt. She reached a hand across his desk. “Then, we have a deal.”
The two of them shook on it and Hadley hustled out of his office. Tyler opened a new window on his computer and began his search for flights to Billings. Like it or not, he was headed back to Falcon Creek.
* * *
HADLEY’S HEAD WAS SPINNING. Had she just made a deal with the devil? Or had she made the deal of a lifetime? Two weeks marketing some ranch in Montana to potential buyers and she would have the job she deserved. That had to be a win for her.
She tried not to think about the fact that she had to pretend to be engaged. To Tyler Blackwell.
“Can I ask you a question about the Kingman account?” Eric stood next to her desk with a file folder in his hand. She couldn’t imagine what was in the manila folder given that they did everything electronically.
“Sure.”
“So, I’m supposed to be doing some market research and put together a report analyzing the market data and trends, right?”
“That’s what a brand strategist does.” She had answered this question more than once. He seemed to need constant confirmation of his role. She couldn’t tell if he kept forgetting or was asking in hopes he’d get a different answer one of these days.
Eric scratched the back of his head. “Do we have any of that from maybe a similar account? I mean, no reason to reinvent the wheel if it already exists, right?”
If he ended one more sentence with the word right, Hadley was going to lose her mind. She tried hard not to sound too condescending even though she wanted to let him know his incompetence was the reason she’d be taking his job in a few weeks.
“Kingman is a unique brand that sells men’s shaving supplies and gift sets. We don’t work with any other companies that sell in that niche market. You’ll have to start fresh.”
“It sounds like you know a lot about them. That’s great!” It was clear the file folder in his hand was empty, a shameless prop to make him look like he was doing something. “Maybe you could help me out with this one. Put together a few things for me and I’ll do the analyzing part afterward.”
“I wish I could,” she said with a frown. “But Tyler just roped me into another project. I’m going to be out of the office for a couple weeks.”
“A new project?” Veronica sounded panicked.
“Don’t worry,” Hadley reassured her. “Tyler and I will be handling this one by ourselves. We won’t be asking you to do anything. Stay focused on the Paint-A-Lot redesign.”
Eric wouldn’t leave. “You sure you can’t get me started on this Kingman thing before you move on to whatever Tyler has you doing? I’ll run out and get you some coffee from that place you like on the corner.”
Hadley couldn’t hold back a sigh. What did it matter? The truth was she would be handling the Kingman account as soon as she got back from Montana and took over Eric’s job. Her job. “Let me see what I can do.”
“Thank you! You are the best. She’s the best, right?” Eric scanned the room for someone to agree.
“She’d be better if she’d let us use her Hollywood connections,” Lee said from his desk. He’d been giving her a hard time ever since Veronica let it out of the bag that Hadley’s older brother was Asher Sullivan, star of TV’s popular family drama When We Were Young.
“I heard there are already rumors your brother is a shoo-in for an Emmy this year,” Eric said before his eyes went wide. “Hey, I bet your brother shaves, right? Maybe he’d want to be the spokesman for Kingman.”
He was unbelievable. Did he know anything about the client? “I’m going to assume you’ve at least glanced at Kingman’s financials, so you know Asher is definitely not in their budget.”
“But he’s your brother, right? You could talk him into doing it for a steal.”
Wrong. Hadley did not mix business with her personal life. Asher was her brother, not a potential spokesman for a client. “I have a ton of work to do, especially if you want me to gather some market data for you.”
“That’s her way of saying no, Eric,” Lee said, clueing him in.
An email popped up from Tyler. Hadley opened it to find a confirmation notice for their flight to Billings, Montana, one week from today.
She bit down on her bottom lip. Hadley didn’t get personal when it came to business. Apart from pretending to be her boss’s fiancée in order to get the job she deserved.
What could possibly go wrong?
CHAPTER THREE (#u36372717-44dd-5719-8ea7-2082793397aa)
“DID YOU SERIOUSLY buy one first-class ticket?” Hadley watched as he handed his suitcase over to be weighed.
“I always fly first class,” he said, ignoring her obvious reason for asking.
“Are you really the type of man who would let your fiancée sit in the back of the plane while you’re pampered in first class?”
The woman from the airline tagging his bag gave Tyler a well-deserved dirty look. Hadley had no issue with shaming him.
Tyler, however, appeared completely unfazed. “You’re not my fiancée until we step foot on Blackwell land.”
“So there’s still time to change my mind?” Hadley lifted her suitcase onto the scale.
Tyler slid his driver’s license back into his wallet. “Don’t start with me before we even leave Portland.”
“You can’t marry him,” the woman behind the counter whispered. “You deserve better than that.”
“Don’t worry. I wouldn’t marry him even if he had bought me a first-class ticket.” Tyler Blackwell was the last man on earth she’d want to end up spending her life with.
He was already headed toward the security checkpoint. Hadley weaved through the crowd of anxious travelers to catch up.
“You’re a real charmer, Ty,” she said just as her carry-on with its one bad wheel veered left when she wanted it to go right. It crossed paths with an older gentleman walking past her, ramming him in the leg.
Hadley apologized profusely as Tyler took the bag from her and carried it to the security line. “How was that for charming?” he asked as he handed it back.
“If that’s all you got for charm, our engagement is doomed.”
“I’m fine with that. It only needs to survive the next two weeks. After that, we go back to boss and employee.”
“Boss and brand strategist.”
“Boss and whatever you want to be called.” He got out of the line. “I have precheck. I’ll meet you at the gate. Try not to take out any other unsuspecting passengers with that thing,” he said, pointing at her bag.
“I’ll try.” Hadley had to keep her eye on the prize. Two weeks and she would be promoted. It didn’t matter if Tyler was so standoffish. She wasn’t his real fiancée. They didn’t have to sit by each other or walk through the airport side by side. She was fine with the fact that the act began and ended at the ranch.
Once through security, she stopped and bought a coffee. There was no reason to buy one for Tyler since he’d be sipping whatever his heart desired once he boarded the plane. They weren’t together until they were on Blackwell land—his words, not hers.
She lugged her defective bag to the gate and took a seat without even bothering to look for Tyler. She stared down at the ring on her finger. A fake diamond ring for a fake wedding. Tyler had bought it a couple of days ago. It was so cheap Hadley wouldn’t get it wet for fear it would turn her finger green or something.
How was she going to pull this off? Her phone chimed with a text from her best friend, Maggie, asking for an update on this nightmare adventure. Maggie already thought Hadley was taking a risk by going on this trip without having the promotion secured. She feared that Tyler might not hold up his end of the deal. What if Kellen wouldn’t agree with the change?
He’s sitting in first class without me, she texted.
Are you kidding me? Maggie wrote back.
Doesn’t matter. I’m going to enjoy my alone time while I can, Hadley messaged.
I swear if he doesn’t give you a promotion for this, you better quit. You’ve gone above and beyond! He’s a schmuck. Hot but a schmuck.
Hadley smiled. Maggie had developed this weird crush on Tyler after she stopped by one day to take Hadley to lunch. One look at him and she thought she was in lust. Hadley had popped her bubble real fast. Tyler wasn’t anyone’s Prince Charming.
“Thanks for getting me a coffee.” Tyler stood in front of her with his eyebrows raised. “And after you made me feel guilty for only thinking about myself.” He held out a new boarding pass. “Here, you’ll need this.”
He had upgraded her to first class and she suddenly felt like the schmuck. “You didn’t have to do that. I was only giving you a hard time earlier.”
He sat down in the empty seat next to her and took a deep breath. “I want you to know that I appreciate what you’re doing for me. I might not know how to show it all the time, but I want you to know I feel it.”
“Thanks,” she replied, staring down at her new boarding pass in her lap. Hadley had never flown first class. Her brother had once bragged about how he’d never fly with “the averages” again. Asher always had a way of making her feel small without even trying.
“Hopefully it won’t be torture.”
“It’s only two weeks and we’ll be working most of the time. It won’t be much different from any other day at the office. The only difference is you’ll have to be nice to me the whole time.”
Tyler’s brows pinched together. “Am I not usually nice to you?”
She hadn’t meant to offend. It wasn’t like Tyler was a tyrant, he simply wasn’t warm. He was all business, all the time. Which was fine with Hadley but one of the reasons everyone in the office liked Kellen better than Tyler. It was also a huge reason the staff asked Kellen to force him to take a break.
“You’re very focused. On whatever it is that you’re working on. Which is great,” she added. “It’s the reason 2K is doing so well as a company. But if we are supposed to convince your brothers that we’re in love, you’re going to have to make an effort to pay me a little attention.”
Tyler gave an understanding nod. “I’ll work on being extra nice.”
“The upgrade was a good start.”
“Well, maybe I’ll be a fast learner.”
He wasn’t the only one who would have to learn a thing or two. All she knew about Tyler was that he was the hardest-working person she’d ever met. She didn’t know what he liked to do in his free time, the little that he left himself, or what his favorite anything was. She knew practically nothing about the person sitting next to her.
It wasn’t like her to be going into something so woefully unprepared. She’d been following Tyler’s lead thus far, but his way seemed like a recipe for disaster.
“Speaking of learning, perhaps we should do a little getting to know each other before we face your family. I mean, I know how persistent your brothers can be. What if they have a lot of questions? What’s the plan here?”
“We’ll be on our own most of the time. I wouldn’t worry.”
Not worry? He didn’t know her very well if he thought she was capable of not worrying. Meeting the family was nerve-racking when she was the real girlfriend. Being the fake one made it a thousand times worse.
* * *
TYLER KNEW TWO of his brothers had way too much going on in their own lives to worry about his. Ben and Jon weren’t going to pry too much. Ethan, on the other hand, could be a problem. He was running the ranch presently, which made him troublesome. But there was one person who might be more of a hard sell than his brothers.
“I think the only person I’m really worried about is Katie, our ranch hand. Growing up, she was like the annoying little sister we didn’t ask for. Always in our business. Ratting us out for everything we did. She’s the one we might need to be wary of.”
Hadley paled. “Wait a minute, I didn’t realize we had to outsmart a woman. Not that I haven’t been nervous about pulling the wool over your brothers’ eyes,” she quickly clarified. “But women are more attuned to the intricacies of relationships. They pay attention to things like body language and the details that are shared with them.”
She had to be kidding. Katie was female, yes. But honestly, she was more like one of the guys than a woman “attuned to the intricacies of relationships.” Annoying? Yes. In touch with her feminine intuition? No.
Tyler chuckled. “Then maybe we should be more worried about Grace, my brother Ethan’s pregnant fiancée.”
“Pregnant!” Hadley was loud enough to attract the attention of more than a few people sitting near them. “Pregnant?” she repeated in a whisper.
Tyler was confused by her outburst. “What’s the matter with being pregnant?”
“Pregnant women are freaks of nature!” Hadley threw her hands up. “They have superpowers you can’t imagine. Do you even realize the amount of blood flowing through their bodies, feeding their brain? Not to mention the fact that all of their senses are in overdrive during pregnancy. She might be able to smell our lack of pheromones.”
Pheromones? Tyler was quickly reconsidering his lack of a plan. Not because he feared being unable to convince everyone because of Grace’s apparent bloodhound sense of smell but because Hadley was hysterical. He had chosen her because she was the smartest, most put together person in the office. He hadn’t expected her to lose it over pheromones.
He placed a hand over hers. “Look at me,” he said as calmly as he could. Her blue eyes locked onto his. The vulnerability he saw there was definitely new and created this strange sensation in the center of his chest. It was such a foreign feeling, he forgot what he was going to say.
“Are you going to tell me we’re going to be fine?” she asked.
That was it.
“We’re going to be fine. Grace and Katie will be preoccupied with a hundred other things while we’re there. We’ll just have to save our best stuff for the few times we’re around them, okay?” he said with a wink.
The tension seemed to leave her body as her shoulders relaxed and she gave him a small smile. “You’re right. We’ll be fine.” She thankfully sounded sure. “Good thing you got me that upgrade. We’ll have plenty of time to cram.”
“Cram?”
The gate agent announced they were ready to board first-class passengers. Hadley stood up. “Get ready to learn everything there is to know about me. I know I can’t wait to become a Tyler Blackwell expert.”
Tyler swallowed hard. No one was a Tyler Blackwell expert. He never let anyone get that close and he wasn’t sure he could start now.
* * *
THEY’D BEEN IN the air for over an hour and Hadley was already a lifelong fan of first class.
“Favorite color?” she asked, starting with an easy question to get Tyler to open up.
“Don’t have one.”
“Come on, everyone has a favorite color.”
“Not everyone because I don’t. I have no preference.”
Of course he was going to be difficult. “Favorite food?” she tried.
Tyler glanced out his window. They were flying high above a white blanket of clouds. “Nothing really stands out as a favorite.”
“Favorite movie?”
He stared blankly back at her.
“Book? Television show? Band? Coffee shop? Come on, Tyler.”
“What? I’m not a favorites kind of guy.”
Hadley took a deep breath to keep her anxiety at bay. She’d told Tyler everything she could think about herself. Perhaps embarrassingly too much about her obsession with Harry Potter during middle school. The important thing was he’d be prepared with plenty of Hadley knowledge.
He seemed determined to leave her completely in the dark about himself, however. She couldn’t go into this knowing next to nothing.
“Tell me about your brothers. What are they like?” she asked, hoping he’d be more willing to discuss the other Blackwells.
“Jonathan is my oldest brother, the only one who isn’t a twin, but he does ironically have twin girls.”
“What’s Jon’s wife’s name?”
“No wife. Jon is divorced. Although, he recently got engaged to his nanny, Lydia.” Tyler raised his eyebrows like it was a bit scandalous.
“He left his wife for the nanny?”
“No, no. His ex has been out of the picture since the twins were born.” The invitation to talk about someone else was all it took to open up the floodgates. “Jon’s the quintessential good guy in the white hat. He’s a hardworking cowboy. He was my dad’s favorite, probably because they were so alike. You’ll never see the guy in anything other than jeans, a plaid shirt and cowboy boots. Total opposite of Ben. Ben is all city boy. I’m sort of shocked he gave up his life in New York to settle back down in Falcon Creek, especially since he got dumped at the altar a few years back. No one likes getting dumped, but it was worse than that. She left him for our grandfather.”
“Whoa, wait. What?” Hadley knew about family dysfunction, but that was really messed up.
“Trust me, I think Ben got the better end of the deal. Zoe was nothing but a superficial gold digger. Ben deserved better and I’ve always thought that maybe Big E proposed to her because he knew Ben would have been miserable if they had ended up together. Ben has always been our grandfather’s favorite. The two of them have the same cutthroat mentality.”
“What’s keeping him in Montana, then?”
“Since he’s been home, he somehow managed to fall in love and get married to Rachel, an old friend whose family lives on the ranch next to ours. You’ll meet her, too.”
Fantastic, another woman in the mix. Hadley needed more information if she was going to trick three men and four women.
“In fact, the latest is that Big E filed for divorce and Zoe is back in Falcon Creek heartbroken,” Tyler said with a smile.
“Will I have to meet Zoe, too?”
“Lord, I hope not,” Tyler said as the flight attendant offered them a refill on their drinks and a warm cookie. Hadley might never be able to fly economy ever again.
“Jon and Ben will be busy with their own ranches. Ethan will be with us. Ethan is Ben’s twin,” Tyler continued after devouring his cookie. “Ben will tell you he’s five minutes older so that makes Ethan the middle child, which fits his personality. He gets along with everyone and always tries to be the peacekeeper. He was the softy in our brood and our mother’s clear favorite. The two of them had the same love of animals. She’s probably the reason he became a vet.”
For someone who didn’t have any favorites, he was awfully aware of how his family played them. “So let me guess, you and your twin brother were the black sheep of the family. No one’s favorites?”
Tyler chuckled. “Chance would tell you he’s the lone Blackwell black sheep because living in Big Sky Country wasn’t for him, but when we were little and our real grandma was still on the ranch, he was by far her favorite. She used to sing and play songs on the piano with him. I’m the only one in the family who didn’t have anyone’s undivided attention.” His gaze drifted back out the window. “I was the invisible one.”
Hadley knew exactly how it felt to be the invisible child. How frustrating it was to never quite be enough. She had felt that way her entire life. Being the younger, less successful sister of Asher Sullivan wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
“Maybe we have more in common than I thought,” Hadley said, turning her body in his direction.
“You don’t want to be like me. No one loves me the most for a reason.”
“Oh, come on. You aren’t that bad.”
His jaw tightened and he took a deep breath through his nose. “Trust me, Hadley. I’m the worst.”
CHAPTER FOUR (#u36372717-44dd-5719-8ea7-2082793397aa)
TYLER STRUGGLED TO ignore Hadley’s incessant fidgeting in the passenger seat of his rental car. He had warned her that she should be prepared to be in the middle of nowhere.
“We’re almost there. Can you try being still for a minute?” he asked. When she wasn’t peppering him with her millions of questions, she was distracting him with her anxious silence. After two hours on the plane and two hours in the car, maybe they had both hit their limit of togetherness.
“Any chance we can stop to use a bathroom?” she asked. That explained her wriggling.
They were only a few miles away from Falcon Creek. Tyler was more than happy to delay their arrival at the ranch. Actually, he wished he could turn around and get back on a plane headed anywhere but here. Being this close to the place he used to call home made his stomach ache with something other than hunger.
“Maybe we should grab some lunch in town. We’ll be eating at the ranch the rest of the trip.”
Hadley seemingly had no issue with that idea given that her stomach growled loudly. Tyler spotted the sign for Falcon Creek and exited the highway. This place was still a one-stoplight town. It hadn’t changed since Tyler was a baby.
The dive bar where Chance played his first real gig was still standing. Pops Brewster sat out front Brewster Ranch Supply playing chess just like he had for as long as Tyler could remember. Maple Bear Bakery was where Big E used to buy Ty and his brothers doughnuts when he was feeling generous, which wasn’t often, but that made the treat so much more delicious.
Clearwater Café was probably the best place to stop for a hot meal. Tyler sat in an open booth while Hadley ran to the bathroom. He glanced over the menu and ordered a couple of sodas for the two of them.
“That was the cleanest public bathroom I have ever used,” Hadley reported as she slid into the seat across from him. “I think I love this place.”
“They also serve your favorite—macaroni and cheese.” Tyler could tell anyone who asked Hadley’s favorite everything. She had been more than thorough in preparing him today.
She smiled and he noticed the way it lit up her entire face. “You remembered.”
“Tyler Blackwell? Is that you? Oh, my goodness, it is.”
Tyler had hoped they would go unrecognized, but that was impossible in this small town. He turned his head to find a pink monster headed his way.
“Grandma, is that you? You look so much older than the last time I saw you.”
Of all the people he didn’t want to run into, Zoe was at the top of the list. She scowled at him as she flipped her long, blond ponytail behind her shoulder.
“You’re really going to kick me when I’m down, Ty? That horrible excuse for a human being you call your good-for-nothing grandfather already did quite enough to make me feel like a worthless piece of trash.”
An unexpected guilt washed over him. Tyler didn’t realize he could feel sorry for Zoe given all she had put his family through, but he did.
“Big E has a way of making everyone feel small. Don’t take it personally.”
“I’ll try to remember that,” she replied, her face softening a bit. “What are you doing back here? I thought you were never coming back. And who is this?” Zoe turned all of her attention on Hadley.
“Hadley, meet my ex-stepgrandma, Zoe. Zoe, this is Hadley.”
“His fiancée,” Hadley clarified.
Tyler internally chastised himself for not being prepared to begin this charade. Remembering to refer to her as his fiancée was important and he’d failed right out of the gate.
“Fiancée?” Zoe’s eyes nearly bulged from her head. “I can’t believe Rachel didn’t tell me.”
“We were pretty surprised to hear Ben and Rachel got married so quickly.” Hadley reached across the table and grabbed Tyler’s hand. “We thought we’d be first down the aisle. Right, honey?”
She was good at this fake relationship stuff. Maybe her brother wasn’t the only actor in the family.
“The Blackwell boys all caught the wedding bug at the same time, huh?”
“Guess so.” Tyler prayed she wouldn’t ask too many more questions or want to see the ring. Zoe was one of those people who might be able to sniff out a fake diamond when she saw one. “Well, it was good to see you again. We’ll see you around,” he said, hoping she’d take the hint.
“Oh, please don’t tell me Day Four is back,” a voice full of disdain said behind Zoe. That voice could belong to only one person.
“Is this where all of Big E’s exes come for lunch?” Tyler pondered aloud as Myrna Edwards, with her hair as white as the snowcapped Smoky Mountains, approached the table.
“I’m positive three Blackwells is all this town can handle. You should head back to whatever hole you crawled out of, Tyler Alexander Blackwell.” She may have been short in stature but her memory was long. Myrna was Big E’s second wife, who, thanks to the boys, didn’t last very long as Mrs. Elias Blackwell.
“I’m here to help my brothers sell the ranch so you never have to worry about the Blackwells ever again.”
One side of her mouth quirked a smile. “Oh, don’t tease me, Day Four. No more Blackwells? That’s too much to hope for.”
“Just give me a couple weeks. We’ll have a big ol’ sold sign hanging out front.” He glanced across the table at Hadley. Darn, he’d forgotten again. “We, as in me and my fiancée,” he quickly added. “Hadley, this is another one of my ex-stepgrandmothers. Myrna, this is Hadley, my fiancée.”
“You may call me Myrna,” she said to Hadley. “You, Day Four, may only refer to me as Judge Edwards. Don’t ever call me your ex-stepgrandmother again. Please stay on your ranch until you sell it. I am tired of seeing Blackwells in my courtroom and my restaurants of choice. Have a nice day.”
She walked across the restaurant and sat down at a table by herself. She probably never remarried after Big E. Leave it to Elias to make a woman give up on men completely.
“She hates you guys. Not that she likes anyone that much, but she hates you,” Zoe said with such awe.
Myrna had good reasons to dislike all five Blackwell brothers. Although in their defense, they were only kids when they ran her off the ranch a short five days after her marriage to Big E. She had tried to take over as the mother figure too soon after their grandmother left and their parents died. The boys were knee-deep in their grief and unable to welcome anyone into their lives.
“It was great to see you again, Zoe. Have a good one.” It was the last hint he was giving her. If she didn’t leave them alone, he was going to get rude.
Zoe wasn’t oblivious, but she was obnoxious. She grinned and, instead of moving along, sat down next to Hadley. “I’m late for an appointment, but I am so curious about how you and Ty got together. He was always such a little brat when we were younger. Maybe once you settle in, Rachel and I can take you out for some girl time.”
“That would be—” Hadley began.
“Unnecessary,” Tyler finished for her. “We’re only here for two weeks and supposedly have a ton of work to do to get the ranch ready for sale. I hear someone’s vision for the place was a bit out of touch with what’s marketable.”
“Ha! I have great taste and amazing ideas.” Zoe pointed a finger at him. Her hot-pink manicure was so her. “You just wait and see how popular the petting zoo is.”
“Are you folks ready to order?” the waitress asked, finally coming to the table to rescue them from this unpleasant family reunion.
“I’m not staying,” Zoe said, getting to her feet. “I hope Tyler doesn’t make you work the whole time you’re in town, Hadley. Maybe we’ll see each other again.”
“Looking forward to it,” Hadley replied.
Zoe left and Tyler and Hadley ordered some food. When they were alone, Hadley smoothed her napkin on her lap. “You didn’t prepare me for all the ex-stepgrandmothers. How many more are lurking in this town?”
“Big E was married five times. The other ones don’t live around here, so you’re safe. We’re safe.”
“Until we get to the ranch,” she said, raising her water glass.
Tyler felt a tightness in his chest at the thought of stepping foot on Blackwell land. It had been a long time since he’d been there, and Zoe hadn’t been wrong—he’d sworn to never return.
With a dry mouth, he lifted his own glass. “Until we get to the ranch.”
* * *
HADLEY’S NERVES COULD not be more out of control. She had played it cool while meeting Tyler’s ex-stepgrandmas, but inside she had been shaking in her boots. Keeping up this ruse for two weeks might be the death of her.
Tyler drove like a little grandma the whole way out of town on their way to the ranch. Maybe he was just as anxious about getting there as she was. He slowed down to a stop and Hadley looked to the left. The metal arch over the entrance read Blackwell Family Ranch.
They were here. Time was up.
“Maybe we should drive around the property, take some pictures and jot down some notes before meeting up with Ethan and Ben,” Tyler suggested. “It’s been a while since I’ve been here. I’m not even sure what changes have been made that we’ll need to play up when we market it.”
Classic Tyler, rolling up his sleeves and thinking about nothing but the job at hand. Perhaps that was the best plan. If they stayed focused on the work, the lie would create less stress.
“Good call.” Hadley grabbed her backpack out of the back seat. “I started a list of things we want to focus on, like what wildlife people might see and the different recreational opportunities. We have to play up these mountain views.”
Having grown up in Washington State, Hadley was partial to mountains. She couldn’t imagine living somewhere without them. The Blackwell Ranch had the gorgeous Rocky Mountains to the west. Location was not going to be an issue in the marketing plan.
Tyler drove in and turned left before they got to the enormous green-roofed lodge. He shared what he remembered about the wildlife from the area.
“We’re not far from an elk refuge, and whitetail and mule deer used to graze on the ranch when I lived here.”
“People will love that.” Hadley jotted down elk and deer on her list.
“I remember when I was around twelve, my brothers and I were playing a very intense game of capture the flag up in the hills. It was me and Ben versus Ethan and Chance. Ben and I had found the best spot to hide our flag, so we just needed to find theirs. Ben and I were like navy SEALs. Ethan and Chance didn’t have a prayer against us. Only when we found their flag, they had an extra teammate we weren’t expecting.”
“Who? Jon?” Hadley guessed.
“No,” he said with that cocky laugh. “Jon would have been easy to get past. There was this huge bull moose that had wandered into our game and decided to graze next to their flag. Ben and I had no idea how to get rid of it. Ben tried scaring it by throwing some rocks at its feet, but that only made it mad. Before I could try my idea, which totally would have worked, the hair on its back raised up.”
“I take it that’s a bad sign.” Hadley loved the way he got that sparkle in his eye when he told stories from his childhood.
“Oh, yeah. I’ve since learned that there are seven signs a moose is about to attack you, and that is number one. The second sign is it smacks it lips, but instead of smacking its lips, our moose urinated all over Chance and Ethan’s flag. It was disgusting and there was no way I was touching that thing after that.”
Hadley covered her mouth while she laughed. “Going to the bathroom is a sign a moose is going to attack?”
“It is! I swear. But I thought it was trying to make us mad. I yelled at it and the next thing I know, it came at me like it wanted to kill me, so I took off. Ben shouted at me to climb a tree, which I did, but the moose rammed the tree and almost knocked me out of it. I thought I was going to die that day. I was stuck up in the tree for a good hour before that animal decided it was bored of me. Ben and I made sure to learn everything there was to know about moose after that. We were never going to lose because of some dumb animal again.”
She had no doubts about that. Tyler was someone who didn’t get caught unprepared very often, and if he did, he made sure to be overprepared the next time.
Hadley giggled as she stared out her window at the green fields. There were a few horses grazing in the distance. She made a note to find out how many horses the ranch owned and to clarify if all the livestock would be part of the sale.
Tyler slammed on the brakes, causing Hadley to nearly knock her head on the dashboard. “What in the world?” she said, pressing a hand to her chest to make sure her heart had restarted.
“Katie,” Tyler said with a sigh.
Hadley glanced up and saw why Tyler had made such a quick stop. A redheaded woman stood in the middle of the dirt path with her hands on her hips and a tan-and-black shepherd dog by her side.
She walked over to Tyler’s side of the car. He rolled down the window as she bent down to get a look at them.
“Ty?”
“Hi, Katie.”
“I thought you might have been some guests who got lost. Welcome home.”
“Thanks. I’m driving Hadley around the property. We thought it would be nice to get a sense of what we have to work with before we talk to Ethan and Ben about the marketing plan.”
“The marketing plan...of course.” Katie dipped her head a bit lower to see farther in the car. “So, you’re Hadley. The woman who somehow managed to pin this guy down. Boy, do we have a lot of questions for you.”
Hadley’s full stomach ached. The questions would be nonstop now that they were here. She only hoped she could convince Tyler’s family they were a real couple. Her promotion depended on it.
She put a hand on Tyler’s leg. Thankfully, he didn’t flinch at the contact. “Well, I can’t wait to answer all of them. Tyler’s my favorite subject these days.”
Katie smiled and stood back up. “Well, you two have a nice drive. I’ll let your brothers know you’re here.”
“Great,” Tyler said even though Hadley knew he was less than thrilled about their arrival being discovered.
Katie waved at them as Tyler put the car back in Drive and rolled up the window. “We can’t spend too much time out here now. It won’t be long before the where-are-you phone calls begin,” he lamented.
“We could get the reunion over with and then hide.”
“I’m not hiding,” he snapped.
“Right.”
“I’m not. I’m...” His jaw tensed. “Fine. I’m hiding. It’s been a long time since I’ve been here, and there are a lot of things I left behind on purpose.”
That was about as vague as he could get. Hadley got the impression that there was always a lot of drama on the ranch, but at the same time, Tyler seemed to have good memories of his family. When he spoke about his brothers, there was always this small smile playing on his lips.
“There are clearly things you do not want to talk about, and I respect that. But we have to work with your brothers to get this place in tip-top shape so you guys can sell for what you want.”
“Why did I tell them I was engaged?” he asked himself aloud. It wasn’t like Hadley had the answer to that question. She wondered why he felt like that was the best plan, as well. “I didn’t want them to think I was the only one incapable of being normal. That’s why. I hate being the only one no one loves.”
His confession surprised Hadley. At work, he never seemed bothered by who he was or apologetic for what he wanted out of life. Tyler Blackwell usually had confidence to spare.
“Hey, I know a lot of people who aren’t in a relationship. That doesn’t make you abnormal. If that were true, then I’m abnormal. My best friend, Maggie, is abnormal. Half the people in my book club are abnormal.”
Tyler’s forehead wrinkled. “You’re in a book club?”
“That was the part that stood out to you?”
“I heard you. I get it. There are plenty of single people in the world. I wasn’t implying you were abnormal for being unattached. It’s more than being single for me. I can’t explain it.”
“It doesn’t matter. You told them we’re engaged and now we’re here and have to play our parts. Let’s go say hello and then get to work.”
“You’re good at this,” Tyler said, side-eyeing her.
“Good at what? Convincing you to man up?”
“That and playing the part of my fiancée. You’re a natural, so calm and cool. Your brother should be glad you didn’t go into acting. You might have outshined him.”
Hadley laughed. She had never outshined Asher at anything. He probably could out-woman her if he put his mind to it. “Asher has nothing to worry about. Trust me, I’m freaking out every time we talk to someone new.”
His phone chimed with a text. Hadley saw Ethan’s name. “Katie works fast. I guess we should head to the house. We’ll try hard not to freak out together,” he said, giving her knee a squeeze.
His hand felt nice until she realized how wrong that was. Tyler was her boss. His hands should not make her feel anything—good or bad. His hands needed to be the last thing on her mind. So why couldn’t she stop thinking about how warm and gentle his touch was? Or how that warmth seemed to spread throughout her body? Maybe Hadley didn’t have as much acting to do as Tyler thought.
CHAPTER FIVE (#u36372717-44dd-5719-8ea7-2082793397aa)
“MY BABY BROTHER is finally home.” Ethan stood on the wraparound porch of the old, white two-story house. Standing there in his jeans and plaid button-down, he reminded Tyler a little too much of their father.
“I don’t know about you, but my home is about seven hundred miles that way,” Tyler said, pointing west.
Ethan made his way down the steps to meet them, wrapping Tyler up in a hug. “It’s so good to see you, Ty.”
“Why are you being so nice to me?” The Blackwell boys, in general, didn’t hug. They punched each other in the arm or tackled one another to the ground. “I already agreed to help with the marketing plan.”
“Ah, the marketing plan.” Ethan let go and stepped back. A huge grin spread across his face. “I can’t wait to talk about how you plan to bring guests to the ranch. This must be Hadley! I’m Ethan. It’s so great to meet you.”
Ethan held his arms open and Hadley humored him by accepting his weird greeting. When did his brother become such a hugger?
“It’s good to meet you, too,” Hadley said, her eyes wide for Tyler to see.
“Okay, let go of my fiancée.” Tyler patted his brother on the back. “You have your own.”
Ethan released her. “I do have my own and a baby on the way. Can you believe I’m going to be a dad?”
Tyler really couldn’t see it. It was easy to imagine Jon as someone’s father. He basically stepped in and parented the four of them after their parents died. But Ethan wasn’t like Jon. He might have been good with animals, but human babies were another story.
“It’s a good thing you have Grace, brother.”
“Ouch.” Ethan placed a hand over his heart. “I’m going to let that slide because I am so happy you two are here. Grace and I set up one of the new cabins for you. We figured you should get the full experience while you’re here.”
“Why wouldn’t we stay here in the house?”
Ethan rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t think you’ll want to stay here. Not until we do a little post-Zoe remodeling.”
Tyler jogged up the steps. What had Zoe done to his family’s house? The outside looked the way he remembered. The shutters were the same color green they had been when the boys were little. Tyler had noticed the old tire swing still hung from the elm tree out back when he drove up.
It was obvious what Zoe did as soon as he walked through the door. The once warm and cozy house was unrecognizable. The furniture in the front room didn’t look the least bit comfortable. There was no way Big E ever sat down and fell asleep on the couch. Given Zoe’s love for the color pink, he was a bit surprised and terribly horrified that she had hung red velvet wallpaper.
“Wait until you see the kitchen. It’s like something out of your bubblegum nightmares,” Ethan said from behind him as if he could read Tyler’s mind.
“How could he let her do this?” Tyler’s eyes had to be deceiving him. Nothing was the way it should be. His mother would have hated this. It was as if every bit of Blackwell had been erased from inside.
“You should see our old bedrooms. I get physically ill just thinking about it. Grace and I figure we can remodel in here once we make the ranch profitable.”
The new owners would probably tear this house down. It was a wonder Big E could stomach living in it for a second. Gone was the farmhouse table they all used to sit around to eat Mom’s homemade dinners. Gone were the comfy sofas the boys used to stretch out on after school. Gone was the oak mantel over the fireplace where their stockings used to hang at Christmastime.
This place was no home.
Tyler’s heart ached. As much as he hadn’t wanted to come back, he imagined it frozen in time. He hated that this was no longer the house where he grew up.
“Maybe Ethan can show us the cabin where we’ll be staying.” Hadley gave Tyler a sympathetic smile as if she could tell he was crushed. She took him by the hand. The contact startled him, but he didn’t pull away.
“Yeah, we can do that,” Ethan replied.
The front door opened and Ben strode in like he owned the pink palace. “Is that Impala outside your rental car, little brother? I thought a big-time advertising executive like yourself could afford to show up in style like I did. They rent Mercedes in Billings, you know.”
“Not all of us need a car to make us feel like a man,” Tyler replied, snapping out of his private pity party. “Sorry to hear you felt you needed a prop.”
Ben gave him a real Blackwell greeting—a punch in the shoulder. “It’s nice to see your face instead of talking to you on the phone.”
“I’d say the same if I hadn’t been forced to look at Ethan’s ugly mug since we got here. Let’s be honest, all you’ll ever be is a better-dressed version of him. Downside to being an identical twin, I guess.”
Ethan sidled up next to him and slapped Tyler on the shoulder. “Do you want to put him in a headlock or should I?” he asked Ben.
“Maybe we should do that thing to his underwear that used to make him cry when he was in middle school,” Ben proposed.
Tyler shoved Ethan away. “Maybe we should act like grown-ups in front of my fiancée.”
Ben raised his eyebrows. “I can’t believe she’s real.”
Tyler introduced Hadley to his brother, who thankfully didn’t try to hug the stuffing out of her. Instead, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his money clip. He handed Ethan ten bucks.
“What’s that about?” Tyler asked.
“Ben thought you were lying about getting married. He was sure you made it up so you wouldn’t have to come home, but I said you weren’t that desperate.” Ethan waved the ten around. “We bet and now I’m a little richer.”
Tyler fought to control his expression. Part of him wanted to come clean. End the charade right then and there. He imagined taking the money from Ethan and handing it back to Ben. But that would be admitting he was exactly who everyone thought he was—the unlovable one.
“That’s so funny!” Hadley stepped up and held her hand out in front of Tyler. “Pay up, sweetheart. I said one of them would think you were bluffing. That’s what happens when you don’t mention to your family that you have an amazing girlfriend before you ask her to marry you.”
Amazing was right. She was an amazing liar. Tyler was thoroughly impressed. He took out his wallet and handed her a hundred-dollar bill. Both of his brothers’ mouths hung open.
“I might not be driving a Mercedes, but at least I play for real money when I make a bet. Let’s go check out these cabins,” Tyler said, pushing past Ben and making his way to the front door. He wouldn’t doubt this plan again.
* * *
HADLEY SLIPPED THE hundred-dollar bill into the pocket of her jeans. She had earned that money and there was no way she was giving it back. Meeting Tyler’s brothers had proved to be even more stressful than she imagined.
Of course they had questioned the legitimacy of this relationship. It was incredible that anyone believed their made-up love story. The thought that Tyler made time in his life for dating was comical. If his brothers truly knew him, they would have known this was a lie because there was little room in Tyler’s life for love.
Ben and Ethan climbed in Ben’s car and led the way to the new guest cabins. Hadley relished having a moment to let her guard down.
“From now on, I will never know if you’re telling me the truth,” Tyler said. “You are that good at lying.”
It was a strange thing to feel proud of, but Hadley still blew on her fingernails and buffed them on her shirt. “Thank you very much,” she said, assuming he meant that as a compliment.
Tyler’s opinion had always mattered. He was her boss and what he thought about her ability to get a job done was imperative to keeping said job. Convincing his family they were in love was her current job, and she was doing everything she could to make it happen.
Tyler cleared his throat. “My family brings out my competitive side. It’s never been easy to stand out in this crowd. When I left, it was so nice not to be compared to any other Blackwell. I swore I’d never worry about one-upping any of them again. Yet, the second they ask me to come back, here I am trying to convince them I am just as good, just as rich, just as smart, just as...almost married.”
Tyler was all of those things, except for the almost-married part. Somehow that seemed to irk him the most. “It bothers you to lie to them.”
“It bothers me that I don’t want to see the way they’d look at me if they knew this wasn’t real. Like, poor Tyler. He’s all alone. There’s nothing wrong with being alone.”
He didn’t have to convince her. Hadley was perfectly content with being single. It didn’t matter so much that all of her college friends were either getting married or already married. Some of them were even starting to have kids. She was only twenty-six. Far from being a spinster.
“Exactly,” she agreed. “There’s no shame in building a successful career first. That’s my goal. I want to be something other than someone’s wife. Is that wrong?”
“Not in my book. And given your performance today, you’re definitely on track to be our brand strategist.” Tyler cracked a smile.
He somehow managed to be even more attractive when he smiled. His eyes crinkled at the edges and softened just enough to make her think less about being a brand strategist and more about being his fiancée.
She turned her head, focusing her gaze on the scenery rather than the man sitting next to her. Her boss. Not her fiancé.
They pulled up to a one-story log cabin that backed up to the tall pines of the forest. It had an expansive front porch that overlooked the horse pasture. Two buffalo-check flannel pillows sat on a wooden bench, the perfect spot to sit and watch the sunset over the mountains.
“We set you two up here. This one is called Heavenly Pines. I like to think of it as the honeymoon suite,” Ethan said with a wink.
Hadley ignored the flutter in her stomach. This was a game. A means to an end. No honeymoon.
Ben and Ethan helped unload the bags from the car. Hadley wasn’t used to having so many strong, handsome gentlemen around to do her bidding. She could get used to the Blackwell Ranch quite quickly if this kept up.
Heavenly Pines was a quaint little cabin. Inside there was a sitting area, a small kitchenette with a microwave and aking-size bed in the bedroom. Two towels were folded on the bed with tiny scented toiletries tucked in the front fold.
“Jon and Lydia invited everyone over for dinner tonight. The twins are excited to see Uncle Tyler and their soon-to-be aunt Hadley,” Ethan said, setting her suitcase down in the bedroom.
“Sounds good,” Tyler said. He glanced at the bed and she saw the same discomfort that Hadley felt looking at it. “Are we going to talk business now or when we’re all together tonight?”
“That depends,” Ethan answered, his gaze jumping back and forth from Tyler to Ben. “We’re wondering how set you are about selling the ranch.”
Tyler’s eyebrows pinched together. “I’m all in. Why wouldn’t we sell?”
“Ethan thinks the ranch should stay in the family,” Ben interjected. “He’s been trying to convince me to do this with him, but I can’t. Rachel and I are focused on keeping Double T afloat. Jon has his ranch to run.”
“So that leaves you and Chance,” Ethan chimed in. “We both know Chance doesn’t care what happens to this place. He sure isn’t going to help run it—”
“But I might?” Tyler interrupted. “Have you lost your mind? I didn’t want to come here in the first place. I’m definitely not going to stay and help you run it. Sorry, man. I don’t know what you thought was going to happen, but I am set on selling.”
“Seriously, Ty. I saw your face when you walked into the old house,” Ethan said.
“That’s all you’ve got?” Ben asked. “Everyone looks sick when they walk in there. Zoe ruined it.”
“It was more than Zoe’s bad taste.”
Hadley knew Ethan was right. She had seen it, too. Tyler had been devastated by what had been done to the house.
“That house means something to all of us,” Ethan continued. “It’s where Mom and Dad tucked us in. Where—”
Tyler put his hand up. “Stop. I don’t need a walk down memory lane. I don’t want to talk about Mom and Dad. I don’t want to rehash the things that happened in that house. I want to help you sell this ranch and go back to Portland. Where I live. Where I work.”
“Where your fiancée lives and works,” Ben added.
Hadley had no place in this discussion. Stuck in the middle of a very private family matter was not where she wanted to be. Tyler’s brothers might have thought she influenced whether Tyler stayed, but the truth was she had no say in what was happening here.
“I’m sorry, Hadley,” Ethan said. “I know what I’m asking impacts you, too. You two have a life together in Portland, but I’m asking you to consider another possibility.”
“It’s never happening,” Tyler said through gritted teeth. “Drop it.”
“Okay...” Ben jumped in. “Ethan and I are going to let you two get settled. We’ll see you at Jon’s for dinner. We can talk about the marketing plans when all of us are in the same room.” Ben guided Ethan toward the door.
Hadley could see the frustration coming off Tyler like steam. His chest rose and fell like he’d been out for a run. She’d seen him upset before at work but not like this. This wasn’t simply anger. This was pain.
“I’m sorry,” she started.
“Go unpack, Hadley,” he snapped.
She didn’t argue. She turned on her heel and headed back to the bedroom. He was the boss. This was a job. They weren’t a real couple. They never would be.
CHAPTER SIX (#u36372717-44dd-5719-8ea7-2082793397aa)
SLAM!
Hadley had never been so happy to hear a door shut behind someone as he left. After a half hour of silence, Tyler announced that he was going to finish the drive around the ranch. Alone. He’d take some pictures and they could talk about how they want to proceed with things when he got back.
It was a relief to finally be by herself. The tension in the cabin after Tyler’s brothers left was so thick, Hadley felt like she was suffocating back in the bedroom while he brooded in the sitting room.
She wasn’t sure why Tyler hated it here so much, but whatever the reason, it was clear he had no intentions of staying past the two weeks already on his calendar. She would have to play the part of the supportive fiancée tonight at dinner. Let the brothers know she didn’t want to live in Montana either.
Hadley stretched out on the king-size bed and texted Maggie about her day so far. Before she could update her completely, her phone rang. It wasn’t Maggie, though. It was Hadley’s mom.
She suppressed a groan and answered. “Hi, Mom.”
“Hadley?” For some reason, every time her mother called her, she acted surprised that Hadley was the person on the other end of the line. Who else did she think was going to answer?
“It’s me.”
“Oh, good. It’s your mother.” She also didn’t realize that Hadley always knew it was her calling.
“I know, Mom. How are you?”
“Good, good. Your father and I are driving down to Portland next weekend and thought maybe we could do lunch before we fly out to see your brother. Did you see last night’s episode? That was one of my favorites. I’m so glad they’re replaying episodes over the summer.”
Hadley occasionally watched Asher’s show. It wasn’t on her DVR, but if she remembered, she would have it on in the background while she was surfing the internet at night. She didn’t watch the reruns, though. Her parents, on the other hand, never missed an episode—new or previously aired. They wouldn’t want to miss a second of Asher’s brilliance.
“It’s always great. That’s why it’s getting all that Emmy buzz.”
“Can you imagine if your brother won an Emmy this early in his career? He’s been so fortunate and your dad and I are just so proud.”
So proud. Always so proud when it came to Asher. Even if Hadley could do something worthy of their pride, it wouldn’t make them so proud like her brother always did.
“If he does, it will only be the first of many,” Hadley said, knowing that was what her mom wanted to hear.
“That’s what I was thinking! I can’t wait to see him. He invited us to be there when they announce the nominees. He also said he’s got some good news about a movie. Did I tell you he auditioned for the lead in a movie directed by... Oh, I shouldn’t say. I don’t want to jinx it for him. Let’s just say it rhymes with Hint Leastwood.”
Hadley stopped listening. This was so typical. Her mom would call to ask her to lunch and they’d somehow spend the next twenty minutes talking about Asher. It never failed.
“I’m not in Portland,” Hadley said once her mom stopped giving her the latest details of Asher’s fantastic life.
“What do you mean you’re not in Portland?” Her mother actually sounded concerned.
“I’m away on business for the next couple of weeks.”
“Since when do you travel for work?”
“Since now. The boss asked me to help him with a special project, so I’m here in Montana.”
“Montana! What in the world could you be doing there?”
“We’re doing some marketing for a guest ranch out here. It actually belongs to my boss’s family. It’s pretty important to him, so it’s a big deal that I was asked to come help him.”
“You’re on a ranch? Asher’s new movie is a Western. What a coincidence!”
Hadley smacked her forehead. The Amazing Jane Sullivan could turn any conversation into one about Asher in ten seconds flat.
“Well, it was good to catch up.” Talking to her mom was almost as torturous as not talking to Tyler. She needed a good excuse to get off the phone. “I guess we’ll have to do lunch the next time you visit Asher. I’m gonna have to let you go, Mom. Tell Dad I said hello.”
“Oh, okay, sweetheart. I’m going to call your brother and tell him you’re at a ranch. He’ll get a kick out of you following in his footsteps.”
Her mother’s mind was a very strange place. Something told Hadley that when she got the promotion at work, instead of being excited for her, they would somehow make it about Asher.
Maybe Tyler wasn’t the only one who was tired of trying to compete with family when winning was never an option.
* * *
HADLEY SEEMED DISTRACTED. She played with a lock of her hair as she stared out the window of the car. The dress she’d picked out was probably too fancy for dinner at Jon’s, but she had insisted that looking out of place would only help him in the end. A city-girl fiancée would never survive on a ranch. Ethan would have to leave him alone about moving back.
She was so good at this. Bringing her along was the best decision he made even though things had been awkward this afternoon. Tonight might be as bad. Tyler hadn’t been to Jon’s ranch in years and the last time he saw Jon’s twins, they were babies. He had no idea what to expect from his brothers. He could be walking Hadley into a lion’s den.
“You look beautiful, by the way. I should have said that before we left,” he said, breaking the silence.
She turned her head in his direction and suddenly that word didn’t do her justice. Her blond hair had a soft curl in it. It framed her face so perfectly. Her lips were painted pink and the highlighter on her cheeks shimmered in the early-evening sun. She took his breath away.
“Thanks.” She smiled and averted her eyes.
“Only a few more hours of major pretending. Tomorrow, we should be on our own and we can be our normal selves. I’d like to work on the website, get the new one up and running.”
Talking business was easier than thinking about how good she looked and how comfortable he had begun to feel around her. Maybe his feelings were getting muddied because of the lies they had to tell.
Hadley crossed her legs and smoothed out the wrinkles in the skirt of her dress. “We’ll survive dinner and your family. I figure anytime one of them asks me something about you that I don’t know, I’ll say, ‘Oh, you know Tyler.’ And if they really think about it, they’ll know the answer.”
He chuckled at her reasoning. “Too bad I can’t use that when they ask me something about you. Although, you did fill my head with quite a bit of Hadley history. If they need to know which fictional character you would marry instead of me, I know it’s Ron Weasley.”
“Don’t you dare. That was when I was thirteen. I don’t know why I even told you about that.” Her cheeks turned red.
Stunning. It was the new word that kept running through his mind. He gripped the steering wheel a little tighter and forced all the adjectives he could use to describe Hadley out of his mind as he pulled through the gates to the JB Ranch.
“Welcome!” A smiling brunette answered the door and ushered them inside. Jon’s black-and-white border collie was there to greet the new guests, as well.
“You must be Lydia,” Tyler guessed.
“And you must be Tyler and Hadley. It’s so good to meet you. Please come on in. The rest of the gang is in the living room.”
Hadley handed her the bottle of wine they had bought in town beforehand. “It’s nice to know there’s someone else here who hasn’t known the Blackwells forever.”
Lydia beamed, her blue eyes shining almost as bright as Hadley’s. “Oh, that’s exactly how I feel!”
The two of them hugged like they were longtime friends. Women had a way of bonding over the strangest things. Tyler didn’t get it, but he did appreciate the smell of some good home cooking.
“Is that chili I smell?” he asked, stepping farther in the house.
“It’s an old family recipe. We’re going to have chili with all the fixings and my famous jalapeño corn bread. I hope you’re hungry.”
“He didn’t sweat all day out in the fields like the rest of us, but maybe all his traveling helped him work up an appetite.” Jon, tall and lean like their father had been, folded his arms across his chest. “Welcome home, Ty.”
Home. That’s what everyone wanted to call Falcon Creek, but it hadn’t been Tyler’s home for a long time.
“It’s good to see you, old man,” Tyler said, knowing it would bug his eldest brother. Five years wasn’t that big of an age gap, yet Jon had always seemed so much older than the rest of them. Maybe it was because he had been fifteen when their parents died—right on the cusp of being grown. Without them around, Jon had to become a man earlier than most.
“Hadley and Tyler brought some wine,” Lydia announced. “Wasn’t that thoughtful?”
“Hadley Sullivan, meet my brother, Jonathan. Don’t let his serious face fool you. He’s actually very... Wait, his serious face is the real deal. Jon is always very serious. I don’t think he knows how to smile.”
One side of Jon’s mouth inched upward. A half of a smile was progress. “It’s nice to meet you, Hadley. I’m sorry you settled for this guy. I’m sure you could have done much better.”
“Oh, he’s not that bad. He has excellent taste in just about everything—food, wine, movies—”
“And women,” Tyler added. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her against his side. Hadley stiffened but kept a smile on her face. “We both love Portland and our jobs. We’re completely simpatico.”
“Simpatico?” Jon raised an eyebrow.
“That’s so great,” Lydia said. “There’s nothing better than marrying someone who can also be your friend. Someone who gets you.” She put her arms around Jon. “I know I feel very fortunate to have found that.”
Jon grinned bigger than Tyler had ever seen before and pressed his lips to hers. “I’m the lucky one.”
“I just realized we have another thing in common,” Lydia said to Hadley. “We both fell for our boss. I don’t know about you, but that made things real awkward at first.”
“Awkward is the perfect way to describe it,” Hadley replied.
“Well, Lydia doesn’t work for me anymore. We’re partners now.” Jon took her hand and kissed the back of it like he thought he was Prince Charming. “Why don’t we find a corkscrew and join the party. The girls are champing at the bit to see Uncle Ty and Aunt Hadley.”
Tyler could feel Hadley tense. She tucked some hair behind her ear and fidgeted with her earring. He prayed she’d be able to pull this off. They were in so deep. No going back now without humiliating himself. None of his brothers would ever let him live this down.
“Come on, Trout,” Jon said to the dog as he led the group back to the rest of the family.
“One more time!” Abby shouted as she held on to Ethan’s hands and climbed up his legs before flipping herself over.
“It’s my turn,” Genevieve insisted. “Daddy, Abby keeps taking my turn.”
“Abby, you can’t monopolize Uncle Ethan,” Jon scolded.
The sweet girl titled her head to the side. “What’s mononolize?”
“It means you have to give your sister a turn,” Jon explained.
“Hey, Gen, I bet Uncle Tyler would love to flip one of you around,” Ben said from the couch. He had an arm wrapped around Rachel’s shoulders while her sweet baby girl sat on her lap. On the other side of Rachel sat Grace and her baby bump. Tyler watched as both women gave Hadley a good once-over.
“Can you help me flip?” Gen stood in front of Tyler and stared up at him with her big blue eyes.
Tyler wasn’t used to being around kids. He certainly didn’t know how to help them flip. “I’m not sure I know how to do that.”
“It’s easy,” Gen said with confidence. “Hold my hands. And then hold me tight so I can flip.” She put her bare feet on his jean-clad shins and scaled him like a tiny ninja. She flipped over and beamed up at him. “I did it!”
Abby ran over. “My turn with Uncle Tyler. You can flip with Uncle Ethan.”
“No! I get to play with Uncle Tyler and you get Uncle Ethan.”
It was an all-out battle and the prize was Tyler’s attention. Ethan’s face fell. He went from the favorite uncle to chopped liver in two seconds flat.
“How about the two of you go wash up for dinner and give your uncle Tyler a chance to talk to the adults for a couple minutes,” Jon said. The girls groaned but with a little more coaxing went to clean up.
“Don’t worry, Ethan,” Ben said. “Once they get to know Tyler, you’ll be their favorite again.”
His comment stung even though he was probably right. No one ever chose him when there were so many Blackwells to pick from.
* * *
HADLEY WRESTLED WITH her nerves as they stood in Jon’s family room. Hadley Sullivan, Brand Strategist for 2K Marketing. It had such a wonderful ring to it. She kept repeating her new title over and over in her head. She was here to get that job. All she had to do was convince Tyler’s family they were in love.
The word love made her stomach turn. Tyler had placed his hand on the small of her back as they made their way to where the rest of the family was waiting. It had sent a tingle up her spine.
“I think once they get to know him, they’ll fall head over heels and it won’t have anything to do with the flips he helped them do,” Hadley said in her fake fiancée’s defense.
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