Chapter Three

For Hadley, the temptation to hide out right here in the Denver airport rather than go home to the family ranch was pretty overwhelming.

It wasn’t that she didn’t love her family—she did—but being around all of them at the same time under the not-stressful-at-all (sarcasm alert) conditions of her little sister’s wedding could shake the strongest of women. They’d want to do everything together, from making breakfast in the morning to brushing teeth at night—okay, maybe not the last part, but family togetherness and the ranching way was pretty much her family’s motto. Simply put, Hadley’s family was exhausting, and they would all be there for the festivities leading up to her sister’s big day.

All.

Of.

Them.

Every single person, from all of twenty billion branches sprouting from the Donavan-Martinez family tree, would be at the wedding. More than that, most of them would be staying at the ranch. It would be wall-to-wall Donavans, Martinezes, and Donavan-Martinezes until the cows came home.

All of that meant that the family-mandatory-fun-time-togetherness was going to be at epic levels, leading up to Adalyn’s wedding in a week. If it wasn’t for how much she loved her baby sister and wanted to see her say “I do,” Hadley would definitely be saying “I don’t” to a full week wrapped in her family’s well-meaning but claustrophobic embrace.

Her phone vibrated in her cross-body purse as she pulled up short to avoid getting run over by a group of people rushing toward the TSA line. She pulled it out and hit Talk, keeping her eyes on the constant flow of human foot traffic, hoping to spot Web walking out of the arrivals area.

“Oh good,” her sister, Adalyn, said with a relieved sigh. “You haven’t lost cell signal yet.”

That would happen about four hours into the five-hour drive from the airport when she turned off the main highway and onto the long, gravel-covered county road leading to Hidden Creek Ranch. Service would get spotty and texting would become an imaginary dream of the future until she got about five miles out from the ranch and the signal from the towers improved.

“I’m still at the airport,” Hadley said, dodging a seven-year-old pulling his own miniature wheely suitcase before it went right over her toes.

Adalyn—always the dramatic one—let out a groan. “You have to save me from Mom. She’s lost it.”

That was no surprise. No one wanted things to be perfect more than Stephanie Donavan-Martinez. There was no way her daughter’s wedding would be any different. If the woman was sleeping at all between rounds of stress cleaning and prepping food for a small army of people, Hadley would go into shock.

“Is she recleaning the bathroom after Dad already did it again?”

“Worse.” Adalyn took a dramatic pause. “She’s stopped all cleaning and is locked in her crafting room.”

Hadley jolted to a dead stop in the middle of the airport, her jaw slack. Their mom had gone into hibernation with the entire family about to converge on the ranch? This was very not good. “Oh God, what did you guys do?”

With the exception of herself, the suspects to get on Mom’s last nerve were all there: her sister, her brothers Weston and Knox, and her dad in all but actual DNA, Gabe. Mom loved them all, but there was no denying they each had a special gift for making their mom a little batty.

“Me?” Adalyn asked, her pitch going higher. “Why would I have done anything?”

“Because that’s what little sisters do. They cause trouble.” She almost got that out without a giggle. Adalyn was forever the people-pleasing—if a little over-the-top—one. It was Hadley who was forever the child most likely to cause trouble.

“Nice try.” Her sister laughed. “I am the good daughter while you are the one whose name is followed by a soft sigh and gaze turned heavenward.”

“Just because I’m the only one to move out of the state.” And didn’t go into ranching or marry a rancher or listen to country music or…the list went on and on.

“Plus, you’re single at thirty,” her sister teased. Adalyn altered the cadence and tone of her voice to mimic their mom with damn near perfection. “Not that a woman needs a man, but…”

Hadley chuckled. “Don’t do that again; you sound just like her.”

“We all turn into our mother in the end.”

“So we’ll be badasses but the interfering, loving, drive-you-nuts kind?” Raising four kids as a single mom was no joke. Sure, she’d found Gabe and they’d had a whole Hallmark movie romance, but Hadley had been fourteen by then, her brothers twelve and ten, and Adalyn eight.

“Exactly.”

“Don’t worry—I’ll be there soon.” Hadley glanced over at the gate where all the arriving passengers would flow out, but only a few people trickled in, none of whom was Web. “Backup is on the way.”

“Thank God. You have no idea how grateful I am that you came in early. I know getting off work for a week was tough.”

Probably not as tough as it would have been had she not been fired after the incident. But no way was she sharing that news with her family. They still shook their heads whenever they mentioned her living in the “city.”

“You’re my sister.” Hadley resumed her impatient pacing in front of the arrivals area. “Of course I was going to be here for the whole wedding-week shindig.”

“Even if you had to bring your best friend to pose as your boyfriend because you want to ditch as much of the mandatory family fun time as possible?” Adalyn asked.

Hadley grimaced, guilt tickling the pit of her stomach. Busted. She opened her mouth to deny it, but who was she kidding? Everyone knew how weird all the family togetherness was to her. She couldn’t help it. There was obviously some emotional piece she was missing.

“I promise, I’m shut away behind a locked door in the bathroom,” her sister said with a sympathetic chuckle. “Your secret about why Web is really here is safe with me. Just don’t even think about chickening out between the airport and home.”

“I’m not scared.” Much.

“Just get here, Trigger. Derek is getting all weirded out.”

Something in Adalyn’s tone when she said her fiancé’s name set off Hadley’s worry alert, and her shoulders tensed.

“Pre-wedding nerves?” she asked, trying to keep her tone neutral even as she was already plotting her sister’s fiancé’s death if he even thought about doing something that would hurt Adalyn.

“Maybe. I just…” Her sister’s voice cracked. “Something seems off with him. I don’t know. It’s probably nothing. I’m sure I’m just worrying for no reason.”

That wasn’t what the tremble in her voice said, though. All of Hadley’s big-sister protectiveness whooshed up like a brushfire in the wind, and she started pacing to get some of the raw energy out. Glancing over at the flight notification board, she noted for the billionth time that his plane had gotten in fifteen minutes ago. Where was Web? She needed to get to the ranch. Now.

“It’s only jitters,” Hadley said, hoping like hell it was true, since she hadn’t met Derek yet. “Anyway, I pity anyone getting thrown into the Donavan-Martinez tornado for the first time, especially when you’re about to marry into the family. We’re a lot.”

Her sister giggled, but it didn’t have the same oomph it usually did. “That’s true.”

“It is,” she said, using her all-knowing big-sister tone, hoping it would work. “So relax and don’t hide in the bathroom for much longer or Aunt Louise will tell everyone that you’ve been pooping for too long and start sending the cousins to come check on you to make sure you don’t need help.”

That was the Aunt Louise Special. Yet one more bit of extra overwhelming family togetherness. Really. Let a person poop in peace.

“I will literally die of embarrassment if that happens,” Adalyn said. “You’re horrible for even putting the possibility into my head.”

“Love you, Buttermilk,” she said, using her sister’s nickname.

“Love you right back, Trigger.”

Hadley hung up and strolled by the bronze Elroy Jeppesen statue outside of passenger arrivals at the Denver International Airport for the fifty-second time. She sent up a big old fuzzy thank-you to the friendship gods for giving her a super-rich best friend who could come to Nebraska for a week.

That Webster “Web” Holt was willing to leave his cushy life in Harbor City to come to the Middle of Nowhere, Nebraska, for a week was amazing. Add in the fact that he’d agreed to help her keep her sanity with all the family togetherness, and it was easy to see why Web was pretty much her favorite person in the entire world. It didn’t matter that they’d had to take different flights, since he had spent the past few days at his family compound hours outside of Harbor City and that his plane had been delayed for three hours. She was so grateful to have him here that she wouldn’t even fight him for the last piece of Aunt Louise’s Frito pie, which just happened to be the most magical comfort food in the history of forever.

Just when she was about to check the arrivals board for the zillionth time, passengers started flowing through the security doors on their way to baggage claim. Hadley scanned the crowd, looking for her bestie. If their positions had been reversed, Web would have had a helluva time trying to spot her in the sea of humanity. She always just got lost in the crowd. That was the curse of being of average height (five feet four inches on a tall day), build (on the chuffy side of the scale but not giving a shit because doughnuts were to die for), and hair color (bland brown because she had no time to go to the salon for highlights or anything else).

However, at six feet four inches with dark-brown hair, green eyes, and the kind of laid-back attitude that came with never having to worry—about money, a job, or what people thought about him—Web always stood out. And if he walked into a room with his identical twin brother? No one could look away.

Annoyance started bubbling in her stomach at even the thought of Will.

The way he was always smirking at her as if he knew something she didn’t. Her chest tightened and she ground her molars together as that all-too-familiar tension locked her back tight. The pseudo-concerned crap he shoveled at her about not being born with the silver spoon of Harbor City’s high society firmly in her mouth.

She closed her eyes and envisioned smacking Will upside the head with that well-polished utensil.

And—on top of all that—there was the fact that he was the reason she was now unemployed.

She cut herself off before her temper went into countdown mode.

Let it go, Had. The second-best part about spending a week in Nebraska is not having to see your bestie’s completely horrible, absolutely awful, no-good twin. The first—obviously—would be your sister’s wedding.

Adalyn deserved to have the kind of happily ever after she’d spent her life wanting. Hadley could understand that, even if rolling over in bed to get blasted in the face with the same guy’s morning breath day after day, year after year, decade after decade was definitely not in her plans.

Hadley dreamed of adventure and freedom and total self-control all the days of her life.

But she didn’t have time to dwell on that amazing thought right now as her gaze snagged on Web’s tall frame coming through the security doors.

Her welcoming smile turned to outright amusement as the sight of him finally processed. The black cowboy hat that almost sat right on his head. Wrangler jeans so new, they still had a crease down each leg hugging his muscular thighs. And the boots? Good Lord. He was wearing the fancy, shiny kind that showed up only at movie premieres and would never see any actual work on branding day.

If there was a soft-focused holiday movie about a heifer with magical matchmaking abilities, the cowboy hero would look exactly like Web. He didn’t even begin to look as if his clothes had come from Feed and Steer, the store where a rancher could get his entire wardrobe, a fully automated roping shoot, and a gallon of supplements to encourage the cattle to stay hydrated while increasing their food consumption.

She shouldn’t laugh—Web was a child of Harbor City’s richest of the rich and obviously was trying to fit in the best he could. His heart was in the right place. Still, her lips twitched as the giggles bubbled up inside her.

Get ahold of yourself, girl. This is your best friend. The guy who flew across the country to stand by your side. Don’t make him feel bad for cosplaying the kind of cowboy who exists only on TV.

“Hey, cowboy,” she called out, her voice giddy with unreleased laughter despite her best efforts.

Web turned his head, spotted her, and tipped his hat like he was Curly in an Oklahoma! revival, then headed her way, a sly grin on his face.

That’s when her oh-shit senses started buzzing. As he swaggered through the crowd, that warning sense grew from a low hum to a full-on-earthquake. Heart hammering and palms sweaty, her left eye started twitching as she held tight to the one truth that she had to believe: This couldn’t be. This abso-fucking-lutely couldn’t be.

She squeezed her eyes shut and forced out the oxygen that had been trapped in her lungs.

It was just a trick of the light or her pre-family-gathering jagged nerves playing her. That had to be it.

Please, whoever is the patron saint of women just trying to make it through the day without committing murder, deliver me from this vision of a totally fresh hell.

She opened her eyes right as he stopped in front of her. Searching his face for the tiny little markers that differentiated Web’s face from Will’s, she held on to that little ribbon of hope that everything hadn’t suddenly gone pear-shaped. Then she noticed the tiny mole by Web’s left eye was missing. Maybe she’d always imagined it had been there? She took in a deep inhale and was hit with the unique mix of musk, leather, and the kind of trouble mothers had been warning their daughters about for generations. It was a uniquely Evil Twin scent. There was no way she could deny what she’d known the moment she’d seen him move.

This wasn’t Web.

It was Will.

She stopped breathing, the world stopped spinning, and every one of the forty bazillion people in the crowded airport disappeared. It couldn’t. They wouldn’t. Holy fuck, her stomach was knotting up at the realization that she was now in hell.

He gave her a slow once-over that, despite knowing better, made her body wake up and take notice—stop it right now, boobs, or it will be all uncomfortable sports bras for you until the end of time—and punctuated it with a half smile.

He tipped his cowboy hat like a man who’d practiced it in the mirror. “Howdy.”

The way Will said it with that rough rumble that on anyone else would be sex personified made her twitch with annoyance. Oh God. She couldn’t kill him in front of witnesses.

Hadley crossed her arms and glared up at his somehow-hotter-than-his-identical-twin’s face. “Get back on that plane.”

“No can do.” He gave his head a regretful shake. “It’s going on to L.A. and I have had my fill of actresses for the time being, but it was sweet of you to think of me.”

Heated frustration shot up from the earth’s core and blasted through her. How did he always produce this hot, flushed, so-damn-bothered involuntary reaction just by existing in the same room as her? Every. Single. Time. Ugh. He was the worst, just the absolute worst.

“What are you doing here and where is Web?” she asked, practically biting off each word.

“In reverse order…” He held up two long fingers. “At our family place in the country puking his guts up, but don’t worry, he’ll be fine.” He lowered one finger. “Coming to your rescue.”

Ha! That would be the day. “I don’t think so.”

He smirked at her.

Yes, smirked, and it wasn’t even the least little bit sexy. It was enraging—like shake-her-fist-at-the-wide-open-high-plains-sky-and-yell-“nooooooooooooooo” enraging.

If Will had any idea how he was affecting her, he didn’t show it, just kept right on going like God’s gift to humanity. “I’m tall, dark, handsome, and rich. I’m pretty sure I fit the bill of a knight; I just need my brave steed. And anyway, I look exactly like Web, so your family will never know the difference. He and I used to swap spots all the time in school.”

Nope. This was not happening. “You can’t come with me.”

“Are you sure?” He shot her a skeptical look. “I was told this was an all-hands emergency. Web’s words were that anything—I repeat, anything—would be better for you than going to this wedding alone. Now, my brother’s not known for exaggerating, but there’s a first for everything. Are you really saying that spending a week with me is worse than facing down your entire family as they question every life choice you’ve made since you left your teeny, tiny hometown?”

The questions would come from love, Hadley knew it. A little query here, a comment there, a concern uttered in hushed tones over the homemade enchiladas. She was bound to crack under the pressure, which was exactly what she did not want to happen. Losing her cool and acting like the metaphorical flaming bag of dog poop during her sister’s wedding and thus ruining everything was pretty much a nightmare situation. She needed someone to have her back, to help keep her sane, and to give her an excuse to escape the confines of her family before she lost it.

She sighed and her shoulders sank. She needed Will Holt, and the big jerk knew it. “Don’t make me regret this.”

He tipped his hat at her again, as if this were some old western movie with him playing the part of the flirtatious gambler while she was the saloon girl with a heart of gold. “I’m all about leaving women happy wherever I go.”

Hadley clamped her mouth shut before she told him exactly how he could make her happy. Not to go into it, but in the week since the incident, she’d developed a very in-depth revenge fantasy that included a deep hole, hot honey, fire ants, and itching powder. Instead of telling him that, though, she turned and marched toward baggage claim, not bothering to check if the wrong cowboy was following.