Her Cowboy Wedding Date
Автор
Cari Lynn Webb
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CHAPTER ONE
“GIVE HIM BACK, TESS.” Carter Sloan filled the open doorway of the apartment behind the Feisty Owl Bar and Grill. His worn cowboy hat was pressed low on his forehead. Resolve framed his frown and shadowed his usual charm.
Tess preferred an irritated Carter. When he aimed his charm at her, it always set her back. And the last time she’d been flustered by a man, she’d ended up married to him. Fool me once. She frowned back at Carter. “I don’t have him.”
That was a lie. The him being Carter’s grandfather, Sam Sloan, who happened to be one of Tess’s favorite Three Springs residents. And the same person Tess had helped hide in the Feisty Owl apartment.
It was the same place where Tess spent her mornings. The kitchen in the unrented apartment was twice as big as the one in Tess’s compact apartment over the Silver Penny General Store. She needed the modern appliances and open space to create. After all, dreams were on the line. Her dreams. For her life.
Fortunately, Tess’s Grandma Opal had taught Tess the best way to soothe a riled cowboy like Carter was through his stomach. Tess lifted a chocolate truffle toward Carter, smiled wide to cover her secrets then added a cheerful command to her words. “Here. Try this.”
Carter shoved the whole truffle into his mouth and spoke around the chocolate. “It’s good.”
But was it ten thousand dollars good? Tess walked back to the kitchen and sent a silent thank-you to her grandmother. Still, the candy and the cowboy could use a few tweaks to bring out their best. And when it came to the chocolate, she had to have the best.
Carter shut the front door and picked up another truffle from the tray on the granite island. “Is there whiskey in these?”
Carter’s palate was refined as expected. He was the master distiller and creator of the Misty Grove Distillery. Tess nodded. “Your whiskey.”
“These are really good.” Carter finished the second one. “I could sell these in my tasting room. Clear a nice profit we could split.”
She wasn’t sharing her potential profit or her dreams this time around. All she needed was to win the Best Up and Coming Chocolatier competition at the Chocolate Corral Festival, and the subsequent cash prize for the final restoration to her grandparents’ general store. Then she’d be on her way to having everything she wanted: her family around her and work that supported her in the one place her grandparents had called their true home. Life would be perfect, and she’d finally be truly happy. All on her own terms.
She eyed the always-business-first cowboy. “Why can’t I have Sam? He’s been a big help at the general store. He has more suggestions for candy flavors than a product development team for a national company.” More importantly, she liked Sam. He didn’t unsettle her like Carter always did.
Carter kept his perceptive gaze on her. “My grandfather needs to come home where he belongs. With his family.”
Home. Belong. Family. Those words rattled easily from Carter as if it was all that simple and straightforward. Yet, Tess hadn’t had a real home or people calling her back to the place she belonged in years. But she was building all that for herself now.
“I’m not going home.” Sam’s shout rolled down the staircase leading to the apartment’s rooftop porch and gave away his presence. The older cowboy worked his way down the stairs and stopped in the middle of the family room. He crossed his arms over his plaid button-down shirt and scowled at his grandson. “I’m officially on a Sloan family strike.”
“You don’t have him.” Carter frowned at Tess. Frustration rolled off the cowboy thicker than the Texas summer heat.
“Okay. You caught me. I lied.” And she’d do it again. Maybe. Tess stuffed her hands inside a pair of oven gloves and held them up. Still, nothing blocked that flicker of awareness she always felt around Carter. “Sam offered to help with the candy making for the Baker sisters’ upcoming family reunion and I happily accepted.”
“Man needs to go where he’s wanted.” Sam lifted his chin.
Carter scrubbed his hands over his face. “You can’t go on strike from the family, Grandpa.”
“I just did.” Sam smoothed his fingers over his stark-white beard. “Here are my terms. You have to tell my former brother, that traitor who you invited into my house, to leave and then we can talk.”
“This isn’t a negotiation.” Carter braced his hands on his hips. “I’m here to take you home.”
“I’m staying here now,” Sam countered. “Wes and Abby told me I can stay as long as I like, and they own this place and let Tess use it. I get to stay free of charge too. Wes was raised to take good care of his elders.”
Tess winced and watched Carter. He never flinched from his grandfather’s jab and seemed to settle more firmly into the grandson-grandfather standoff. Carter’s voice lowered. “You can’t live here, Grandpa.”
“Why not? It’s not like I’m alone here.” Sam motioned toward the kitchen. “Tess lives across the street, and she’s been here almost every day to cook something. She lets me help and even asks my advice and opinion on things. She listens to me.”
It was true. Tess checked the timer on the oven. Sam being there was a bonus. She always liked listening to his stories about growing up in Three Springs with her own grandfather. Sam offered her a connection to her grandparents, whom she still missed so much. But with five grandsons, Sam wasn’t ever really alone at the Sloan farmhouse. “If you’re worried about him, I could sleep in the guest bedroom here.”
Sam’s grin reached his eyes. “That’s a splendid idea.”
Carter’s frown deepened. “Tess is not moving in here with you.”
“She can if she wants,” Sam challenged.
“It’s no problem.” Tess pulled a brownie pan from the oven and set it on the island near Carter. As if more chocolate might possibly relieve the strain tightening across Carter’s face. “Then Sam won’t be alone.” And neither would Tess at her apartment.
It was almost a win-win. If not for Carter’s obvious resistance.
“Our family looks after each other.” Carter’s gaze and tone were firm. “We always have.”
Something in Carter’s words hinted at a deep-rooted duty as if no one could look after them as well as he could. Tess looked after her own now, from her sister and cousin to her neighbors and friends in town. When everyone was happy around her, she was too. More importantly, she finally felt as if she belonged, and she didn’t intend to lose that feeling.
Except Sam and Carter looked far from happy. And that negativity didn’t belong in the kitchen where she needed to create chocolate that was decadent enough to win first place. Tess quickly sliced the still-warm brownies into squares.
Carter speared his arms to the sides and announced, “If anyone is moving in here with Sam, it’s going to be me.”
“You’re not invited.” Sam picked up a truffle and shook it at his grandson. “Not after what you did.”
“I did nothing wrong.” Irritation curved around Carter’s words. “Uncle Roy is your only brother, Grandpa. Where else would he stay if not with us? The Sloans never turn their back on family. You taught me that.”
“Roy Sloan was my brother.” A stubborn resolve settled into Sam’s eyes. “He’s not family anymore.”
Carter’s mouth thinned.
Tension swelled around the sweet scent of chocolate and the two men. Tess slid the brownie pieces onto napkins. Dessert is inspiration for your sweet tooth, Tessie. Time to be inspired. Her grandfather had always ended that declaration with an eyebrow waggle and big grin. If her homemade fudge brownies gave these two cowboys a small reprieve and a moment to reset, she’d consider that a dessert success.
“What was it you used to tell me about my brothers?” Carter accepted the brownie from Tess. His grin lacked humor. “I remember now. Son, you can’t exchange ’em or trade ’em in so you better learn to live with ’em.”
“I know full well what I told you. What’s between me and Roy is best left well enough alone.” Sam held his palm out for a brownie and faced Tess. “Now, Tess, if we’re going to be roommates, we need to set some ground rules.”
Carter coughed and placed his unfinished brownie down. Tess poured a glass of milk and pushed it across the counter toward him. Carter looked as if he wasn’t ready to leave any of it alone. He opened his mouth. “Grandpa...”
The front door swung open, cutting off Carter’s words. Tess’s sister burst inside. Paige’s worried glance bounced from one to the other. “Good, you’re all here.” Paige picked up the brownie knife and carved out a large center piece. “We’ve got a big problem.”
“Then you’ve come to the right place.” Sam patted Paige’s shoulder. “I’m certain my new roommate and I can solve any problem you’ve got. We make a good team. Let’s hear it.”
“Tess is not your roommate, Grandpa.” Carter opened the refrigerator, twisted the cap off a soda bottle and leaned against the counter.
“We’ll talk about that later.” Tess studied her sister. “What’s wrong?”
Paige’s boyfriend, Evan Bishop, grimaced from the front entryway. “Abby and Wes’s wedding planner skipped town to elope in the Bahamas.”
Tess flattened her palms on the granite counter and reminded herself that she could more than handle whatever came at her. “Eloped? In the Bahamas.”
Paige finished off her brownie and cut out another piece. “Afraid so.”
Tess and Paige’s cousin, Abby, was set to marry Wes Tanner in two weeks. As the maid of honor, Tess had been beside her cousin for the venue choosing, the menu tasting and every wedding dress fitting. Everything but the wedding vows had been decided. Abby had planned every detail of her dream wedding day over the past six months. It was all set. Panic pushed Tess’s pulse into a fast beat. “The wedding planner can’t just be gone.”
“Does it matter? Everything is already handled for the wedding.” Carter looked and sounded calm as if an AWOL wedding planner was no more of a nuisance than a pesky horsefly. He added, “That’s what Wes and Abby told me when I dropped them off at the airport for their flight to Florida yesterday.”
Abby had told Tess and Paige the very same thing the night before last while she finished packing for her five-day conference. Wes had decided to join Abby to add a few vacation days to the end of Abby’s work trip. It was a pre-honeymoon, but even more a celebration. The paperwork for Wes to officially adopt Abby’s three-month-old daughter, Faith Rose, had been finalized. Now only the wedding vows needed to be recited and Abby would have the family she always dreamed about. Tess had seen Abby’s wedding to-do spreadsheet with every task marked as complete. The wedding planner’s impromptu departure shouldn’t matter but the distress on Paige’s face worried Tess.
“It was all handled.” Evan polished off his brownie then finished Carter’s untouched glass of milk.
“Was being the key word.” Defeat dropped over Paige’s words.
Tess pressed a hand to her suddenly queasy stomach.
“What does that mean exactly?” Carter rubbed the back of his neck. Uncertainty crossed his face.
“As of this morning, all the wedding vendors backed out.” Paige looked grim.
Tess’s stomach pitched sideways. “That’s not possible.”
“The vendors never received their deposits from the wedding planner.” Evan considered the dish of brownies then studied the truffles. As if more chocolate would sweeten the bad news.
“Then we pay the vendors ourselves,” Carter offered.
Sam reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. “How much do you need?”
“It’s not that simple.” Paige smiled at Sam and set her hand on his arm. “The vendors have already booked Abby’s wedding date with other clients who were willing to pay.”
“How can we only be hearing about this now?” Anger vibrated through Tess. How could this happen to her cousin? Abby had been through so much. It wasn’t until Abby had moved to Three Springs and fallen in love, that she found a place she belonged. A place that included Tess. Abby’s wedding would be the start of the life Abby had always dreamed about. Now the wedding planner threatened to rob her cousin of that too.
“The vendors contacted the wedding planner about the missing deposits, but not Abby and Wes. As far as the couple knows, the vendors were paid.” Evan rinsed the glass in the kitchen sink and frowned. “Now Wes and Abby’s money seems to be funding the wedding planner’s elopement instead of their own wedding.”
“But Abby has to have her dream wedding,” Tess insisted. Tess’s own wedding had been far from perfect, and that bad luck had continued into her marriage. Tess refused to let that happen to her cousin. After all, a perfect wedding day was the start to a perfect life. And if her cousin’s life was perfect in Three Springs, then Tess’s family wouldn’t leave her. Tess grabbed her sister’s hand and held on.
“What are you saying?” Carter eyed Tess.
“We have less than two weeks to organize a wedding.” Tess leveled her gaze on Carter. “And it has to be perfect.”
