Brothers of Miller Ranch Box Set

by Natalie Dean

  “Yeah, you know tacos do sound kinda nice,” Bradley said.

  Sophia flashed him a happy grin as she went about filling out the paperwork. She had never thought at the start of the day that she would see her abuser get his just desserts and marry the love of her life, but it seemed that she was just blessed that day. Maybe later they could have an actual ceremony. But first, since the trial was finally over, maybe they could skip right to the honeymoon.

  Her cheeks flushed, and she wrote faster.

  Unsurprisingly, Bradley finished first and helped her with the rest of hers. From there, they got into the other line, and the rest of it went exactly how the first clerk said it would.

  Missy did her best to keep them both distracted and entertained, telling them funny stories from the vet’s office she worked at in town. Before Sophia knew it, their papers were in and they just had to wait another half hour to be seen.

  Although that half hour probably would have gone by a lot less anxiously if Bradley wasn’t constantly texting on his phone.

  “Who are you even talking to?” she asked when his phone buzzed for about the dozenth time in ten minutes.

  “Sorry, just getting chewed out by Ma. It’s worth it though, don’t worry.”

  “I didn’t think she could text that fast.” Sophia knew she couldn’t. She’d seen the woman try to type a couple of times and it was a near painful experience.

  “Well, she can’t. But my brothers are all asking me if I really had to upset her when it was already a pretty exhausting day and Dani is asking if she should pack so we could head off on our honeymoon right away.”

  “Are you telling her that we haven’t even picked a honeymoon destination yet?”

  “I’m telling her I have it handled.”

  Weird answer, but it satisfied her curiosity, and then Missy was pulling her to the bathroom to put lipstick on her and zhuzh up her hair. By the time they came back, they only sat down for a minute before their names were called.

  She couldn’t believe it. It was really happening.

  “So, are you ready to be a Mrs.?” Bradley asked as they walked through the judge’s doors.

  “I thought you’d never ask.”

  The whole process turned out to be a lot easier than she thought. The judges asked them to state their names and their intent to marry. He asked their witness to state her name as well, and then the judge was explaining some things, and then he asked if Bradley if he wanted to take her as his wife.

  Yeah, it really was that quick and easy apparently. Even Bradley seemed a little surprised. “Going kinda fast there, aren’t ya?”

  “I’ve been here since six am. I want to go home to my family. Now, if you don’t mind, do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

  “Uh, I do. Yeah, of course. I do.”

  “And do you, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

  “I do!”

  “Good. Then sign on this line.”

  That wasn’t exactly what Sophia had been expecting, and she faltered for a moment. But Bradley recovered, taking the pen from the judge and signing the certificate, then Sophia signing after him, then finally Missy signing as the witness.

  When they stood, Bradley looked at the judge expectantly.

  “What?” the judge asked.

  “Uh, aren’t you forgetting something?” Bradley said.

  “What? Oh. Right. You may kiss the bride.”

  And boy did he.

  Both of his strong arms wrapped around her back, pulling her close to him as he claimed her mouth. It was heady and deep and made her soul practically leave her body.

  When they parted, she was nearly dizzy from it all and let out a giddy laugh.

  “Well, hello there, Mrs. Miller.”

  “You know, there’s a whole lot of us now,” Missy remarked from behind them, smiling broadly. “It’s getting confusing.”

  “That’s right,” Sophia said. “All the brothers ringed up but one now, and I have a feeling that’s just a matter of time.”

  “Oh, do you now?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “You may go,” the judge said shooing them towards the exit, prompting them all to leave.

  So they did just that, heading all the way downstairs and towards the exit onto the street. But before they made it, Sophia saw Dani rushing up to them, a long thin package in her hand.

  “Hey, what are you doing here?” she asked.

  But Dani didn’t answer, instead just grabbing her hand and pulling her along. “Let’s go to the bathroom.”

  “Wait, what?”

  But her questions were ignored until they were in the restroom and Dani shoved the box into Sophia’s arms. Carefully, she opened it, but what she saw inside was pretty confusing.

  “Why are you handing me a dress?”

  “Well, what do you normally do with dresses?”

  “Dani, what’s—”

  “Just put it on! Come on, trust me. I’m one of your girls, right?”

  The whole situation was really, really weird, but Sophia went with it, taking the dress into one of the stalls. It didn’t take her long to get out of the simple, court appropriate outfit she was in and slide into the gown, but she did have to call Dani in to lace up the back for her.

  It was a beautiful dress, pearl-encrusted on the front and fitted all the way down to her knees where it flared out in a sudden rush of beautiful chiffon. It was that same dusky pink that she preferred to wear whenever there was a fancy event, and there was delicate silver-gray embroidery around the waist, bust, and translucent sleeves.

  Sophia didn’t really have much in the way of curves, but the way the dress sat on her made her feel so womanly. It reminded her a lot of all the bookmarks she had saved to her computer, as well as the drawings she’d made in her wedding idea notebook.

  Well, it was her wedding day. Maybe Bradley had swung some things around to try to get her the perfect dress for tacos. It was silly, but also incredibly wonderful. It was just like him to surprise her with something so thoughtful.

  “There you go,” Dani said when she was all laced up. “My, you look so beautiful, you know that?”

  “Yeah,” Sophia said, this time with confidence. “I do.”

  But when she opened the handicapped stall that they were in, she was surprised to see Chastity waiting there with what looked like a very full makeup case and lots of hair styling supplies.

  “Are you ready to get glammed up?” she said, wiggling one of the makeup brushes.

  “Guys, I don’t think this is necessary.”

  “Shh, shh, shh, you stand here by the sink in the good light and let me do what I’m gonna do. Trust me.”

  “You know, I’m hearing that a lot the past few minutes, and I’m getting a little suspicious.”

  “Huh, isn’t that something.”

  But Sophia still did as her friend asked, standing under the light and letting her do her makeup. About fifteen minutes later, she was finally walking out of the bathroom.

  Only to see Bradley standing in the middle of the entryway in a silver tux, a dusky pink vest beneath and a dark gray shirt. Sophia’s jaw dropped, and suddenly she understood.

  “Bradley…” she murmured, walking towards him. “This is the wedding. Like I drew in my book.”

  “Maybe,” he said, offering her his arm. “Now why don’t we go get those tacos?”

  She wanted to cry, but then she would mess up the makeup that Chastity had so skillfully put on her. Wrapping her arm through his, she let him lead her outside.

  She fully expected his truck to be waiting for her outside, but instead there was a horse-drawn carriage, and pulling that carriage, was Hyacinth, pretty pink ribbons tied in her mane and tail. Sophia didn’t even know what to say and could only playfully tug at his arm.

  “I know, I know. But this part was for me. Can I help it if I want to treat you like a princess?”

  It was cheesy, but how could she mind? Tea
rs really did well up, and he kissed her cheek before leading her to the carriage and helping her in.

  “So, what taco stand are we pulling up to in a horse-drawn carriage?”

  “Oh, I never said we’d go to a taco stand.”

  She knew that tone. That tone meant he was up to something. “Bradley… what are you planning?”

  “You’ll see.”

  She wanted to ask more, but he looked so pleased with himself that she decided to let him have his fun. Sitting back, she enjoyed her carriage ride through the city.

  How had her life changed so much in just a couple of years? She’d gone from homeless and on the run to a literal fairy tale. She wasn’t going to ever forget that, and she wanted to pass that onto other people. Maybe open a shelter or run a program. Something that helped people like her.

  But first things first, and that was whatever Bradley was planning. They pulled up to a fancy hotel, the kind that she could never afford before, and he helped her down. Arm in arm, they headed in and walked a fancy silver carpet that was laid out for them until they ended up at a set of giant doors.

  “Is this it?” she asked.

  “Yeah, this is it.”

  He nodded to Chastity and Missy behind him—who had followed over in Missy’s truck. And they rushed around to open the doors. Together, the couple walked into what Sophia could only describe as a reception right out of her notebook.

  “Sophia!”

  She knew that voice.

  Her breath caught, and she looked towards the sound to see her mother, her real, actual mother, dressed in a gray mother-of-the-bride dress. Letting go of Bradley, she rushed towards her mom and threw her arms around her.

  “Mom! I’m so excited to see you! Wait, you were able to get off work? I thought your boss wouldn’t give you any more days off?”

  “When your husband called me, telling me what he was planning, how could I say no?”

  “Wait, you planned this?”

  He smiled bashfully. “Well, I know it wasn’t exactly like everything in your notebook. But it seemed to me like the most important part of the whole wedding thing was this part, the celebration. And I figured you’d be ready with that monster going to prison.”

  “But what if he wasn’t found guilty?”

  “He was going to be. I knew it.”

  Well, she couldn’t argue with that.

  “Come here,” she said, letting go of her mother and crooking her finger at him. A moment later, his arms were wrapping around her and they were kissing again.

  She felt so full that it was almost like her heart was going to burst. This was exactly what she had always wanted but never dared to admit to herself. The whole world was in front of her at the moment, and she couldn’t be more content.

  She guessed that it really was a fairy tale, after all.

  Except her story wasn’t ending. It was just beginning.

  And she couldn’t wait.

  Especially since she was willing to bet that Bradley had arranged the honeymoon too.

  Taming Her Cowboy Billionaire

  Brothers of Miller Ranch Book Five

  Book Description

  He’s a cowboy billionaire who thinks he has it all. She’s out to humble him and prove money isn’t everything…

  Every family has a black sheep, and Bryant Miller, the youngest of the Miller brothers, is exactly that. Handsome, rich and self-assured, he struck out on his own, defying all the rules and morals his family had raised him with.

  Flitting from party to party and chasing money and pleasure, Bryant thinks he’s content with his wealthy lifestyle. But as his brothers find love, he begins to wonder if maybe there’s more to life than partying and money.

  Then he runs into Keiko Albryte at his brother’s wedding…

  Keiko is nothing like all the women he’s been consorting with. She’s beautiful, smart, and talented, with a great group of friends and an important position within the church. Keiko's life looks like the perfect package to anyone on the outside.

  But Keiko’s got inner struggles of her own, which Bryant soon finds out about. Even so, Bryant still doesn’t seem to be deserving of a good woman like her.

  Will their hurts combined be too volatile together? Or will they be just right for each other…

  1

  Bryant

  For a wedding celebration, the reception was pretty lame.

  Or at least, in Bryant’s opinion it was, but no one asked his opinion. In fact, no one was even really talking to him, leaving him sitting at the friends-and-family table that was more “friends” and less “family.”

  It was whatever, though. Bryant was used to it as the youngest and the one who chose not to follow the oh-so-holy—boring—path that all of his siblings had. Whenever he saw his parents, there were sad smiles and questions about if he was coming home. His brothers had no problems telling him how much he was hurting folks with his wild lifestyle. Well, except Bradley.

  The two of them had always shared more of a bond than with the others. As the youngest pair and “different” than their brothers, he’d always assumed they’d be a pair forever. But when Bradley chose to stay on the Ranch while going to college online, specializing in finance, that had pretty much ended that.

  Still, when Bradley asked Bryant to show up for Benji’s wedding—not be in the party, just show up—he found himself saying yes. Even though he knew the event would be some lame, stuck-up, and altogether boring affair.

  There wasn’t even alcohol. Who had a wedding without alcohol? If it weren’t for the flask in his suit jacket, he wouldn’t know what to do with himself.

  But the flask would be getting low eventually, so he needed some new entertainment and fast.

  Finding something to hold his attention shouldn’t have been so hard, after all, the whole Miller clan was there along with whatever hick family the bride had. But it seemed that everyone either knew of him or had heard of him and were giving him a wide berth. Like he was some incubus come to seduce them from their pious ways.

  Please. Like any of them were up to his standards.

  Well, that wasn’t quite true. All of his brothers had managed to snatch some really fine women. Even Benji’s girl was beautiful, although Bryant would never admit to that in public. After all, in his world it was fine to like bigger women behind closed doors, but outside was meant for models and more acceptable folks.

  His world being reality, not the little Christian fantasy land his family had carved out for themselves.

  Ugh, he needed some more punch.

  Getting up, he walked over to the table with the stupid non-alcoholic punch and poured himself a glass before tilting in some of the contents of his flask. There had to be at least one hot chick to distract himself with who wasn’t all cozied up to his brothers.

  It really was something. After all of the Miller boys being single for most of their adult lives—except for that one girl Bradley dated for a while who turned out to be a gold digger—suddenly all of his brothers were snatched up. The matching up had started four years ago, when Bryant was twenty-four and had just graduated from his Master’s program—that he paid for himself.

  Ben was first, with his high school sweetheart who he never got over. That chick was hot, especially for being as old as his eldest brother, and was making a name for herself online. She was also so pregnant, he was surprised that she didn’t pop right out of her bridesmaid’s dress.

  Then Bart, his next brother, ended up with a girl who had a body like a Coke bottle and was the daughter of the town drunk. Bryant had thought maybe his brothers had relaxed their standards. But nope, turned out she fit in with them like a glove, all church-going and pure and blah, blah, blah. Kind of a waste to have a body like that on a goody-two-shoes who didn’t know how to use it, but he supposed some people were just determined to waste their potential.

  Then there was the real big girl that was in the wedding gown staring at Benji like he was the sun. Bryant had always
suspected his brother had a thing for larger women, so he wasn’t surprised that he ended up with a lady who was muscular and could intimidate any man. And Bryant meant that in a completely hot way.

  And lastly there was Bradley. Weird, not very social, super into theater and reading, good with numbers but not emotions. For a long while Bryant didn’t think Bradley would find anyone. Not because he was so weird that no one found him desirable, but because he seemed completely uninterested in any romance at all. There had been whispers that maybe the penultimate son was gay, but Bryant could tell that wasn’t the reason. Humans either bored his brother or irritated him.

  And yet even he was engaged, to this tiny little thing who always wore clothes three times her size and jumped at the slightest of sounds like she was worried she had a bomb strapped to her.

  Five brothers, and four taken. What a strange world. And Bryant definitely wasn’t going to be changing that ratio anytime soon. He was just twenty-eight, after all. He had his choice of so many hotties and beautiful women, why would he ever tie himself down to just one? It’d be a waste!

  And everyone knew that a true sin was wastefulness, so really, he was the holiest of the Millers in a certain light.

  Even he had to snort at that. He was many things, but holy wasn’t one of them. He was rich, charming—if he said so himself—handsome and did he mention rich? Usually women would be salivating all over him whenever he attended an event. But here? Nope. It was beginning to grate on his nerves that there wasn’t a single person around who wasn’t hooked on that whole Jesus fandom.

  His eyes swept over the room once more, taking in the older, somewhat familiar faces, the disapproving looks and that particular sort of posture that seemed to come specifically from living in the same small town one’s whole life.

  It wasn’t until he reached the dance floor that he finally saw something, the briefest flicker of light among so many fuddy-duddies.