The Lovin’ Is Easy (Triple Diamond Book 1)

by Gemma Snow

  At the bottom of the box was an old journal. It was leather-bound and clearly well-loved, and Madison almost felt bad about prying, but her curiosity to know more about the few family members she had on her mother’s side was overwhelming, so she cracked it open, her touch careful and tender.

  A gentleman’s agreement, the first entry began, dated three decades prior in neat cursive.

  Father has promised me the option of buying a substantial piece of ownership in the ranch. He says if I buy it, rather than inherit it, I will have a better understanding of its value. The price is fair. If I ever have sons, this is how they’ll get their shares of the ranch.

  Just like Christian and Ryder. He’d given them the chance to buy a section of the ranch so they could feel like it was in fact theirs. Had Mason felt like they were his sons? Why hadn’t he ever married? Ever contacted her after Ellena had died?

  She continued reading, following the chronology of his first years of ownership. He didn’t write often, but each passage was full of love for the ranch. Then, her mother’s name jumped from the page, almost startling her.

  Ellena swears she’ll run away with him. Father doesn’t approve, but she doesn’t care. He says if I support her, he won’t allow me to buy the rest of the land. I don’t give a damn about that, except I want a place to offer Katherine McCoy when I propose—a home, a good job. If Father takes the rest of the ranch from me, what do I have to give her besides a mean old man playing landlord?

  So, he had loved a woman. Madison flipped to the next entry, dated a week later.

  I found out why Ellena refuses to stay. She’s pregnant. She’s going to start showing soon. She told me never to tell Mother and Father, but if she doesn’t leave with Eckerd soon, they’ll figure it out. I tried to tell her I was sorry, but I don’t think she understood. If Father ever finds out about any of this…

  Note—I asked Katherine to marry me.

  Typical man, didn’t write whether or not she said yes. Still, the dates were growing nearer to her own birth and an ache grew in Madison’s heart at the new knowledge that her mother had fled home and her family in order to bring her into the world. It was sad and hopeful all at the same time and she grasped for every detail of her mother’s short life.

  The journal passed through several months without any entries, followed by a few years of notes about the ranch. A date from right around her sixth birthday jumped out.

  Katherine is pregnant. We’ve been trying so hard and it’s finally happened. I wish we could share the news, but everyone is gone now. I wish I knew where Ellena was. She hasn’t called or written since I told her I wouldn’t fight Father. Seven years I’ve missed her, but now Father’s gone and it’s just Katherine and me.

  A lump lodged in Madison’s chest, part sadness for the broken family, her broken family, and part fear, trepidation for what was to come. And, six months later, it did in wrenching starkness.

  Just me now. She fought so hard, my wife. She fought for both of them.

  Aching with the heartbreak of it, Madison continued reading through the dutiful notes of ranch events and jobs, until another post grabbed her attention, several long years after the last.

  Ellena is gone. There was a crash. Eckert’s brother will adopt the child. Ellena named her Madison after me, just like she said she was going to. I thought my heart couldn’t break any more. I really did.

  She didn’t cry. Perhaps it was the simplicity of his words, or the knowledge that another person mourned their passing as she did, the solidarity making her strong, but Madison didn’t cry at those simple little lines. And the idea of being named for this heroic uncle she’d never met gave her strength, so she just nodded and continued reading.

  Caught a couple of rascals trying to steal my truck at the store. Offered them a job instead of calling the sheriff. They seem like good kids and I know the old man Harlow. I know the old man Dean, too, but that’s a strike against, not for. He’s as mean as a dog, that one, and if I can be the reason a kid gets out of that house, I will.

  Despite all the hurt and sadness, Madison’s chest glowed warm. She wished she had known her uncle, wished she could have asked about her mother, about their childhoods, about everything. Wished Ellena and Eckert Hollis were still here, still able to hold her close and tell her everything was going to be okay.

  The boys are good workers. They’ve been here for nearly four years and I’ve offered them money to go to college, if they continue their jobs here on the ranch for five years after they graduate. They’ve both agreed. After that, I want to offer them a gentleman’s agreement. I haven’t forgiven my father for so much, but he was right about buying the land. It’s so much more valuable to a person that way.

  I’m writing the will this afternoon. I know it’s early yet, but I’ve seen how quickly and quietly death can come from the shadows. I’ve been in touch with Eckert’s brother. What isn’t going sectioned off for Ryder and Christian will go to Ellena’s daughter, Madison. She deserves a place full of memories, good ones. I want to see her, to know her, but I don’t think I can. Not yet. Maybe one day.

  I’m proud of Christian and Ryder. Not to put too fine a point on it, but they’re good men, the both of them. Rough around the edges, sure, but hardworking, good men. I hope they decide to buy their sections of the ranch. They deserve it.

  There were a few more pages, but Madison couldn’t read any more, not with the contents of her heart crumbling into a thousand pieces, not with her uncle’s memories flooding her mind. How could she sell Triple Diamond, when it was the only remaining tie to her mother’s childhood and the uncle she had never met, but for whom she was named, the one who had left her almost everything? But then, how could she make Christian and Ryder leave? They belonged to this ranch as much as Holmwood Manor and the lake behind the barn. They’d tilled the land and sweated in the summer sunshine.

  The knowledge that her uncle had cared for them as if they were his own sons made Madison’s heart ease just a little. She was still leaving first thing in the morning, still working out the kinks of ranch ownership from a million miles away, where there was no chance of her running into either of the distracting and ultimately hurtful men.

  But it seemed, from the pages of history, that people tended to sacrifice an awful lot where Triple Diamond was concerned. If they had in truth believed she planned to sell it, well, Madison could almost understand their actions. She just wished it hadn’t been at the expense of her still fragile confidence and recently broken heart.

  She placed the box aside and climbed under the covers. Lucy crawled in beside her, snuggling with her butt high in the air until she had made a nest for herself in Madison’s embrace. That small, innocent kindness almost made her lose it. As a rule, she excelled at keeping order and control. Normally, her life was a series of boxes and straight lines. But with the end of her engagement, the inheritance and everything that had happened in the last few days between her and the men who ran Triple Diamond, Madison’s mind was a mush of madness and confusion.

  Frustrated, she fell back into the pillows and heaved a sigh. She was exhausted, mentally and physically, and had to be up early to get to the airport in time for her flight, but there was no way she’d fall asleep like this. Instead, every time she closed her eyes, Madison saw the image of her mother as a young girl, playing under the maple tree.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The sun didn’t even pretend. Instead of an early orange glow, the sky remained a petulant dark blue and stars still hung high above her head when Madison looked out of the window early the next morning—or late the same night, in fact. She’d barely slept a minute the whole night, memories of her family turning into memories of the time she had spent with Ryder and Christian. Her dreams became the recollections of waking in Christian’s arms, of the conversation she had shared with Ryder in the barn, the scent of aged wood and fresh hay weaving into her mind. So many scents she could grow used to so easily. She dreamed of their camping trip an
d the day at the fair and the mornings they had shared breakfast together. It hurt to remember the recent past as much as the distant.

  Waking alone, or rather, rousing alone, since she hadn’t ever fallen fully asleep, sucked and it made Madison grateful for the late hour and the dark sky. If the weather was as bright and beautiful as it had been the day before, with shards of golden sunlight stretching across the bed, she would have felt even shittier than she did right now.

  Because I don’t want to leave this place.

  The truth had plagued her all night. She wanted to stay the summer—or longer—at Triple Diamond. Wanted to find every crevice and corner where she could sneak through time and into a memory of her mother. She wanted to find more photo albums. Wanted to look through what had once been Ellena’s bedroom, see the clothes she had worn when she was young, the toys she had played with, the books she had read.

  And she wanted to start a business here—her own business, away from the corporate world and the demands of the city. She wanted to follow the dream that had sent her into event planning in the first place all those years ago, here—turning Triple Diamond into a location for weddings and events.

  But it wasn’t just the memories of her mother lingering in the shadowed corners of the old ranch or her desire to start a business that had her questioning the decision to run. It was those stupid men, too. Though she hated the truth and each fresh shard of pain that came with it, Madison couldn’t deny that whatever had sparked between her and Christian and Ryder felt…unfinished, somehow. She wanted to rage against them, but the words in Mason’s journal and the growing connection she felt with the ranch went a long way to easing her fury where their deception was concerned.

  She sure as shit didn’t forgive them. They were nowhere near that. But a tiny part of her almost understood.

  And since we’re admitting hard truths, I’m going to miss them. Which was fucked up, but also true. Everything else—and there was a lot else—aside, people didn’t engage in three-way love affairs, not in the long-term. But somehow it had all felt so normal, so simple, as if cooking dinner together and sharing beers and conversation and sex wasn’t all that different with three partners rather than two.

  Not that they were her partners. Because they weren’t. Hell, they weren’t even her friends.

  She slung the bag over her shoulder, still heavy with documents she’d not even more than glanced at. Those could wait. First, she needed to get out of Montana, needed to clear her head about this whole thing. After a few days, it would be a lot easier to make the important decisions.

  Madison glanced at her watch. Shit, no time for self-pitying dilly-dallying. She sped up on the stairs and exited through the side door toward the not-so-white-anymore BMW.

  Juggling all her bags, Madison stepped out into the fresh mountain air and closed the door behind her. But when she turned around, she stopped dead in her tracks, heart frozen, breath caught. They were standing in the driveway right before her. Ryder leaned against a classic blue Ford pickup truck and Christian had one hand on the leather seat of a chrome and black Harley. Madison shook her head, hoping to knock some sense around in her brain. Maybe she had fallen asleep after all. That seemed a lot more likely than this actually happening.

  “I have a flight to catch,” she stated, shouldering her bag higher, like a shield. “Please move your vehicles.”

  Christian crossed his arms. He was formidable when he did that, all strength and just-leashed power. Though Ryder intimidated her a little with his mystery and depth, Christian was large, tattooed and standing next to an also large Harley.

  And I still think he’s sexy, after everything. Nice survival skills, Maddy. Madison. Damn it.

  Maybe, in a different time and a different life, she would have ridden him on the back of that bike and for more nights than just one.

  “Maddy,” he said, his voice gentle. “Stay.”

  Her blood ran hot and she dropped her bag to the ground, reveling in the crunching sound it made on impact.

  “Now why the fuck would I do that?” Rage burned through her and she clenched her jaw and her fists. “So you can use me again? So you can screw me in every way possible? So you can get another chance to hurt me?”

  “You know we never meant to hurt you,” Ryder said in a quiet tone. Hurt shone in those pretty boy blue eyes. Ha. They didn’t get to be the hurt ones here.

  “I don’t know that,” she said and most of the frustration in her voice was directed inward. “I don’t know anything about you guys. My naïve brain thought we had some kind of connection, but obviously I was being stupid. Again. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a flight to catch.”

  Neither of them moved. “We tried to tell you last night,” Christian said, “both of us feel that connection, too, Maddy. There’s something here between us, somehow, some way. Don’t tell us you’re willing to just walk away from whatever it might be.”

  Her chest grew tight, each breath a little labored against the red-hot burn of panic and anger.

  Maybe they’re telling the truth. Maybe they want me to stay.

  Ha. Fool me once…

  “Why should I trust you?” she demanded, pushing down the kindling hope in her chest. Angry tears caught at the back of her throat. “Why the hell should I trust you? The second I turn my back, you’ll buy the whole damn ranch out from under me.”

  “No,” Ryder said. “We won’t.” He took a tentative step forward. When he looked down at her hands, Madison thought he might take them in his own, but then he hesitated, as if not certain if he was allowed to touch her. Fine. He wasn’t allowed. “The truck and the bike, they were our collateral for the bank.” He dug into his pocket and pulled out a pink slip. The car’s title. “If giving you this for safe keeping means you’ll stay then I’ll transfer the damn thing into your name.”

  Christian pushed off the bike and came to stand in front of her too. He pulled a pink slip from his pocket and held it out.

  “Take them.” He waved the bike title. “We’re not going to buy this place, not if it means hurting you again. We don’t want you to stay because we’ve tricked you into it. We want you to stay because we both like you. We want to help you start your business. Hell, we both care about you and we want to see where the future takes us. Together.”

  He looked up at her, his expression more intense and serious than she had ever seen it.

  “I love you, Madison Hollis. I don’t know how or when, but I damn well fell in love with you.”

  Ryder came up to stand beside Christian and swallowed hard. “I love you, too, Madison. We both do. We got into a pretty nasty fight about it yesterday, but we’re here now, both of us together, and we’re asking you to stay.”

  She let out a shaky sigh. “You’re serious.” It wasn’t quite a question, but it wasn’t sure enough to be a statement either. Because everything had gone topsy-turvy and Madison struggled to think rationally, to see past her desire to keep Christian and Ryder in her life, despite all the hurt they had caused in so little time. But Mason’s journal resonated in her mind, a reminder that they were good men, that they’d almost been raised by her own flesh and blood. Of course, none of that was as important as the fact that they were standing in front of her and offering up proof they wouldn’t try and go behind her back again, promising they’d never use her or lie to her, asking for a chance.

  And she wanted to take that chance, wanted to because she believed them. She believed the wild, slightly panicked hope in their eyes. She felt sure that the rough men holding out their rough hands with those pink slips, proof of the commitment to their cause, wouldn’t pull them back in a moment’s time. She knew that they wanted her to stay.

  “I…” The words were difficult to find amid the confusion of emotion. “I want to stay, too. I want to start the business. I want to know more about this place and my family history.” She gestured around the ranch. “And I want to get to know both of you, to see where this all takes us. I want the
chance to be your Maddy…because I think I love you both, too. I do. Christian Harlow and Ryder Dean, I love you.”

  And in that moment, she wasn’t Madison Hollis, director of event planning for Daniels and Hark. She wasn’t the orphaned daughter of Ellena and Eckerd Hollis. She wasn’t anyone but herself, bare and suddenly fit to burst with joy. And in the presence of Ryder Dean and Christian Harlow, herself felt a damn lot like Maddy.

  “Our Maddy,” Christian said. He took her hands and pressed rough kisses to the back of her knuckles. “I could get damn used to the sound of that.”

  Ryder kissed the column of her neck and his soft, seductive touch made her mind go blank and heat surge down her whole body. She felt like laughing. This was one hundred percent insane. She was staying at Triple Diamond. She wasn’t going back to San Francisco. She was giving this total madness between Christian and Ryder and herself a chance. Oh boy, that’s a hell of a lot to take in at once.

  “You’re thinking too hard,” Christian murmured against her ear. “We’ll just have to try harder to distract you. Come on inside.”

  She followed them back into the house, needing to keep a hand on each of them, a touch to prove this was real—and it was, down to the delicious scents of breakfast that hit her when they got inside. Maddy pursed her lips.