Twins for the Rancher

by Trish Milburn

  She and Violet began to mingle as they snacked on a variety of yummy hors d’oeuvres. It wasn’t until Lauren bit into a crab-stuffed mushroom that she realized how hungry she was, that she’d barely eaten all day with how packed her schedule had been. Between meeting with vendors and overseeing the polishing of the floor, not to mention doing some editing on her next cookbook, lunch had come and gone with her only managing to down a leftover mini pork slider from the night before.

  A pretty redhead wearing a wide smile approached Lauren just as she swallowed the last bite of mushroom. The other woman extended her hand.

  “Lauren Shayne, it’s so nice to meet you,” she said. “Jamie Barrett. I own a winery and bed-and-breakfast about a half hour on the other side of Poppy.”

  Lauren shook the other woman’s hand. “Nice to meet you, too.”

  “I’m sure you hear this a lot, but I’m a big fan. I was just telling Adam that this afternoon when we finalized our deal to serve Rocking Horse beef. I figure if it’s good enough for the Brazos Baker, it’s a ‘can’t lose’ business decision on my part.”

  The appetizers she’d eaten threatened to come back up. Surely this woman wasn’t saying what it sounded like, that Adam was telling potential customers that she’d agreed to serve Rocking Horse Ranch beef in her restaurant. That couldn’t be right. He’d chosen her over business. Hadn’t he? She had to know the truth, but the moment she opened her mouth to ask for clarification, Violet was suddenly at her elbow.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt, but do you mind if I borrow my sister for a minute?” Violet asked Jamie.

  “Not at all. The night’s young. Maybe we can chat about your gift shop carrying a selection of our wine later.”

  Violet made a noncommittal sound and practically dragged Lauren out to the building’s lobby.

  “I know what you’re thinking, and I don’t want you to jump to conclusions,” Violet said before Lauren could object to her sister’s behavior.

  “What else could it mean?” Her stomach started to churn. “Oh, my God, I’ve been a complete fool yet again.”

  “No, you haven’t.”

  “You don’t know that.” Lauren pointed toward the gathering in the other part of the building. “Because it sounded a whole lot like Adam told that woman that we would be serving Rocking Horse beef at the restaurant when we’re not.”

  “It could just be a misunderstanding.”

  “How? How could there be a misunderstanding if the topic doesn’t even come up? And if it did, why didn’t he correct her?”

  “I don’t know, but perhaps that’s something you should ask him.”

  Lauren forced herself to take a deep breath, to try not to jump to the most-dreaded conclusion. After all, she’d even given Phil the benefit of the doubt until she’d had irrevocable proof that he’d betrayed her, used her. The mere thought that Adam might have done the same, knowing how much it had hurt her the last time, made her heart ache terribly.

  “Adam isn’t like Phil,” Violet said.

  “You don’t know that for sure.”

  “I’d bet every cent I have that I’m right. You’re letting your old fears shove aside how great these past weeks have been for you. I haven’t seen you this happy in a very long time.” Violet made a dismissive motion with her hand. “No, I take that back. I’ve never seen you this happy. Adam is a good guy, and he’s good for you. He deserves a chance to explain, if he’s even aware of what’s going on.”

  Lauren wanted to believe her sister, to believe in Adam’s faithfulness, but she couldn’t silence the doubts barraging her mind. If he had betrayed her, she was done with men. She would follow in her mother’s footsteps and raise her daughters alone, live the rest of her life surrounded only by the family she already had and be content with that.

  But as she thought about life without Adam in it, tears welled in her eyes.

  “Let’s go back inside and mingle some more,” Violet said. “I was just talking to Ryan Teague and I love the idea of carrying his carved wooden angels in the shop.”

  Lauren shook her head. “I can’t. You go ahead, but I’m going back to the restaurant.”

  “You’ve already put in, what, twelve hours today?”

  “I aim to talk to Adam about this tonight, and I’d rather do it somewhere other than the cabin.” If this ended up being the end of her and Adam, she didn’t want to have the rest of her family witness the demise of yet another of her relationships.

  Violet grabbed Lauren’s hands. “Please just give him a chance to explain, and try to listen without having already judged him guilty.”

  Lauren nodded. “I will.”

  Because she would love nothing more than for Jamie Barrett to have made the entire thing up, though that didn’t seem likely, either.

  “Want me to go with you? I can stay until he gets there.”

  “No. I’d rather have some time to think and calm down by myself.”

  “Okay, but I’m only a call or text away. The beauty of small towns—I can be there in a handful of minutes.”

  Lauren bit her lip as she accepted a hug from Violet before heading out to her car and driving back to the restaurant. Every conversation, every interaction she’d ever had with Adam, replayed in her head. She hoped the fact that she couldn’t think of anything that made him look guilty was a good sign, but she remembered she hadn’t suspected Phil, either.

  Unbidden, reasons why Adam might betray her in the same way bubbled up from the darkest part of her mind. He wanted to increase his own business, which he’d admitted had been hard, by association with someone more successful. He was upset that she had refused to do business with him. Did he think that if it got out that she would be serving Rocking Horse beef, she’d have to reverse her decision? Heck, even the building she’d bought had once been part of his big plan for the Rocking Horse’s future.

  But he’d told her he understood why she couldn’t buy his products and have a romantic relationship with him at the same time. And she’d believed him. Had he done so knowing he could benefit from their relationship in another way?

  She pulled into the parking lot outside the restaurant but didn’t immediately get out of her car. She felt as if any strength or energy she’d once possessed had been siphoned out of her the moment Jamie Barrett had introduced herself. But sitting here in the dark wasn’t going to accomplish anything. If she was going to stay here and wait for Adam’s return, she could at least get some more work done. There were dishes to order and menus to plan and a sign to design. Violet had worked on a lot of those things earlier, but it was still Lauren’s job to finalize every aspect of her business.

  She drew a shaky breath, almost as if her lungs had forgotten how to work in concert, and headed inside. Suddenly, she got the feeling someone was watching her—the same as that night at the inn. A chill ran down her spine as she remembered the two drunk guys outside the music hall. Did they blame her for their arrest? Had they come back and found her even more alone this time? She hurried toward the building since it was closer than her car.

  As soon as she stepped through the door and her foot made a splashing sound, the creeped-out feeling gave way to a hard thud of her heart against her chest.

  Oh, no. No, no, no!

  She flicked on the overhead lights to reveal the awful truth. As far as she could see in each direction, the floor stood under what looked like an indoor lake.

  * * *

  WHEN ADAM RETURNED to Blue Falls and texted Lauren, she didn’t respond with where he could find her. He noticed several people standing around talking outside the tourist bureau office, so he parked and went in search of her. Maybe she’d gotten to chatting with other business owners and hadn’t heard her phone.

  “Hey, Adam,” Keri Teague said when she spotted him. “You missed the festivities.”

  “I’m looking for Lauren. She s
aid she was here earlier.”

  A concerned expression erased Keri’s smile. “She left pretty early in the evening. Then Violet left soon thereafter, rather quickly.”

  There was no way they could have found out about the misunderstanding with Jamie Barrett, was there? Did Lauren just have a sixth sense for betrayal now and had somehow detected it without him saying a word?

  A couple of the other people standing outside moved to leave, and what he saw made his heart stop. Jamie Barrett stood talking with India Parrish, owner of Yesterwear Boutique. Without saying goodbye to Keri, he strode straight toward the other woman.

  “Excuse me,” he said, butting in to the conversation between Jamie and India, then staring straight at Jamie. “Can I speak with you?”

  He knew he sounded abrupt, but this was partly—no, there was no partly about it. This was entirely his fault, but he had to know if what he was assuming was indeed true.

  India, likely detecting his mood, moved away after saying it was nice to chat with Jamie.

  “Is something wrong?” Jamie looked so genuinely concerned that he did his best to calm down.

  “Did you talk to Lauren here tonight?”

  Jamie smiled. “Oh, yes. Such a lovely person. I might have gushed a bit about being a fan.”

  He bit his bottom lip before asking his next question. “Did you mention our business deal?”

  Now she appeared confused. “Yes. Why?”

  He took a fortifying breath, knowing what he was about to say might lead to the invalidation of his contract with her and quite possibly send a ripple of bad publicity out about Rocking Horse Ranch. Might even sound the death knell for the branded-beef business. He’d deal with that if the time came. Making things right with Lauren was more important.

  “I allowed you to believe that Lauren’s restaurant would be serving our beef products, but it won’t be. We decided to keep our personal and professional relationships separate. I’m sorry about the misunderstanding, and I’ll understand if you want to cancel our contract.”

  “Oh, my God,” Jamie said with a gasp. “Please tell me I didn’t mess up things between you.”

  Adam hadn’t expected that reaction and it took him a few seconds to form an appropriate reply. “I don’t know. I’m sure it’ll be okay.”

  He sure hoped so.

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault. It’s mine. If you’ll excuse me...”

  He had to find Lauren. Before driving all the way out to the Vista Hills Guest Ranch, he headed toward the restaurant. Chances were better than average that she was there, considering how much time she spent working toward her goal of being open before the spring wildflowers started blooming.

  When he pulled into the parking lot, he noticed not only Lauren’s vehicle, but also Violet’s. And the front door was standing wide open. He’d much rather talk to Lauren by herself, but he couldn’t put off the conversation even if Violet was within earshot.

  He heard the slosh of water as he approached the entrance before it registered why. He stopped at the threshold and just stared at the water covering every inch of the floor. Lauren looked up at him from where she stood in the middle of it with her sister.

  “What happened?”

  “I need to know you didn’t do this,” Lauren said, looking as if she were on the verge of breaking down. “And don’t lie.”

  Shocked by the question and the heat of the anger toward him, he just stared at her for a long moment. “Of course not. Why would I do this?”

  “Revenge.”

  A wave of his own anger rose up so fast that it nearly choked Adam. Yes, he’d made a mistake not correcting Jamie’s assumption immediately, but how could Lauren think he’d do this kind of damage to her restaurant? It made no sense, and he didn’t deserve her anger—at least not for that. Especially when he’d been nothing but supportive despite the fact she refused to do business with his family’s ranch.

  Before he could vent his anger, Violet stepped forward. “She’s upset. Someone came in and deliberately flooded the place by turning on every faucet, the water heater and just about every water valve in the building, not to mention stopping up the sinks and toilets.”

  “Phil,” he growled. Who else would have this much obvious hate for Lauren?

  “That’s my thought.” Violet looked over her shoulder toward Lauren. “But she’s upset and doubting—”

  “Because of Jamie Barrett.”

  Violet looked startled for a moment before nodding. “I’ll wait outside while you two talk.”

  Despite how frustrated and mad he was, Adam wanted to hug Violet. She seemed to believe in him despite everything that potentially put him in the same horrible light as Lauren’s ex-fiancé. She gave his upper arm a quick squeeze of support before heading outside.

  He cringed at the sound his feet made moving through the water, and he shivered. December was far from the best month for something like this to happen, if there was such a thing. Thank goodness they weren’t somewhere like Montana.

  “You should get out of the water before you catch a chill.” He might be upset by her attack, but he still cared about her.

  “I doubt I could get any colder.”

  He didn’t think she was talking entirely about the water and the winter air.

  “I stopped by the tourist bureau and I saw Jamie Barrett—”

  “Did you use me, Adam?”

  “No.” The answer came out fast and sharp, with the same kind of edge as her accusatory questions. “I didn’t even know she had any idea we knew each other until she mentioned it right as she was signing the contract.” He stepped toward her and brought his hands up to touch her, but she moved away as if she never wanted to touch him again. “I swear to you on my life that I would never treat you the way Phil did.”

  He told her every single detail of the meeting, including how he’d been so surprised by the turn in the conversation that he’d made the mistake of not immediately correcting Jamie’s erroneous assumption. She listened but the way she held herself stiff, arms wrapped around herself, made him wonder if his words were getting through.

  “It’s what I wanted to talk to you about when I texted you earlier, but I wanted to tell you in person.”

  He couldn’t tell if she believed him, and he grudgingly admitted that from her point of view it could be seen as a convenient explanation.

  “It doesn’t matter now,” she said.

  “What do you mean?”

  She gestured toward the standing water. “It’s the final straw, a sign that this wasn’t meant to be.”

  Adam feared she was talking about more than the restaurant.

  “You’re insured, right?”

  “Yes, but I’m just tired.” And she sounded it. Below the anger and perceived betrayal, she sounded completely spent. “I put so much into this place even though it was crazy to start a business so far from where I live. There were all the unexpected expenses. I need to just stick to what I know and chalk this up to another of my huge life mistakes.”

  He got the feeling she was lumping her relationship with him into that mistake. Still, he wanted to pull her close, make her believe that she could get through this and have success on the other side. But instinct told him that she wouldn’t be receptive to any of that. And a part of him was ticked off that she was pushing him away, using this setback as an excuse to put her walls back up. But he clamped down on that part that wanted to scream at her to stop feeling sorry for herself and see the truth.

  “You need a hot shower and a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow is soon enough to deal with this.”

  “I can’t leave yet. I’m waiting for the sheriff.”

  His heart thumped, but then he realized why Simon Teague would be called. If it was obvious someone had sabotaged the restaurant, this was a crime scene.


  The arrival of another vehicle outside, followed by a second, proved to be Simon and one of his deputies, Conner Murphy, who’d just gotten free of another call on the far side of the county. Over the next hour, the two questioned Lauren, Violet and Adam. He’d had to account for his whereabouts from the time Lauren left the restaurant until she’d returned to find the flooding. Even though Adam hadn’t had anything to do with the damage, he found himself squirming and forcing himself to keep a lid on his frustration when Lauren wouldn’t even look at him.

  By the time all statements were taken and what felt like thousands of photos snapped of the damage and the identified sources, it was getting late and Lauren looked as if she might fall over from exhaustion. To be honest, he was beginning to feel the same. He wanted nothing more than for Lauren to realize she’d been wrong to suspect him so he could curl up with her, comfort her and sleep until noon the next day. But the fact that she couldn’t meet his eyes told him she wouldn’t welcome the company. He just needed to give her time to rest and come to grips with the shock of what had happened. Hopefully, then she’d be able to forgive him for his mistake and believe he’d never deliberately betray her.

  As they all walked outside, Lauren paused next to her car as if feeling she needed to say something, but either didn’t know what or didn’t have the energy.

  “You look completely exhausted,” he said. “I don’t think you should drive right now.”

  “She won’t,” Violet said as she approached them.

  Violet may very well believe he was innocent in the vandalism, but she was wearing enough protective-sister vibes that he took a step away from Lauren.

  “I’ll call you tomorrow,” he said to Lauren.

  After Violet got into the driver’s seat and started the car, Lauren turned halfway toward him but still didn’t look him in the eye.

  “Please don’t.” She took a shaky breath. “I can’t do this.”

  His heart sank. “Do what?”