by Lori Wilde
But he’d done it for Erin Saddler, just to prove she was wrong about him. Tanner had decided not to examine his motives any further than that. He figured he might not like the answer he came up with.
Hell, he’d even washed and vacuumed out his truck. Why, he had no clue. It wasn’t like he was actually expecting her to travel with him. Chances were slim to none she’d be willing to climb up into his passenger seat and ride shotgun to her sister’s wedding.
More likely she’d take her own car so she wasn’t dependent on him any more than she had to be. He shook his head at the thought.
Women. Always having to assert their independence nowadays, instead of letting a man handle things.
She’d texted him an address and asked him if he could meet her there in the early afternoon. In spite of himself, he enjoyed the fact he now had her number in his cell phone, even if it was only to nail down the details. It made up for the fact that he’d had to hustle to get the chores done early . . . all while fighting off Randy’s questions.
It had been a challenge. Tanner had managed it, though. Finished his work, showered, dressed, and gotten away from Randy without revealing anything.
And he’d done it all in time to arrive early.
He swung his truck into the parking lot of the Austin address she’d given him and stared at the commercial building. The lettering on the door read Happy Is the Bride, and Tanner knew immediately where he was.
This was Erin’s office. She’d had him meet her at her place of business instead of her home.
He didn’t know how to feel about that.
Actually, yes, he did. It was kind of insulting. Like she didn’t want him to have her home address.
Feeling the slight keenly, he climbed out of the truck and slammed the door behind him.
Jaw set, he strode directly to the door. He didn’t knock. Why should he? This wasn’t a private residence. Instead, he pushed right through.
As he stepped into the office, he was struck by the feminine feel of it. Classical music played from hidden speakers. The scent of rose and something else—lavender maybe—struck him full in the sinuses.
And amid it all was Erin.
When the door set a tiny bell to tinkling, she twisted toward him. At her feet, facing away from him, a blonde sat on the floor and fussed at the full skirt of Erin’s strapless and sexy-as-hell gown.
Looking panicked, Erin said, “Tanner. Oh my God, is it that late already?”
The blonde slapped at Erin’s leg with one hand while holding on to the hem of the dress with the other. “Erin, stand still.”
He’d expected to find her in her usual business mode. All serious and stiff, organized and punctual. Finding her flustered and unprepared was surprising . . . and endearing.
“Um, hey there. Don’t worry about the time. I’m a few minutes early.”
She glanced down at the girl on the floor, still working on her dress, and then back up at him. “I’m sorry. It’s just going to be another minute, I hope. My heel got caught in the hem and tore it.”
“No problem.” His piss-poor mood and the insult that had caused it forgotten, he was entranced by what she was wearing. “I, uh, didn’t realize the wedding was so formal.”
“It’s not. Don’t worry. I’m the maid of honor, so . . .”
“A fancy gown you’ll never have reason to wear again is a requirement?” he suggested.
“Exactly.” She actually smiled, a genuine smile that transformed her already good looks into a face that was breathtaking.
It had him thinking she should do it more often. Then hoping she wouldn’t as he forced himself to tear his gaze away.
“Okay. You’re done.” The girl dropped the hem of the skirt.
“Oh, thank God.” Erin blew out a breath with visible relief. “Ashley would kill me if I were late.”
“Just be careful so you don’t tear it again.” The blonde stood and turned to face him so he finally got a chance to see her and she him. Her eyes widened. “Are you Erin’s cowboy?”
Erin shot a glare at the girl as she said out of the side of her mouth, “Jessica.”
Tanner couldn’t help but smile, both at the fact that Erin had obviously told this Jessica at least something about him but also at being called Erin’s cowboy. Especially after seeing Erin’s reaction to hearing it.
“I guess I am.” Hat in hand and still grinning, Tanner took a step forward. “Tanner Black.”
“Jessica. Erin’s assistant. You look really amazing.”
He laughed and glanced down at himself. “Do I?”
“Yes, you do.” Jessica shot Erin a glare. “We couldn’t have done better if we’d dressed you ourselves. Right, Erin?”
Looking unhappy, Erin nodded.
“Well, thank you. That’s quite a compliment . . . considering.”
“Considering I’m a city snob?” Erin asked.
“No. I was going to say because you’re wedding professionals.”
“Oh.” At least Erin had the decency to look ashamed at her assumption before she spun to face Jessica. “Speaking of being wedding professionals . . . You still need to get to the church and make sure the flowers for the Mahoney ceremony arrived and got put in the proper places.”
Jessica cocked a brow high. “I’m aware. I was on my way out the door when you tripped on your skirt. Remember?”
Erin sighed. “I know. Thank you for fixing it. I’m good now, so you can go.”
“I’m going.” Jessica grabbed a tote bag from the back of a desk chair as she whirled past it. She reached to pull open the front door, but not without one more amused glance back at both of them. “You two have fun.”
Tanner’s mouth twitched with a smile. This Jessica would make a good match with Randy. It seemed both of their coworkers were busybodies when it came to other people’s personal lives.
When the whirlwind that was Erin’s assistant was finally gone, an uncomfortable silence fell between them.
Finally, Erin said, “You really do look nice, Tanner.”
“I thought so, too, until I got a look at you.” He let his gaze drop down her formal gown.
“I’m sorry. I should have warned you I was in the wedding party.” She pursed her lips and paused a second. “You know what? I’ve got something that would be perfect for you. Hang on. I’ll be right back.”
“A’ight.” He didn’t have anywhere else to be. He leaned back against a desk and folded his arms, settling in to wait.
She didn’t keep him waiting long. Shortly, Erin and her gown were whirling back toward him. In her hand, she held a scrap of cloth in the same color as her dress.
Erin stopped within touching distance and raised her hands before pausing. “Do you mind if I . . . ?” She gestured toward his chest.
A beautiful woman wanted to touch him. Who was he to object? “Not at all.”
She took another step closer and reached toward the single breast pocket in his sports jacket. He frowned and watched as she did some sort of creative folding with the material. A minute later he glanced down and found he had a perfect pocket square that matched her dress.
“I’m impressed.” He raised his gaze to hers.
“It’s just some of the leftover fabric from when the seamstress hemmed my gown. I always keep the scraps. You never know when you’ll need them.” She pulled her gaze away from his and glanced down at the pocket square. “Anyway, at least we match. I hope you don’t mind the color.”
He lifted one shoulder and joked, “Eh, it’s okay. I’m man enough to wear pink.”
“Actually, officially it’s rose quartz, the hot wedding color last spring when we ordered the dresses. But yeah, you are man enough . . . to wear pink, I mean.” She blushed in a color not much different from the rose hue of his new pocket square.
Erin blushing was as unexpected as her being flustered. Both warmed him to her and had him rethinking his initial opinion of her as a cold, hard, snooty businesswoman.
Th
is evening might be more interesting than he expected. Tanner smiled at that.
Chapter Nine
“You’re seriously not going to tell me who he is?” Ashley still looked shocked, even though she had been obsessing over the same thing since they’d entered the bridal room.
“I told you who he is. His name is Tanner Black and he’s my plus one. That’s all there is to know.” Erin had answered this same question in various forms so many times over the past few days, she didn’t even have to think about it anymore.
Ashley scowled—an expression that was not an attractive accessory to a bridal gown. “There’s definitely more to it than that.”
“No, there really isn’t.” Erin laughed, partially because of how frustrated her sister had become simply because Erin wouldn’t tell her anything else about Tanner, but mostly because there really was no more to tell.
“I don’t believe you. I’m searching him online.”
Confident, Erin shook her head. “Go ahead.”
Her sister wasn’t going to find any pictures of them together or any status messages that said Tanner Black is in a relationship with Erin Saddler, so what harm would it do to let Ashley search? At least it would keep her quiet for a few minutes.
“Fine. I will.” Ashley whipped her cell phone out of the bodice of her dress, where Erin hadn’t even noticed it was stashed.
Erin’s eyes popped wide. “You’re not keeping your cell phone in your cleavage during the ceremony.”
“Why not?” Ashley frowned.
Besides its being an insult to the preacher and probably breaking some sort of rule of the church, there was a chance the thing could go off during the ceremony. A vibrating cleavage would be bad enough, but the idea of a bride with ringtone music blaring out of her boobs while she was standing at the altar was enough to make Erin’s wedding planner head explode.
Sadly, Erin had a feeling neither argument would sway her technologically addicted sister, so instead she said, “Because it ruins the line of the dress and it will definitely show up in the pictures.”
Pouting, Ashley let out a humph but didn’t argue, and Erin scored one point for herself.
Enjoying Ashley being quiet and busy on her cell phone for a few minutes, even if it was to spy on Tanner, Erin went ahead and checked her reflection in the mirror. Her hair, at Ashley’s request, had been left down and natural-looking, which was fine with Erin. She hadn’t had the time or the patience to sit at the salon this morning to get a fancy updo.
She fluffed her hair a bit and then reached for her purse to grab her lipstick. She swiped on a final coat of color. They had less than half an hour until the ceremony and she didn’t want to get caught short on time and have to walk down the aisle with faded lips.
“Now I know you aren’t telling me the truth.”
Nervous, Erin spun to her sister. When faced with Ashley’s raised brow and pinched mouth, Erin’s stress level shot up.
What did Tanner have online? She should have thought to search him herself before telling her sister his name. Cripes! Who knew what could be on there? Her sister knew, that’s who, and Erin needed to know as well.
“Ashley, tell me. What did you find?”
“Nothing, that’s what! Not one thing. Who doesn’t have an online presence these days? Even serial killers and terrorists have social media accounts.” As Ashley ranted, Erin let herself breathe again.
Erin couldn’t help but laugh at her sister’s expression of horror as Ashley tried to wrap her millennial head around the reality that someone might not have a Facebook account.
“Tanner’s not a serial killer or a terrorist.” As far as Erin knew anyway.
She trusted the Cutwright family to vet their employees appropriately. Brady wouldn’t have assigned Tanner the duty of showing her around the ranch if he was some fly-by-night hired hand with an unknown reputation, right?
Wide-eyed, Ashley finally sucked in a breath. “Oh my God. Is he ancient? That would explain it.”
Frowning, Ashley—firmly and proudly a member of the internet generation—was obviously still trying to reason out how any human could survive without visually recording his or her daily life on Instagram for all their “friends” to “like.”
Not a surprise, given Ashley and Chad’s wedding had its own hashtag and Pinterest board. There wasn’t even a professional video crew because now there was an “app” for that. All the guests’ posted wedding photos were going to be converted into one big video.
It wasn’t just Ashley. It was the whole younger generation. That was one reason Erin had hired Jessica. She had a grasp on what was happening on the wedding scene for younger brides. But it seemed every time Erin wrapped her head around one new trend in millennial weddings, another new thing hit.
There might only be a decade separating Erin and Ashley, but the generation gap seemed huge. Sometimes Erin felt like she lived in a completely different world from her sister.
“No, he’s not ancient. He’s probably just a few years older than I am.”
Although, to Ashley’s generation, over forty probably was considered ancient. Because she would hit that milestone herself later that year, Erin tried to push that thought aside.
Ashley planted one perfectly manicured hand on her hip. “Then you explain why he isn’t online.”
Lifting one shoulder in a shrug, Erin said, “Maybe you spelled his name wrong.”
“If I spelled it wrong then you spelled it wrong when you texted it to me, and that means the calligrapher spelled it wrong on the table place card.” Ashley’s eyes were wide with agitation.
“Relax. I texted it to you correctly.” Remembering she was dealing with a bride here, Erin put herself into work mode.
It wouldn’t be the end of the world if Tanner’s place card were misspelled, but stress ran high on the big day. She needed to calm Ashley. It was her duty as both a sister and the maid of honor.
“Ash, he’s a cowboy. Like on a real ranch. It’s not that big of a shocker he doesn’t have a bunch of social media accounts. There’s probably no cell signal when he’s . . .” Erin realized she didn’t really know what Tanner’s job entailed, but she’d seen enough cowboys on television and in movies to venture a guess. “When he’s out riding the range or brush hogging or whatever he does.”
“You’re dating a cowboy?” Now Ashley widened her eyes for a different reason. Shock.
“We’re not dating.” Erin had a feeling she’d be saying that a lot today.
Ashley leveled a glare on her. “I don’t believe you.”
“Why not?” Erin laughed at the ridiculousness of the entire debate. She was actually telling the God’s honest truth, but it seemed her own sister didn’t believe her.
“Because my sister, the city apartment dweller, just said brush hogging. I don’t even know what that is and I’m guessing neither did you before this Tanner came into your life. Now you’re dropping the term into everyday conversation, so go on and try to deny you haven’t been spending time with this cowboy. That there’s nothing between you. I dare you.”
Erin drew in a deep breath and let it out. There was no winning this fight. “You know what, ask him yourself.”
Maybe Ashley would believe Tanner.
“I think I will ask him,” Ashley said, as if it were a threat.
“Go ahead.” Erin laughed but then began to rethink things.
What did she really know about Tanner? He just might lie to Ashley—to all her friends and relatives—to liven up the evening.
Oh, well. Too late now. Erin had a bride to prepare and they had a ceremony to get through. Time to get the bride’s focus where it belonged. Off Erin’s date and back on to something important, such as looking perfect. “Are you going to sit still and let me put your headpiece on? Or are you going to walk down the aisle without it?”
Chapter Ten
Tanner was enjoying people watching from the corner he’d staked out when a swirl of pink moving fast toward him c
aught his eye.
Looking breathless, Erin stumbled to a stop in front of him. “I’m so sorry I’ve been so busy. Are you doing okay on your own?”
Because this was the first time he’d really had time to speak with her, she wasn’t kidding about being busy. Erin had been more than busy, going from being with the bride before the vows to taking pictures after. But the beer was cold and free and plentiful and the food—what he’d gotten so far—wasn’t bad either.
“Sure. I’m good. I’ve never been to a wedding in a library before. It’s . . . interesting.” He smiled before raising the bottle to his lips.
“It’s part of the Public Library System, but officially this is the Austin History Center.”
“Ah, well. That explains it all.” He grinned.
Erin smiled. “Ashley and Chad met here while they were both in college, doing research. She wanted to have it here badly enough, she was even willing to keep the guest list small so they could accommodate her.”
He nodded. It was better than some cold banquet room at a hotel. As Erin had said, it wasn’t a typical library. The building was historic and the architecture impressive. It had an open room that must be used for meetings or rented out for events like this, so it wasn’t as if they’d be eating between aisles of bookshelves.
Brady and Ellie were getting hitched at a dude ranch, so Tanner had to think a library wasn’t much crazier. Unconventional places for weddings must be the new thing, not that he knew about that stuff.
Erin shot him a sideways glance. “If you think the reception is interesting, you should have seen the proposal. In fact, you can see it if you’d like. It’s on Facebook.”
“No way.”
“Yup.” Erin let out a laugh when he shook his head, appalled at this generation. She eyed his beer. “You’re not having the bride and groom’s signature cocktail?”
Tanner laughed at even the suggestion. “Yeah no.”
Erin glanced into her own glass, which contained the blue drink in question. “I have to pretend to like it, or at least pretend to drink it for the cocktail hour, but as soon as Ash isn’t looking, I’m ditching it. Thank God they put bottles of wine on the tables for dinner. I’m switching the minute we sit.”