The Rancher's Fake Fiancée

by Amy Vastine

  “After the meeting with Mr. Mendes, I want to go back to Portland and back to being me. I can’t be here anymore. It’s messing me up and I don’t want to be messed up.”

  She put her hand over his on the gear shift. “Then we go back to Portland. I’ll follow you anywhere.”

  “We’ll leave Thursday. I’ll buy the plane tickets tonight.”

  “Great. It’s all going to be okay.”

  He was a ball of energy. His leg bounced like it did during dinner and he kept rolling his shoulders like they were stiff. “It will be as soon as we get out of here.”

  “Were any of them helpful?”

  “Oh, well, let’s see. Ben thinks I’m a spoiled brat who doesn’t appreciate all the love and stuff my parents gave me while they were alive. I need to get over myself, according to Jon. Not everything is about me. And Ethan wants me to think about the good times.”

  “There were some good times. Weren’t there?”

  “That’s not the point.”

  “I know. It’s just I see you on the ranch and the way you smile when you’re around the horses or talking to Katie. And I’ve watched you soak up the sun and breathe in the fresh air. There’s a part of you that feels good when you’re there.”

  “You know what makes me feel better than all that?”

  “What?”

  “You.” He put his hand on her knee, giving her goose bumps. “I want to be with you and last time I checked, you live in Oregon.”

  Hadley’s heart melted. She’d never felt like someone’s number one choice before. But Ethan was pushing him to think about the good times because he believed that Tyler wanted to be in Montana deep down. Before she helped Ethan sabotage the second buyer tomorrow she needed to be sure.

  “I do live there and I am all for going back to Portland, but I want you to know that I would support you one hundred percent if you wanted to consider siding with Ethan to keep the ranch in the family. If you want to stay here, I would stay with you.”

  “You would stay here? But Portland is your home. Your work, your friends are all there.”

  “I just want you to know it’s an option. The ranch is a beautiful place with a ton of potential. So much so that I can’t stop thinking about it. I’d stay with you if you wanted to stay. Or we can go back if that’s what you decide. When you love someone, where they go, you go.”

  “Where you go, I go? I like the sound of that.” He stared out at the road ahead of them. Hadley wished she could climb into his mind and see what he was thinking. “I want to go.”

  “Then, we go.” She wouldn’t argue with him. She was here because he had asked her to come and she would leave because what she wanted was to be near him.

  When they got back to the cabin, Tyler opened his arms and she went to him. “I’m so sorry about everything.”

  This was the hug she’d been waiting all day for—the one that made her feel like he would also take care of her. He was stronger than she gave him credit for. He had a resiliency that had gotten him this far.

  “I was most upset today because I thought I was going to lose you. And I was frustrated because I thought you told my brother before you told me.”

  “You aren’t going to lose me. I love you.”

  “I love you, too.” Those four words sent her heart into overdrive. He felt the same way. There was nothing that could hurt them if they held on to that.

  Everything was going to be fine. Tyler would go back to normal when they got home. Portland was home. Ethan would just have to deal with losing the ranch. It may have brought Tyler some joy, but there was too much misery to make it worth the risk.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  MR. MENDES WAS expected any minute. Tyler checked his reflection in the side mirror of the F350 parked outside the lodge. Hadley had all of the marketing materials printed out and waiting for him. The flowers lining the steps of the lodge were freshly watered so they didn’t look wilted in the afternoon sun.

  After reading over Hadley’s notes, it was clear that they had a very good shot of making this sale today. All Tyler had to do was keep it together.

  “Okay, everything is set up inside. Here’s the key to Room 210. It’s vacant so he can see what a typical lodge room looks like.” Hadley handed him a second key. “Here’s the key to the Green Forest cabin. It’s the bigger cabin with two bedrooms, but explain that the others only have one bedroom. Um, play up the growth potential. Lots of room to expand facilities.”

  “Got it. Room to grow.”

  “And smile. You’re way cuter when you smile,” she said with a wink.

  Everything was fine. They were leaving for Billings tonight so they were close to the airport for their early-morning flight tomorrow. This weekend, he’d take her out for dinner somewhere downtown and show her his real home in the heart of the Pearl District. There, they could start their lives together without the interference of his brothers.

  “I’m going to be inside at the bar. Introduce me if you want, but you don’t have to. It’s up to you.”

  “Showing off my beautiful fiancée seemed like the smart call.”

  “Maybe you should call me your girlfriend. I am so over the lies.”

  “I think that’s the best idea you’ve had all day. I’ll see you in there, girlfriend.”

  He fiddled with the keys she’d given him while he waited. The key fobs said 210 and Heavenly Pines. Wait, Hadley had clearly said he was supposed to take them to Green Forest. She must have handed him the key to their cabin by accident. He jogged up the steps and went inside to trade keys with her.

  Ethan’s hands were flailing as he spoke. Neither one of them noticed he was there.

  “He’s so close, Hadley. I know you think he’s done with this place, but he’s not. We need to do the same thing we did with Mr. Yonk. Please don’t give up the plan to stop him from selling the ranch.”

  “I’m sorry, Ethan. I’m not going to sabotage this sale. The fake engagement is over. Tyler wants to go back to Portland. Nothing you say is going to change that.”

  “You’re not going to sabotage this sale?” Tyler could feel the heat of his anger building in the center of his chest. Ethan knew they weren’t engaged? Hadley had made promises to him to stop him from selling the ranch? The very weak foundation he and Hadley had been building completely crumbled to dust.

  Hadley’s eyes went wide. “Tyler.”

  “Am I hearing all this right? You did something to make Howard Yonk leave and you lied about it. And the plan today was to ruin this sale, as well?”

  “Ty, she didn’t—” Ethan started.

  “Don’t. Don’t defend her. You knew we weren’t engaged. How long?”

  “Does it matter how long?”

  “How long?” he practically screamed.

  “I strongly suspected on Thursday and Grace and I confronted Hadley on Friday.”

  Tyler could only laugh and nod. Since Thursday. Practically the entire time they were here. This was unbelievable. Even more unbelievable than all the other lies Hadley had told over the last couple of days. At this point, he wasn’t sure anyone had told him the truth the whole time they were in Montana.

  He turned away from the two of them and focused on his breathing. He needed to get out of there. Ben came waltzing through the front doors, blocking Tyler’s escape route.

  “You don’t get to be too self-righteous, Ty,” Ethan said. “You’re the one who came here and made Hadley lie to your entire family about an engagement that didn’t exist.”

  “Whoa, what did I miss?” Ben said. “Did you just say he lied about his engagement?”

  “Hadley was promised a promotion at work if she pretended to be his fiancée,” Ethan blurted. “There, the truth is out. Go sell our family’s ranch.”

  Lies. Hadley wasn’t the only one guilty of lies. Tyler spun
back around and made eye contact with Hadley. “There’s no promotion,” he confessed.

  “What?” Ethan went toe-to-toe with him. “You promised her a promotion if she came here and pretended. All I did was ask her to keep pretending. Don’t punish her because you’re mad at me.”

  Hadley wiped the tears streaming down her face. Seeing her in pain extinguished some of his anger, but it was quickly replaced with a ton of guilt. She wasn’t the only one who had to come clean.

  “There was never a promotion. Kellen wouldn’t agree to it. I’ve been fighting with him all week, but he wouldn’t budge.”

  Hadley said nothing. She stared up at him in complete shock.

  “You owe me ten dollars,” Ben said to Ethan.

  “Really? Right now?” Ethan shook his head in disgust. “That’s what you have to say about all this?”

  “What? We bet he wasn’t engaged and I actually won.”

  Hadley sprinted away from the lodge. Tyler could only watch her go.

  “Go after her!” Ethan gave Tyler a shove on the shoulder. “She did all this for you,” Ethan continued. “She came here to help you save face. She agreed to help me to once again help you save face. She refused to help me because she wants nothing but to make you happy. She loves you, you knucklehead.”

  “Wait, they’re not engaged, but they are in love?” Ben couldn’t keep up.

  Neither could Tyler. In the span of one minute, his entire life had imploded.

  “Excuse me, I’m looking for Tyler Blackwell. I’m Martin Mendes. We have an appointment.”

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Mendes.” He handed Ben the papers Hadley had put together. “I can’t meet today, but my brother is very motivated to sell and I’m sure he’d love to walk you around.”

  Tyler couldn’t spend the day acting like everything was all right when it was the exact opposite of that. There was no sign of her at Heavenly Pines, but then he remembered she had accidentally given him their key and held on to the Green Forest keys. He jogged over to that cabin and knocked on the door.

  “Hadley, I know you’re in there. Just let me in.”

  It took her a couple of seconds, but he heard the lock slide open. He pushed the door to find Hadley on the chocolate-brown leather couch. She seemed so small and broken.

  “I’m not even sure what to say,” he said, choosing to stand rather than get too close to her.

  “I think you said it all back there.” She wiped her face with both hands. Her cheeks were red and splotchy.

  “Why didn’t you just tell me that Ethan knew? Why would you let me think he was still in the dark?”

  “Does it matter? Because I sort of feel like none of this matters at all anymore.”

  “It matters to me. It matters because we were in this together and then you decided it was better to lie to me.”

  “We were in this together? Apparently, we were never in this together. You promised me a promotion if I pretended to be your fiancée. You couldn’t get Kellen to agree and instead of telling me that it wasn’t possible, you lied so I would keep pretending for you. I might have lied to you, but I did it so the rest of your family would still think you were happily engaged. I lied to protect you. You’ve been lying to me this entire time to protect yourself.”

  Her accusation cut like a knife. She wasn’t wrong and being called out on his selfishness was sobering.

  “I fell in love with you and now you hate my guts for lying to you and I kind of hate your guts for lying to me. I was in a lose-lose scenario from the second I agreed to be your fake fiancée.”

  She hated him for lying. She wouldn’t be able to look past it. He had come here ready to blame her for ruining everything when the truth was the detonator was in his hands.

  Hadley wouldn’t look at him. She stared down at her lap. “Do I even have a job when I get back to Portland or am I fired from that, as well?”

  Her question gave him a tiny flicker of hope. Maybe if they went back to Portland and gave it some time—away from this ranch and away from his family—they could find a way to work this out.

  “I have no plans to fire you and I don’t hate your guts. I’m mad and I’m confused, but I could never hate you.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” she said again. “There’s no coming back from this. I might be in love with you, but I don’t trust you and you don’t trust me, so there’s literally nothing for us to talk about. It’s over. We’re over.”

  He wanted to tell her not to say that but couldn’t. Without trust what did they have? These ten days together had been nothing but a waste of time. The reality of that was soul crushing. After all the misunderstandings and the little lies and the big lies, they couldn’t recover.

  “We still leave tonight for Billings,” he said.

  Hadley wouldn’t make eye contact. “Let me know the cost of my room and I’ll cover it.”

  “I can write it off as a business expense, so don’t worry about it.”

  “This wasn’t 2K business. I fell in love with you. I thought we had a future together. I will pay for my own room.”

  She was back to being herself. Challenging him at every turn. At least they still had that.

  “Fine. Here’s the key to our cabin. I’ll let you go in and pack first. I’ll be in the guest lodge. Text me when you’re done and we can switch.”

  She sniffed. “Fine.”

  He grabbed the tissue box and set it in front of her. “I’ll be waiting to hear from you.”

  She said nothing in reply. Instead, she pulled her knees up to her chest and hid her face.

  His heart split in two as he heard her cry. Nothing would ever be fine again.

  * * *

  HADLEY MANAGED TO get everything stuffed into her suitcases except for the hat Tyler bought her that first trip to Brewster’s. She loved it, but she wouldn’t ever be able to wear it again without crying, so it was staying behind. Maybe one of the guests would make good use of it.

  Her phone rang and Hadley was surprised to see it was Ethan.

  “I am so sorry,” he said. “I cannot begin to tell you how sorry I am. This is all my fault.”

  It was sweet of him to feel so guilty, but this was on her. She made the decision to lie and now it was coming back to bite her.

  “Just because you asked me to lie doesn’t mean I had to do it. I made the choice. I have to live with the consequences.”

  “I feel bad because I made you think that I would make you lose your promotion. I never would have done that. You are a marketing genius. My brother should make you his partner.”

  Tyler wasn’t going to partner up with her professionally or personally. Working for Tyler wasn’t going to be feasible anymore either. She would be looking for a new job as soon as she touched down in Portland. “Know anyone looking for someone in marketing?”

  “I do actually.”

  She had been kidding. “I doubt you have a bunch of connections in Portland.”

  “Not in Portland. Here in Falcon Creek.”

  Hadley could only imagine what the marketing firm in Falcon Creek looked like. It was probably housed in the same building as the antiques shop. Around these parts, every business had multiple personalities.

  “I’m not sure they can afford me. I’m a spoiled city girl, remember?”

  “I know I can’t afford you, but I still want you to come work for me.”

  Hadley must have heard him wrong. “For you?”

  “You have had the most amazing ideas and vision for this ranch. If we were working together, this place could be fantastic.”

  “Tyler is voting to sell. You aren’t going to be running it much longer.”

  “I believe I can convince Tyler to let me keep it if he can go back to Portland. I don’t need him to help me run it if I have you.”

  “This is a wild plan.�
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  “Wild but brilliant. I truly believe in us. You know what you’re doing and the rest will work itself out.”

  “Can I think about it?”

  “Sure. Take whatever time you need. I owe you that much.”

  Hadley hung up and blew her nose, hoping it would help her clear her fogged-up head. Could she stay here without Tyler? Going back to Portland with him was a terrible idea. Not even Kellen felt she was worthwhile enough to promote. 2K Marketing wasn’t going to help her reach any of her long-term career goals.

  Could she work with Tyler’s family now that they all knew she was a liar? Ethan was the only one she’d be working for, and he was totally cool with it. She did love the ranch. Ethan would be easy to work for since he was generally a kind and caring person when he wasn’t encouraging her to lie.

  The pro and con list was leaning heavily in favor of moving to Montana. But they were Tyler’s family. She felt strongly that she should at least give him a say. She wouldn’t feel right about working for his family if he wasn’t comfortable with it. She owed him that much.

  She texted him that she was done packing, but instead of leaving, she wheeled her bags out onto the front porch and waited for him on the bench. She watched him walk up the lane. Her heart began to beat wildly.

  He stopped short of the front porch. “Sorry,” he said, backing up. “I thought you said it was safe to come on over.”

  “I did. I needed to talk to you about something before you leave.”

  “Before I leave?” His wariness seemed to keep him on the ground level.

  Hadley’s throat suddenly felt very dry. She wished she had grabbed a water bottle. She tried to swallow down the lump in her throat as she walked over and leaned on the railing. “I can’t work at 2K anymore.”

  He stared at her but said nothing. His chest rose and fell with heavy breaths.

  “I’ll write up an official letter of resignation and email it to you and Kellen, but I felt like I should tell you in person. I won’t be giving any notice. My resignation is immediate.”

  “You can’t do that. How are you going to support yourself?” He climbed halfway up the steps. “We can figure something out if this is what you want to do. Maybe you can work from home until you find something. I’ll write you a letter of recommendation, make some calls if that would help.”