The Rancher's Fake Fiancée

by Amy Vastine

  One of the lobby receptionists came over. “Hadley Sullivan?”

  “Yes.”

  The young woman was grinning from ear to ear. She was quite possibly the happiest person Hadley had ever met. “You have a visitor.”

  A visitor? She didn’t have any appointments today. She was meeting with some other wedding vendors later this week to talk about exclusivity agreements and had inquired with a contractor about setting something up to convert the barns by the creek into a spa. But there was nothing on her calendar for today.

  “He’s waiting for you. Out there.” She pointed toward the lobby. The woman was shaking with excitement. Her giddiness was concerning.

  “Okay, thanks.” Hadley could only figure someone got their days and times mixed up. Ethan came back with the cookies just in time. She took her chocolate chip to go. “Someone’s here. I’ll talk to you later about the spa.”

  Ethan gave her a thumbs-up as he stuffed his cookie in his mouth. He was so long and lean but the man could eat.

  Hadley headed for the lobby. She checked her phone for any emails she might have missed about a meeting. Pushing open the door, it took only a second to understand why the receptionist had been so beside herself.

  Her visitor was dressed to kill in designer jeans that fit like a glove and a black suit coat over a crisp white button-down. He lifted his black Stetson hat off his head like some kind of Southern gentleman when he saw her.

  “Hadley,” he said with a smile that would have made any other woman swoon.

  “Asher.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  “WHAT ARE YOU doing here?” Hadley glanced around, wondering who else may have recognized him. The last thing she needed was her brother to cause some kind of scene.

  “Surprise!” her mom shouted, popping out from behind him. Her mom might have been only five feet tall, but she had a personality that was ten times that size. That was when Hadley realized the whole family was there. Her dad smiled apologetically next to her mother.

  She hadn’t come clean with her parents yet. Asher got the news that he was nominated for the biggest award in television last Thursday, around the same time Tyler got on a plane and flew out of her life. It didn’t seem like the best moment to tell them she wasn’t getting married. Or had never truly been engaged. Instead, she told them she quit her job to work for the ranch full-time. She didn’t imagine that would end up being an invitation for them to show up.

  Heart hammering in her chest, Hadley held her arms up as if she might be able to corral them all somewhere out of sight. “What are you all doing here?”

  “Well, we thought it was important for all of us to be together to celebrate the wonderful things happening in our family,” her mom explained. “Asher offered to fly us out here to surprise you.”

  “That was so nice of you, Ash.”

  “It’s nothing. Plus I wanted to check this place out since I got the news that I’ll be filming that Western this winter.”

  “He got the part. Isn’t that exciting?” their mom gushed.

  “So great!” Hadley did her best to feign excitement. Of all the ways she imagined telling her parents the truth, in person, with Asher present was not one of them.

  “Who do we need to talk to about getting a couple rooms for the weekend?” her dad asked.

  “You want to stay here?”

  “Where else would we stay?” Asher asked.

  Hadley’s brain had shut off. She couldn’t handle this right now.

  “I told you we should have called her and made sure it was okay to come out here,” her dad said. “Maybe they’re booked for the weekend.”

  “Are you booked for the weekend or do you have room for us? Where do you stay? Can we stay with you?” her mom asked.

  “Is everything okay?” Ethan appeared at her side. He put his arm around Hadley’s shoulders.

  Everything was far from okay.

  “Let me guess,” Hadley’s mom said, beaming like a proud mother of the bride. “You must be the Mr. Blackwell we’ve been waiting to meet. We’re Hadley’s parents, Jane and Jackson Sullivan.”

  Ethan didn’t realize he wasn’t the Mr. Blackwell they were hoping for. “Hadley’s parents? Oh, man, nice to meet you!” He offered her father a hearty handshake and gave her mom a hug.

  “And you probably already recognize our son, but this is Asher,” her mom said.

  Ethan had no clue who Asher was since he had no time to watch television. They shook hands anyways.

  “Your daughter is absolutely the best. I cannot tell you how grateful we are that she’s agreed to be part of the Blackwell Guest Ranch family.”

  Her dad’s brows pinched together and Hadley’s brain finally rebooted.

  “This is Ethan. Ethan Blackwell. He’s Tyler’s brother and the one running the ranch right now.”

  “Oh!” her mom exclaimed. They all reshook hands and hugged as if he was someone new now.

  “Where is this fiancé of yours?” Asher asked, scanning the room and giving a little head nod to one of the guests walking through the lobby who clearly recognized him. She snapped a picture with her phone.

  Ethan looked to Hadley, knowing better than to touch that question. Hadley needed to get her family out of the lodge and somewhere a bit more private for the conversation they were about to have.

  “Could we put my family up in the Green Forest cabin for the weekend?”

  “I don’t see why not,” Ethan replied. “Let me go get the keys.”

  Hadley forced herself to smile. Hopefully they wouldn’t have to stay the whole weekend. Once they learned the truth, they could go back to their lives and thinking Asher was the only golden child.

  Once they got the keys, she drove with them around the ranch a bit before taking them to the cabin. Hadley shuddered when she walked in. The memory of Tyler ripping her heart out in this sitting room was still too fresh.

  “This is our two-bedroom, two-bath cabin. It has wonderful views of the Rockies and one of the grazing pastures.”

  “It’s lovely.” Her mom ran her fingers across the coffee table, checking for dust.

  There was a stone fireplace on one wall. Exposed wood beams ran across the vaulted ceilings. A painting of a Rocky Mountain sunset hung on the wall near the small café table and chairs. Her dad sat down on the leather couch.

  “This is great, but when do we meet Tyler?” he asked. “The young man has some explaining to do.”

  Hadley tensed. They couldn’t possibly know anything.

  “Oh, Jackson. These days, they don’t do things the way we did. She’s almost thirty. We should be glad she’s getting married, not complaining that he didn’t ask for her hand.”

  Hadley would have taken offense had she not been relieved. “I’m twenty-six, Mom. That’s not over the hill, by the way.”

  She waved Hadley off. “Are we meeting him or what?”

  There was a knock at the door, saving her from having to come clean. Probably Ethan. He had a thing about making sure all the guests had towels and those little soaps Sarah Ashley got for him.

  She pulled open the door, grateful for his interruption.

  “Hi.” Dark hair, blue-sky eyes, shoulders strong enough to lift hay bales and lips she dreamed about every night.

  “This must be the man of the hour!” Her mom squeezed in beside her. “Please tell me you are Tyler Blackwell because we already met one of the Blackwell boys and it wasn’t him.”

  “You must be Hadley’s mom,” he said with that trademark Tyler smile. “I am Tyler Blackwell. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

  Hadley’s heart was racing. Her mom pulled her back a step so Tyler could come in. Her mom was quick to make introductions.

  “This is Hadley’s dad, Jackson.” The two men shook hands. Hadley’s father was physicall
y the opposite of Tyler in every way. Tyler was tall and lean with more hair on his head than Hadley’s dad ever had. The outsides were different but Hadley knew that inside they were very much alike. Her father didn’t wear his heart on his sleeve. He tended to keep his feelings to himself, but he loved his family and would do anything for them.

  “And this is—”

  “Asher Sullivan,” Tyler finished for her mom. “It’s great to meet you. Hadley and I watch your show every week. Well-deserved nomination. I hope you win.”

  Asher’s chest puffed up with pride. “Thanks. Congratulations on your engagement. My sister is not easy to live with. I should know. But I hope you two will have a very happy life together.”

  Tyler’s breath caught for a second, but he exhaled and smiled. “Thanks. I hope we do, too.”

  Those words were like daggers, shooting through Hadley’s chest and leaving her unable to breathe. Why was he here? Why was he pretending to still be engaged? How could she survive having to say goodbye one more time?

  “If you guys don’t mind. I’m going to steal Hadley away for a couple minutes to take care of some ranch business. You three get settled in, unpack, whatever you need to do and we’ll be back real soon to take you on a tour of the property. Maybe we’ll get you on a horse, Jane?”

  Hadley’s mom giggled like a smitten teenager. “I don’t know. I haven’t ridden a horse in years.”

  “Well, if you’re anything like your daughter, you’ll pick it back up in no time.” Tyler reached for Hadley’s hand and led her outside.

  She stared at their hands as he pulled her all the way to his car. He opened the passenger’s side and waited for her to get in before closing it behind her.

  A million questions ran through her head. She had a hard time choosing one to start with. Tyler got in and started it up.

  “I’m sorry for taking over in there. I don’t know what you were planning to tell them, but I needed to talk to you before you talked to them.”

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I’m here because this is my favorite place in the world.” His voice cracked with emotion.

  “I’m confused,” she said. “Is that sarcasm?”

  “No.” That didn’t make any of this any clearer. He continued, “I went back to Portland and I was sure I could go back to how things were, but nothing’s right. The company isn’t the same without you there. Everyone misses you.”

  “I miss them, too.” She missed him the most, but telling him that wouldn’t change anything.

  “I found out you did the brand analysis on the Kingman account for Eric. I told Kellen he had to fire Eric or else. He didn’t fight me. In fact, he wants to offer you the brand strategist job with a huge raise.”

  He was here about a job. Of course this was work-related. Tyler was all business all the time. He had no idea how much he was hurting her right now with this face-to-face offer that would have been a million times easier to turn down via email.

  “I have a job. I don’t want to work for 2K anymore.”

  “I was hoping you would say that,” Tyler said with a breath of relief that twisted the knife in her chest.

  He completely befuddled her. She knew he was hurt, but she didn’t expect him to be cruel. “If you were worried I was going to be lured back by everyone else at the office, you can rest assured I will not. You have driven the message home that you don’t want me in Portland. Thanks for coming all this way to make that clear.”

  He stopped the car in front of Heavenly Pines. “Hadley, you misunderstand.”

  She couldn’t sit in the car with him for one more second. She bolted. Her anger colored everything red. She fought the stupid tears she didn’t want to waste on him anymore.

  “Hadley, I don’t want you to come back to 2K because I’m not going back to 2K either. I told Kellen I’m done. Our partnership is being dissolved. He’s agreed to buy me out.”

  “What? Why?” Tyler had everything he wanted. It didn’t make any sense for him to throw it all away.

  He took three long strides to close the distance between them. He gripped her face in his hands. “Because Portland isn’t my home and I was worried that Kellen would tell you that I left 2K and offer you the job. I don’t want you in Portland working for Kellen because I want to be here with you.”

  * * *

  HADLEY GRABBED HIS wrists and pushed his hands away. The tears rolled down her face. He hadn’t meant to make her cry. Her blond hair was pinned up in the front with a few soft tendrils framing her face. She was so beautiful it hurt.

  “Can we go inside? Talk a few things out?”

  Hadley hesitated. Maybe he was coming on too strong, too fast. She wiped her cheek with the back of her hand. “Fine.”

  He needed to say all the right things when they got in there. This was his only shot at getting back what he had lost.

  The log cabin they had called home for almost two weeks held so many pivotal memories given their short stay. This was where he’d said goodbye, thinking it was forever. It was also where she’d told him she loved him for the first time and where he told her the same thing.

  “One week away from you has felt like a million years,” he said once they were inside.

  Hadley attempted to tidy up. She had papers and clothes scattered all over the sitting room. She snatched a bra off the couch and threw it back in the bedroom.

  “Funny, because to me it feels like just yesterday you were telling me goodbye because we agreed that there was nothing left for us. No trust, no chance.”

  “Is that how you still feel? Because that’s not how I feel. I wouldn’t be here right now if I didn’t think there was a chance for us.” He put it out there. He wanted her back.

  “I feel like you have this way of turning my world upside down over and over. Every time I think I catch my balance, you throw me for another loop.”

  Tyler sat down on the couch and patted the seat next to him. “Come, sit with me.”

  Hadley did as he asked. He didn’t mean to make her feel so unsure all the time. He understood now that he did that to people. He would tell them to go away and then be mad when they listened. His fear of not being enough caused him to build an impenetrable wall around himself. But Hadley had gotten through.

  “I’m sorry. For a lot of things. I’m sorry for lying to you about the promotion. That was selfish. Plain and simple.”

  “I’m sorry, too. The lies got out of control.”

  “I never should have asked you to lie. It was wrong and as long as I live I will make sure that no one in the Blackwell family ever asks you to do that again.”

  “I appreciate that.” She fidgeted with her hands. “So you’re back and this is your home.”

  “This is my home as long as you are here. I love you. I love that you call foals baby horses and that you think red licorice is part of a balanced diet. I love that you aren’t afraid to get your hands dirty but you always wear lipstick. I love that you were obsessed with Harry Potter as a kid and your favorite food is mac and cheese. You are my favorite person in this entire world, Hadley. You are my home.”

  The tears were back in her eyes. “You...you don’t have favorites.”

  “I didn’t. Until now.”

  She took a couple of deep breaths. Tyler prayed that what he said was enough. That he was enough to win her back.

  “On our very first night here, I told you that we have to trust each other if this is going to work.”

  Tyler swallowed hard. He could love her all he wanted but if she didn’t trust him, she might not be able to love him back.

  “Trust is essential.”

  “We both let each other down. We didn’t trust each other to handle the truth. That’s how the lies got so out of control.”

  “Exactly.”

  Hadley reached over and took him by t
he hand. “I’m trusting you with my truth because I think you just trusted me with yours. I love you, Tyler Blackwell. I love that you know the science behind skipping rocks. I love that you are a neat freak but never make me feel bad about being messy. I love that you get excited about things like hay balers. I love that you let me break rules as long as they have to do with kissing. You are my favorite person in the entire world and I am glad you’re home. Don’t ever leave me again.”

  Tyler’s heart burst with joy and love. “I’m going to kiss you now,” he warned.

  “It’s about time.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  HADLEY HEARD TYLER return from getting his bags out of the car. He’d been gone longer than she’d expected. Maybe he had everything from Portland with him.

  “My family is probably wondering if we’re ever coming back.” Hadley stood in front of the bathroom mirror, reapplying her lipstick that had been thoroughly kissed off.

  “There’s something I want to ask you before we go,” Tyler said from the living room.

  She waited for him to ask his question, but he was quiet. She set down her makeup and stepped out of the bathroom. Tyler held out his hand. “Come here.”

  Hadley took his hand and let him lead her to the couch, asking her to sit.

  “We’ve sort of done all this romance stuff backward. We were engaged before we even liked each other. I see you ditched the fake engagement ring.”

  She glanced down at her left hand and her bare ring finger. She couldn’t stand to look at the ring when he left but also couldn’t bear to get rid of it. She kept it hidden in a drawer in the bathroom. “I still have it if you want it back.”

  Tyler shook his head. “I say we throw that one in the creek. I have something a bit more real for you, if you’ll wear it?” Tyler got down on one knee and Hadley’s heart skipped a beat or two. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a tiny black ring box. He popped it open to reveal the gorgeous and very real diamond ring inside. “Hadley Sullivan, you are the love of my life. I would be honored to spend the rest of my life loving you. Will you be my real fiancée? Will you marry me?”