The Maverick's Bridal Bargain

by Christy Jeffries

  It was the perfect opportunity to ask him about his past. “Do you miss your old ranch?”

  He paused, an onion ring halfway to his mouth. “Sometimes. It’s weird. When I shipped off to boot camp, I was eighteen years old, a fresh-faced baby who wanted nothing more than to serve others and save lives. But I was so homesick, like physically sick to my stomach. At night, I was too exhausted to feel anything, but I used to lie in my bunk every morning, willing myself not to puke. We could send letters and that helped, but we didn’t have access to phones or anything. Thirteen weeks later, my mom and dad came to my graduation at the recruit depot in San Diego, and it was like a miracle cure. It made me realize I wasn’t missing my home, I was just missing my family. After that, it didn’t matter where they stationed me. As long as I could talk to my parents every so often, I was fine. So I guess that’s the long way of saying I don’t really miss Dalton’s Gulch, because my dad and brothers aren’t there anymore. But I’ll always miss my mom.”

  Vivienne reached across the table, laying her hand on his. “I’m so sorry, Cole.”

  She’d been around him enough to know that he liked fixing things, pretending that he was above being bothered by his own problems. So when she saw that his eyes were slightly glassy, as though a mist was covering them, she wasn’t surprised that he immediately shrugged off her sympathy and looked up at the ceiling before giving her a little smirk. “It is what it is.”

  The man was too stubborn to succumb to something as human as tears. In fact, he’d flipped his hand over and was now using his fingers to stroke the inside of her wrist as he tried to change the subject. “What about your parents? Has your dad moved back home yet?”

  “Ugh.” Vivienne picked up a spoon and began digging into the vanilla ice cream melting over her cobbler. “He came home, but now my mom has moved into the apartment. She says it’s her turn to live the bachelorette lifestyle this time.”

  “I can’t believe they keep an apartment just for when they have fights.”

  “Technically, it’s my apartment. Or it was. I was living there when they had one of their longer breaks. Unlike you, home is wherever my parents are not. So I sublet the unit to my dad and found the place where I’m living now. The rent is a bit more than I can afford, but I try to tell myself that I can’t put a price on peace of mind, you know?”

  Vivienne immediately regretted her words when the bill came and Cole’s tanned, muscular forearm shot out to grab it.

  “I’m not broke,” she argued. Technically, it wasn’t a lie because she wouldn’t necessarily be broke unless she lost her job. “You don’t always have to pay for me.”

  “I know.” Cole gave her an indulgent smile, which made Vivienne feel even more like a charity case, as he stood up to retrieve his wallet, peeling two twenty-dollar bills out and throwing them on the bill. “I better get you back for your next client.”

  Annoyance at his constant attempts to take care of her was prickling at her.

  “I can get back on my own,” Vivienne said, a bit too defensively. Then she amended, “You wouldn’t want to risk having Estelle see you. We’ve had two calls this week from potential clients in Rust Creek Falls raving about the freight house, and she wants to talk to you about converting the place into a proper venue for more weddings.”

  “Lord save me from any more weddings or wedding talk,” Cole replied, placing a hand on her back as they walked toward the exit. “Which reminds me. I need to grab that binder thingy out of my truck for you.”

  It turned out his truck was parallel parked a block away from the diner, which meant that they were only another block away from her office. Surely, he wouldn’t insist on walking her the rest of the way. As much as she wanted to soak up every minute they had together, it was a bad idea to get too attached.

  Cole used his key to unlock the passenger door. Looking back on it, Vivienne wished she would’ve stayed on the sidewalk near the tall cab of his truck instead of waiting for him by the back bumper. That way, when he pulled her into his arms for a long and thorough kiss goodbye, Estelle wouldn’t have seen them as she was driving down the street.

  * * *

  “I trusted you” was the first thing out of Estelle’s mouth when Vivienne walked up to the office. Actually, the first thing out of her mouth was the cigarette she’d just lit. But the nicotine apparently wasn’t having a calming effect.

  Her boss was standing outside the front door, her petite frame blocking the entrance, forcing the confrontation to happen where anyone could walk by and overhear them. “I trusted you with my clients, with my reputation, with my entire business, yet this is how you repay me? You start up an affair with one of our grooms?”

  “It’s not an affair.” Vivienne was quick to defend herself before she clamped her jaw shut at the risk of further implicating herself. But it really wasn’t an affair. At least, not the kind Estelle meant. Vivienne clung to the binder Cole had given her before he’d driven off, thankfully oblivious that Estelle had just busted them.

  “You were kissing him in full daylight out on the street!” It appeared that steam was coming from Estelle’s ears, but it could also have been smoke from the heavy cigarette puffing she was doing between sentences. “I bet Susie Starbright would beg to differ.”

  It was Starlight, and she was a horse. But it wasn’t like Vivienne could tell her boss that. Or justify her behavior in any way. If she explained that there was no bride to begin with, no wedding to plan, then she’d be admitting that she’d lied to Estelle from the get-go. That she’d had Cole sign a contract and pay them a deposit under false pretenses. The liability for that would be far worse than having her boss think she would break up a marriage. As much as Vivienne hated having her character called into question, it was better to be thought a home wrecker than a disreputable fraud.

  “I knew you were too good to be true,” Estelle muttered, causing Vivienne to wonder what all that “I took a chance on you” attitude Estelle had projected less than a month ago had been about.

  “Perhaps we should talk about this later,” Vivienne suggested calmly. “I have a new client coming in at one, remember?”

  “Oh, no, you don’t.” Estelle pointed her finger, the long ash barely hanging on to the tip of her cigarette. “I have a client coming at one. You have some want ads in the paper you need to start looking through for your next job.”

  Want ads? The woman was so old-fashioned she didn’t even know that people nowadays found jobs online. Wait. Panic washed through her. “Are...are you firing me?”

  “You can’t think I’d allow you to stay on my payroll and sleep with the next groom that walks in the door?”

  The allegation was worse than a slap in the face. Not only was she accusing Vivienne of being a slut, she was accusing her of being a predatory one at that. Vivienne was frozen in place. How could she make Estelle understand?

  “But I brought in more clients...” Okay, so Cole wasn’t a legitimate client, but he was a paying one. And the one coming this afternoon was another Rust Creek Falls bride who’d called her after Lydia and Zach’s wedding.

  The big shoulder pads in Estelle’s 1980s style suit jacket lifted in odd angles as she extended her arms across the front door of the office. “If you think I’m letting you step one foot inside my business, you better think again. There’s no way I’m giving you another second of access to my clients and my vendors and all the contacts I’ve spent decades building.”

  Vivienne’s mouth hung open in shock as her heart squeezed together on the inside. She’d put plenty of hours and sweat into building up this business as well, and now Estelle wasn’t even going to let her collect her personal things?

  “My laptop is in there,” she said, her voice weak and pathetic. “My phone charger and...” Vivienne couldn’t think of what else belonged to her.

  A retired couple walked toward the entrance of the CPA�
�s office next door and it became evident that standing out here and pleading with Estelle was causing even more of a scene. Thankfully, Estelle lowered her raspy voice and said, “I’ll send a messenger with your final paycheck and all the things you left behind, including that stash of peanut butter pretzels and granola bars you keep in the credenza. If you leave quietly, I won’t tell everyone we do business with that you broke up a marriage.”

  Vivienne flinched. It was one thing to be fired because her boss of over three years thought so poorly of her. It was another thing to become a pariah of the event-planning industry. If a rumor like that got out, she’d never get another job.

  Her mouth opened and closed several more times, but the disgust coming out of Estelle’s eyes was too intense, too hate filled. Vivienne had always prided herself on her diplomacy skills, on being the voice of reason in the most emotionally charged situations. Yet there was nothing she could say to save herself.

  She couldn’t even hold her head up as she turned and walked away, still clutching Cole’s binder to her chest.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Four days later, Cole was looking down at his phone, wondering why Vivienne hadn’t responded to any of his texts since their lunch on Friday. He’d known she was busy with an event over the weekend, but it wasn’t like her to not respond at all. Unless she was trying to cool things down between them.

  His palms itched and his mind immediately went to the worst-case scenario, the way it always did when he started worrying about a loved one.

  The thought stopped him cold. A loved one? He didn’t actually love Vivienne, did he? Because if he fell for her, that would put him at risk of losing her and getting hurt.

  No, he told himself. He didn’t love her. This feeling was nothing more than a powerful sense of responsibility. He’d experienced this with countless people. Squad mates, his cousins’ friends, hell, even horses. As though to prove it to himself, Cole slipped his phone into his holder and went back to work on the never-ending fence line.

  Even with the train depot and freight house, the acreage on this property was almost twice the size of their last ranch. And they were starting from scratch. He could’ve stayed back with his brothers, working on the new barn and stables. But he’d been in a bad mood since Monday, when he’d tried to call Vivienne and it had gone to voice mail. Garrett had asked if it was a woman who had him so twisted up and Cole reminded his brother that after the mess he’d gotten himself into the night of the wedding, he shouldn’t be talking to anyone about problems with women.

  The sound of the diesel engine of his dad’s Dodge forced him to shove away all thoughts of Vivienne. Cole walked over to the dirt path where his father had parked and was now exiting the crew cab.

  “You didn’t come to the barn for lunch,” Phil said, holding up a small blue cooler by the handle.

  See, this was what his family did. They looked out for each other. Cole wasn’t the only Dalton who had a tendency to be overprotective. “Thanks, Dad.”

  “You know, you are allowed to take a break occasionally,” his old man said.

  Cole responded with a slight shake of his head. There was too much to do and too much to think about. He took the insulated jug off the back of his all-terrain vehicle and used the spout to grab a quick drink before letting the cool water spray onto his face and then his forearms. Pulling a handkerchief out of his jeans pocket, he dried his hands before wiping off the back of his neck.

  “Son,” his father said, putting a leathery tan hand on Cole’s shoulder. “I know you think you’re the only one who can get this ranch up and running. But you’re not going to be any use to the rest of us if you’re out here until all hours dragging yourself till you’re in the ground.”

  “I know my limitations.”

  “Do you?”

  Cole didn’t answer, because it was a well-disputed opinion in his family that he had a tendency to work himself ragged trying to do everything for everybody. His brothers called it a hero complex, but Cole called it serving a need.

  “How’s that pretty little wedding planner doing?”

  “What?” Cole’s damp head whipped around at his father’s sudden change of direction.

  “Vivienne. You know, the gal you had lunch with last week?”

  Cole squinted. “How did you know I had lunch with her?”

  “You think you’re the only one who likes to keep tabs on where his family is?”

  “Hmm. At least it’s good to know everyone’s finally using the locator app I installed on your smartphones.”

  “Pfshh.” Phil waved him off. “Don’t need that technology nonsense when I’ve got good old-fashioned small-town word of mouth.”

  “Since when did you become a gossipy old man?”

  “There’s a difference between speaking gossip and listening to it,” his dad said, and Cole lifted a brow. “And I’m not about to reveal my sources, but some of the same people who shop at the hardware supply in Rust Creek Falls also occasionally go into Kalispell to get their pie fix. I mean, Eva-Rose’s pies are mighty fine, but Matilda has a heavy hand with the whipped cream, you know. Ever since this person’s wife got on him about his cholesterol, he’s had to steer clear of Daisy’s Donut Shop and sneak out of town whenever he wants a proper dessert.”

  “You’d think the mailman would be more careful talking about who he ran into in Kalispell if he didn’t want his wife to find out.”

  Phil’s eyes widened in surprise at Cole’s accurate guess that Barney was his so-called source, but he quickly recovered. “Anyway, my point is that you’ve been spending a lot of time with Vivienne Shuster, and the way I heard it, the two of you were looking pretty cozy out on the sidewalk when you kissed her goodbye.”

  Cole’s mouth tilted at the memory of that kiss. It had packed quite a punch, and at the time neither one of them had seemed to care who might see them. But now that Vivienne hadn’t talked to Cole in a few days, maybe he’d misinterpreted things.

  “So, you are dating her?” His dad must’ve noticed the mix of expressions that crossed Cole’s face every time he thought of Vivienne.

  “I guess you could say we were dating. But I don’t exactly know what’s going on between us right this second.” Cole wasn’t one to talk about his relationships with anyone, especially his family. But his father didn’t appear to be in a hurry to take off anytime soon. In fact, the older man scooted his hip onto the supply bed of the ATV. Cole sighed. “I haven’t heard from her in a few days.”

  “I bet that must be killing you.” Phil Dalton didn’t tease his boys often, but when he did, the resemblance between him and Garrett was uncanny. They had the same devilish grin. In fact, their mother used to say that all her sons had that playful smirk.

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because God forbid someone doesn’t ever return your call.” As soon as the words were out of his dad’s mouth, pain flashed in the older man’s eyes and he sucked in his whiskered cheek before blowing out a breath. “I’m sorry, Cole. I didn’t mean to bring that up. You’re right to worry about that sort of thing. We all are.”

  Cole’s lungs felt hollow, and he folded his arms across his chest as though he could keep his heart from sinking any further.

  “I know you guys all make fun of me for being uptight about phones, but I was the one who...” Cole couldn’t bear to finish the last sentence.

  “Do you think you’re the only one who feels guilty for what happened to your mom? Hell, son, she was my wife and I wasn’t able to protect her any more than you were.”

  None of the men liked talking about the circumstances surrounding Diana Dalton’s death. However, while he was sure that all his brothers held on to a sense of guilt at not being able to save her, Cole was ultimately the one responsible.

  When it happened, he’d just returned stateside after a deployment to Iraq, waiting for
his commanding officer to approve his leave paperwork so he could hop a plane to Montana. At the same time, his father and brothers were hauling feed to a herd of cattle at the far end of their property when a fast-moving wildfire headed directly toward their ranch house. His mom had been home and probably didn’t even see or smell the fire until it was too late. Her husband and sons had tried to call her from their cell phones, but the landline wires had already gone down in the blaze and she didn’t answer her own cell—which was later found in the back of her burned car.

  “Cole, saving people is what you do. I get that. You’ve always been in the right place at the right time, but this was one instance when you weren’t. Even if you hadn’t been thousands of miles away, you couldn’t have saved her.”

  “No, but I could have prevented it.”

  “You think you could’ve prevented a massive wildfire that scorched tens of thousands of acres in under an hour?”

  “No, Dad. But I was the last one she spoke to on her cell phone. Right before she set it down inside her trunk so she could carry in all the groceries.” Cole’s throat tightened as he pushed out the words. “The groceries she’d just gone to the store to get to cook my favorite homecoming meal for me.”

  It was hard to meet his father’s eyes, but his dad’s stare was too long and intense to escape. The older man spread his arms. “Get over here, son.”

  But Cole’s feet felt heavy in his boots and he didn’t take a step. After his mother’s devastating death, he’d been the one to pull his dad into his arms. He’d been the one to offer the emotional support, all the while knowing that he had been the cause. It would have been so easy to return to the Corps, to go back to being a full-time Marine and not have to think about everyone hurting at home. But instead of reenlisting, Cole opted to hang up his dog tags and move back to Montana to help his father rebuild his life. It was what his family needed. What his mother would’ve wanted. He owed them all at least that much.