Her Billionaire Cowboy's Fake Marriage

by Hope Moore

  Allie’s heart grabbed. The pain of what a fool she’d been months ago pained her.

  “And it won’t be from this handsome money-bags cowboy either. He’s using you, just like the others.”

  “No, no—he helped me, too. They didn’t.”

  “True. But he’s not the one. Don’t let his helping you mix up your feelings for this guy. You are both helping each other out, so please do not forget that. I’m going to remind you every day I’m here and every day after I leave if I need to. But before I leave, he’ll know to back off and let you have your space. I brought Loretta and I’m going to let him know I did.”

  Allie groaned. “No, you didn’t. There is not going to be any need for you to whip that thing out to scare him.”

  Ginny grinned. “You know I travel everywhere with Loretta. But he doesn’t need to know that. He’s going to think, unless you tell him, that I carried it over here just for him. Stick with me and we’ll get him in order.”

  Allie had to laugh as she stared at her friend. Pure Texas country girl full of mischief and determination. Allie loved Ginny, but poor, poor Wade. What had she done?

  Wade woke at his normal five-thirty in the morning and went down to the barn, using his balcony door as his exit instead of chancing waking Allie and Ginny. He had overheard their conversation the night before. He’d been going to welcome her and been in the hallway when he’d overheard Allie say she had a fickle heart. He’d halted as Ginny’s forceful words hit him. “There is not one thing wrong with your heart. It is the best heart I’ve ever known or ever will know. It is not fickle. It is loyal, and wonderful and gentle and passionate. And men are fools for not seeing that.” He hadn’t been able to move but had stood there as they talked about him and other men who had hurt Allie. What? Someone had stolen from her? Used her? Made her feel like she was less than?

  Ginny’s description did not sit well with him. Allie was good and loyal and kind and giving and every good description he could come up with but in no way was she less than anything or anyone. So when he’d met her, she hadn’t just been grieving her dad and worried about her mother; she had been mistreated and used. He wanted to ask who these men were and he wanted to stand up for Allie, and to get back what had been hers. But he also wanted to make her know that she was everything and more than Ginny had said she was.

  And he wanted to walk in there and give Ginny a big hug and a kiss on the cheek for bringing this to his attention.

  He wanted to make this right.

  Allie had taken up for him and he knew in his heart that he wasn’t in the same category as those other cowboys. He would never have intentionally hurt her.

  But what next?

  He’d moved back from the door and gone to his room for the night to think. This morning, he was completely winging it, prepared for Ginny to blast him but determined to make this right if he could. About eight, after clearing the day for himself, he walked back up to the house and found them sitting outside on the back deck, eating breakfast. They’d made cinnamon buns. His stomach growled.

  “Morning, ladies.” He gave Ginny a nod of his head and tipped his hat. Allie looked tired. But at least this morning there was a twinkle back in her eye that hadn’t been there the day before.

  Ginny hiked a brow. “Morning yourself, cowboy.” Ginny gave him an unexpected smile.

  “I hope you had a good drive down, Ginny.”

  “I did and I dreamed all the way down here all the different things I was going to do to you when I got here. You are treading on thin ice, bucko.”

  “Ginny, please,” Allie said, pleading in her voice. “We talked about this.”

  “Allie doesn’t want me to say anything to you. But she was upset when she called me and asked me to come visit. I’m here because I think you might be playing with her heart.”

  The woman did not mince words.

  Allie had turned beet-red. “Ginny, we talked about this last night. I told you not to say anything. Wade and I will work this out.”

  Wade took his hat off so Allie could see his eyes. “No, Ginny’s right, Allie. I should’ve told you the other day when you said we would treat the dance like it was real—I should’ve put my foot down right there and said no. That if you couldn’t fake it at the dance then we shouldn’t do it. I should’ve just told Penny we didn’t need a wedding reception. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

  “It’s okay, Wade.”

  “No, it’s not okay. We signed a contract. We have it written out and I let myself deviate from it. And I’m making a promise to you both that it won’t happen again. We can be friends but we’re not crossing that line again. We have about eight weeks to go now and I let us get off track. Ginny is just here to remind me of what is at stake here. Ginny, you’re not going to have to get that gun out.”

  Ginny smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes. They were very steady on his. “I think that sounds just dandy. The contract you signed was cut-and-dried. And I think that’s the way it needs to stay. ’Course, that’s just me. If Allie tells me she fell head over heels in love with you, then we would have to have another talk.”

  This Ginny was something. What? Was she going to get out her shotgun and have a shotgun wedding when they were already married? It didn’t quite make sense. But again, at least she was looking out for Allie. “I give you my word, friends is all we’re going to be. I won’t cross the line again.”

  Allie bit her lip and he feared he saw disappointment in her eyes. Not good.

  Ginny slid the plate of cinnamon rolls toward him. “Great. Now I can relax and we can have some fun. Want a cinnamon roll?”

  Relief should have filled him but he didn’t feel anything but anxious as he reached for the cinnamon roll. “Thanks. Can’t resist these.” He was afraid he was going to have trouble resisting Allie but he would. “Would you two like to go visit our vineyard? See where we make our jelly and our wine?”

  Both ladies smiled and said yes in unison. And he at least felt as if he were doing something right.

  Allie looked from Wade to Ginny and felt some relief that they called a truce of sorts. She had mixed feelings about Wade so firmly assuring Ginny that the next eight weeks would be strictly by the contract. But at least for now she was on firmer ground. This was good.

  She wasn’t sure why she needed Ginny to like Wade. After all, in eight weeks it wouldn’t matter. They probably wouldn’t ever run into each other after the marriage was dissolved. Them meeting on that fateful night at the truck stop had been a once-in-a-million chance.

  Wade took a bite of the cinnamon roll. “Amazing. I’m going to go get a cup of coffee and do a few things in the office. When y’all are ready, you let me know.”

  Allie took a sip of her coffee. “How about an hour? Ginny and I are going to have a little bit more of this coffee first. We were up late last night.”

  “Yes, sounds good.” Allie met his gaze and his chest felt as though it were on fire.

  Ginny held her arms over her head and stretched. “I have to say, this is a beautiful house and that bed in the room I’m in is about as comfortable of a bed as I’ve ever slept in. I honestly can’t believe you live in this big house all by yourself normally.”

  “I didn’t use to live in it by myself. It was my granddaddy’s and I lived here because I didn’t want him rambling around in it alone. But through the years there’s been more of us here. Todd and Morgan lived here too at one point before they took over their parts of the business. It’s been filled. And then when Morgan got married, he and his wife would visit.”

  Allie stared at him. “Morgan used to be married? You’ve not mentioned that.”

  He looked sad. “He was married. But we don’t talk about it much. He doesn’t want to and we do what he asked. He lost his wife. She got sick about three years ago. So I guess Granddaddy figured that was the end of his chance of getting any great-grandkids. And the reality is he did because he died too, before any of us fulfilled his dream. A dream
I hadn’t realized he wanted so badly until he pulled this stunt with his will.”

  Wade looked out toward the fields for a minute, a very thoughtful expression on his face. Then he looked back at her.

  “I never quite thought about it from my granddaddy’s perspective on him and this ranch and how much life there used to be here when we were all kids growing up and getting into stuff. It was lively, and a lot of laughter. There hasn’t been laughter here in a long time. I think he wanted that back.”

  “I’m so sorry. But I guess you’re thinking he was really sad about that. About it being so quiet.”

  “Yeah. I mean, he hinted at us getting married but he never really pushed. And you know, for him that was odd. Usually if he wanted something, he made it happen.”

  Allie studied him. She could see that he was disturbed. Her gaze shifted to Ginny and she actually saw something flicker in her friend’s eyes that looked like compassion. Allie wanted to comfort him but she pulled her emotions back. There would be none of that.

  Ginny spoke up. “I’m thinking he realized he couldn’t make y’all fall in love but then decided what the heck and decided to try anyway. Sometimes you have to shake things up to make things happen.”

  Wade and Ginny stared at each other and Allie wondered what they were thinking.

  “Maybe so,” Wade said. “Well, it’s coffee time. I’ll see you two in an hour.” With that, he turned and strode into the house.

  Ginny looked across the table at Allie. “He just seems lonesome to me.”

  Allie agreed. “Yes, he does. And I have a feeling that his granddaddy probably was too. I can just feel how badly he wanted great-grandkids. I mean, this place is just so beautiful and for him to know that if all his boys weren’t interested in getting married, it was always going to be quiet… Can you imagine how that felt for him, building this place up and having seen how lively it had been with boys running around and enjoying this land so much and then to suddenly not see any of that? I think you’re right. I think he was desperate when he made that will. And I think he did what he did out of love.”

  Ginny shrugged and took a sip of her coffee. “I get what you’re saying. I didn’t know the guy but heck, you know how my mom and dad are about wanting me to get married and give them grandbabies to run around in the vineyard. They keep saying they want to hear the laughter of children running through those grapevines. I used to play in that dirt growing up. It’s a great life. But I told them that they were just going to have to hold their horses because it was probably going to be awhile before I thought about hitching myself to a man.”

  “When the time is right, you’ll find the right guy and he’s going to love you for yourself. Just like you are always telling me.”

  “Right.” She held her coffee mug up and nodded toward Allie. Allie lifted her coffee cup and they clinked them together. “To you and me, Allie. May we find the lives we want and the loves in our time. And the right loves—on our terms.”

  Allie giggled. “You always want everything on your terms.”

  Ginny grinned. “Is there any other way? I mean, why not?”

  “You’re right. Why settle?”

  “Absolutely no reason to settle. Now let’s talk about what you’re going to do over the next eight weeks while you’re here being friends with your fake husband.”

  “I hate to break it to you but right now he’s not a fake husband. He’s my real husband.”

  Her entire forehead wrinkled above her glare. “You didn’t make it real, real. Right?”

  Allie’s cheeks heated. “No, we have not.”

  “Whew! I’m glad to know that. I thought I really might have gotten here too late.”

  Allie took a sip of her coffee and hoped that hid the emotions that raced through her just at the thought of sharing any kind of intimacy with Wade. There would be no way of salvaging her heart.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Wade took them through the arched entrance that said McCoy Stonewall Jelly and Wine Division. He felt a sense of pride at the beautiful rows of grapes that reached as far as you could see. The house sat in the distance, a large place with a Tuscan look and a second-floor wraparound upper balcony that enabled a view of the vines.

  This was Todd’s pride and passion. Wade enjoyed the jelly but had personally never been a lover of wine. The grape jelly had come first, years ago, but then his granddaddy had expanded into wine after he bought more acreage and saw the potential. He’d also realized Todd understood the vision. His granddaddy was good at matching people with their passions.

  “This is some place,” Ginny said from the backseat.

  “It is beautiful,” Allie agreed.

  “Todd has built this into what it is.”

  “McCoy Stonewall wines are good,” Ginny added.

  When they stopped at the house, she got out and headed straight to the vines. Felt them, looked at them, and bent down and dug her fingers in the dirt, letting it sift through her fingertips back to the ground as she studied it.

  Wade and Allie saw Todd approaching and waved.

  He did the same as he walked up. “Hey, about time Wade brought you to see the place. We’ll give you the tour if you have time.”

  “Your place is gorgeous,” Allie said, as Ginny walked over. “This is my best friend, Ginny. Ginny, this is Todd, Wade’s brother.”

  “Nice to meet you.” Todd held out his hand.

  Ginny dusted her hand off on her thigh then took his hand and Allie could have sworn she flushed slightly beneath her well-tanned skin. She was outside working with her vines all day and always had sun-bronzed skin which acted as camouflage for the suspected blush.

  “Nice to meet you too,” she said, her brow creased. “You know, you need to prune your vines back more. It would raise your sun exposure.”

  Todd’s brow creased to match Ginny’s as he released her hand and looked at his vines and then back at Ginny. “My vines are perfectly pruned. I do much of it myself.”

  “Well, you’re doing a poor job. I’m telling you, this crop could increase with a little better sun exposure. And your wine depth would be—”

  “Excuse me—what do you know about wine?”

  “Ginny’s family has a winery in Tyler. The Rossi Rose of Tyler Vineyard.” Allie didn’t like the look on Ginny’s face. Ginny was passionate about the growth and care of a grape. Something Allie knew very little about but her friend was obsessed with making the best wine Texas had ever seen. She believed at her small family-owned winery she could make it happen.

  “It’s a small boutique winery, but excellent,” Ginny added, tartly. “I prune my vines too.”

  “Good for you,” Todd said. “I won’t tell you how to do it.” He looked at Wade. “Maybe we better do the tour. Do you want to see the jelly facility first?”

  “No, the vines. Jelly is jelly,” Ginny responded instantly, before Wade could reply.

  Wade glanced at Allie, wondering what was up with her friend. Allie looked worried. Wade returned his attention on Todd and Ginny.

  Todd was staring at her, his expression a mixture of a man fighting for patience and fighting to be polite. “Our Stonewall Jelly is a work of art.”

  She laughed. “Wine is a work of art. Jelly just takes a few grapes, a heap of sugar, and some fire. Wine takes so much more. Surely you’re not wasting these quality grapes on jelly?”

  Wade looked at Allie again and she cringed and mouthed, “Sorry.” He gave an imperceptible shrug.

  Todd, on the other hand, laughed. But there was no humor in his laugh. “Our mainstay of this business is our jelly. That’s where our history is. I do have a passion for the winemaking and although it is growing and making waves in the industry, it’s our McCoy’s Stonewall Jelly that is our superpower so yes, we are, as you say, wasting some of our grapes on jelly. More than half actually.”

  She shook her head. “That’s just sad. But I’d love to see your process with the wine.”

  “Jelly is
very important to our business.” Todd’s jaw tightened then looked at Wade and Allie with a who-does-she-think-she-is expression. “Y’all come this way. We’re going to check out my wine-making process.” Then he turned and strode toward the building she assumed held the wine.

  Allie spent the next hour in turmoil as Ginny and Todd argued over “processes” and Wade looked on, with his lips twitching a lot watching his brother and her friend. Todd wasn’t smiling, instead his eyes flashed fire nearly every time Ginny spoke.

  By the time they left, she felt as if Ginny had insulted Todd in every way possible.

  When they got back to the ranch, Wade suggested that maybe they might like to take a truck and explore the ranch. Or go lunch somewhere and not have him tag along. Allie wasn’t fooled; he was ready to escape.

  “We’re going to head to the rehab and check it out. We’ll eat somewhere on the way. And might eat dinner on the way back.” She needed space from him and time to let Ginny chill. Her friend seemed really wound up after the time spent at the winery.

  The minute they were in the truck and heading toward Kerrville, where they’d finally decided was the best place for her mother and not as far away as San Antonio from the ranch, she glanced at Ginny. “What was up with you torturing Todd?”

  Ginny crossed her arms and frowned. “It just irks me that he has all of that amazing space to do with as he wants, and yet, the man refuses to listen to good advice. He took one look at me and dismissed everything I said.”

  It was true. He had. It was as if the two of them had no common ground. It had been painful to watch and also, interesting. Allie thought she might have seen a spark between them.