by Jaci Burton
Other times it felt like a lifetime ago.
Damnú aír. He raked his fingers through his hair. No point in thinking of what had been. He was damn lucky to be here, grateful to the Bellinis for a home of his own and a roof over his head. He’d had no one back then after Ma had died. Now he had a family.
He went to the barn to grab some supplies for his project. He had to pass the main house, and while walking by he heard singing. Following the sound, he saw Brenna on her hands and knees, working in the dirt at the side of the house.
He cocked his head to the side and smiled, admiring the view. She was dressed in shorts and a cropped top, her smooth skin glistening with sweat as she used a trowel to dig out vegetables from the garden she tended.
Damn but she was beautiful, even sweaty and slinging dirt. Her hair was swirled up in a bun on top of her head, small curling red tendrils escaping and teasing her neck. All he could think about was how much he wanted to press his mouth to her nape.
Among other parts of her.
She shook the dirt off the potatoes and tossed them into a bin, then inched over to pull some peppers.
“Garden looks good, eh?” he asked.
She jumped back and straightened, shooting a pissed-off look in his direction. “Jesus, Finn. You could have made some noise to let me know you were there.”
“Just did.” He moved in closer, then crouched down to her level. “What’re you harvesting this mornin’?”
“Potatoes. Carrots. Peppers. Onions.”
“Need some help?”
She frowned. “Don’t you have a job to do?”
“Yeah. Don’t you?”
She lifted her chin. “I’ll get to it. You should go do your job.”
“Was on my way to do that and I heard you singing. You have a beautiful voice, Brenna.”
“Uh-huh.”
She stared at him, giving him her classic Brenna glare as if that would somehow scare him off. He’d never once been scared of her, so that never worked. “Do you need some help or should I just watch you?”
“What are you? Some kind of stalker?”
He laughed and got down on his knees beside her, taking the trowel from her hands. “I can’t rightly be a stalker since I live here, can I?”
“I . . .” She kept glowering at him while he harvested the vegetables. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?” he asked as he plopped the vegetables in the bin. “Help you? Kneel this close to you? Exist?”
“All of those things.”
He laughed. “Trying to be rid of me, álainn?”
“Don’t do that, either.”
“What? Talk to you?”
“No. Talk to me in Gaelic. It’s . . . it’s . . .”
He arched a brow, waiting for her answer.
“Just . . . stop it.”
She had a smudge of dirt on her face. He wiped his hand on his jeans, then swept his thumb over her cheek. “You had some dirt there.”
She didn’t pull away, just kept staring at him with those amazing eyes and dark lashes that always made his pulse kick up.
“Thanks.”
He got up and grabbed the bin, then held out his hand for her. She looked at his hand for a few seconds, then let him haul her to her feet.
He handed her the bin.
“Thank you for the help. Not that I needed it.”
“No, you didn’t. You don’t need anyone, Brenna. But you might want someone. Sometime. Don’t forget I’m here.”
He turned and walked away, smiling as he did.
That had gone well.
* * *
• • • • • •
BRENNA TOSSED THE bin of vegetables on the kitchen counter with a loud thud.
“What’s that all about?” their cook, Louise, asked. “Did some of the veggies go bad?”
“No, they’re all ripe and fabulous.”
Louise gave her a curious look as Brenna left the kitchen.
She went upstairs and headed straight for the shower. She was covered in sweat, dirt and consternation, all of which needed washing away.
After showering, she put on panties and a sundress, which was just about all she could stand to wear in this unbearable heat. Kneeling shoulder to thigh with Finn hadn’t helped her internal heat situation, either.
How dare he interrupt her self-isolation, the time of day when she got into her own head and enjoyed digging in her vegetable garden? Didn’t he know that was one of her favorite things to do—alone?
Men. Always getting in her damn way.
She went downstairs and fixed herself a glass of ice water, then closed herself in her office to do some paperwork.
Growing and harvesting grapes was a year-round job. With the weather ever changing from year to year, it was her job to decide what they would plant and when. A bad decision could ruin a crop for the following year, and cost Red Moss Vineyards a ton of money.
They weren’t a huge winery by many vineyard standards. They couldn’t compete with the California vineyards by any stretch of the imagination. But her parents had been in the vineyard business for over twenty years, and Brenna had been working in it with her dad since she was a little girl. Growing grapes had always held an interest for her. There was a science to it that she found fascinating. Types of grapes and yield and managing weather conditions, so much of it was out of her control. Yet she loved everything about it.
Her sister Honor knocked on the doorjamb. “You ready for the meeting?”
She hated meetings. “I’ll be there in a sec.”
“Okay. See you there.”
She gathered up her notes and her laptop and headed into the dining room, which had the biggest table in the house. When all three of the sisters joined the winery and wedding business, Mom and Dad had had the offices built on, but they’d all decided the dining room table would suffice as the conference room for meetings. Plus, they could eat snacks there, and who didn’t like snacks?
Dad was busy in the wine cellar and hated coming to morning meetings anyway, so typically Brenna attended them so he didn’t have to unless it was necessary. If there was something earth-shattering that he needed to be informed about, she’d let him know.
Mom handled the overall organization of both family businesses. Erin handled the budgets of the wine and wedding business, making sure invoices went out accordingly, and Honor was the Bellini Weddings planner. And though Brenna’s primary function was with Dad on Red Moss Vineyards, she also worked with Honor on supplying wine for the weddings they held on-site.
Honor came in and took her seat. Mom was on a call in her office and had held up one finger as Brenna had walked by, so she knew their mother would be in shortly. Which meant they’d just have to wait for Erin. Since she lived with her fiancé, Jason, now, she had to drive to the house every day. She came running in a few minutes later, her dog Agatha trailing in behind her.
“Sorry I’m late,” she said, tossing her things on the table and brushing her dark hair away from her face. “Jason had an early surgery and I forgot to set my alarm and then Agatha took forever to get ready.” She ended with a smile.
“Oh, sure,” Brenna said. “Blame the dog.”
Agatha bounded over to Brenna for her morning scratch behind the ears. She plopped her fluffy butt right on top of Brenna’s right foot, wagging her tail back and forth.
Brenna smiled down at the furry pup. “Don’t let her blame you because she and loverboy stayed up late last night fooling around.”
“Hey,” Erin said. “Not true.”
“The telltale blush on your cheeks says otherwise,” Honor said, then laughed.
“Sometimes I hate having sisters.”
“No, you don’t,” Brenna said. “We’re the best thing to ever happen to you.”
Erin sniffed.
“If I hadn’t had two sisters I’d have had more shoes.”
Honor snorted. “That’s probably true. You are the shoe queen around here.”
“Hey,” Erin said. “And you’re the one who loves clothes.”
“Guilty,” Honor said. “And Brenna buys all the books and pretty bracelets.”
“Now that I think about it,” Brenna said, “without you two I could have had it all. The shoes, the clothes, the books, the bracelets—everything.”
“But you wouldn’t have had us,” Honor said. “And you’d have missed out on all our sisterly shenanigans.”
“Point taken.”
“All right, girls,” their mother said as she walked into the room, so used to the three of them bickering it rolled right off her. “Can we get started now?”
Agatha bounded out of the room, no doubt to bug Louise for treats or to go looking for their dad.
“Okay, to get things started,” Erin said after taking a seat, “I’ve sent out the invoices for last weekend’s super successful weddings.”
“With happy brides and grooms for both,” their mom said.
Honor smiled. “They were lovely weddings, weren’t they?”
“They were,” Erin said. “We did well on both of those. Also, I’ve made adjustments on a couple of budgets. The Harrison/Landell wedding on the twenty-seventh added thirty-six guests, and the Mathison/Blue wedding on November sixth wants ice sculptures and ten more cases of cabernet.”
“We’ll need more wine for Harrison/Landell,” Brenna said.
Honor nodded. “I think so.”
Brenna pulled up the order forms for the weddings on her laptop and added additional wines to make sure they stocked appropriately. “Got it.”
Mom always held the agenda, so she looked to Brenna next. “What have you got, Brenna?”
She didn’t need to read a report to give the information she needed to. “The vineyards are in good shape for harvest. All the grapes are strong. No diseases. Those in fermentation look amazing, and we’re bottling like crazy. The chardonnay is especially tasty. Our yields are going to be fantastic this year. Dad’s really happy with every stage.”
Mom smiled widely. “Yes, he’s especially pleased. It’s a good year for the grapes.”
“That’s great news,” Erin said. “I can’t wait for harvest.”
Harvest was always an especially fun time of year. “Me, too,” Brenna said.
“You’re up, Honor,” their mother said.
Honor opened up her notebook and slid her laptop in front of her. “Okay. I met with three couples last week and took them on a tour of the grounds, to include the reception barn and the vineyard. All three scheduled weddings.”
“That’s fantastic,” Brenna said.
“I know, right? Well, four weddings were scheduled, actually.”
Mom frowned. “Four?”
Erin grinned. “She means that Jason and I have set a date for our wedding.”
A loud chorus of excited cheers went up.
“When?” Mom asked.
“The Richmond/Lisbon wedding moved to next year, so I slipped into their October slot.”
Brenna blinked. “You mean October as in two-months-from-now October?”
Erin nodded. “Yes.”
Their mother just stared, openmouthed, with nothing to say.
“Holy shit.” Brenna opened the wedding schedule to check the slot. It was mid-October, which was actually less than two months away since they were already well into August. “Erin, are you insane?”
Erin shrugged. “We were going to plan it for next spring, but I was supposed to marry Owen in the spring and I don’t want a repeat of that disaster. Plus, Clay and Alice are getting married next May and I want to be able to focus on their wedding without mine getting in the way.”
Brenna waved her hand back and forth. “First, as if that disaster could ever happen again. Your relationship with Jason is solid. You two love each other. Second, you juggle like no one I’ve ever seen.”
“I know,” Erin said. “The idea of this wedding being like my . . . nonwedding is ridiculous. Still, it’s in my head and I don’t want it to be. And besides, if anyone can pull a wedding together in two months, it’s this family.”
“This is true,” Honor said. “I promised her we could do it. Obviously, we have the venue sewn up. And wine. And we have all the connections to prod and push the vendors to make sure we get everything else in line quickly.”
Erin nodded. “We’ve got this. It’s doable.”
Honor was already making furious notes. “I can handle this.”
“No, we will handle this,” Brenna said. “As a family. Whatever you need on the wedding side, Honor, we’ll all pitch in and help.”
Honor gave her a grateful look. “Thanks.”
Wow. Her sister was getting married. This year. Brenna did not see that coming. What a whirlwind this was going to be.
“Which just leaves me to get the dress,” Erin said. “Er, dresses, since there will be bridesmaids, of course.”
“A wedding in two months,” Brenna said. “Only this family would try to make that happen.”
“Not try,” Erin said. “We’re going to do this, right?”
Mom shook her head. “My child, you are nothing if not a constant surprise. All right. If everyone agrees, then we’ll make it work. No, we’ll more than make it work. We’ll make it perfect.”
Erin looked around the table. “I won’t deny that this will be difficult.”
Brenna shrugged. “I’m in and I’ll do whatever it takes. After what you went through with Owen, you deserve your happily-ever-after, however you want it.”
“What Brenna said,” Honor said. “You know I can make this happen for you.”
Erin clapped her hands together. “I love you all so much. Thank you for supporting Jason and me.”
“How does Jason feel about all of this?” Brenna asked.
“He’d happily go to City Hall and marry me there tomorrow. And he’s all on board for the October wedding. He wants whatever makes me happy.”
“Which is why he’s the one for you, honey,” Honor said. “So when do we go dress shopping?”
Erin laughed. “Obviously as soon as possible.”
“Okay,” Mom said. “Let’s get out our calendars and we’ll make some plans.”
They did just that, picking a day that week where they could clear their schedules.
“That’s not all the news I have.”
Everyone stared at Honor.
“There’s more?” Brenna asked.
Honor nodded. “Yes, and this one will affect you, Brenna.”
Brenna shot her a curious look. “In what way?”
“Esther Brown’s wedding next weekend.”
Brenna nodded. “Right. I’m a bridesmaid.” She and Esther had been friends since high school. She’d been honored when Esther not only chose their vineyard to have her wedding but then asked Brenna to be a bridesmaid.
“Exactly. Her matron of honor, Vanessa, is seven months pregnant and lives in Portland. She planned to be here but her pregnancy just became high risk because of high blood pressure and her doctor advised against travel, so she can’t make it to the wedding. Which means Esther’s had to come up with a replacement.”
“Oh, that’s too bad,” Mom said. “She must be so upset about that.”
“They both are. However, Esther also happens to be best friends with Allison Walker, who’s going to be Esther’s replacement matron of honor.”
Erin looked over at Brenna. “Oh, crap.”
Brenna rolled her eyes. Since Allison was married to Brenna’s ex-husband, that meant Mitchell would be there, too. There was no way Allison would show up on Bellini property without him. “Won’t that be fun.”
She ran into Mitchell now and then at events, but it wasn’t like they actually . . . talked or anything. In fact, they hadn’t had an in-depth discussion since the day he’d moved out of their condo, effectively splitting up their marriage. Which was . . . four years ago? Then less than a year after their divorce had been finalized he’d married Allison. No mourning period for him.
Not that she’d mourned him. At all. Much.
“Are you going to be all right with this?” her mom asked.
Brenna shrugged. “I’m fine with it. Business is business, so we’ll deal with it just like any other wedding.”
“There’s more,” Honor said.
Brenna braced herself.
“Go ahead.”
“Esther and Brock want to make an entire weekend of it, here at the vineyard. Wine tasting with the wedding party on Thursday, rehearsal dinner on Friday, then the wedding on Saturday followed by brunch with the family and wedding party on Sunday morning.”
“Oh, that’s a lot of Mitchell,” Erin said, wincing. “And a lot of Allison.”
Mom shook her head. “Absolutely not. How dare she—”
“Mom,” Brenna said. “You have to remember this isn’t Mitchell making these plans. It’s the bride and groom. They chose Bellini Weddings and Red Moss Vineyards. I’m sure they never even made the connection.”
“More likely Allison just wants to dig in the knife and vomit her happiness all over you.”
“Erin.” Their mother shot Erin a glare. “Not that I don’t disagree, but that was vile.”
“And not untrue,” Honor said. “We all know Allison’s motivations. She’d always had it out for Brenna, even in high school.”
Brenna couldn’t disagree with that. Some women never grew out of their high school pettiness. Brenna and Allison had been friends in high school. Close friends. Until Brenna had been asked to junior prom by Dean Cullen, one of the most popular boys in the school, and Allison had never forgiven her. How was Brenna supposed to know Allison had a crush on the guy if she had never told Brenna about it? It wasn’t like Brenna had even flirted with Dean. Okay, maybe she’d eyed him in the halls, but who wouldn’t have wanted to go out with the hottest tight end on the football team? Every girl did back then. Never in a million years did she think Dean would ask the dorky bookworm over the super cool cheerleader. She’d been as shocked as Allison had been. After Allison had informed her of how upset she was, Brenna had told her she’d turn him down.