by Jami Alden
“Can I get you anything to drink?” The flight attendant, who had introduced herself as Christina, asked Cora.
“Champagne would be lovely,” Cora replied before Natalia could say that she was fine with the bottle of water she’d brought on board.
When Christina delivered the champagne in cut crystal flutes Cora raised hers for a toast. “I’m so glad you can help me with the last minute wedding details,” she said as Natalia clinked her glass against hers. “This is going to be so much fun.”
Natalia hoped so. Even though she was nervous about pulling off an event of this magnitude in a city where she didn’t know any of the vendors, suppliers, or service providers, she felt the familiar flutter of anticipation that came with planning any event.
Coupled with the anticipation was the apprehension she’d felt when Cora first suggested the plan nearly a week ago as they all gathered in Natalia’s apartment. “You know Mom fired the wedding planner a month ago,” she said when Natalia initially balked at taking on the project. Though she worked with acquaintances, for the most part she avoided planning things for close friends. Of course, she’d offer free advice or give her opinion on flowers or decor if asked, but she was afraid of the consequences to the friendship if anything went wrong.
“I told you I didn’t like Mindy Turner,” Natalia said.
“You said you didn’t like her, not that she would steal from us.” A little over a month ago, Cora and her mother, Louise had been going over the statements for the engagement party Mindy had managed for them and realized that she’d fudged the numbers. By over charging them for flowers, liquor, and furniture rentals she was able to skim an additional ten thousand dollars on top of her not insubstantial fee.
“Anyway, you know Mom and I have been winging it, and we’re totally in the weeds. Besides, you always were my first choice to do my wedding. But I for once I wanted you to actually enjoy a party instead of running around making sure everything is running smoothly.”
Natalia had been looking forward to enjoying Cora’s wedding and reception as a bridesmaid and a guest as well. But she couldn’t deny that Cora’s proposal offered her a unique opportunity to salvage what was left of her career.
“This will be perfect. Not only will you pull everything off flawlessly as always -“
“Not always,” Olivia interjected.
Cora leveled her sister with a frosty glare. “There will be a photographer from Town and Country magazine there. They’re going to feature our wedding in an article on unique destination weddings. Honestly, Mom and I are starting to panic about it. Now you can plan it for us, and your name will be all over the article. Not to mention, you’ll likely be saving us from killing each other. So, win-win all around!”
In that moment, the giant knot in her stomach unfurled a bit, and she saw a tiny light at the end of the tunnel. Not that there wouldn’t be potential land mines to avoid. She loved Cora’s mother, but Louise McLaughlin had very strong opinions that didn’t always jibe with her daughter’s, along with very high expectations of the people she employed.
But Friday’s snafu aside, Natalia knew she was one of the best, if not the best, party and wedding planner in the city. She knew she could pull this off and give her friend the wedding of her dreams. And maybe save her career in the process.
Still, when the plane landed and they climbed into the back of the black SUV that was waiting for them on the tarmac, Natalia felt new tension creep into her shoulders. Thirty minutes later the SUV turned off the road onto the three-mile gravel driveway that led to the ranch. The drive was as beautiful as she remembered from the one time she and Emily had accompanied the McLaughlins out here the summer after they’d graduated from high school. Black and Red Angus cattle dotted the grassy pastures. The grass was emerald green from spring rain. It rippled across the plains that gave way to rugged mountains. Overhead, the late May sky was so blue and clear it was almost painful to look at.
In the face of all of this stunning beauty, she felt like a piece of the knot in her stomach broke off and jumped up to her throat. It had nothing to do with the wedding, or even her worry that her career might be over.
It was the one thing that had been nagging at her from the moment Cora announced her and Trey’s plan to have the wedding at the ranch. There was no question Natalia would be part of the wedding.
And that meant there was no question that she would see him again.
The ranch’s barn and other outbuildings came into view. Natalia felt like her chest was being squeezed in a vice.
“Are you ok?” Cora asked.
“Of course,” she said. A tractor and a four-wheeler were parked in front of a large aluminum shed, but there was no sign of anyone else. As they rounded the last corner, the original ranch house came into view. Next to it was a smaller cabin where the former foreman, Dwight, had lived when Natalia had last visited.
Did he live there now? Or maybe his older brother had taken up residence.
“Are you sure? You look really tense all of a sudden.”
“I’m fine. Just going through my mental checklist. There’s a lot to get done in the next two weeks.”
She’d never told Cora - or anyone for that matter - what had happened between her and Ian Blackwell, the younger son of the ranch’s previous owners that long ago summer.
To be fair, nothing much really had happened. Certainly not enough to have her stomach twisting with remembered embarrassment all these years later or to have her heart thumping at the mere thought of seeing him again.
Stop being stupid. It was practically nothing and it was so long ago he probably doesn’t even remember. He probably doesn’t remember you.
Ian Blackwell turned his head at the sound of gravel crunching under the wheels of a car. Through the partially open barn door he saw the black Chevy Tahoe driven by Pete, the ranch hand they’d sent into town to pick up Cora and her friend Natalia.
Cora had asked if he or his brother, Wyatt, could come pick them up. He’d apologized and offered the excuse that at this time of year they had too much work with the cattle to do, but that someone would be there waiting when the jet landed in Bozeman.
It wasn’t exactly a lie. When the McLaughlins had bought a seventy-five percent stake in the Blackwells’ cattle operation fifteen years ago, Martin Blackwell, and now that he had retired, his sons Wyatt and Ian were in charge of managing the operation. Spring in the cattle business meant he and his brother were busy branding the new calves, irrigating the hayfields, and making sure the fencing around the pastures was sound. But he could have spared forty-five minutes in his day to drive to the airport and back.
Still, he wanted to put off seeing Cora, or more precisely her companion, as long as possible.
“So, the princess has arrived,” Wyatt said over Ian’s shoulder. “I wonder how long before Prince Douchebag gets here.” Ever since the McLaughlins had bought the majority share of the ranch and started coming out here for vacation, Wyatt, and to a lesser extent Ian, had been protective of Cora.
While her older sister had likely been a ball buster the moment she came screaming out of the womb, there was a softness in Cora and an open-hearted kindness that too often got her taken advantage of. Although he had no evidence of it, Wyatt had been convinced Cora’s fiancé, who they’d met in December when the McLauglins gathered here for Christmas, was up to no good from the moment he laid eyes on him.
“I’m guessing sometime later this week? Next week?” Ian said. “I’m not keeping up on the particulars of wedding festivities unless they interfere with what we need to get done.”
“Guess we’d better break out the welcome wagon,” Wyatt said as he hung the bridle he was holding on a hook in the wall.
As he followed Wyatt from the door, Ian gave himself a mental kick for wanting to turn tail and head in the other direction. It was stupid, he told himself, to be this riled up to see Natalia after all these years. To feel such an intense combination of anticipation and exci
tement at seeing her again, and shame and regret over how things had gone down that long-ago summer.
Still he forced his feet past the old ranch house, where his brother now lived, and the two-bedroom cabin Ian called home. Back when their father had accepted Don McLaughlin’s offer to partially buy them out, Martin had taken a lot of flak from the other local ranchers. Sellout, they’d called him, only adding to the perceived plague of rich people from both coasts swooping in and buying up vanity properties, thereby squeezing out the families that had been ranching in this part of Montana for generations.
But between years of drought and the volatility of beef prices, the ranch had been barely breaking even for too many years in a row. So, Don McLaughlin and Ian’s father had worked out a deal. Don would buy a seventy five percent stake in the ranch, but the McLaughlin family would continue to live on the ranch and manage the cattle operation.
Once his father paid off the mortgage and line of credit, he had been left with enough left over to easily cover college expenses for Ian and Wyatt. The rest was put into trusts for each of his sons, which he and Wyatt had gained access to when they turned twenty-five. In addition, the McLaughlins shared twenty five percent of all the profits with the Blackwells.
They may no longer own eight thousand acres of prime Montana ranching property, but they were grateful that Don appreciated the family legacy and was willing to make a deal that would allow the Blackwells to continue working the land. Not to mention, their deal with the McLaughlins provided a very comfortable retirement for Ian’s parents and financial security for Ian and his brother.
Ian trailed Wyatt as they watched the SUV pull up in front of the big house. Built by the McLaughlins after they invested in the ranch, it was a massive structure built from logs and stones. Both the original ranch house, where Wyatt now lived, and the foreman’s cabin, which Ian called home, could easily fit inside the house’s great room.
By the time he and his brother reached the house, Cora was already out of the car and walking up the wide front steps. She smiled as Marianne, who was the housekeeper when the McLaughlins were in residence, emerged from the front door, arms outstretched for a hug. Marianne had spent the last two days shopping, cooking and cleaning in preparation for Cora’s arrival. He could hear snippets of their conversation as he approached.
“I stocked the kitchen with that yogurt you like and tons of fresh fruit,” Marianne said as Cora gave her a tight squeeze.
“You always take such good care of us,” Cora said.
“And I got the extra room ready like you asked. Natalia will be sleeping in the room next to Olivia’s.”
For some stupid reason, his chest seized up at the mere mention of her name. But that didn’t compare to the electric shock that sizzled through him as the rear passenger door of the SUV opened and the woman in question emerged.
She was different than he remembered, the wild mane of black hair now pulled into a sleek ponytail. And she’d traded in her cutoff shorts and tee shirt for slim fitting jeans and a silky beige top. But damn, she was still beautiful, with her big, dark, heavily lashed eyes and lush red mouth. And, of course, there was her body, with its curves that made her outfit seem as provocative as skimpy lingerie.
But he’d known a lot of beautiful women in his life and none of them made his stomach clench and his hands sweat at the first sight of them.
He’d convinced himself that his reaction all those years ago was due to the fact that he’d been a horny nineteen-year-old intrigued by Cora’s feisty friend from high school. Natalia was a novelty, different from the girls he’d grown up with, and that novelty combined with her lush curves and heartbreaker of a face was bound to pique any straight young man’s interest.
But he was no longer a young man with testosterone roaring through his veins, he was a grown ass man who no longer reacted like a cartoon wolf, salivating and saying “awooga” at the sight of a beautiful woman.
Or so he’d thought.
He tore his attention from Natalia and joined his brother who had mounted the steps to greet Cora
“Hey, little sister,” Wyatt said and pulled Cora into a hug. When he released her, Ian pulled her into his embrace.
When they’d first met the McLaughlins’ two daughters, Ian and Wyatt had been ready to dismiss them as snobs. But Cora, with her sweet nature and willingness to get dirty working around the ranch, had quickly won them over. She was two years younger than Ian and four years younger than Wyatt, and it didn’t take long before they’d taken her under their wing like the little sister they’d never had.
Olivia had been a tougher nut to crack. She was what his mother liked to call “slow to warm” - some might have called her a standoffish bitch - but eventually they’d all become friends.
“You guys remember my friend, Natalia, right?” Cora said as she stepped away from Ian and beckoned Natalia over.
She stepped up and offered her hand first to Wyatt, then to Ian.
A heat sizzled through his veins at the feel of her small, soft hand in his, sending a jolt of awareness to his groin. “No way in hell I could ever forget Natalia.”
He smiled down at her. The one she gave in return was tight, more like a baring of teeth, and didn’t even come close to reaching those beautiful eyes. Clearly, she wasn’t feeling anything warm and fuzzy at seeing him again.
“Nice to see you both again,” she said. She jerked her hand from his and wiped her palm against her denim clad thigh.
Ian’s stomach clenched again, but this time it was something other than sexual awareness that had him feeling like a flock of birds were beating their wings in his abdomen. It was guilt.
She was clearly still pissed off about what happened eleven years ago. And Ian couldn’t say he blamed her.
A couple of years after his dad had sold to the McLaughlins, Cora had invited her two best friends, Emily and Natalia to spend two weeks in July at the ranch. They were celebrating their recent graduation from high school and Cora wanted to give her east coast friends a taste of western living.
From the moment Ian’s parents laid eyes on the McLaughlins’ two beautiful blond daughters, they’d seen the potential for danger. Ian’s father, Martin, immediately pulled Wyatt and Ian aside and made it very clear that they were to keep their hands off the girls. “You don’t shit where you eat, son,” he’d said gruffly. “If I hear so much as a whisper of any slap and tickle going on between you and those girls, there will be hell to pay.”
Wyatt had taken umbrage, claiming the girls were too young for him and he knew better than to get involved with either Cora or Olivia.
“You say that now, but temptation can strike at any moment. You keep your hands off of them and steer them clear of any of your knuckleheaded friends too.”
Ian hadn’t had any trouble resisting temptation either. While the McLaughlin sisters were undeniably beautiful, they weren’t really his type. Besides, from the time he turned sixteen, he generated enough interest form the girls in town that he didn’t need to go looking for trouble.
When they’d heard about Cora’s plans to bring her friends to visit, their dad made it clear that the hands-off policy extended to their guests. Ian had been confident that it wouldn’t be an issue.
Until he laid eyes on Natalia Pachetti for the first time. There was something about her, something different, that captured his attention from the moment Cora introduced her. She was beautiful to start, with her dark hair tumbling down her back, tempting him to tangle his fingers in the thick waves. Her dark eyes were slightly tilted at the corners, giving her features an exotic cast. And then there was her mouth, full and luscious and red and making him think of doing things he had no business doing with a seventeen-year-old girl.
But it was more than just her beautiful face and curvy body that captivated him. He loved how outspoken she was, and the way she busted his and Wyatt’s chops at every opportunity never failed to crack him up. Her east coast accent made her sound even tougher, and to
him she seemed like a firecracker wrapped in a gorgeous package.
Still, he did his best to adhere to his father’s rule. When they hung out in the evening to watch movies in the big house’s media room, he made sure he was on the opposite end of the couch. When they snuck out to a party at one of Wyatt’s friend’s houses, he spent the entire night at the side of Katie Johannsen, all the while making sure none of the other guys tried to coax Natalia or any of the other girls into an empty bedroom.
But that didn’t stop him from looking. And fantasizing. One afternoon when they’d all gone to the swimming hole in the creek, he had been looking a little too hard at Natalia in her red one-piece bathing suit. Who could blame him for drinking in the sight of all of that smooth skin, tanned to a golden brown, and her full breasts with their nipples pulled into tight peaks from the frigid water? He was only human.
Olivia had noticed and pulled him aside to give him a stern warning. “Don’t even think about it. Natalia isn’t like the girls you run around with here. She’s a nice girl and her family has been very protective. She doesn’t have experience with guys like you.”
He didn’t bother to ask her what she meant by “guys like him.” He didn’t consider himself a full-on man whore, but he was pretty experienced for his age. Especially compared to Natalia, who, if he was catching Olivia’s drift, was still a virgin. No way he wanted to mess with that.
Yet even as he tried to keep his distance and distract himself with other girls, Natalia’s allure continued to pull him in like a tractor beam. Still, he managed to keep himself and his urges under control. Until three nights before Natalia and Emily were scheduled to fly back to Connecticut and he found himself alone with Natalia in the media room.
He hadn’t planned it this way on purpose. Wyatt had left earlier in the evening to meet up with his girlfriend. Ian had turned down an invitation to go over to his friend Jake’s house along with several of his friends from high school. Somehow the idea of staying on the ranch and watching movies with Cora, Olivia, Emily, and Natalia - especially Natalia - had a lot more appeal than hanging out drinking with the same kids he’d known since kindergarten.
