by Katie Lane
“And who might you be?” Her gaze raked over Devlin. “The farmer’s daughter?”
“My father isn’t a farmer. I’m here because I’m hoping to get your son to—”
Before she could finish, Holden stepped around his mom and pulled Devlin into his arms. She didn’t know what left her most speechless, being pressed against Holden’s hard body or the words he spoke next.
“She’s hoping to get me to marry her.”
Chapter Eight
Desperate times called for desperate measures. And having his mother decide she wanted to take an active role in his life had made him desperate. She was a steamroller when she set her mind to something. You could either jump out of her way or get flattened to a pulp. Holden decided to jump out of the way.
Even if he was jumping out of the frying pan into the fire.
Behind the lenses of her glasses, Devlin’s hazel eyes were huge with disbelief. He couldn’t quite believe what he was doing either, but he couldn’t let his mother see any sign of hesitation or she’d never fall for it.
“And she has just about worn me down.” He winked at Devlin. “Haven’t you, sugar?”
Her lips parted as if she was about to speak. Before she could give anything away, he leaned in and kissed her. He had planned to give her a peck, but her lips were so soft and she tasted so sweet he couldn’t help taking a deeper sip. When she sighed and completely surrendered to the kiss, he forgot all about his mother until she cleared her throat.
He opened his eyes and watched as Devlin opened hers. The sensual desire he read there almost had him going back for seconds. Instead, he tucked her close to his chest and turned to his mom.
“As you can see, I don’t need any help finding a woman. And I certainly don’t want to leave my dreadful apartment when Devlin is going to be moving in with me. Since it’s getting late, you can stay the night here. But in the morning, I’m driving you to the airport in Abilene. Or if you like, I’ll drive you back to Dallas.”
His mother waved a hand. “Of course I’m not going back to Dallas. I’m staying right here for a few days and getting to know my future daughter-in-law.” She held out a hand. “Marilyn Rivers.”
“Devlin McMillian.” Devlin shook her hand. “But I’m afraid I don’t understand what—”
Holden quickly cut her off. “We’ll talk about it later, darling. Right now, I should get my mom settled. I’m sure she’s exhausted from browbeating her limo driver for the last few hours.” He gathered up his mother’s numerous suitcases and headed down the hallway to Lucas’s room. Since Lucas had told his mother they had plenty of room, he figured he could give up his bed and bunk with Chester.
“Good Lord,” his mother said as she followed him into the room. “I didn’t realize the extent of the punishment I gave you when you were sixteen until now. This room is smaller than my closet. And the bed doesn’t have proper bedding. I can’t sleep on sheets that don’t have a high thread count.”
“Then let me take you back to Dallas so you can sleep between your Egyptian cotton sheets.”
She hiked up her chin. “I can manage for a few nights.” The thought of spending a few nights with his controlling mother would have freaked him out if he didn’t know better. After one night at the ranch, she’d be dying to get back to her penthouse. Which meant all he needed to do was to keep Devlin from spilling the beans for twenty-four hours.
And not just about them being a couple.
If his mother found out he owned land that possibly had oil on it, she would come unglued. She could ignore her son having a job where he didn’t make any money as long as she could still brag to her friends that he was an attorney. But she could not ignore him sitting on millions of dollars and doing nothing about it. She’d make his life a living hell if she found out.
It was already feeling pretty hellish.
“And where is my en suite bathroom?” She looked around.
“Down the hall. You’ll have to share with me and Devlin.”
She sighed. “Country people. I feel a headache coming on.”
“Lie down and take a rest and I’m sure it will go away.” He started to leave, but she stopped him.
“Holden.”
When he turned, she didn’t look like his confident, harsh mother. She looked unsure and slightly vulnerable. Her voice quivered slightly when she spoke.
“I really am sorry for not being a better mother.” She paused. “Especially after . . .” She didn’t need to finish the sentence. They both knew what she was talking about. Since the last thing he wanted to do was talk about Mandy, he gave his mother what he thought she wanted to hear.
“It’s fine, Mother. Water under the bridge.”
She studied him for a moment before she nodded. “Very well. Now come give me a hug.”
“Excuse me?”
“A hug. I assume you know what a hug is, Holden.”
He knew, but he didn’t think his mother did. He could count on both hands the times they’d hugged and all of them had been initiated by him. Who was this woman? Because she certainly wasn’t acting like his mother. She walked over and put her arms around him. She was as stiff as always, but she did give him a slight squeeze before she drew away. Which was more than she had ever done before.
“Now let me rest,” she said in her usual haughty voice. “Not that I’ll be able to get any rest in this closet of a room.”
He shook his head as he walked out the door. He found Devlin sitting in the living room. As soon as she saw him, she got to her feet. “What is going on?” Not wanting his mother to overhear their conversation, he led her outside.
Lucas and Chester had driven into town for more groceries since they now had another houseguest, so Holden took Devlin to the barn. The smell of fresh hay mixed with the new pine siding Logan and his son Clint had used when they fixed the barn calmed him. He took a deep breath before he turned to her.
His breath rushed out. He had been in such a hurry to get rid of his mother that he hadn’t paid any attention to what Devlin was wearing. The sight of her in his clothes left him speechless. There shouldn’t be anything sexy about her wearing his t-shirt and jeans. Both were much too big. And yet, she looked sexy as hell in them. His shirt was tucked into the doubled-over waistband of his jeans, the soft cotton outlining the sweet hills and valley of her breasts. And his jeans hung low on the curves of her hips. He knew with just a tug they would end up at her feet, baring those mile-long legs.
As if reading his thoughts, she self consciously tugged the jeans up higher on her waist. “I hope it’s okay that I borrowed some of your clothes.”
“It’s fine.” His voice cracked as he blinked away the image of his pants pooled around her feet. He cleared his throat and tried to focus on the reason for bringing her to the barn. “I guess you’re wondering why I pulled you into my family drama. But telling my mom you’re my girlfriend was the only way I could think of to get her to leave. She’s on some mission to make sure I’m happily married. Which is laughable, since she’s never been worried about my happiness before.”
“Is that why you’re being so mean to her?”
“I’m not being mean to her.” Even as he said the words, he realized they weren’t true. He released his breath and ran a hand through his hair. “Okay. I was a little mean to her. But she shouldn’t think she could just show up and take over my life. She controlled my life until I finished college. I refuse to let her control it now.”
“The lists of prospective marriage partners did sound a little controlling.”
He looked at her. “You were listening to our conversation?”
“I didn’t mean to. I just walked in the door and you were arguing.”
Which brought up a good point. “Where were you? I thought you were too injured to leave the ranch?”
She hesitated way too long. “I went to say goodbye to Evie before she and Logan left for their honeymoon.” She lifted the foot with the orthopedic boot and smiled brightly
. “And Lucas’s boot helps alleviate most of the pain.”
“I bet it does. Especially when your ankle isn’t that hurt. And you didn’t go say goodbye to Evie. Emma Johansen said that Sadie told her Logan and Evie left early this morning. So where were you?” But he didn’t need an answer, he already knew. “You went snooping around my land, didn’t you?”
Her cheeks flushed pink. He started to get mad, but then realized that her desire to strike oil might work to his advantage.
“I’ll make you a deal. You make my mother believe you’re my girlfriend, just until she leaves, and I won’t press charges against you for trespassing.”
“You can’t prove I was on your land.”
He laughed. “Of course I can. You’re a terrible liar.”
She hesitated for a moment before she conceded. “Fine, but only if you let me take a soil sample.”
He didn’t like the idea of people digging on the land, but he also didn’t like the idea of his mother harassing him about getting married for the next few months. Or possibly years. His mother was tenacious. “Okay, but I’ll show you where you can and can’t dig. And you can’t tell my mother what you do for a living or why you’re here.”
“What about Lucas and Chester? They know that you and I aren’t a couple.”
“I think they’ll be willing to go along with it. It’s only for a day. I don’t doubt for a second that my mother will want to leave by morning. She’s not exactly a country kind of person.” He let his gaze slid over her. “Although I didn’t take you for a country girl either and you look like you’ve adjusted.”
“What makes you think I’m not a country girl?”
“Because you live in the same big city I do.”
Her eyes widened. “How did you know I live in Houston?”
“Because I googled you when you started stalking me.”
“I didn’t stalk you. And you can’t find out everything about someone from the Internet.”
“You’re right. But I’m sure we’ll find out a lot of other things about each other now that we’re about to get married.” He grinned, teasingly, and held out his hand. “So is it a deal?”
She hesitated for only a second before she took it. There was something about her touch that made him feel like he had just stepped into a hot bath. It was soothing and sent a slight shiver of satisfaction through his body. He lifted his gaze to her hazel eyes. “You think you can make my mother believe that you’re crazy about me?”
“I won’t have to lie.”
“You’re crazy about me?”
She looked down at their hands that were still linked. “I’m not, but my body seems to be. When you touch me, I can’t think straight.”
He was having trouble thinking straight himself. The way she talked about what he did to her was a major turn on. Even though he knew it wasn’t a good idea, he couldn’t help giving into that desire. “Thinking is overrated,” he said before he lowered his mouth to hers.
She tasted like maple syrup, sweet and addicting. And as soon as his lips touched hers, she melted against him like a hot pat of butter. The hand that he wasn’t holding slid around his neck and into his hair as her tongue slipped into his mouth. It stroked against his in a hungry slide of wet heat. Holden struggled to remember why having sex with Devlin wasn’t a good idea.
She wanted him. He definitely wanted her. So why shouldn’t they both get what they wanted? He walked her backwards toward one of the empty stalls with every intention of easing her down into a fresh pile of sweet-smelling hay when a voice caused them both to freeze.
“Get your hands off that woman this instant, you hooligan!”
Holden pulled away from the kiss and turned to see two women standing just inside the open barn door. He’d met one of them at the wedding. Reba owned the only hotel in Simple and was a friendly woman who seemed to always be doing something with her hands. While they had chatted, she had fixed a flower arrangement on a table, retied the bow on a little girl’s dress as she passed by, and even smoothed out the collar of Holden’s shirt.
The woman with Reba he hadn’t met, but he’d heard about her and seen her at the wedding. According to everyone he’d talked to, you didn’t mess with Miss Gertie. She was old as the hills and the matriarch of the town who didn’t mind putting her nose into everyone’s business.
Which is exactly what she had come for.
She lifted a hand off her bright pink walker and pointed a bent, wrinkled finger at Holden. “I told Reba we needed to rescue our sweet innocent boarder from the evil clutches of the Double Diamond boys. And it looks like I was right.”
Chapter Nine
Devlin pulled out of Holden’s arms and stammered with fear. “Miss G-G-Gertie.”
Miss Gertie turned on her with squinted eyes. “Don’t you ‘Miss Gertie’ me, young lady. Not when you didn’t come home last night and had me worried sick.”
“Now, Aunt Gertie,” Reba said. “I didn’t drive you out here to cause a scene. I drove you out because I was worried about Devlin too.” She winked at Devlin. “But it looks like you’re doing just fine.”
Miss Gertie didn’t see it that way. “How can you say that Reba when it looks like she broke her foot and now she’s being seduced by this no-account city slicker.”
“He’s not a no-account city slicker, Aunt Gertie. He’s an attorney from Houston.”
“That’s what I said.” Miss Gertie pointed a finger at Holden. “And I refuse to let him use his slick lawyer talk to seduce a woman who has too many brains and not enough common sense.”
Devlin wasn’t sure, but she thought she’d just been insulted. Although Miss Gertie was right. She hadn’t really used any common sense. When Holden touched her, her logical thinking dissolved into a puddle of desire. She had no business dissolving in a puddle with Holden Lancaster. If she wanted to prove to her family that she was a savvy businesswoman, she needed to start acting like one. And savvy businesswomen did not mix business with pleasure. Whatever strange effect Holden had on her libido, she needed to learn to ignore it.
Which wouldn’t be easy.
Even now, just the sight of him standing there with his hair all tousled from her fingers and his lips all wet from her kiss made her feel feverish and weak kneed. Miss Gertie was able to read her as easily as she read a passage from the bible every morning before breakfast at the boardinghouse.
“From the looks of things, we’re too late. I know a smitten woman when I see one.”
“What in the world is goin’ on here?” Chester stepped into the barn, followed by Lucas.
“I’m rescuing one of my boarders from the clutches of one of your bad boys,” Miss Gertie snapped.
Lucas stepped up. “What are you talkin’ about, you old hag?”
“Better an old hag than an old fool. And that’s what you are if you don’t know what’s going on right under your noses.” Miss Gertie pointed an arthritically bent finger at Holden. “Reba and I walked in to find that boy of yours having his way with Devlin.”
Chester looked between Holden and Devlin and chuckled. “Is that so?”
“It is, and I should’ve known that you would think it was funny. You and your brother were a couple of fast-talkin’ womanizers when you first came to Simple too. No woman was safe when you two were around. Well, I’m not going to let another generation of rowdy cowboys from this ranch terrorize the moral women of Simple.”
“It didn’t look like Holden was terrorizing Devlin to me, Auntie,” Reba said. “They’re adults, and what they do or don’t do isn’t our business.”
“I would agree with you if it was any woman but Devlin.” Miss Gertie looked at Devlin. “But you’re as naïve as a virgin on her wedding night, and I won’t have you taken advantage of by some fast-talkin’ charmer who’s only out for a good time before he heads back to the big city.”
Before Devlin could say that Holden hadn’t been taking advantage of her, Holden’s mother stepped into the barn. “Taken advan
tage of? How could my son possibly take advantage of his own fiancée? Oh, Good Lord.” She lifted her high heel and looked at the sole. “What did I just step in?”
“His fiancée?” Chester, Lucas, Reba, and Miss Gertie all spoke at the same time and Devlin had never wanted to disappear more in her life. Holden looked like he felt the same way. He covered his eyes with his hand and massaged his temples.
She waited for him to explain. Surely he wouldn’t want to keep the charade going now that Miss Gertie knew. Once she knew, the entire town would know by nightfall. But it turned out that Holden was more concerned about his mother’s matchmaking than the entire town thinking they were going to get married.
He lifted his head and smiled his charming, off-kilter smile. “I guess the secret is out.” He took her hand and pulled her closer to his side. It was strange how comfortable she felt there. “I haven’t quite convinced Devlin to marry me yet, but I’m working on it.”
Miss Gertie’s eyes narrowed on Devlin. “Is that the truth? Has this boy asked you to marry him?”
Her cheeks heated. “Umm . . . well, he did mention it.”
“I thought it was the other way around,” his mother said. “ I thought you were trying to convince my son to get married.”
Before Devlin had to lie again, Chester chimed in. “Does it matter who’s tryin’ to convince who? All that matters is that these two seem to have taken a shine to each other. So I don’t think you need to worry about Devlin, Gertrude.”
Miss Gertie snorted. “Hmmph.” She narrowed her eyes at Devlin. “I thought Luanne was full of beans when she bragged about how her Lulu makeover had worked miracles. But it looks like it caught you a man.” She glared at Lucas. “Although why you’d want a Double Diamond boy, I don’t know. Come on, Reba, it appears we’re not needed here.” On her way out of the barn, she stopped and spoke to Holden’s mother. “If you don’t want cow crap on your fancy shoes, I’d get a pair of boots.”
Once she was gone, Reba apologized. “I’m sorry for barging in. My aunt gets something in her head and it’s hard to get it out.” She smiled at Devlin. “Just let me know what you want to do with your room.”
