Issued to the Bride One Airman (Brides of Chance Creek Book 2)

by Cora Seton

  Connor had a flash of being dressed up in new clothes. Walking slowly down the road, excited and anxious all at once. Dalton had told him stories about school. Some good, some terrifying.

  “Didn’t Dalton walk with me?”

  “Hell, no. I didn’t want to be seen with the likes of you,” Dalton said, coming in and taking a seat at the table. “It was Danny Sullivan. Don’t you remember Danny?”

  “Yeah. I guess. Red hair. Freckles. In trouble a lot.” Connor shrugged. In truth, those first months in Texas, he’d spent so much time trying not to remember his home, he figured he’d erased a bunch of his early years. On his short visits back to Ireland, he’d spent his time with family, not friends.

  “He’s forgotten it all,” Keira said to Sean. “You must have truly hated Ireland to erase its memory from our son.” She stood up, scraping her chair over the floor, and strode right out the back door.

  Connor set his plate on the counter and moved to follow her, but his father held up a hand. “No, son. I’ll go. This is my doing.”

  Connor watched his parents through the window as his mother strode down the path that bisected Sadie’s garden, and his father followed steadily. Dalton came to stand beside him. “They’re both getting older.”

  “Of course they are.” Regret made him curt, but Connor wasn’t sure what he was regretting. He hadn’t been the one who made the decision to leave Ireland. He’d been a kid.

  But he should have visited more.

  “You really don’t remember?” Dalton asked. His gentle accent brought back more memories than Connor wanted to admit.

  “I tried to forget,” he admitted. “Otherwise I’d have lost my mind.”

  Dalton sagged a little. “Never thought of it like that. I always assumed you were too busy enjoying Texas.”

  “Losing you two—losing my home—” He couldn’t even put into words how much that had hurt him. How the flat, hot, hard land of Texas seared the soul right out of him. How he’d searched for something familiar and found only strangeness.

  How his father had been fair—but as hard as the land around them without his wife to soften his edges.

  How it felt to know his mother had let him go.

  “It wasn’t right, what they did. They made a devil’s bargain.” Dalton’s anger was clear.

  “And we’re all still paying for it.”

  “Aye.”

  Connor took a deep breath. “We can change that.” They had to. They all couldn’t go on in so much pain.

  “We’ll still be half a world apart,” Dalton pointed out.

  “So we video chat. We schedule calls. We email. Text. Distance doesn’t matter like it once did.”

  “Suppose not. You could come home, you know. The property is small, but—”

  “If I came home we’d both have to find second jobs,” Connor told him. “And I’ve already promised Sadie I’ll make Two Willows my home. You could move here, you know,” he added.

  Dalton elbowed him. “I can’t do that.”

  “I know.” Connor sighed. He did know. “But if I can get on a plane once in a while, so can you.”

  “Aye, that I can do.”

  They watched their father finally catch up to their mother in the empty doorway to the walled garden. The stones had almost reached shoulder height.

  “What do you suppose he’s saying to her?” Dalton asked.

  “I have no idea. I’d better get going, though.” He checked the clock. “Got a bunch of errands in town. Want to come?”

  Dalton waved him off. “I’m for breakfast. I’ll keep tabs on Ma and Dad.”

  Several hours later, Connor had knocked six errands off his list and was just leaving the hardware store when he ran into Grant coming in. The man was walking with a purpose, but he hesitated when he spotted Connor. Connor wished he knew Grant’s story. What had brought him to Chance Creek?

  “Hey,” Grant said when he spotted him. “Congrats. On your wedding. Heard all about it.”

  “Yeah? From who?” He supposed word was getting around, but Grant didn’t run in the same circles he and Sadie did, and he hadn’t been to the ranch to bother Jo in days.

  “Small town.” Grant shrugged. “Everyone knows.”

  Connor nodded. That could be true.

  “Tying on the old ball and chain, huh? Good luck to you.” Grant sauntered into the hardware store, leaving Connor to walk slowly to his truck. Why had the short exchange rubbed him so wrong? Grant’s gratingly negative attitude toward marriage was part of it. No matter what you thought about the institution, it was bad form to rain on someone else’s parade when they were days away from their wedding.

  He didn’t want Jo anywhere near that surly, cocky idiot. Sadie had told him about the piece of work Jo’s last boyfriend had turned out to be. She didn’t need any more trouble.

  He had just reached his truck and opened the passenger side door to deposit his purchases on the seat when a female voice he recognized spoke behind him.

  “Where’ve you been hiding, cowboy?”

  Connor closed his eyes. Tracy. The last person he wanted to run into today. “I’m not hiding.”

  “You left in an awful hurry the last time you were in the Boot. I was only gone a moment. Seems to me you could have waited to say goodbye.”

  “Something came up.” He placed his bags inside the truck and closed the door, planning to circle around to the driver’s side and take off, but Tracy blocked his way. She placed a hand on his chest, a glint in her eye he didn’t like. Something was different about Tracy today. In the bar, she’d been flirtatious, just out to have a good time. Today she looked—

  Angry.

  “I saw you talking to Grant Kimball just now.”

  “What of it?”

  “He’s trouble, you know.” She flattened her palm on his chest over his heart. When Connor shifted, she twisted her fingers in his shirt so he couldn’t easily pull away.

  “What makes you say that?” His uneasiness increased, not the least because he was afraid someone would see them in this awkwardly intimate position. He’d already been warned about her by Steel Cooper—in words very similar to the ones she’d just used to warn him about Grant. She was obviously a woman on a mission—and he wasn’t sure what her objective was.

  “I know things about him. Come have a cup of coffee with me and I’ll tell you everything.”

  “I don’t have time for a cup of coffee.” This was a setup. He could smell it a mile away—

  “Come on, there aren’t any single men worth a damn in this town. You’re the most interesting thing to come along in ages. Can you blame a girl for wanting to spend time with you? It’s just coffee.”

  Her flirtatious tone contrasted with that sharp glint in her eye and the tight grip she had on his shirt. He had to get out of here before someone saw them and misunderstood. “I told you, I don’t have time. I’m running late as it is.”

  “Right. You have to run home to Sadie Reed. Yeah; I know you’re together. She’s got you tied to her apron strings, doesn’t she?”

  “Look, I—”

  Without warning, Tracy pulled him close, went up on tiptoe and kissed him hard on the mouth.

  “Hey!” He shoved her away.

  Tracy stumbled back, but caught herself, laughing at him. “Give me a break, cowboy. You know you liked it.” She shoved something into her pocket as she backed off. What was it? Her phone? Had it been in her other hand?

  “I’m getting married in two weeks. You can’t just go around kissing me.”

  Tracy’s laughter died and her eyes went hard again. “Yeah, I heard something about that.” She took a step closer, her hands balled into fists. “Funny you failed to mention it back at the bar, huh?”

  Connor bit back the words he’d meant to say. She had him there. “Look, I—”

  “Save the lie, asshole. You deserve everything you’ve got coming to you.” She whirled around and strode away.

  “What the hell do y
ou mean by that?” Connor called after her.

  She held up her middle finger and kept going.

  Sadie was back in the greenhouse mixing up batches of chamomile tea when her phone buzzed in her pocket. Figuring it was Connor, she pulled it out. Her heart dropped when she came face to face with a photograph of Connor kissing Tracy Jones. Tracy, the woman who’d flaunted her relationship with Mark while Sadie was dating him.

  It couldn’t be real. But there it was in color. Not just a little kiss, either; their mouths fused together like they’d rushed together in a fit of passion. The time stamp on the photo said it had been taken just minutes ago. She braced herself against the table and tried to calm down.

  It was a trick. A hoax of some kind. Tracy hated her for dating Mark—hated all of them for putting him in the hospital.

  Sadie sagged against the potting table, her heart pounding. Connor had said he hadn’t done anything with Tracy, but if he was kissing her—today—

  She looked at the photo again. That was the hardware store behind them. He was supposed to be picking up more cement to finish the walled garden. He’d said he wanted to get it done before the wedding.

  But he was kissing Tracy—

  So there wouldn’t be any wedding after all.

  Sick to her stomach, tears gathering in her eyes, she bent over, still grasping the edge of the table to hold herself up. This was what it felt like when your world crumbled around you a second time in two months. She’d thought Mark had torn her heart apart, but that was nothing compared to the pain of Connor’s betrayal.

  She held up the phone. Forced herself to look at the photo again.

  This time something caught her eye: Caitlyn Warren, who worked with Ellie Donaldson at her bridal boutique. She was standing behind Connor’s truck, looking across its bed at the couple as they snapped the selfie.

  Before she could stop herself, Sadie called Ellie’s Bridals. She had to learn for sure if what she was seeing was true. Maybe Tracy had manipulated a photo, although Sadie couldn’t work out how.

  “Ellie here,” a cheerful voice answered.

  “Ellie, it’s… it’s Sadie Reed. Is Caitlyn there?” She was afraid the roughness of her voice would give away how close she was to tears, but Ellie didn’t seem to notice.

  “Just a minute.”

  Moments later, a younger voice answered, “This is Caitlyn. How can I help you?”

  “Caitlyn, it’s Sadie Reed,” Sadie said again, clearing her throat when the words caught there.

  “Hi, Sadie—what’s up? I… heard you’re getting married.”

  Was it her imagination or did Caitlyn sound hesitant? “I’m going to cut to the chase. Tracy Jones just sent me a photo of her kissing my fiancé. You’re standing in the background. Did you see them?”

  There was a long pause. Caitlyn had to have heard the pain in her voice. “Sadie, I don’t want to get in the middle of this—”

  “Answer me.” Sadie wasn’t in the mood to safeguard anyone’s feelings. Not when hers were shattered.

  Caitlyn sighed. “I’d just come out of the store. I was in line after Connor.”

  Sadie wasn’t at all surprised Caitlyn knew Connor’s name. In a town as small as Chance Creek, newcomers stood out and people thrived on gossip.

  “Did he kiss her?”

  Another pause. “Yes, but—”

  Sadie had heard enough. “Thank you,” she managed, and cut the call. She couldn’t breathe. Her throat ached. How could Connor do this? She’d thought he loved her.

  But he was a man. And this is what men did. They took what they could get. They lied and cheated. They didn’t care.

  None of them ever cared.

  Suddenly stifled in the close, humid greenhouse, Sadie raced toward the door and pushed it open, stumbled outside and braced her hands on her knees while she sucked in fresh air. Dizzy—nauseous—she sank to her knees in the dirt.

  She couldn’t marry Connor.

  And—Sadie looked around her, horrified—

  She couldn’t hear—anything.

  A wail began deep inside her, but Sadie choked it down when she saw movement—Sean and Keira exiting the walled garden hand in hand. Her own pain magnified as she watched Connor’s father tuck a lock of his mother’s hair behind her ear. She didn’t have to be tuned in to her surroundings to know what they’d just done.

  So Connor had gotten what he’d wanted all along, she realized. His parents had flown to Montana for his wedding—for a wedding that turned out to be fake, after all. And they’d fallen back in love.

  He would get his family back. While she—

  She’d have to leave hers—for good.

  “This is getting to be a habit,” Cab said when he ushered Connor into his office.

  “This shouldn’t take too long. I’m looking for information about Grant Kimball. Last time I came in, you didn’t have anything on him. How about now?” Connor found himself unwilling to head back to Two Willows after that scene in the parking lot. It wasn’t his fault Tracy had kissed him—except she was right; he had flirted with her at the Boot. Or at least he hadn’t refused the free drinks she’d brought him, which pretty much amounted to the same thing.

  She was furious at what she thought was his duplicity, even if he hadn’t meant anything by their conversation. He’d managed to burn his bridges with a valuable informant. All he could hope was that Cab knew enough to make up for that.

  His phone buzzed and he glanced down at it.

  You’re a bastard, Lila had texted.

  Damn it; he’d thought he’d run her off. This was all he needed today.

  Cab waved him into a seat and took his own. “I’ve found out a few things. Not much. He’s new in town. Related to the Coopers somehow, but I couldn’t trace the connection. You got a beef with him?”

  “Not yet. But something doesn’t sit right.” He wasn’t ready to repeat what Tracy had said. Cab already thought he was a fool when it came to women.

  His phone buzzed again.

  You’re a real asshole. You know that?

  “Why do you say that?” Cab asked.

  Connor ignored Lila. He figured Cab was a man who could appreciate a good hunch. “It’s a gut reaction. Look, as far as I know he’s just a newcomer who met up with Jo and fell for her. But don’t you think it’s strange that he first came around to try to get one of her puppies, and that’s where Jo spotted the intruder a few weeks back—near where the puppies sleep?”

  “She said the intruder wasn’t Grant.”

  “Hell of a coincidence, though.”

  His phone buzzed a third time.

  I believed you. You said you wanted me.

  Hell. He hadn’t really meant it. Connor tried to focus on the sheriff.

  “Maybe. Maybe not. With that kind of lineup for the dogs, maybe there’s more than one person unwilling to wait,” Cab suggested.

  “Maybe. They’re not that unusual a breed, though. I looked them up online. They’re worth a few hundred bucks—not thousands.”

  “To some hopped-up kid needing a fix, that’s enough if they knew someone willing to buy one.”

  “Tell me about the Coopers,” Connor said. He didn’t look down when his phone buzzed again.

  Cab laced his hands behind his neck and leaned back in his chair. “Now, there’s a story. There’ve been Coopers here for as long as there’ve been Reeds, although they left town for a spell before coming back. A rough lot. Clannish. Got a Hatfield and McCoy type thing going with the Turners—another old family.”

  “Over what? Land?”

  Cab scoffed. “Over pride. Someone stood someone else up at the altar—about a hundred years ago. None of them are willing to move on. Get called out there once a month, it feels like.”

  “How does that fit in with Jo’s puppies?”

  “I don’t see how it does, to be honest. Grant’s young. Single. Jo’s a good-looking girl. Could be that simple.”

  “Could be.” Something told him
it wasn’t, though. Connor stood up. “Thanks for the information.”

  “Hey,” Cab called to him when he headed for the door. “You ever go out to the Coopers’ place, you take backup, you hear me? In fact, just don’t go. We don’t need that kind of trouble here.”

  Connor nodded. Seemed to him trouble was coming whether they needed it or not.

  Outside, he looked at the rest of Lila’s texts.

  Liar.

  I waited for you. I thought you loved me.

  I thought you cared.

  Hell, this was a mess. Connor did the only thing he could. Dialed her number and held his breath.

  “I was straight with you that I never wanted something serious,” he said when Lila picked up. “I told you I was seeing other women. You said you were seeing other men.”

  Lila’s voice was hoarse with tears. “I lied,” she wailed. “I lied so you’d think I was more interesting. I thought you’d come around.”

  Nothing on the battlefield had ever made him feel so small as Lila’s words did. He hadn’t meant to hurt her. He’d been careless—

  Too careless for far too long.

  “I’m sorry.” He knew it was inadequate.

  “Do you… love her?”

  “I do.”

  Lila’s sobs filled his ears. Connor didn’t know what to do. Finally, he said, “Lila, you have to find someone who loves you—exactly for who you are. Someone who isn’t an ass like me.”

  “Fuck you!” Lila hung up and Connor could only pocket the phone helplessly. All that time he’d tried to avoid getting hurt—and he only managed to hurt everyone else.

  When Connor arrived home, Sadie was waiting for him on the back porch, a can of diet soda in her hand. He looked tired. All that kissing must have worn him out.

  “No lemonade today?” he said, climbing the stairs and leaning against the railing close to where she sat.

  No. No lemonade. Not for what she had to say. Seemed to her a diet drink was more fitting when it came to cutting something out of her life. “There’s some inside, though. Help yourself.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Something wrong?”

  “Yeah, something’s wrong. I’m calling off the wedding.”

  “Sadie—”