Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever Afters Collection (Eight Fun, Romantic Novels by Eight Bestselling Authors)

by Violet Duke

  “I wonder if this is what it feels like to be in love with a super hero,” Adrianne said with a sigh. “He’ll never fully be mine because the whole world needs him.”

  “I’m sorry this happened,” Lauren said. “I’m the one that suggested he come—insisted in fact.”

  When Adrianne looked at her, the other woman did look a little sad. But Adrianne couldn’t quite bring herself to be sad that she’d met Mason. She was in love with him and breaking things off was going to hurt like hell, but she wouldn’t trade the time she’d had with him.

  Besides, they’d known each other three days. That had to be better than having several months, or years, of loving him before losing him.

  She shivered. She would love to have months or years of memories with him. Even if it ended in heartbreak.

  “I have to convince him to leave,” Adrianne finally said, breaking the silence.

  “I know.” Lauren sighed. “You have to make it good. It can’t be that you think he should go to Haiti, or that it’s more important than you are. He’s in love for the first time. He’s going to hold on tight.”

  Adrianne swallowed against the tears she could feel building. “The only way he’ll leave is if he believes I don’t really want him to stay.”

  “Right.”

  “I have to break his heart.”

  Lauren looked pained at the idea too. “Yeah, I guess so.”

  They were quiet for a moment. Then Lauren asked, “Any ideas on how to do that convincingly?”

  Through the kitchen window, Adrianne saw Hailey’s car pull into her driveway.

  Adrianne felt like she was going to be sick as she said, “Yeah, I think I do.”

  “WHAT THE HELL happened?” were Hailey’s first words to Adrianne. Her second sentence was, “Who the hell are you?” when her gaze landed on Lauren.

  “Dr. Lauren Davis. Mason’s partner.”

  Hailey looked Lauren up and down. Lauren let her. They reminded Adrianne of two lionesses circling, trying to determine if the other was a threat or an ally. The stand-off took only a few seconds before they seemed to come to some sort of silent acceptance of one another. Thank God. The last thing Adrianne needed was Hailey getting her panties in a twist.

  Adrianne took a deep, calming breath. Supposedly calming anyway. “What’s going on, Hailey?”

  “Drew called me from the golf course. Mason told the guys that he’s moving here. To be with you. That you’re going to live on the farm so there’s no way he can give up the land. He wants to plant corn, Adrianne. What the hell is going on?”

  Okay, so Hailey’s panties were in a twist anyway.

  Adrianne’s heart wanted to flip. Mason was telling everyone. He wanted to stay with her. He was in love with her. At the same time, she felt like someone had put a brick in her chest. All she had to do was say yes and she could have all of it—all of him.

  At the expense of a few thousand lives, including the ones in Sapphire Falls.

  No, the hopeful business owners here wouldn’t die without their shops, but their dreams would. And her friendships would. And that was all small potatoes compared to the lives in Haiti that would be affected.

  And then there was Mason. What was really best for him?

  Heartache seemed inevitable. But better her than all of them.

  Adrianne straightened her shoulders. “There’s been a…misunderstanding.”

  “Who’s misunderstanding?” Hailey asked.

  Adrianne almost couldn’t say it. “Mason’s.”

  Hailey’s shoulders relaxed a little and she took a deep breath. “I told Drew that was probably what happened.”

  “Mason’s just jumping ahead. I’ll talk to him.”

  “Okay.” Hailey sighed. “That’s what I wanted to hear. Right after Drew called, Ken Stevens called and said that the price on his land by the highway has gone up ten-thousand dollars. He knows we don’t have any other options. And he’s still insisting on Eddie having his taxidermy shop.”

  “Isn’t taxidermy stuffing dead animals?” Lauren asked.

  Hailey frowned at her but didn’t answer her question. “On top of this mess with Tyler, I’m feeling like things are falling apart,” Hailey went on.

  “I don’t think you should put a taxidermy business in this new shopping area,” Lauren said.

  Hailey glared at her.

  “What about Tyler?” Adrianne asked, trying to keep Hailey focused—and not going for Lauren’s throat.

  “He won’t return my frickin’ phone calls,” Hailey said with a scowl. “And then after I left my sixth message, he posted something on Twitter about six unreturned phone calls being pathetic and that a woman should never call more than twice without hearing back. He’s such a jerk.”

  Hailey’s scowl grew and Adrianne had to fight a smile for a moment. That jerk was the guy Hailey had been gushing about to all the investors earlier that week.

  “You follow him on Twitter?” Adrianne asked.

  Hailey didn’t answer that. “I’m not calling him because I’m in love with him or something,” Hailey said. “This is business. He’s being an ass.” She picked up a truffle and shoved the whole thing into her mouth before picking up another.

  Adrianne watched with some fascination. She’d never seen Hailey riled up over a guy. She’d seen Hailey eat chocolate only a handful of times. This was…weird.

  Adrianne handed a cup of coffee to Hailey.

  “Maybe I’ll start a blog. Tyler Bennett Is Full of Shit,” Hailey said, accepting the cup and drinking. “That guy is so full of himself. So he won a dumb medal. Big deal. And it was only a silver.”

  “You know Tyler Bennett?” Lauren asked. “The hot Olympian? I didn’t know he was from here.” She frowned. “Mason never tells me anything.”

  Hailey opened her mouth to reply and Adrianne rushed to interrupt.

  “Well, he is the first American man to ever medal in the triathlon,” Adrianne said. She caught Hailey’s glare and added, “If that matters.”

  “It doesn’t,” Hailey said firmly. “He thinks he’s God’s gift and I’m starting to think he’s just messing with me. He’s taunting me, seeing how hard I’ll work for this, what I’m willing to put up with.”

  “Did you sleep with him in high school too or something?” Adrianne couldn’t help but ask.

  Hailey finally focused on her directly again. “You have to make sure we have that land. We have to get this thing going. I’m going to hold Tyler Bennett to his verbal commitment. I’ll take him to court if I have to.”

  That wasn’t a confirmation or a denial of her past with Ty, but Adrianne really couldn’t worry about Hailey’s sex life and how it might be interacting with their plans. Her own was messing things up enough.

  Adrianne rubbed her forehead. “I’ll take care of it, Hailey.” Like she did everything else. It only made sense that this would fall to her too.

  But even if Hailey was willing to be the one to get Mason to leave town, it wouldn’t work. There was only one person who mattered to Mason here.

  Three hours ago, the knowledge that she was that important to Mason had filled her with joy and hope and tingles in all the right places.

  Now it made her nearly sick to her stomach.

  If he wasn’t in love with her, she’d have no power to get him to DC to do the right thing. Now she was going to have to use his feelings for her against him.

  Right then another car pulled into her driveway. At the same moment her phone started to ring. Hailey’s cell phone began beeping as w
ell and Lauren had just answered hers.

  Adrianne closed her eyes, again breathing deep. All hell was breaking loose. Deep cleansing breaths were the only things she was still sure of.

  She reached for the phone and grabbed it on the fourth ring. “Hello?”

  “Is this Ms. Adrianne Scott?” a man’s voice asked.

  “It is.”

  “This is Brandon Johnson. I am with the office of Secretary George Williams.”

  Adrianne’s heart thumped and she rubbed her chest. She would have never recognized the name of the US Secretary of Agriculture if it weren’t for the articles she’d read on Mason.

  “I’m looking for Dr. Mason Riley. We have this number as a backup number.”

  “Why would you have this number?”

  “Dr. Riley notified us that he would be in the process of moving his residence over the next several days and gave us this number in case of emergencies.”

  “I see.” She didn’t. At all.

  “Ms. Scott,” Brandon said. “This is an emergency. We need to speak with Dr. Riley immediately.”

  “I, um…” She rubbed her chest harder as the ache increased. “He isn’t here at the moment. Can I take a message?”

  “Please tell him that Secretary Williams is insisting that Dr. Riley keep the meeting next week as planned.”

  “He cancelled the meeting?” What the hell was he thinking?

  “He first requested a conference call. The secretary will not grant that request,” Brandon said. “Secretary Williams has also denied Dr. Riley’s request to reschedule the meeting. Tell Dr. Riley we are expecting to see him.”

  Adrianne rubbed her forehead. Mason had tried to have his meeting via conference call? What was he thinking? And then he’d tried to reschedule? Until when? Once Haiti was back on its feet? He needed to be there for that to happen. He wasn’t going to singlehandedly restore all of Haiti, but he was part of the solution. He was not going to be part of the problem if she had anything to say about it. And she did.

  “Of course. I’ll be sure he gets the message,” she told Brandon.

  As she disconnected, Greg Porter and Jennifer Jensen, two potential business owners at Sapphire Hills, came through her front door.

  Greg spoke first. “What the hell is going on, Adrianne? I heard at the lumber yard that Mason said no to the building site because you’re going to live there?”

  Oh, this was bad. “Well, I—”

  “Hailey said the time you were spending with him was for the project,” Jennifer added.

  “Yes, he knows all the details, he’s seen our plans,” she assured them as the ache spread from her heart to her stomach.

  “And he’s saying no,” Greg said. “He knows the details and is saying no.”

  “Because he feels the project isn’t right for us,” Adrianne said. “It doesn’t have to do with me or us living there.”

  “Why didn’t you head the meetings with him?” Jennifer rounded on Hailey. “This wouldn’t have happened if you’d been in charge.”

  Hailey lifted her hands and shook her head. “Adrianne’s my friend. When I realized he was in love with her, I backed off.”

  Adrianne rolled her eyes. She wasn’t sure she’d classify Hailey’s actions as backing off.

  “He knows all the details and you’re sleeping with him and he still said no?” Greg asked Adrianne.

  It was all unrelated, dammit. How could they not understand that? They’d fallen in love. It wasn’t about the project. It was about wanting to be together.

  “That’s enough, Greg,” Adrianne said sharply. “My relationship with Mason has nothing to do with the building project.”

  “Which is very disappointing,” Greg muttered.

  Adrianne’s head ached now too. She rubbed her chest with one hand and her temple with the other.

  “Everybody needs to shut the hell up.” Adrianne and everyone else turned as a group to face Lauren as she stepped forward. “I don’t really care if you try to sell specialty coffees to people in the middle of nowhere or not, but you all need to back off of Adrianne a little. She said she’s going to handle it and she will. Having you all yapping at her can’t possibly be helping.”

  Adrianne was shocked by Lauren’s defense. She started to answer with something, but Hailey turned to her with her mouth open. “Who is that?”

  “Mason’s business partner.”

  “So Mason really does want to stay and grow corn?” Jennifer asked, apparently not interested in advice from the stranger.

  Adrianne sighed. “Yeah.”

  “And you’re really going to marry him, move onto the farm and grow corn with him and forget about what the rest of us want?” Greg asked, also completely ignoring Lauren.

  Adrianne wanted all of that so badly she could taste it. Well, except for the part about forgetting what the rest of them wanted. The guilt would be oppressive. The peace she’d feel sitting on the front porch at the farm would be tainted by the thought that she was sitting precisely on the spot that would have made a lot of people very happy. “There’s nothing to worry about,” she said miserably. “I’m taking care of it.”

  She was taking care of all of it. All of them.

  Hailey didn’t have to worry about her political career. Greg could make his rocking chairs. Jen could sell tons of cards. The people in Haiti would have a crop and even the White House would get their way.

  Everyone was going to be fine. Except her. But she was one person, one heart. And she would have what she technically had wanted all along—a quiet, simple life. No one showing up and yelling at her in her foyer for one. No one blaming her for the economic demise of their town. No visions of starving children in Haiti keeping her from sleeping well at night. And no one making her heart nearly burst with love and happiness.

  A safe life and a safe heart.

  “What do you mean you’re taking care of it?” Hailey asked. “If making him fall in love didn’t work, how do you know—?”

  “Just shut up, Hailey,” Adrianne snapped.

  Hailey, Greg and Jennifer stared at her.

  But wow, telling Hailey to shut up felt good.

  “The truth is,” Adrianne said as she started the biggest lie of her life. “I never said yes to the farm or to being with him.”

  That wasn’t the lie. She hadn’t—very much on purpose. But she was implying she didn’t want to say yes. That was the lie.

  “If last night is how you treat people you’re going to turn down, I’d love to see what you do for someone you want to keep around.”

  Everyone, again, turned as a unit toward the new voice—except Adrianne. She reacted slower than the rest. It was Mason. And he’d overheard that.

  While his tone was conversational, his words were harsh, and she didn’t want to face him.

  She suddenly wasn’t sure she could do this. She looked for Lauren and found the other woman looking as concerned and nervous as Adrianne felt. Mason had to believe that Adrianne truly wanted him to go.

  She had to do the sales job of her life.

  CHAPTER TEN

  FINALLY, ADRIANNE TURNED. Mason stood in the doorway. His expression and stance—hands in his pockets, weight shifted to one hip—appeared casual, but as soon as she looked into his eyes, Adrianne knew he was anything but.

  His gaze was focused on her but she quickly broke eye contact. She was so glad the others were here. Yes, it would be more painful with witnesses, but she had to hurt him and she’d never be able to do it if they were alone.

  Heck, she had her doubts about pulling it off anyway.
>
  She crossed her arms, not wanting to let him get too close or he’d see in her eyes how she really felt.

  “I never said I was for you keeping the house and farm, Mason. I never said I’d move out there with you.”

  He looked at her for a long moment and she had to bite the inside of her lip to keep from blurting out the truth that she’d imagined them together at the farm too. Mason didn’t argue, he didn’t call her bluff, he simply nodded.

  “You’re right. You never said you’d do that.”

  She swallowed hard. “If you move to the farm and keep the house, I don’t get my shop. I can’t forget all those plans and dreams and you shouldn’t expect me to.”

  “I thought I was offering you a different dream. Maybe even a better dream,” he said evenly.

  “I’ve known you for three days, Mason. And what about everyone else? I can’t want you to move here knowing that it’s taking away their dreams. You’re asking me to choose a three-day fling over friends and neighbors I’ve had for years.”

  His expression was shuttered and she knew it was painful for him to do this in front of an audience like this. She hadn’t been there eleven years ago, but she could imagine how everything with Hailey had gone. It was painful enough hearing someone tell you they didn’t want you. It was far worse in front of a crowd. Which was no doubt why Hailey had done it. And why Adrianne was doing it now. This had to sting. This had to be bad enough that he’d leave and not want to come back.

  Of course the others were keeping her from caving too.

  She thought about that as she watched him watching her.

  Had Hailey done it with witnesses because it was meaner or had she done it to keep from throwing herself at him and forsaking her popularity, her plans to stay in Sapphire Falls, her plans to live the life she now had?

  “I wouldn’t be moving here for a fling, Adrianne,” Mason said easily even as his eyes flashed with anger.

  Her heart felt like someone was pulling a jagged piece of glass through it. He loved her and that was what allowed her to hurt him like this.