Architect's Angel (Culpepper Cowboys Book 16)

by Merry Farmer

  “I remember hearing about that,” Doc laughed. “Mom and Dad were so angry.”

  “Yeah, well, that was about the only time Mom and Dad paid attention to me that entire year,” Arch grumbled. He hadn’t realized how hard that’d hit him until just then. An old memory crept through of seventeen-year-old Arch thinking that if he just won the class presidency, his parents might finally notice he was there and be proud of him. It was a bit of a shock. In fact, it was enough to make him wonder if the whole thing wasn’t about him and Tabby in the first place, but rather about him and his parents.

  He was spared having to think about that any deeper when the front door swung open.

  “Honey, we’re home,” Sly called from the front hallway.

  The conversation about the past was over, and frankly, Arch was glad for it. “What are you guys doing here?” he asked, returning to his Lego ship.

  “Wanna play Medieval Warriors?” Nancy asked Rachel as she and Sly walked into the living room.

  “Sure.” Rachel sank onto the couch. “How do you play?”

  As Nancy explained the game, Sly ambled into the space between the living room and the dining room. “Actually, I came to see you, bro,” Sly said to Arch.

  “Me?” Arch pretended not to be that interested, but a part of him hoped Sly would give him a reason to stop thinking about the past and feeling guilty about the present.

  “Yeah,” Sly went on. “I need you to do me a favor.”

  Perfect. Arch’s day was looking up already. “Sure. What do you need me to do?”

  There was something about the look in Sly’s eye—a certain sort of twinkle that usually meant his brother was up to something. “You know that idea I’ve had for a wedding chapel for Culpepper?”

  “Not the one where you can have different theme weddings.” Doc had gotten up from the couch when Nancy sat down and moved around to join the conversation. He had a certain spark in his eyes too.

  “That’s the one,” Sly said.

  “So you’re really going through with it?” Arch asked.

  “I’m trying to. I need to find backers to finance it, though. And to do that, I need to put together a proof-of-concept video,” Sly explained.

  “What’s that?” Doc asked.

  “It’s sort of like a trailer for a movie, only explaining the whole concept of the wedding chapel to investors.”

  “So where do I come in?” Arch asked.

  Sly put on his most winning, persuasive smile. “I need you to star in the video.”

  “Me?” Arch stared at him. Had Sly lost his mind? “Why me?”

  Sly shrugged. “You’re photogenic. You’ve got the O’Donnell good-looking genes. Female investors would fork over their money just to entertain the idea of you being the groom in this situation.”

  “Why don’t you get Evan to do it?” Arch suggested. “He’s a little bit famous, now that he’s the Kissy Lips heir. Wouldn’t that be better marketing?”

  Sly shrugged. “I would, but he and Elvie are still in Colorado visiting Evan’s parents.”

  “They’re getting back tomorrow.”

  “I’d rather have you,” Sly insisted.

  A few warning bells went off in Arch’s mind, but they were quiet and easily drowned out by his desire to be of use to his big brother. “Well…” He hesitated, running a hand through his hair. “I mean, okay. I guess. Sounds like it could be fun?”

  “Oh, it will be.” Sly slapped him on the arm. “Trust me.”

  Those warning bells clanged a little louder, but Arch pushed them aside. Maybe helping someone would ease some of the guilt and gloom he was feeling. It certainly couldn’t hurt.

  “All right.” He nodded. “I’m on board. Just let me know what I need to do.”

  “All you need to do is show up at the church tomorrow,” Sly said, giving him another back slap for good measure. “We’ll take care of the rest.”

  Chapter 5

  “There you go. A little safety-pin action and you’re good to go,” Elvie said, fastening her pin in the waist of the wedding dress Tabby had just put on.

  Tabby smiled as she regarded herself in the mirror at the church. “I like this dress.” She turned from side to side, flaring the skirt.

  “Really?” Sammy’s brow flew up.

  “Yeah.” Tabby made a face at her sister in the mirror and smoothed her hands over the skirt. “It’s, like, the dress that everyone has been wearing when they get married last minute. Half the Culpepper brides wore it, and I’m sure some other people too. It’s the go-to Culpepper wedding dress. So much history.”

  “If you say so.” Sammy shook her head, clearly not impressed.

  Tabby turned to face her and Elvie directly. “It’s perfect for this video of Sly’s. Nothing says ‘Culpepper wedding’ like the dress.”

  Sammy and Elvie exchanged a look that Tabby couldn’t read. It should have made her nervous, but she was in a surprisingly good mood. She’d found her Christmas spirit after the day itself was over. Little Joseph Culpepper was thriving like a weed, Faith was happy and healthy, and Tabby had made up her mind that she was going to swallow her pride and figure out a way to be friends with Arch. It was her New Year’s resolution, and it was one she intended to keep.

  Granted, she hadn’t seen Arch for the past couple of days, but that might have been what was keeping her mood good. No confrontations meant all of her grand ideas about things hadn’t had a chance to get thwarted yet.

  “You guys look great too, by the way,” Tabby added as the three of them headed for the door. Elvie and Sammy were acting the part of bridesmaids and had managed to find dresses that were the same shade of blue, even if they weren’t the same dress. Tabby figured it would look good enough on film.

  “Thanks.” Sammy held the door for Tabby as they proceeded to the hall. “I always wanted to wear an actual pretty dress to be maid-of-honor at your wedding instead of some giant, poofy atrocity.”

  Tabby laughed. “Well, it’s only a pretend wedding.”

  A suspicious silence followed. Tabby didn’t think too much of it, since she needed her attention to take the veil that Nancy and Rachel had waiting for her at the back of the chapel. They were each wearing blue dresses to play bridesmaids too.

  “Let’s get this on you.” Rachel grabbed Tabby as soon as she entered the room, distracting Tabby from the group of guys standing at the front of the chapel. There were also two cameras set up on either side of the room, with cameramen in plain clothes standing by to work them.

  “I’m glad I still had my veil in the closet,” Nancy said. She too crowded in on Tabby, helping with the pins that would hold the sparkly veil to her fancy hairdo.

  “You guys really did go all-out to make Sly’s video authentic.” Tabby smiled, and then waved as Linda Culpepper and a whole entourage of her sons and their wives swept into the chapel. “Hi, Linda, everybody. Did Sly rope you guys into this too?”

  “Yep,” Chris answered with a strangely tight smile, then rushed up to the front pews.

  “We wouldn’t miss this for the world,” Linda added before joining him. There was something…off about her tone, as if she knew a joke that Tabby didn’t.

  She gave herself exactly three seconds to wonder and blink about it before shrugging the weird feeling away and focusing on the way Rachel and Nancy were fussing over her. “You guys don’t need to go to such trouble. It’s just a video. It’ll be fine.”

  “Oh, I’m sure it will be more than fine.” Nancy exchanged a grin with Elvie and Sammy.

  “Sly likes his…ideas to come off just so,” Rachel added.

  The bridesmaids shared a giggle, so Tabby giggled along with them, even though she felt a teensy bit left out of the joke.

  “Hey, you never did tell me who I’m marrying,” she said as they finished their prep. “Or at least, pretending to marry.”

  “Oh, that?” Elvie said.

  “Well, um,” Sammy added.

  A sinking feeling had j
ust started to form in the pit of Tabby’s stomach when Nancy and Rachel stepped aside, clearing her view to the front of the chapel. The cluster of men was moving apart to reveal the groom too.

  The groom. Arch.

  Of course.

  Tabby’s mouth dropped open. Arch’s eyes widened in answer. They were yards away, but giddy shivers broke out down her spine, coalescing into liquid excitement in her stomach. Something was definitely going on here. If she were a sensible woman, she would have turned around, marched right out of the church, and forgotten the whole thing.

  Then again, she had just spent the last few days deciding that she should try to become friends with Arch instead of perpetuating their rivalry. And New Year’s resolutions could start before New Year’s. And she was helping out Sly, therefore helping out Culpepper. It was just one video, one afternoon’s work. She could do this.

  All of those thoughts zipped through her head before she could get any other part of her body to move. When at last she tried to propel herself forward, she swayed in her spot a little before she could actually move. Because saints above, Arch looked good. He was dressed in a tux, freshly shaved, his hair styled perfectly. The tux was a good cut for him too and showed off his broad shoulders and manly arms. No wonder Sly had chosen him to act the part of the groom in a video that would draw people to his wedding chapel.

  “I see they roped you into this too,” she said as she approached him.

  Arch continued to gape at her. More than that, his eyes drank her in from the top of her veiled head to the tips of her jeweled shoes. Evidently, he liked what he saw too. The fire was definitely there in his eyes, and he was speechless.

  At least until he turned to his brother with a frown. “You failed to mention who was playing the bride.”

  All of the warm, giddy feelings fluttering through Tabby crashed into a heavy lump in her stomach. Sly shrugged and opened his mouth to make some excuse, but Tabby beat him to it.

  “Excuse me. Have you got a problem with me helping out your brother?”

  Arch shifted back to her, brow shooting up. “I have a problem with things being sprung on me without warning.” His gaze flickered across her, and the tension in his expression took on a decidedly non-churchy feel.

  Tabby crossed her arms and rested her weight on one hip. “Really? You have a problem with unexpected surprises.”

  His expression morphed again into challenge, and he too crossed his arms, taking a step closer to her. “Yeah.”

  “You?” Tabby went on. “The guy who wrapped my car in plastic. The guy who rigged a pile of snow to fall on me. You have a problem with surprises?”

  Her words must have hit home. Arch’s shoulders sagged and he glanced down briefly before meeting her eyes with something close to contrition. “I’m really sorry about the snow.”

  “But not so sorry that you aren’t going to give me a hard time about participating in this video?” Part of Tabby wanted to reach out and stop herself from escalating things again. She had felt so close to being able to put her and Arch’s past behind them to start a new friendship, but it was like she couldn’t stop herself from getting under his skin when given half the chance.

  Not that getting under his skin was an entirely negative thing. After all, she was downright tingly with anticipation of where this all would go next.

  “You can do whatever you want,” Arch said, straightening.

  “Good.” Tabby nodded. “I’m glad we’ve got that straightened out.”

  “Me too,” he answered. His tone and posture was confrontational, but there was a flash in his eyes that suggested his thoughts were headed down a different path, especially when he sent another sweeping look over her whole wedding dress ensemble. “You look really nice, by the way,” he said in a short, stiff burst.

  Tabby checked him out one more time before muttering, “So do you.”

  There was a short, awkward pause. Tabby was vaguely aware of everyone watching them and holding their breath.

  “Right.” Arch cleared his throat. “So, let’s get married.”

  Someone snorted. Tabby was too focused on Arch to see who. When she frowned and looked around, more than one person had their hand over their mouth or their lips pressed too tightly shut, their eyes dancing with mirth.

  “What are you all laughing at?” Arch asked, as defensive as she felt. As if he was on her side.

  “Nothing, nothing.” Sly stepped forward, brushing the confrontation and peoples’ reactions away. “Arch is right. Let’s get you two married.”

  His lips twitched slightly as he stepped forward to take Tabby’s hand, leading her up to the front of the chapel. Arch marched along behind them, standing where Sly directed him to. Everyone else fell into their places on either side of Tabby and Arch. Sly waved to the cameramen, who moved into place, then went to stand behind Arch.

  “Wait a minute.” Tabby held up her hand, shifting to the side so she could look around Arch at Sly. It had just dawned on her that Sly was wearing a tux instead of plain clothes, like the cameramen. “Aren’t you directing this video?”

  “Yeah,” Sly said, then shrugged. “But I’m also serving as best man.”

  Arch twisted to look over his shoulder at his brother. “Best man? In your own video?”

  “Well, it’s authentic, right?” Sly answered. “You’ve always said you would ask me to be your best man.”

  “Yeah, in a real wedding,” Arch said.

  Sly grinned, dripping with mischief. “Just pretend this is the real thing. Authenticity and all.”

  “Why do you need authenticity for some proof of concept video for a wedding chapel?” Tabby asked. Her skin had broken out in prickles from her head to her toes.

  “I never do things halfway,” Sly answered.

  It was all the answer she was going to get from him too. Brother Anthony had just emerged from his office. “Is this where the wedding’s at?”

  Tabby broke into a smile and instantly felt at ease as Brother Anthony made his way over to the wedding party. He looked as darling and batty as ever, wearing his good suit, his Bible clutched in one hand.

  “Oh, this is the last time I let Lovie go visit her sister over the holidays,” Brother Anthony went on. “I get so confused about everything when she’s gone. Why, I had the pot roast she left me for breakfast this morning before I realized it’s cornflake day.”

  “That’s okay, Brother Anthony,” Sammy giggled from Tabby’s side. “It’s the holidays. You go and have pot roast for breakfast if you want to.”

  Brother Anthony looked at her as if she’d suggested he boil his shoes and eat those. “Lovie would have a fit. Wednesday is cornflakes. Thursday is bran muffins. And no day is pot roast for breakfast day.”

  “Whatever gets you through the wedding,” Sly said, reaching out to pat Brother Anthony’s arm.

  “And that’s another thing,” Brother Anthony went on. “I didn’t have Lovie on hand to go over the details of the wedding for me. You folks and your slap-dash marriages this year. I don’t know what it was. Everyone getting married all of a sudden.”

  Tabby’s heart went out to the dotty old pastor. Much as she loved him, he did have a tendency to get confused. With Lovie gone, no wonder he didn’t understand the difference between a real wedding and a video.

  “It’s all right, Brother Anthony.” She squeezed his arm and gave him a reassuring smile. “We’re just pretending to—”

  “You’re going to do just fine,” Sly cut in. “Let’s get everything done so that you can go have your cornflakes for lunch.”

  “Cornflakes for lunch?” Brother Anthony balked. Mouth still open in horror, he shook his head. “What is it with young people these days?”

  “The wedding?” Sly suggested.

  “I should say so!” Brother Anthony shook himself, rolled his shoulders, and opened his Bible.

  Tabby exchanged a grin with Arch. He smiled right back, his whole face alight with humor. And man, he was gorgeous w
hen he smiled like that. Sexy crinkle lines formed around his eyes, a light blush painted his cheeks, and his lips curved up in a way that made Tabby want to launch herself into him and kiss him within an inch of his life, no matter what their history was.

  Some of that must have shown in her face, because the twinkle in his eye turned to more of a spark that could ignite everything in no time. Tabby held her breath as Arch reached out to take her hand. A delicious warmth flooded through her, pooling in places she probably shouldn’t be thinking about.

  “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today— Okay, now I have to warn you,” Brother Anthony stopped himself as soon as he’d begun.

  Tabby hadn’t even realized he had begun, she’d been so captivated by the look in Arch’s eyes. Then again, maybe he’d taken her hand because Brother Anthony had started, and holding hands would look good for the cameras.

  “I have to warn you that I really didn’t have a chance to prepare for this,” Brother Anthony finished his thought. “What with Lovie gone at her sister’s, nothing seems to even be in the right place. My shoes were in the kitchen this morning instead of in my bedroom, where they always are.”

  “Did you take them off in the kitchen last night?” Elvie asked from Tabby’s line of bridesmaids.

  Brother Anthony looked at her as if she was being silly. “Yes, of course. But they’ve usually moved to the bedroom by morning.”

  “Do you think that Lovie is the one who usually moves them?” Elvie suggested.

  Sly cleared his throat before the conversation could go on. “The wedding?” he asked. “We really need to get it done sooner rather than later.” He exchanged a glance with Elvie.

  “He’s right,” Elvie said. “Go on.” She smiled and nodded to Brother Anthony.

  “Well, if you say so.” Brother Anthony shrugged and shuffled in his spot, then straightened. He lowered his shoulders a moment later to add, “But like I said, I didn’t have time to prepare, so I won’t be at the top of my game for this one.”