Her Cowboy Billionaire Butler

by Liz Isaacson

  “All right.”

  He shifted, and she moved with him, allowing him room to turn around. He didn’t waste any time opening the box. “Bree, I’m in love with you, and I want you to be my wife as soon as possible.”

  He gazed down at the gorgeous diamond. It was set deep in a thick, gold band, and sparkled like the sapphire cut it was.

  Raising his eyes to her face, he asked, “Will you marry me?”

  “Wes.” She pressed both hands to her chest, staring at the ring. Her eyes were wide, excited, and afraid when they met his. “Yes.”

  He grinned at her. “Just like that?”

  “Just like that, cowboy.” She leaned into him, threading her arms around him again.

  “I had a crazy idea,” he whispered, leaning closer to her. “You put this on right now, and we go find someone to marry us tonight.”

  She stiffened in his arms, but she didn’t step away. “That is a crazy thought.”

  “Completely wild,” he said, touching his lips to her neck, then up by her ear. “I love you, and I can’t stand the thought of you sleeping across the hall without me.”

  Bree swayed with him, letting him lightly kiss along her earlobe, then her temple, and down to her collarbone again. “All right.”

  Wes pulled away, sure his hearing had malfunctioned. “What?”

  “You call your mother and make sure it’s okay with her,” she said. “I’ll livestream the ceremony with my parents so they can see it.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Are you?” Bree lifted her eyebrows, almost a challenge.

  Wes thought fast, trying to decide if his family would be upset if they didn’t get to attend the wedding. “Let me call my mother.” He reached for his phone, his heart pounding. When he’d woken up that morning, he hadn’t anticipated today being his wedding day.

  What would he wear? He hadn’t brought anything nice—only shorts and T-shirts, swim trunks and flip flops.

  “Wes,” his mother said, and Wes pulled his thoughts together. “Did you make it to Hawaii, baby?”

  “Sure did, Mom,” he said. “It’s beautiful.” He gazed at Bree, who’d sat on his bed and was texting on her phone, her fingers flying over the screen.

  “All fifty states.”

  “In less than a year,” he added with a chuckle. “Hey, I wanted to ask you something, and you just be real honest with me, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “We got here, and I’d already bought Bree an engagement ring, and I just asked her to marry me. She said yes, and well, I had this wild idea that we should get married tonight.” He didn’t want to get into too many details. “But I don’t want you to be upset you aren’t here.”

  “Oh.” His mother said nothing more, and Wes knew he’d hit her with something big. Mom always had something to say, and when she didn’t, that was newsworthy.

  “Bree is going to livestream it to her parents.”

  “Maybe we could watch with them,” Mom said. “I’m going to talk to your dad. Chris, Wes is on the phone, and he and Bree want to get married tonight.”

  “Tonight?” his father said, and the next thing Wes knew, his dad was on the phone. “Wes, what’s going on?”

  “Exactly what Mom said,” Wes said.

  Bree rose from the bed, giving him a thumbs-up. He pulled the phone away from his mouth. “Can my mom and dad watch too?”

  “Sure,” she said. “We just have to send them the link.”

  “So everyone can watch,” he said.

  “Yes.”

  “Let’s send it to everyone,” Wes said. “If they can watch, great. If not, well, that’s life.”

  “Wes,” his dad said.

  “We’re going to send you and Mom a link so you can watch the wedding,” Wes said, giddiness starting to fill his chest.

  “When?”

  “Not sure,” Wes said. “Soonish.”

  “All right,” his father said, his voice somewhat resigned.

  “Love you guys,” Wes said. “Did Mom hear?”

  “I heard,” his mother said. “We love you too.” The call ended, and he looked at Bree. A strange, almost hysterical laugh came out of his mouth.

  “Now we just need to find somewhere to get married,” he said.

  “You do that,” Bree said. “I’m going to make our link and send it to everyone in Wyoming, Colorado, and Vermont.”

  Wes felt like he’d gotten the harder job, but he dutifully got out his computer, connected to the Wi-Fi at the cottage, and searched. Surprisingly, at least a dozen places came up within a single second. He had no idea it was that easy to get married on such short notice. They’d gone to Maui, not Las Vegas.

  He called the place at the top of the search results, and said, “Hey, I’m wondering if my fiancée and I can get married tonight.”

  “Do you have a reservation?” the man asked.

  “Nope,” Wes said. “We just landed less than an hour ago.”

  “Let me check something,” he said, and the line went silent. Only a few seconds later, he came back and said, “We have an officiant that just finished a wedding, and he’s willing to wait for you guys if you can get here within an hour.”

  “Tell me where,” Wes said, his heart thumping now.

  “White Rock Beach,” the man said. “He just got back to our office, but he’s ten minutes away.”

  “We’ll be there. What’s his name?”

  “Adam Garland.”

  “Thank you,” Wes said. “How do I pay for this?”

  “Come to the office. I’ll hold Adam here, and then you guys can go to the beach together.” He rattled off the address, and Wes quickly put him on speaker and typed it into his phone when he said it the second time.

  “Okay,” he said, and he hung up a moment later. He turned to Bree, feeling somewhat numb. “We’ve got a beach and an officiant. We need to be there in an hour, and it’s….” He looked down at his phone. “Fifteen minutes from here.”

  “Let me change and put some makeup on,” she said, ducking into her bedroom.

  Wes stood there, stunned. All at once, he turned back to his suitcase and started pulling clothes out. Surely he’d brought one pair of pants. “Ah-ha,” he said, pulling out a pair of jeans. He changed into those and his nicest polo, which happened to be a smooth gray that matched his cowboy hat, which he’d also brought.

  Ready, he picked up the ring he hadn’t put on Bree’s finger and went into the living room. Ten minutes later, she came out of the bedroom wearing a white maxi dress that had wide straps running over her shoulders.

  “You actually have a white dress,” he said, drinking her in.

  “It’s got peach flowers on it,” she said, holding the gauzy material out. Wes caught the edge of the flowers, but they didn’t erase his grin.

  “It’s beautiful,” he said. “You’re beautiful.”

  She stepped easily into his arms. “You really want to do this?”

  “More than anything.”

  “You look nice.”

  “I’m wearing jeans and a polo.”

  “And the hat.” She reached up and touched it, gently taking it off so she could kiss him. And Wes had absolutely spoken true. He wanted to marry her more than anything. “I don’t have a ring for you,” she whispered.

  “We’ll go get one tomorrow,” he whispered back. “You really want to do this?”

  “Yes,” she said. “More than anything.”

  “Then let’s go get married, gorgeous.” Excitement skipped through Wes like a flickering flame, and when Bree started laughing, he joined in.

  She sighed once they were in the rental car. She reached across the console between them and took his hand in hers. “I love you, Wes.”

  “I love you too, Bree.”

  Read on for a sneak peek of HER COWBOY BILLIONAIRE BEST FRIEND’S BROTHER featuring single dad Gray Hammond and Colton’s best friend, Elise Murphy. Preorder now!

  I’m so happy Wes made it to
all 50 states AND that he managed to keep Bree in his life! If you liked this book, please leave a review for it now.

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  Sneak Peek! Her Cowboy Billionaire Best Friend’s Brother Chapter One

  Gray Hammond checked his teeth one more time in the rear-view mirror, though he hadn’t had anything in them when he’d left Wes’s house. Gray never went anywhere without all the proper pieces in exactly the right place—at least he hadn’t for the past twenty years.

  Now that he was done at HMC, he had no idea what his days would hold. Probably a lot of time spent in pants with an elastic waistband and hours on the farm his parents refused to sell. A frown marched through his eyebrows at the thought of them on that piece of land, with all those animals, none of which they could take care of. His father tried, but he was almost eighty years old, and Gray had started talking to Ames about staging an intervention.

  If there was a brother who would take such a thing seriously, it was Ames. The man took everything seriously, and most of the time, that grated on Gray’s nerves. And he was the lawyer in the family. He, by profession, took things seriously.

  But an intervention with Ames involved would have steps and rules, and Gray had told him his concerns for a reason. Their parents simply couldn’t stay on the farm much longer.

  Ames and Cy had gathered to the farm in Ivory Peaks for the holidays, just to give Gray and Hunter a break. Gray felt like he needed a vacation from his life, and he was having a hard time not to take one. The only thing anchoring him in one place at the moment was Hunter. Hunter’s school.

  He couldn’t just pack a bag and board a plane and come back to his life when he felt like it, the way Wes had after he’d retired from the family company. He couldn’t move to Coral Canyon at the drop of a hat for a woman, the way Colton had done.

  Gray loved his son very much, but he alone knew that his life wasn’t entirely his own. “It’s fine, Lord,” he said to himself. “I don’t mean to complain. I love Hunter, and I’d rather he be with me than his mother.” He let out his breath, hoping some of the negativity he harbored inside would go with it. A bit of tension released from his shoulders, and he added, “Guide me to what I should do next.”

  Gray’s future was wide open, he knew that. Hunter would keep getting up in the morning and going to school. There would be science fair projects, and math homework he didn’t know how to do, and a brand new challenge for both of them—junior high. Multiple classes, dances…girls.

  That last one Gray barely knew what to do with himself. His first marriage had been one long fight, and when it had finally ended, he hadn’t even recognized himself anymore. He’d tried a couple of relationships since, and both of them had been nothing but disaster after disaster. He should’ve known he couldn’t date in the greater Denver area—at least not anyone who used the Internet or drove down the freeways. His surname was everywhere there, and the two women he’d been out with since Sheila’s departure from his life had been after only one thing: Money.

  That had hurt Gray, sure. But the worst part was knowing that Hunter had started to bond with Maddie. She’d known it, too, and she’d exploited the boy to get money from Gray for her. He’d never been so angry in his life. And having to explain his failures and shortcomings to a seven-year-old?

  Gray hadn’t dated in years. Four years, to be precise. Which was why he still hadn’t gotten out of his truck either.

  Elise would likely be here already. He’d pulled in right at the time they were set to meet, and he’d been sitting in the vehicle for at least ten minutes. She hadn’t called or texted yet, but he knew he was probably causing some anxiety in her soul too. And he didn’t want to do that.

  “Help me,” he begged as he got out of the truck. The chill in Wyoming in December was not to be trifled with, and Gray flipped up the collar on his coat to keep the wind off his neck. Someone had cleared the sidewalks, but he had to traverse snow and sleet to get there. His leather cowboy boots kept the dampness off his feet, and he hurried the rest of the way to the entrance of the restaurant.

  He’d let Elise pick where she wanted to eat, because he didn’t live here and didn’t know what was good. By the level of noise and the amount of people waiting inside the reception area, he knew this place must be popular.

  Glancing around, he searched for the beautiful blonde who’d first caught his eye at Colton’s house. Elise was light everywhere Gray was dark, and he wondered if their opposites extended to other things. He hadn’t spoken to her a whole lot over the months, little things here and there. The woman loved memes, and whenever Gray saw one he thought she’d like, he sent it to her.

  They talked about Colton and Annie, her work at the lodge, and Bree. He did know she loved to bake and was good at it, and that she could literally cultivate any plant back to life. But most of what he knew about Elise hadn’t come from her, but Colton.

  Her best friend.

  Gray wasn’t sure what he was doing, getting involved with her. If things went badly—and Gray had no reason to think they wouldn’t—he’d have to deal with Colton.

  He couldn’t find Elise among the crowd, as she had a way of slipping through the cracks. Still, he’d never had a problem locating her at the lodge or among all the guests at his brother’s wedding.

  “Hey,” a woman said, and he turned toward the voice. Elise stood there, her cheeks pink and those light green eyes making something unhitch in his chest that he hadn’t even known was so dang tight.

  “There you are.”

  “Sorry I’m late.” She glanced around, nerves pouring off of her. Gray was exceptionally good at reading a person, and he could tell she didn’t like this

  “Want to go somewhere else?” he asked.

  Hope filled those beautiful eyes. “Did you put our name on the list?”

  “I only just got here myself,” he said. “I was looking for you. So no.”

  “Sure, we can go somewhere else.” She turned and left the restaurant, and Gray followed.

  “There’s a great steakhouse over on March,” she said.

  “Okay.”

  “Meet you there?”

  “Yep.” Gray separated from her and got behind the wheel of his truck again. His heart beat a little faster than it normally did, because now he’d have to coax himself out of the vehicle one more time.

  “Make a right turn on Seagull,” his GPS said, and he obeyed. But when he arrived on March Street, it didn’t go all the way through. “Your destination is on the right.”

  “But it’s not,” he said, pulling to the curb and picking up his phone. He was on a residential street, with homes on both sides. No steakhouse. He looked left and right out the windows. Definitely no steakhouse.

  But this was definitely March Street. He typed in the search term “steakhouse” and got several results. Of course he would. This was Wyoming, after all, and they raised a lot of beef cattle here.

  Frustration started to lick through him as he tapped and studied the addresses. In the end, he had to dial Elise, who picked up with, “I think I lost you.”

  “I’m on March Street,” he said. “There’s no steakhouse here.” He swung his truck around to get out of the cul-de-sac. “What’s the name of the place?”

  “The Branding Iron,” she said. “And it’s not on March Street. It’s on Marks Street.”

  “Shoot,” Gray said, embarrassment moving through him powerfully. “I’ll be right there.”

  “Take your time,” she said. “They’re busy here too. I put our name on the list, and they said forty minutes.”

  “Oh, wow.” Gray’s stomach growled as if telling him he better feed it sooner than forty minutes from now. “See you in a sec.”

  Turned out that, no, he wouldn’t see her in a second. He’d somehow navigated clear out north of town, and it took a good half an hour to even get to the steakhouse.

  Something here was definitely wrong, but Gray pulled into the
parking lot anyway. Easing around the restaurant, his phone started pinging, shooting out at least a dozen notifications for text messages in the space of two seconds.

  “I hate the reception here,” he grumbled. He was used to lightning-fast Internet and text messages that went through the moment he sent them. His provider didn’t operate well in Coral Canyon, and half of Gray’s messages spun and spun, never going through at all. “Oh, wow.”

  He stopped when he saw the crowds of people standing outside the steakhouse.

  And the big plume of smoke rising from the roof. When he heard the sirens for the fire engine, he got out of the way and picked up his phone.

  He’d been gone from Colton’s for over an hour now, and he barely had time to eat with Elise at this point. She’d texted several times about a kitchen fire at The Branding Iron, and that she’d gone somewhere else.

  “Be…right….” Gray dictated as his thumbs typed out the letters. Before he could finish the text and send it, he got thrown forward, the horribly loud sound of metal on metal crunching through his whole body, crackling in his ears, and imprinting on his soul.

  He gripped the wheel, his phone gone and forgotten, the text not sent. He sucked at the air, trying to figure out what had happened.

  An angry man appeared through the driver’s side window. “You’ve got to move this.” He gestured, his face angry and his clothing indicating he was an emergency worker. “Now.”

  Gray punched the button to roll down his window. “You hit my truck.”

  “You’re parked in a red zone, Mister,” the man said. “Now move immediately. We’ve got two more ambulances coming and another fire truck.”

  “I am not in a red zone.” Gray knew better than that, and he got out of his truck, his own anger spiking. “I moved out of the way when I saw the smoke.”

  “Just move,” the man barked, walking away.

  “Who’s gonna pay for my truck?” Gray called after him, but he didn’t break stride or wave or anything.

  Gray circled the back of the truck to access the damage, and sure enough, he was not in a red zone. Not even close. Fine, close, but at least ten feet away.