by Liz Isaacson
He’d been hit by an ambulance, which had since been backed up. The tailgate had bent inward in the middle, and that whole assembly would have to be repaired. The fender hung off the truck completely on one side, and the whole thing leaned precariously to the right.
He looked up to see if the ambulance drivers were still there, but they weren’t. Gray returned to the cab, frantically searching for his phone. He was a lawyer; he knew what to do to protect himself. And billionaire or not, he shouldn’t have to pay for damage to his vehicle that wasn’t his fault.
He first made sure the date and time feature of his camera was activated, and then he took at least forty pictures ranging from where he was parked to where the ambulance was—and the license plate of it—to the extent of the damage to his truck.
His fingers ached from the cold, and he’d forgotten about everything and anything else but the pictures and the icy chill threatening to overpower him.
He finally climbed into the cab again, but it was as cold in there as outside, because he’d left the door open. His phone rang, and it didn’t connect to the Bluetooth and play through the speakers, which only made him more furious.
“What?” he barked at Colton.
Ohhh, Colton. Maybe something had gone wrong with Hunter. The fight left him, and Gray’s pulse pounded.
“Where are you?” he asked. “Elise just called me crying.”
Sneak Peek! Her Cowboy Billionaire Best Friend’s Brother Chapter Two
Elise Murphy had never been so mortified in her life. Not even when Brandt had broken up with her via a text while she sat in the stands before one of his rodeos. She’d driven for two hours to be there, and she hadn’t told him she was coming.
The text had jolted her back to reality, not this make-believe place where women as plain and quiet as Elise married bull riding champions. Just one look at Violet Everett confirmed that. She was a country music star with platinum albums. That was the kind of woman a billionaire bull rider wanted on his arm.
Elise sniffled, because she needed to calm down before she got back to the lodge. She drew in deep breath after deep breath, horrified that she’d called Colton to ask him if Gray didn’t like her.
“What a mess,” she said, her voice cracking and tears slowly leaking down her face again. She wasn’t fourteen. She didn’t need to ask her best friend if his brother liked her.
A sting moved through her lungs, making breathing difficult, but she clenched her fingers on the steering wheel and kept the car on the mountain road. This Christmas wasn’t nearly as snowy as last, for which Elise was grateful. She didn’t like the snow that much, and driving in it especially terrified her.
She’d seen Gray walk into Devil’s Tower ten minutes late. She’d followed him after counting to twenty-five, a random number she landed on because if she let herself go higher, she might not have gone inside at all.
He’d barely looked at her, barely said two words to her, and then he’d gotten right back in his truck like he had a checklist to get done that day, and lunch with her was an inconvenience.
She’d listened to her affirmations all the way to the steakhouse, and when he didn’t come, and didn’t come…Elise knew now that she’d started to spiral then.
“But he called,” she said to the towering Tetons in the distance. The pine trees stood guard on the sides of the road too, never losing their needles and creating the perfect Christmas backdrop.
The big event had been yesterday, and Elise had skipped the rowdy present-unwrapping in the main living area of the lodge. She did love watching the little children open their gifts, but for some reason, she hadn’t been able to face going this year.
She pulled off the road, her car fishtailing a bit when she hit the snow on the shoulder going a little too fast. Her pulse picked up, but the vehicle came to a stop a moment later. With a sense of hysteria moving through her, she dug into her purse to find her phone. Her fingers shook while she swiped and jabbed, finally getting a call to go through to her mother.
“Elise, dear,” her mom answered, her voice rich as clover honey. Elise started to relax just with the sound of it in her ears. “How are you?”
“Okay,” she said, but her word wobbled. “Actually, not great.”
“Not great? I thought you were going out with Gray today?”
“Yeah, me too,” she said, her cheeks getting wet again wth a fresh set of tears. “It didn’t work out.”
“Oh, no,” her mother said. “You were so excited about it.” She sounded genuinely upset on Elise’s behalf. “Tell me what happened.”
“Maybe I should leave Wyoming,” Elise said instead of getting into the story. “Go somewhere warm, where rich people will pay me to design their yards. Put my degree to some actual good use.”
“You think that’s what you want?” Mom asked. “Eh?” The Canadian came out in her whenever she asked questions, and that “eh” caused a smile to bloom on Elise’s face.
She shook her head. “No, though I would like somewhere warm about now.”
“Still snowing up there?”
“Not for a couple of days,” she said. “It’s just really cold now. Clear sky. Subarctic temperatures.”
“You could come to Vegas,” she said. “I know you’re not working around the lodge right now, while the Whittakers are there.”
Elise let the thought roll through her mind, really examining all sides of it. “I could,” she said, because she didn’t hate the idea. “Let me think about it a little more.”
“I’ll be here until the third,” her mom said. “Plenty of time to shop, get a pedicure, lounge by the pool…Henry has a pool in his backyard, dear. You wouldn’t even have to go out in public.”
Elise didn’t even own a swimming suit, so the shopping trip would have to come before the lounging. She leaned her head back against the rest. “Sounds nice,” she said, letting her eyes drift closed.
“What happened with Gray?” Mom spoke with a quieter voice now, and Elise had calmed enough to start the story. She detailed how things had gone at Devil’s Tower, and how Gray had gotten lost.
“And then he didn’t show up,” Elise said. “I texted him and called him, and nothing. It was like he just disappeared. And then smoke started pouring out of the kitchen, and people started yelling and running out of the restaurant. I left, and I texted and called Gray again to let him know to meet me somewhere else.”
Elise paused, reliving the frustration at so much silence. She’d thought she craved silence, especially after dealing with the huge crowd at the lodge, then more people in town. Apparently, no one made lunch for themselves on the day after Christmas, as every restaurant Elise had been to that day had been jam-packed.
Even the third one, which wasn’t even that good.
She’d stood by the door, literally getting smashed behind it when people went in and out, as if she were invisible. In so many ways, Elise was invisible. She’d perfected how to be invisible, and most of the time she liked it.
But not behind a door, and not with Gray Hammond.
“And he never showed up,” she said. “Never called. Never texted. I think he saw me at Devil’s Tower, and was like, ‘Wait a second…I’m not attracted to her.’” She sighed, because sometimes living inside her own head was very hard.
“I’m sure that’s not true,” her mom said. “Elise, you’re a beautiful woman.”
“I’m thin,” Elise said. “Mom, there’s a difference between being thin and being beautiful.”
“Sweetie,” she said. “I’m sure he didn’t run away from you on purpose. Something must’ve happened.”
Elise opened her eyes and looked at the bright blue sky, without a cloud in sight. “I called Colton.”
Her mother didn’t say anything, which was an indication that Elise shouldn’t have called Colton. “He said he hadn’t heard from Gray. So whatever happened, he didn’t know about it.” Elise didn’t either. “It’s fine. I have spaghetti and meatballs at my cabin,
and plenty of ice cream, and I’ll be fine.”
“You said fine twice.”
“Well, it’s a two-fine kind of day,” Elise said, a smile perking up her lips. “Thanks for letting me vent, Mom. I love you.”
“Anytime,” she said. “Maybe try calling him from the cabin? Maybe he was in a place of poor reception. That place is like a pocket for my network. Only works half the time.”
“Okay, Mom,” Elise said. “I’ve got to drive now. Love you.” She hung up, because she didn’t want to get in to the fact that her mother had only been to Coral Canyon once in the last four years that Elise had lived and worked in Wyoming. Once—and that was to help Elise move from Jackson Hole to the lodge, just about three years ago now.
She continued up the mountain, the road in front of her like a shiny, black snake through the snow. She went past the lodge to an access road only she and Bree used, as it led to their cabin. She parked under the semi-permanent canopy Graham and Eli had erected for her and Bree, as there was no garage at the cabin.
Bree’s car wasn’t there, which indicated she’d likely gone down the canyon to her boyfriend’s house. Another Hammond, this one the oldest and the former CEO of the company that had made all the brothers billionaires.
Elise didn’t care about Gray’s money. She blinked and she saw him standing in Colton’s kitchen, shirtless, pouring coffee. Another blink, and their eyes met through the crowd. Another, and she witnessed him laugh with his son.
He made her feel something she hadn’t in a long time, and she’d liked him. He’d been smart and kind, soft but clearly an alpha male. He wore the cowboy hat and the boots, and while Elise had told herself she didn’t like cowboys, she now knew she’d been lying to herself for years.
“It’s fine,” she told herself as she went inside. “Fine, fine, fine.” Four fines didn’t make anything better, but they did help get her inside and get the plastic container of spaghetti into the microwave.
She put her phone on silent, left it in her room, and changed out of the cute checkered slacks she’d specifically bought for this date. She hadn’t worn them except to try them on, and Gray probably hadn’t even noticed them.
“It’s fine,” Elise told herself again. And then again. And then again.
The days passed, and Elise helped Celia in the kitchen and stayed out of the way. The Hammonds came up to the lodge on New Year’s Eve—the day of the Cupcake Wars—and Elise made a silent escape only a few minutes before they arrived.
She’d texted Gray between Thanksgiving and Christmas about what the Cupcake Wars entailed, and he’d said he’d compete with her. But she found she couldn’t handle the noise and crowds in the lodge, and she texted him to say so.
Her phone rang with his name on the screen, and she only hesitated for a moment before she answered it.
“Elise,” he said, his voice as smooth as a still lake. “You don’t feel well?”
“It’s just so noisy at the lodge.”
That noise came through the receiver on his phone. “It sure is.”
She didn’t know what else to say. He’d called the other night too to explain about the fire engines, and getting hit by the ambulance, and all of that. He claimed not to have gotten her texts until hours later, and Elise had just nodded during the conversation.
He hadn’t asked her out, and she certainly wasn’t going to ask. Not again.
“I’m going home tomorrow.”
“Yes,” she said, wondering what she’d thought they could become. He wasn’t like Colton; he couldn’t just leave Ivory Peaks whenever he wanted. She didn’t know Gray well, but she knew he felt a great responsibility for his parents, and she knew his son was nearly twelve and in school.
“Colton says you make a mean chocolate cake,” Gray said. “Maybe I could come to your cabin and taste it.”
His suggestion gave her pause for a moment, but then his voice reverberated in her ears. I’m going home tomorrow.
“I don’t think so, Gray,” she said. “I’m not up to it.”
“Okay,” he said, his voice giving nothing away. “I’m real sorry it didn’t work out for lunch.”
“Me too,” she said. “’Bye, Gray.” She ended the call and let her hand fall to her side. There was nothing more to say.
A couple of weeks passed, and Elise found herself at the courthouse one afternoon, a jury summons in her hand. She really couldn’t sit on a jury, as the very thought of having to decide someone else’s fate made her sick to her stomach.
But getting arrested for not showing up did too, so she’d put on her checkered pants—might as well wear them for something—and driven down the canyon. The wind whipped at her scarf, and Elise tried to tuck it under her hood and walk at the same time. She stumbled, but righted herself and kept going.
She glanced up to see how far she had to go before she’d find relief from this wind, but her eyes stung.
Ducking her head, she focused on the ground at her feet. As long as there was flat cement, she’d be okay. She’d make it.
A cry filled the air, and Elise looked left to see a blue and yellow awning bumbling down the street toward her. It sent glass shattering when it hit windows on cars, and Elise froze.
Don’t stand here, she thought. Or maybe it was the voice of the Lord telling her to move so she didn’t get hurt.
No matter what it was, she obeyed, and she darted forward at the same time a huge gust of wind blew into the square, bringing the awning closer and practically lifting Elise off her feet.
She cried out as she fought the wind. She wasn’t going to win this battle against Mother Nature, and she hunched her back and faced away from the wind so it would simply push her ahead of the awning.
Push her it did, right into the very solid form of someone else. “Sorry,” she said automatically, but her voice got lost in the rush of air.
“Come on,” the man said, grabbing onto her with very strong hands. “Let’s hunker down here.” He pulled her several steps back the way she’d come, and then down to the ground. The wind and chill lessened, and Elise pulled in a breath, feeling like she’d just run a marathon. She had no idea where she was or what they hid behind, other than it was made of bricks.
“Elise?”
She looked up from beneath her hood, that voice making her eyes widen. And when she looked into the dark, gray, stormy depths of Gray Hammond’s eyes, time froze.
HER COWBOY BILLIONAIRE BEST FRIEND’S BROTHER is coming soon! Preorder it now to find out if Gray and Elise can take a bad first date and make it into a happily-ever-after.
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; About Liz
Liz Isaacson is a USA Today bestselling author and a Top 20 Kindle All-Star Author. She is the author of the #1 bestselling Three Rivers Ranch Romance series, the #1 bestselling Horseshoe Home Ranch Romance series, the Brush Creek Brides series, the USA Today bestselling Steeple Ridge Romance series (Buttars Brothers novels), the Grape Seed Falls Romance series, the Christmas in Coral Canyon Romance series (Whittaker Brothers and Everett Sisters novels), the Quinn Valley Ranch Romance series, the Last Chance Ranch Romance series, and the Seven Sons Ranch in Three Rivers Romance series (Walker Brothers novels).
She writes inspirational romance, usually set in Texas and Montana, or anywhere else horses and cowboys exist. She lives in Utah, where she teaches elementary school, taxis her daughter to dance several times a week, and eats a lot of Ferrero Rocher while writing.
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HER COWBOY BILLIONAIRE BUTLER
Book Ten in the Christmas in Coral Canyon Romance series
by Liz Isaacson
