McFarlane's Perfect Bride

by Christine Rimmer

  Tori almost said no. She felt so sad and lost and weepy. The last thing she needed was to break down in tears in the middle of their favorite restaurant.

  Then again, if she had Allaire over to her house, she knew she would end up in tears. Maybe telling her friend about the breakup in a public place would provide at least some insurance against an emotional scene.

  “Tori? You still there?”

  “I’m here. And lunch would be perfect. At the Teapot. Noon?”

  “I’ll be there. Haley’s coming, too. She’s jazzed. It’s a done deal. She got the storefront for ROOTS.”

  “Great. I want to hear all about it.” More insurance against losing it, if Haley was there.

  Allaire was waiting for her, alone, at their favorite table. One look at Tori’s face, and her best friend knew something was very wrong.

  Tori slid into the chair she always sat in.

  Allaire said, “My God. What?”

  “Where’s Haley?”

  “She called and said she would be late. Now what’s the matter with you? Something’s happened and I want to know what.”

  Tori put her left hand on the table.

  “What?” Allaire demanded again. Then she looked down at Tori’s ringless finger. “Oh, no.”

  Tori nodded. “Yeah.”

  Allaire leaned closer. “When? What happened?”

  “Yesterday. It…didn’t work out, that’s all.”

  The waitress appeared. They ordered their usual.

  The minute she left them alone, Allaire put her hand over Tori’s. “Oh, I can’t believe this. You two are so in love.”

  Tori almost laughed. But she was afraid, if she did, it would only bring on a river of tears. “Well, I love him, at least.”

  “And he loves you. It’s so obvious, Tori. I saw it in his eyes every time he looked at you. And I know that you two will work it out. I feel it. I’m sure of it.”

  Tori did laugh then. “But…you can’t stand him.”

  “Hey. I have a right to be wrong now and then. I know now I judged him too harshly. I mean, if you’re in love with him, how bad can he be?”

  “Oh, Allaire…”

  “It’s going to work out.”

  “I don’t think so.” She stared across the table at Allaire. And it came to her. She couldn’t go on lying to such a dear friend. “Allaire, I…”

  “Tell me. Please. I want to hear.”

  “Yes. All right. And I want you to know.” And then, in a whisper, leaning across the table toward her friend, swiftly and without fanfare, Tori told all.

  She had just finished when the waitress approached. They said nothing as she set their tea and sandwiches before them.

  When she finally left again, Allaire said, “You should have told me. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”

  “Well. Now you know.”

  “I’m glad, at least, that CJ will get to stay here in town.”

  “Me, too.”

  “And I think Connor’s a fool to let you go.”

  “He’s… I don’t know…” The insistent tears threatened to fall again. She swallowed them back. “I think he has trouble letting himself be happy.”

  Allaire raised her teacup. “Here’s to him coming to his senses. And soon.”

  “I don’t think that’s going to happen.” Tori raised her own cup and touched it to Allaire’s. “But I’ll certainly drink to the possibility.”

  A few minutes later, Haley showed up. She was beaming from ear to ear. ROOTS was going to become a reality at last. They congratulated her on her success and discussed how they would all pitch in to fix up the new ROOTS headquarters in the storefront down the street.

  Allaire had Tori over for dinner that night. And Saturday, Melanie called. Connor had told his sister that the engagement was over.

  “Are you okay?” Melanie wanted to know.

  “I’m getting by,” Tori replied.

  “Want some company? I’m coming into town in an hour.”

  Tori started to say no, that it wouldn’t be a good idea. But she liked Melanie. And she wouldn’t mind a little company—in fact, she’d appreciate some.

  Melanie came over. She confessed that Connor had told her everything. “I love my brother,” she said with a rueful sigh. “But I told him he’s messing up royally, to even consider letting you go.”

  “Melanie, the engagement was never real. You know that. You said he explained it to you.”

  Melanie made a low sound in her throat. “Of course it was real. Everyone saw it. You two were meant to be together.”

  “But we’re not together. And we’re not going to be.”

  “That’s what I thought about Russ and me. And look at us now.”

  “I don’t see the parallel. You and Russ are nothing like Connor and me.”

  “Yes, we are. Russ and I married for all kinds of convenient reasons, not one of them love. Or so we thought.”

  That was hard to believe. “You’re not serious. Not you and Russ—”

  “Yes, I am. He wanted the Hopping H and I needed help making the guest ranch work. It was a strictly business arrangement. Or so we told ourselves at the time.”

  Tori couldn’t afford to get her hopes up. “It’s not the same.”

  Melanie only smiled at her and said gently, “Love matters. When there’s love, all kinds of impossible dreams end up coming true.”

  Tori nodded. She agreed with Connor’s sister. At least, she did in theory. As she had told Connor the day it ended, she believed that love—that having loved him—was worth the pain.

  But right now, well, she was suffering through the worst of it. It wasn’t easy. It hurt a lot. Sometimes, she forgot that love was worth it. Sometimes, she thought that impossible dreams were simply that—impossible.

  Sometimes she almost wished she’d never loved him at all.

  Connor had the monthly meetings in Philadelphia starting Monday.

  He gave Gerda four days off, since CJ wanted to stay with the Chiltons, and he flew out early Sunday. He had dinner with his parents that evening.

  They asked after Tori. He said she was fine.

  Yes, he should have gone ahead and told them that the engagement was off. But he couldn’t bear to do it, couldn’t stand to see that cool flare of satisfaction in his mother’s eyes. Couldn’t sit there and listen to his father tell him how it was all for the best. That the schoolteacher from Montana was not the right woman for him and they were glad he had realized it before he got in too deep.

  In too deep.

  He was already there. Deep and going deeper. He missed her. He missed her really bad.

  And his own sister had told him he was an idiot. Melanie had said she didn’t care if he thought he’d gotten engaged to Tori just to improve his chances of getting custody of his son. “Wake up, Connor. You’re in love with Tori Jones. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll go and tell her so, right now.”

  Of course, he hadn’t. He wasn’t going back to Tori. He wasn’t ready for any of that. Not ready for love.

  Or so he kept telling himself. Constantly. Over and over.

  As if maybe, when he’d said it enough times, he would actually believe it. He would be able to forget her, to get on with his life.

  Monday was one meeting after another.

  Tuesday, he gave his presentation on the Thunder Canyon Resort buyout. He shocked the hell out of all them at that meeting.

  His father looked like he might have a coronary when Connor said, “I want to invest in the resort instead of buying them out. My prospectus is in front of you. When you’ve had time to study my new plan, I think you’ll see that the numbers are solid. We’ll leave the current management team in place, and I project we can see a profit from our investment within the next two years. They need capital. We can give it to them. And then share in the returns.”

  His father sputtered. “But it won’t be a McFarlane House project.”

  “No. It will be a McFarlane
House investment. I’ll look elsewhere for our next project. As you’ve mentioned more than once, Donovan, the resort doesn’t really fit our brand. But the Thunder Canyon Resort can be profitable again. And that means we will profit, too.”

  There were hours of arguments, of objections and retrenchments.

  But Connor refused to back down. In the end, he convinced them all. Even his father couldn’t argue with the numbers Connor had provided. And besides, Donovan had never liked the idea of a sprawling ski resort bearing the McFarlane House name.

  Connor stayed over that night. He had dinner with his parents again. Donovan was anxious for him to move back home, to get to work on the next acquisition. They did need to start growing the business again, though more cautiously than before.

  His mother said, “And of course, we are looking forward to meeting this fiancée of yours.”

  He put them off. On all fronts.

  And he flew back to Montana first thing Wednesday morning.

  Thursday, he called Caleb and set up a meeting for that night, at the Douglas Ranch. He asked that Grant and Riley both be there. And Justin Caldwell, too, if possible.

  Caleb said they would all be there. And he was as good as his word.

  After dessert was served, Connor told them of the offer he was planning to make, that he would invest McFarlane House capital and work with them to get the resort in the black again and to build the Thunder Canyon brand. That the management team would stay the same. “If that’s acceptable,” he said, “we can go ahead and call the lawyers, put a formal contract together.”

  When he finished speaking, Caleb rose from his place at the head of the table. “Adele, let’s break out the bubbly. It looks to me like we’ve got ourselves a deal here.”

  There was agreement all around. Champagne flowed and toasts were offered.

  Later, Grant took Connor aside and shook his hand. “It’s a fine thing you did, Connor.”

  “It’s a good investment. We’re all going to benefit.”

  “You’re a good man.”

  “Well. Not everybody thinks so.”

  “Whoever ‘not everybody’ is, they’re full of crap. I liked you from the first. Yeah, I had my doubts there for a while. I made no secret of them. But my first impression was the right one. I’m looking forward to working with you. And to calling you a friend.”

  The next morning, Connor got in touch with Frank Cates, who with his son Matt owned Cates Construction. He told Frank he was going to need a new house. Yes, the house would be vacant several months out of the year. But when he could be there, he wanted CJ to have a place to call home.

  Frank said to come on down to the office. “And bring that pretty schoolteacher of yours with you. You know she’s gonna want her say. A woman always does.”

  Connor opened his mouth to tell Frank that Tori wouldn’t be with him, that she was no longer his fiancée. But the words refused to take form. He thanked Frank, set an appointment for Monday and hung up the phone.

  “You okay, Mr. M?” Gerda stopped rolling out pie dough long enough to send him a worried look.

  He realized he’d been sitting there at the kitchen counter, staring blindly into space for a minute or two, at least. “Uh. Yes, Gerda. Fine. Just fine.”

  “I have to tell you, you’ve looked better.” She went back to rolling her pie dough. “Men,” she muttered under her breath. “Some of ’em got no idea what’s best for ’em.”

  Connor pretended not to hear her as he watched her expertly lift the flattened crust and lay it into a pie pan. Swiftly and cleanly, she pinched the edges so they were attractively fluted.

  She glanced up again. “Get on with you, now. Go see that sweet Ms. J and tell her you can’t live without her.”

  If he’d been his father, he would have fired her on the spot. Or at the very least informed her that his activities were none of her affair and she would be wise to remember that.

  But he wasn’t his father.

  He wasn’t even really himself anymore—or not the hard-charging corporate shark he had once been, anyway. Somehow, he’d become someone altogether different.

  Someone who actually spent time with his son. Someone who had healed the lifelong breach with his sister. Someone Gerda felt she could lecture. Someone Grant Clifton called a friend.

  He jumped up from the counter stool. “I have to go out.”

  “About time,” Gerda grumbled.

  He hardly heard her. He was already halfway down the hall.

  When Tori opened the door, the sight of her stole the breath from his body. In bare feet, old jeans and a Thunder Canyon High T-shirt, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever beheld.

  “Connor?” She said his name disbelievingly. Her hazel eyes were blue-green as oceans again. And suddenly, he wasn’t sure what to say.

  “I’m not buying out the resort. I’m investing in it. And Grant Clifton says he’s proud to be my friend.”

  “Oh, Connor…” She swiped at those gorgeous wet eyes. And her sweet mouth was trembling.

  “I called Frank Cates. He’s going to build me a house.”

  “A house. Of course. How wonderful.”

  “Frank said to come down to the office. And to bring you. That you would want to have input, that women always do. I didn’t tell him that we weren’t together anymore. I couldn’t bear to say it. And I didn’t tell my parents it was over, either. I couldn’t bring myself to do that, to tell them we had ended it.”

  She searched his face. “Connor. Come in. Please. Come in.”

  He stumbled forward.

  She shut the door, then turned and leaned against it, as if her legs were too shaky to hold her up. She whispered, “What are telling me?”

  “I…” There was so much to say. Where in hell should he start? “I…know you love this town, that you want to live the rest of your life here.”

  She put her hand to her throat. “But, Connor, wh-what are you telling me?”

  “Oh, Tori. I’m, uh, I…” Words had completely deserted him.

  But she knew. She understood. “It’s happening, isn’t it? You and me, it’s going to happen. It’s going to be okay.”

  Wordlessly, he nodded.

  She whispered, “I have to tell you, I did doubt you. I doubted all of it, all I thought I had learned, doubted you would ever come back, wondered if love was worth it, after all.”

  He cleared his throat and somehow found his voice. “And why wouldn’t you doubt? Why wouldn’t you wonder? I’ve been such a fool.”

  She laughed then, a joyous sound. “Oh, yes, you have.” And then a small sob escaped her. She drew in a ragged breath. “As to the question you were trying to ask me, I do love it here in Thunder Canyon. But I can be…flexible. When I said I’d never leave, well, that was before I fell in love with you. Love changes people. Love…opens us up to new possibilities.”

  “New possibilities.”

  “Oh, Connor. Yes.”

  “We could…play it by ear then, as far as where we live?”

  “We could. Absolutely. I’d be open to that.”

  He took her hand. “Tori.”

  “Yes, Connor. Yes.”

  And he went down on one knee. She made a soft, surprised sound when he did that.

  He said, “You have to have your story.”

  “Yes,” she said wonderingly.

  “Your proposal story.”

  “I do. Oh, yes, I do.”

  “Tori, you’ve been telling me for weeks that a man can change. That I’m a good man. Well, I have changed. And the man I am now is more than ready. For love. For marriage. For you, Tori. Because I love you. And I’m so sorry I didn’t admit it to myself and to you earlier, that I caused you pain.”

  She looked down at him reproachfully. “It’s true. You did hurt me. You hurt me terribly.”

  “I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.”

  And she sighed. “Oh, Connor. Yes. Always. Yes.”

  “I don’t
have a ring yet.”

  She laughed again. “I still have my ring. Did you imagine I wouldn’t? I was keeping it. I would have always kept it. Whether you ever came to your senses or not.”

  “Well, okay. Now would be the time to go and get it.”

  “I will. In a minute.”

  “Marry me, Tori.”

  “Yes, Connor. I will.”

  He stared up at her, hardly daring to believe that she would really be his. His wife. His lover. His best friend for life.

  “Connor.”

  “Yes?”

  She tugged on his hand. “Come up here. Take me in your arms.”

  He didn’t have to be told twice. He swept to his feet and pulled her close. “I love you. Did I say that?”

  “You did. But that’s okay. You can say it again. You can say it over and over. ‘I love you’ never gets old.”

  “I love you, Tori Jones.”

  “I love you, Connor McFarlane.”

  He kissed her then. A long, deep, thorough kiss. A kiss that promised her everything. His love, his devotion, his absolute commitment to her and the future that would be theirs, together.

  “We’re getting married,” he said in a voice full of wonder. “We’re really getting married.”

  She nodded. And then she kissed him again. And then she led him to her bedroom, where she took the ring from a secret compartment of her jewelry box. She gave it to him. And he slid it onto her ring finger where it belonged.

  And then he took her in his arms again. He kissed her some more. With love.

  And with wonder, too.

  A month ago, if someone had dared to tell him this would happen, he would have called that person deluded, misinformed, a silly, romantic fool. But it had happened. Connor had found true love. Their sham engagement had turned real. He would have the life he had finally learned he truly wanted: a life with Tori at his side.

  Did it get any better than this? He didn’t see how.

  But then he gazed down into Tori’s shining eyes. And he realized it just might.

  Because they had each other. They had love. And with love, anything was possible.

  Special thanks and acknowledgment to Christine Rimmer for her contribution to the Montana Mavericks: Thunder Canyon Cowboys miniseries.