The Maverick's Bridal Bargain

by Christy Jeffries

  “Are you supposed to be feeding him peanut butter?” Cole asked from the doorway. He was wearing nothing but a pair of boxer briefs, riding low on his hips, and Vivienne’s heart spun like the exercise wheel inside the cage.

  “It might be a little fattening, but Lord Nibbles isn’t watching his waistline.”

  Cole’s eyes darted down to the hem of Vivienne’s tank top. “Speaking of waistlines, I enjoyed watching yours last night when you were straddling—”

  “Can I make you some eggs?” she interrupted, making an about-face toward the minuscule kitchen and popping a cookie into her own mouth. She continued between bites, slurring her words, “Maybe shum coffee?”

  Cole’s chuckle was low and deep. “So what does a wedding planner do after the wedding? Are you now off duty until the next one?”

  She’d barely swallowed before shoving another cookie in, reminding herself of Estelle, who would use the dying end of a cigarette to light a fresh one. “What nexsht one?”

  “Well, you’re still planning mine, right?”

  Vivienne turned around to switch on her coffeemaker. Not necessarily because she needed the caffeine, but because she didn’t want to face him for this conversation. “I, uh, figured that now that Zach’s wedding is over and I’m not at risk of getting fired beforehand, you and Susie Starlight would be calling yours off this week.”

  “Hmm,” he said, coming up behind her, sliding his warm hands over her hips. He whispered against her hairline behind her ear, “I wouldn’t mind having a few more consultations with my planner.”

  Consultations. Her brain tried to concentrate on that one word, but it was quickly overridden by the tightening of her thighs and the ticklish pricking of the stubble from his jaw rubbing against her neck.

  “I thought you had a family ranch you needed to get running.”

  Cole sighed as he straightened up, leaving a cool breeze along her shoulder where his warm breath had just been. “You’re right. We’re putting up fence all this week. And my dad has an architect coming tomorrow to show him the blueprints for the new house and barn. Hey, is that my binder?”

  Vivienne looked across the open kitchen to the white plastic binder on her coffee table. Besides forging Susie’s signature on the contract, she hadn’t touched it since they’d returned from Billings.

  She was saved from answering as he walked the few steps to retrieve it. “It looks way thinner than the one you had for Zach and Lydia.”

  Grabbing another cookie, Vivienne followed him to the living room. “That’s because most couples—you know, the ones who actually have real plans to get married—tend to provide me with lots of ideas to fill up the pages.”

  “Well, I’m fresh out of ideas.” He spread his hands out wide. “Besides, you outdid yourself yesterday. There’s no way I could come up with something better than that.”

  His tone was playful, but something nagged at Vivienne.

  “Really? Because I got the impression that you weren’t really enjoying yourself last night.”

  Tension flickered across his face before he shrugged. “It wasn’t that. It’s just none of that stuff is my thing, you know?”

  What could she do but nod? Cole had made himself abundantly clear in that regard. At the same time, he’d also made it pretty clear that he wasn’t planning on stopping whatever this was that they had between them. It wasn’t that Vivienne was opposed to having a casual relationship, as long as both of them knew that things weren’t headed in a different direction. One thing she’d learned from her parents’ marriage was that she didn’t want to go back and forth. She didn’t want this emotional tug-of-war raging inside of her.

  As she was the kind of person who thrived on organization and communication, compulsion forced her to lay it all out on the table.

  “Look, Cole. I think we both have a lot of things going on in our lives right now. You’ve got the ranch and Lord knows I need to focus on my career, or else I’m not going to have one. Which means Lord Nibbles and I can kiss this glamorous apartment—” she gestured toward the nondescript rental furniture “—goodbye. Anyway, neither one of us probably has time for anything more than some casual fun. Do you agree?”

  Initially, when she’d started talking, his face had been like stone, hard and unreadable. His eyes had been steady but not panicked. That was a good thing, right? Twisting her bottom lip between her teeth, she waited for his response. And tried not to stare at the muscular ridges of his abdomen, because if she glanced down, she would surely lose her nerve to continue this conversation and wind up pushing him back onto the beige tweed sofa to have her way with him.

  After several seconds of uncomfortable silence, his face finally relaxed and his smirk suggested that he was relieved that she wasn’t asking him for any sort of commitment. “I’m definitely a fan of the fun part—”

  His phone let out a shrill ring from the bedroom, and he cut off whatever else he’d been about to say as he strode to the bedside table.

  “What’s wrong, Garrett?” he said by way of answer. Vivienne couldn’t hear the other side of the conversation, but Cole was quick to reply. “Because you never call me after a night of drinking unless there’s something wrong.”

  He ran a hand through his short, dark hair, then balanced the cell phone between his ear and his shoulder as he pulled on his gray slacks from the night before. “Uh-huh,” he said, then paused a few more beats. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

  Filled with a sudden sense of worry, Vivienne walked to the side of the bed so she could be there to lend whatever support Cole needed.

  “Fine. Text me the address and I’ll come pick you up.” He yanked on the white button-down shirt she’d practically torn off him last night, then made a grunting sound. “And you guys all told me the Share My Location app was overkill. I’ll meet you outside in a minute.”

  Cole disconnected the call and tossed the phone onto the bed as he tugged on his boots.

  “What happened?” Vivienne asked.

  “Well, speaking of fun and casual,” he said, not looking up, “Garrett had a bit too much to drink last night and went home with one of the waitresses from the catering company. Unfortunately, he woke up in the waitress’s roommate’s bed instead and isn’t sure how that happened. He snuck out a few minutes ago and is outside in the parking lot.”

  “Here? In my parking lot?”

  “Yep. He was going to call Shawn to come pick him up, but I installed this app on their phones so that—Never mind. Anyway, he got an alert that my phone was only a few blocks away and, wanting to get out of Dodge before the waitress or her roommate woke up, he did the walk of shame over here.”

  Cole put his phone and wallet in his pocket, grabbed his keys and was almost to the bedroom doorway before he turned around and pulled Vivienne into his arms. “Sorry my brother is a dumbass. I’ll call you later.”

  His parting kiss was short but thorough and left little doubt that he would in fact be calling her soon. He scooped something off the coffee table on his way out the door. Sergeant Save-the-Day was off on his next mission.

  It wasn’t until she lowered her fingers from her swollen lips that she realized he’d taken the white binder with him.

  * * *

  It was later that night before Cole allowed himself to text Vivienne.

  She couldn’t have been clearer that she wanted to keep their relationship as status quo, which was fine with him. Especially since he’d expected her to call things off altogether. When she’d begun her speech about them both having busy lives, he’d had to work to keep his face from showing any disappointment, because even though he didn’t want anything serious, he also wasn’t quite ready to stop seeing her.

  That was why he kept his message simple. Drove by Sawmill Station. The rental company picked up the tables and chairs. Thought you might want to know.

 
Sitting in his cousin’s former bedroom, he stared at the pink ruffle along the edge of the curtain as he waited for what felt like an hour but was probably only a couple of minutes. Finally his phone vibrated in his hand with her reply. Thanks. How’s your brother?

  He let out a breath. They were still good.

  Stupid and hungover, Cole typed, then debated whether or not he should text her Talk to you soon or Can’t wait to see you again. But he didn’t want to sound too needy. He ended up going with a simple Good night.

  The week after the wedding was busier than the week leading up to it. It was time for the real work on the ranch to begin, and Cole was up before dawn and dragging his tired body home well after dark every night. He tried to find reasons to text Vivienne, but most of them were asinine questions about the wedding emails Estelle had him subscribed to. What he really wanted to ask was if he could see her this weekend. He remembered that she was working on a big sixtieth birthday party for some wealthy Kalispell socialite, but he couldn’t remember the exact date.

  On Thursday, he was on an all-terrain vehicle they’d borrowed from Uncle Charles, digging holes for fence posts, when his cell phone vibrated on his hip. So far, the ground had been hard and the midday sun had been unforgiving, but seeing Vivienne’s name on his screen made him grin.

  “Hello?” he said, putting the phone to his ear.

  “Uh, hi, Cole. It’s Vivienne Shuster over at Estelle’s Events.” Her tone was hesitant yet professional, and there was only one reason she’d feel the need to give her last name and place of employment to the guy she’d slept with just a few days ago. Estelle was listening.

  “Miss Shuster,” he replied, suddenly annoyed by their formal pretense. At one time, it had seemed amusing and slightly wicked to trick her boss. Now Cole wished everything was out in the open, that they didn’t need a reason to call each other or to see each other. “I almost didn’t recognize your voice.”

  There was a brief pause and Cole mentally kicked himself for the sarcastic comment. But then Vivienne continued. “The reason I’m calling is that Estelle would like me to come get the planning binder from you.”

  “The what?”

  “The planning binder. You know, the one you took last weekend when your fiancée was in town for your brother’s wedding? You guys were going to try to fill out some more of it, maybe add some pictures of ideas you wanted to incorporate for your own big day?” Her emphasis implied that she was hoping he’d go along with whatever excuse she’d told her boss, but it took him a second to realize why she was asking about the binder.

  That’s right, he’d taken the thing from her apartment on Sunday. At the time, it had been a split-second decision, almost a subconscious last resort to ensure that he still had a reason to talk to her despite all her hemming and hawing about the status of their relationship. “How soon do you need it?”

  “No rush,” she started, then there was a muffled sound as if she’d covered the mouthpiece of her phone. “Actually, if I could pick it up tomorrow, that’d be great.”

  “Tomorrow works,” he said eagerly, before realizing that his dad and the three of his brothers who weren’t on their honeymoon would be out here working with him. He didn’t want them asking why he needed to meet with Zach’s wedding planner. Cole was about to suggest meeting her in Rust Creek Falls, but then someone in town might ask the same question. Instead, he said, “Actually, I have to come to Kalispell to pick up some supplies for the corrals we’re going to start next week. Why don’t I meet you at Matilda’s for lunch and I can give it to you then?”

  His gut twisted while he waited for her reply. He’d been hoping to ask her out on a proper date, but suggesting a business lunch was the best he could come up with while still maintaining the charade for her boss.

  “That would be great,” she said, and Cole’s stomach unclenched at the relief in her voice. “I have a new client coming in at one, so I’ll need to be back to the office in time for that.”

  “I’ll pick you up at eleven thirty, then.”

  “No need for that. I can meet you there. See you tomorrow.” Vivienne disconnected first and Cole stared at her name vanishing from his screen.

  Putting away his phone and picking up his shovel, he tried not to dwell on her rushed response or her refusal of his offer for a ride to the restaurant. All that mattered was that he would be seeing her tomorrow. He turned the volume up on his iPod and tried to figure out where he could find some pictures to shove into his pretend-wedding-planning binder.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “I’m so sorry I’m late,” Vivienne told Cole, who slid out from the booth and stood up when she arrived for lunch. “Estelle wanted to reschedule her weekly hair appointment so that she could come with us and I had to convince her that I could handle it.”

  “No problem.” His good manners didn’t surprise her, but she was definitely taken aback by his kiss hello. She’d turned her face just in time to present him with her cheek instead, praying that nobody else in the diner had noticed. Kalispell wasn’t as small a town as Rust Creek Falls, but people here still talked.

  Especially Matilda, the owner, who had no problem asking her customers personal questions.

  The woman appeared with an iced tea for Cole and a Dr Pepper for Vivienne, her plastic cat’s-eye glasses not hiding her raised eyebrows. “So, Viv, I heard from this handsome stud that you did a great job on his brother’s wedding out in Rust Creek.”

  Vivienne’s tight smile remained firmly in place despite the heat rising all the way up to her hairline. She nodded, then put the straw to her mouth for a long, slow sip to avoid further conversation. Thankfully, the lunch rush hour was beginning, and Matilda had other customers to chat with.

  “I hope you don’t mind,” Cole said, nodding toward her red plastic cup of soda. “I knew what you would want to drink, but I wasn’t sure how stressed you’d be today, so I haven’t ordered lunch yet.”

  Amazed, Vivienne sat back in the booth. Had anybody ever ordered for her before? At least correctly? Growing up, her mother had always monitored Vivienne’s intake of food, suggesting lighter portions and insisting that boys didn’t like girls who ate more than them. And Estelle, on the rare occasions she’d taken pity on Vivienne for having to work through breaks, would simply pick up two of whatever she was having. Vivienne was usually the one seeing to everyone else’s preferences. Nobody had ever really paid attention to hers. “Thanks.”

  “I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Cole said as he watched her slurp down half of her Dr Pepper. “What exactly does Estelle do? Because she wasn’t at the wedding last Saturday and she didn’t attend the bridal expo. As far as I can see, you do all the labor.”

  “She used to be much more active, back in the day. But times have changed and Estelle is of the opinion that if something ain’t broke, don’t fix it. When she hired me, I was fine with the distribution of duties because it let me do the part I loved and she took care of all the behind-the-scenes things, like drawing up contracts and paying the bills. But now that she’s slowing down and becoming more pushy and cranky with the clients, we’re not getting as much business as we used to. But the birthday party we’re doing this weekend is for one of her friends, so she’ll be more hands-on with that.”

  A different waitress approached and Vivienne ordered the Cobb salad, then changed her mind and got the chicken potpie lunch special, which came with a side salad. There was always too much gravy in Matilda’s potpies, so she requested a side of mashed potatoes to help soak some up. “And I better order the blackberry cobbler now, since I have to leave in forty-five minutes.”

  “I’ll do the Western bacon burger with onion rings, please,” Cole said, handing the waitress their menus. He looked at Vivienne, one brow raised. “I hope it’s your one-o’clock clients that are stressing you out, not me.”

  She forced a chuckle, but it was definitely n
ot Dolores Stack’s anniversary party next week that had Vivienne wanting to eat like a starved grizzly bear getting ready for hibernation. Dr. and Mrs. Stack had the same party at the same country club every single year and Vivienne could throw it blindfolded. But she didn’t tell Cole that. Instead, she changed the subject. “So how’s the ranch coming along?”

  “Good. My dad and I met with the architect who is designing the new buildings. Now we need to figure out who is going to live where.”

  “What do you mean?” She finished off the rest of her soda and wished the diner served appetizers or something other than the basket of prepackaged crackers.

  “Well, my dad will live in the main house, obviously, but he wants each of us to build our own place on the property, which is generous of him, but I don’t like the idea of him being alone. Booker, Shawn and Garrett—especially Garrett—are all single, and while I don’t see anything changing on that front anytime soon, they’re already chomping at the bit to have their own space. Zach’s the only one of us who would have any foreseeable need for a house, but he’s going to be living in town with Lydia for a while. That leaves me to stay with my Dad and keep an eye on things.”

  Vivienne’s heart swelled at his love for his father. Of course he planned to live with his dad. Cole was the family caretaker. But it was also further proof that he had no intention of ever having his own home, his own family. This was why she hadn’t seen the man all week and she’d purposely tried to keep the limited messages between them casual. There was no long-term for them.

  “So tell me about the design for the main house,” Vivienne said. The topic of plan layouts and decorating were familiar enough that she could easily follow along, yet neutral enough that she wouldn’t have to discuss her own future and lack of picket-fence expectations.

  Cautioning herself not to shovel her food into her mouth so quickly, Vivienne listened to Cole talk about the layout, the number of bedrooms and a ridiculously large stone fireplace using some of the creek-bed rocks they’d salvaged after the fire at their ranch, Dalton’s Gulch.