Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 84829 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 424(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84829 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 424(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
“Who’s the baby mama?” Laurel sounded put out. Like it was her job to clean up this mess.
Ryan’s response was less concerned. “I need coffee for this.” Expression unfazed, he dragged himself across the room to the kitchenette as if the mess was not his to clean up.
“There’s no baby mama and no baby,” I told her in a somewhat offended tone. My life might’ve officially gone to hell, but at least I’d managed to remain childless over the many years I partied hard.
Laurel took off her reading glasses and placed them on her desk. “What’s going on, Scott? Seriously.”
The conversation was making me restless. Standing, I walked to the picture window. “Neither of you can breathe a word of this to anybody else––” I stared pointedly at Laurel. “That means if you tell Pete and a word of this gets out, I’ll know it was him.”
Laurel rolled her eyes. “Stop being so dramatic. Pete can keep a secret.”
“Pete cannot keep a secret,” both Ryan and I responded in unison. Laurel’s husband, the ranch’s assistant manager, was well-known as the town crier. Everyone agreed Pete had missed his calling as a gossip columnist.
“I mean it, Laurel. There’s a lot at stake here.”
“Top secret. Got it.” She made a locking motion over her lips.
“My father is retiring and has chosen someone to take his place as CEO of Blackstone.”
“Oh my gosh! You’re going back to New York?!” Laurel looked stricken, her tiny hand falling over her chest.
“Now who’s being dramatic?”
“Well then, get to it.”
“A woman. Her name is Sydney Evans.”
“Then what’s the problem?” Ryan cut in. Yawning, he ran a hand through his shaggy dark blond hair.
“The problem is the board of directors. There could be a legal battle. One that could last for years––unless she’s a Blackstone. Which is why I have to marry her. It’s either that or move back to New York to fill the position myself and I would sooner cut my throat.”
Laurel nodded as if it all made perfect sense. “I saw something very similar to this on the Hallmark Channel the other day. Alicia Witt was––”
“Laurel––” It was either cut her off or let my tension headache explode into a full-blown migraine.
“Fine. Continue.”
“Nobody can know the marriage is not legitimate. Nobody. You get me?”
Laurel nodded like this was all perfectly ordinary.
“It’s gonna get out,” Ryan remarked. “Mark my words. Somehow, this is gonna blow up in your face.” Ryan Sutter was as straightforward and sensible as they came. It was one of the things I admired most about him. The truth of his words hit home.
“Not as long as you two keep your mouths shut.” But the thought continued to nag. Between smartphones and social media, secrets were nearly impossible to keep these days. And, whether it was New York City or the wilds of Wyoming, people were the same everywhere––meaning nosy. “We haven’t hammered out the details yet, but she’ll be living here part-time.”
“So it’s not only on paper?” Laurel asked. “You have to live together? Like it’s a real marriage?”
“Not real. But we’ll be living together.” The words tasted bitter.
“For how long?”
“Three years.”
Laurel’s eyes went wide. “Goodness gracious.”
“Is she hot?” my closest friend questioned, which was not out of character.
“She’s my wife, asshole. No hitting on the soon-to-be Mrs. Blackstone. Nobody’s supposed to know it’s a sham marriage, remember?”
Ryan smiled. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
“More importantly whatever I do or don’t say in front of her, I expect you two to go along with it.” My attention darted back and forth between the two of them, driving my point home. “Are we clear on that?”
Laurel got the same expression she got when the dogs farted in the office. “What is that supposed to mean? Am I being forced to lie again?”
“The entire thing is a lie, Laurel,” I explained, exasperated. The land constantly on my mind. My father had, to my knowledge, never once issued an empty threat. It’s what made him so effective in business. “A worthy white lie. What’s a few more for the greater good?”
Chapter Four
Sydney
“Are you sure there’s room in there for me?” I asked the man standing next to me––the same man who was sporting a suspiciously neutral expression.
Scott had knocked on my door at 7 a.m. I’d opened it to find him leaning against the doorframe wearing a bitter smile and a black Henley shirt that clung to his chest like white on rice. “I’ve come to collect my wife,” he’d drawled, reticence all over his face. “You need to get a good look at what you’re signing up for.”
It was the first semi-wise thing he’d ever said to me.
My eyes traveled back to his vintage baby blue Ford pickup truck, the one parked in front of the hotel. Two gray dogs the size of elephants stared back at me from the interior.