Page 12

“What’s she coming over here for?” Gavin demanded.

“How would I know?” But she’d come to talk to him after her last meeting with Mom. “She told me last time Mom wants . . .” Well, he didn’t need to be specific. “Wants us involved.”

Gavin snorted. “And you told her to go to hell, right?”

“Politely, yes.”

“I’m done being polite.”

“When did you start?” Shane asked good-naturedly, but any levity he felt at razzing his brother died as Cora crossed the drive and was now marching toward them over the grass around the barn.

She wasn’t hard to look at. She wore a dress with unfurling pink flowers all over it that swished a little too enticingly along her legs as she moved at a steady clip. Her long reddish-blondish hair was swirling around her face as the gentle breeze played with it. She had dark blue eyes and a heart-shaped face, and Shane was more than a little irritated at himself for being attracted to her.

Didn’t matter. They were at cross-purposes right now. Besides, delicate pretty was not his type. Mostly.

“Hello,” she greeted once she approached. She was a hint out of breath, and her cheeks were slightly flushed. There was something different about her today. She wasn’t really smiling. Not scowling either. Some firm, in-between expression Shane couldn’t read and didn’t trust.

“’Lo,” Gavin returned suspiciously.

Shane nodded at her. He’d like to be curt, but it wouldn’t be fair, so he smiled politely. “Good afternoon,” he offered.

“I’ve just come from a meeting with your mother. If all goes according to plan, we’ll have the wedding here at the end of September.”

Shane couldn’t help himself. He had to disabuse her of that notion right quick. “And if all goes according toourplan, we won’t have a wedding at all.”

She frowned, a little line appearing in the middle of her forehead and across the bridge of her nose. “What’s your plan?”

Shane exchanged a look with his brother. They didn’t exactly have a plan yet, but they would.

Cora chuckled. “Oh, good, I thought for a second you had some horrible idea to sabotage your mother’s wedding and that my first impression of you had been all wrong.” She smiled at both of them, all dazzling positivity. “Whatever differences are between you and the groom-to-be, we can work those out. Can’t we?”

“No,” Shane and Gavin said in unison.

Her smile died. “I was afraid you’d say that,” she muttered.

“Look, I got somewhere to be,” Gavin said. He turned to Shane and explained under his breath, “A few things to do for Lou’s barn. Be back after lunch.”

“Yeah. She doing okay?”

“Okay.” Gavin tipped his hat at Cora, then cringed a little bit as if he was irritated with his own ingrained manners.

Even though Gavin left, the wedding planner didn’t. Shane struggled between the urge to shoo her off and the urge to at leasttryand sway her to their point of view about this ridiculous wedding.

But she spoke first.

“Are you busy tonight?”

His jaw dropped. She wasn’t actually . . .

“Oh, I’m not asking you out,” she said, leaning forward and touching his arm, something like a quick poke. She laughed a little too hard at the idea, but then her gaze traveled the length of him and back up again, before she flashed him a flirtatious smile. If he had been less of a man, he might have blushed.

“I know you love your mother. I can tell, and she’s infinitely worthy of that devotion. I can tell that too. I just want to try and prove to you that you’ve got it all wrong about Ben.”

“How would you know?”

She opened her mouth and then closed it. She seemed to ponder something for a moment and then shook her head. “Do you know where the VFW Hall in Benson is?”

He did not trust this at all, but he nodded in assent.