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Tate felt like a bull charging a matador. Just when he thought things between him and his brother might have a chance of changing, Tyler had to go and make it all about himself. For too long, Tyler had been self-absorbed with his wine venture. Tate totally understood the need to follow dreams, but not at the expense of others. It wasn’t like Tyler didn’t know how busy this time of year was at the farm—hell, he’d grown up there and helped with the harvests.

“Why the hell did you volunteer our farm to host the event when you knew you were going to be away? What exactly are you expecting of me, Tyler?”

He shifted again, and Tate was glad to see his brother looking uncomfortable. “Macy said she was going to arrange for someone to be in charge of setup and decorating the place. You’ll need to work with them to make sure you’re happy with the placement of everything. It won’t take up too much of your time. The committee will be doing most of the hard work.”

Tate scrubbed his hand down his face. This was getting worse with each passing second. “I’ll still need to oversee what they’re doing, make sure they’re not going to places where they shouldn’t be. I can’t believe you’re expecting me to do this when it was your idea.”

Tyler actually looked sorry. His normally stoic brother had shown him some chinks in his armor today. “I know it’s a lot to ask, and I know I’m being selfish making you deal with it all…”

“Ya think?”

“I admit I got carried away when I was at the meeting. I thought it was a good idea to showcase all that Prentice Peach Farm is. How we’re expanding.”

“Again, it’s all about you and what you want, Tyler. Everyone in Sweet Ridge knows exactly what Prentice Peach Farm is. I bet not once did you even think about what this means to me.”

Silence descended between them. He’d come to Silver Spurs hoping to have a nice lunch with his brother. Why had he ever expected that to happen?

Misplaced hope, that’s what.

But maybe if he did this for Tyler, it would be the start. Tate was ever the optimist, and it was his biggest flaw, too. He always left himself wide open to be hurt.

He looked around the room, and his gaze went to Kelly. The pretty florist was laughing at something Macy was saying. Tate had no idea what it was about her that drew him in, but he needed to get a handle on it. There was no time in his life now to even consider a relationship of some sort. Not that she’d give him the time of day after her earlier declaration. Yet…

“I think Macy was going to ask Kelly to be the liaison. She does all the flower arranging for the festival. Macy thought she’d be a good person to help with the setup.”

“What?” Had he said Kelly was going to be his liaison, or had he imagined Tyler saying Kelly’s name because he’d been thinking about her?

“Kelly Turner, the woman who thinks you’re the town playboy, she’s going to be the one you will be working with.”

“Great,” he muttered. How much more complicated was this event going to get?

Chapter Two

“Ishould’ve nevergone back to Macy’s place.” Kelly groaned as she opened her eye a crack the next morning. Her head pounded, and the thought of sitting up had her stomach turning somersaults.

Perhaps she shouldn’t have used alcohol as a way to forget the location of the satellite Founders’ Day event and who she’d be working with. She was certainly paying for it right now.

Taking a deep breath, she sat up and waited for her stomach to settle down before she staggered out of bed and went into the bathroom. Gazing at herself in the mirror, she winced. Her hair looked like a flock of birds had decided to nest in it. Her mascara had created half-moons under her eyes. She looked stellar. She could go right out and snag the best-looking man in town.

Next time Macy and Charlotte decided to take her to lunch she was sticking to water and only staying for an hour. If only it was the alcohol that caused her to look like death’s best friend, but it was the lack of sleep as well. Every time she’d drifted off, her dreams had been full of kissing Tate and more in the middle of his peach orchard. And in the workroom of her shop.

Why, all of a sudden, was she so fixated on the guy? She didn’t like him. Well, okay, that wasn’t quite true. She just didn’t like what he represented. And now she was going to have to work closely with him for the Founders’ Day festival.

If she had any sort of magical power, she’d curse Macy for dangling such a tempting job in front of her. For years she’d wanted to do more with the decorations for the festival and now she could.

Kelly turned the shower on and stripped while the water warmed up. Maybe a nice, hot shower would make her feel human again. That and a vat of coffee. Thank goodness Mom wasn’t going to be in the shop until later. Explaining why she looked the way she did wasn’t something she fancied doing.

As the warm water sluiced over her, she switched her thinking back to the Founders’ Day event, dutifully ignoring Tate’s involvement. She loved the idea of a red-and-gold theme. A ton of flowers came in red. Not a lot came in gold, but she could get plenty of yellow ones and maybe paint the tips with gold paint. Or she could make the flowers all red and the vases or urns gold.

The more she thought about it, the more excited she got and couldn’t wait to get to her tablet to start sketching out designs. Of course, she’d need to visit the Prentice farm to get an idea of the layout. But one thing she did know—she wanted to have a beautiful lattice arch covered in flowers for people to walk through as a statement entrance piece. Or maybe she could do two.

She rushed through the rest of her shower and got dressed. Grabbing her keys, she raced out the door. The pounding in her head was fading. A stop at Betty Lou’s Diner for a coffee and a donut might slow down her arrival to the shop, but it was a necessary one. She desperately needed the caffeine and sugar fix.

Fifteen minutes later, she opened the door to the diner and inhaled the scents of fried food, coffee, and pastries. If she weren’t so eager to get to her store, she might have been tempted to get some eggs and bacon. Greasy food was a known cure for a hangover.

“Morning, Kelly. How you feeling? I heard you had a good time at Silver Spurs yesterday.”

Kelly pasted a smile on her face. Everyone in town loved Betty Lou, and Kelly did too, but the diner’s owner loved to gossip. Was Kelly surprised the news of what had happened at the bar yesterday had reached her? Nope, not at all. In fact, she’d expected it.