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Page 3 of Stormswept Colorado (Hart County #3)

TWO

Ayla

I had just arrived in Silver Ridge last night for the big wedding weekend, and things were a little…chaotic.

We were working on the wedding favors in Ashford and Emma’s dining room. The space looked like a hurricane of craft supplies had blown through, leaving destruction in its wake.

Yet the familiar scents of the O’Neal residence filled the air, like always. Maisie’s strawberry shampoo, Emma’s herbal tea, Ashford’s cologne. Things that, in the last year and a half, had come to feel like home .

I grabbed a cellophane bag to fill with Jordan almonds. “Is Ashford okay? He looked pretty stressed when I saw him earlier.”

At least Maisie was occupied with her toys in her room instead of bouncing off the walls.

Emma groaned. “I love my fiancé, but he has been getting on my last nerve. He thinks this storm will interfere with the wedding.”

“I checked the forecast before I left LA. I thought it wasn’t that bad.”

“It’s not,” Grace said soothingly, reaching for the spool of ribbon. “The storm will bring just enough snow to make all the trees around the Last Refuge Inn look beautiful. The wedding will be perfect. Ashford is just a worry wart.”

That was definitely true.

“How about you go relax for a while,” I said to Emma. “Let Grace and me take care of the rest of the favors. And later, I can take Maisie outside to burn off some energy.”

“I don’t want to leave you with all the work.” Emma glanced at the messy table. “This is a step down from your usual scene, Ayla. You were at a movie premiere two days ago.”

“I promise, that was way more boring than anything this weekend will be. Treat me like a normal person. I’m just Aunt Ayla. Did you forget I grew up on Army bases?”

“Right.” Emma nodded. She was from a military family too. “Good point.”

I aimed my thumb at Grace. “She’s the one who’s living with a billionaire. If we want to compare who’s out of touch.”

Grace pushed her glasses up her nose. “Hey! I’m the same nerdy girl I’ve always been.”

I laughed, my skin warming with how happy I was to be here.

Chaos or not, I loved every second.

I’d been looking forward to this trip for ages.

I may have begged, just a little, for Ashford and Emma to take my hectic schedule into account when setting their big date.

I wasn’t above bribery. But that hadn’t been necessary.

Emma was a sweetheart, and even though Ashford and I had our differences in the past, I’d never met anyone more loyal than him.

He’d told me I was part of the O’Neal family now. And he’d been true to his word.

Grace, Ashford’s younger sister, would be the maid of honor. Her boyfriend Dane Knightly, the billionaire investor, was best man. The weekend promised to be full of simple pleasures. Time with the O’Neals, winter weather, and vicarious romance.

That was the only kind of romance in my life these days. Not that I was complaining.

The only thing I wasn’t looking forward to? Seeing the Silver Ridge Police Chief again. But maybe I’d get lucky, and I could avoid Chief Teller Landry altogether.

Fingers crossed.

Emma’s phone rang, and she scrambled to check the screen. “Crap, that’s my mom. I better take this.”

After she disappeared down the hall, Grace blew out a breath. “A little intense around here.”

We shared a glance and both cracked up.

“A bit. But now that I’ve arrived, I can help with anything you all need. Just wish I could stay longer than Sunday.”

“You’re in high demand.” Her grin turned mischievous. “A couple weeks ago, some pictures of you popped up on my feed. You and that handsome record label guy.”

“You can’t believe everything you see in the tabloids. You should know better than that.”

“But that’s why I’m asking instead of assuming it’s true.”

“I’m too busy to date right now. I’ll be back in the studio soon.” Plus endorsements, endless promotion, interviews, photo shoots. None of it as glamorous as it sounded.

Especially after my last album didn’t do as well as expected. I was supposed to be hustling right now. Striving to get back to the top of the charts.

Grace nodded thoughtfully. “You must love it, though. Getting to be creative all the time. To make your voice heard. Literally.”

“I do love it. It’s not always easy. But I can’t imagine living any other way, you know? I’m so lucky. I’ve got to take the good with the bad.”

A wrinkle appeared between Grace’s eyebrows. “Hey, when we were in New York last fall, you mentioned something about an overzealous fan bothering you. Is that still going on?”

I forced down the dismay that suddenly rose up in my stomach. Ignored the bitter taste in my mouth. Breathe .

But I was a performer. I’d had plenty of practice hiding what I really felt inside .

“There was one small incident last September. Nothing since.”

“Just using the word incident makes it sound bad.”

“Then pretend I used a different word. It’s no big deal.”

Didn’t matter that we’d never found out who really sent those flowers to me in Toronto, despite my team’s efforts. Never figured out how the person got access to that old photo of me, either. A photo that had never appeared online anywhere.

Months had passed since then. Everything was fine.

And I didn’t want to think any more about the dark sides to my career or my past. Not this weekend. My slump in the charts, my uncertainties about the future… That could all wait until when I was back in LA.

“Now tell me more about you and Dane,” I said.

Maybe there was a storm headed to Hart County, but I needed to keep my mind on happy thoughts and clear skies.

Luckily, today the Colorado weather gods were pulling out all the stops.

About an hour later, I found myself strolling down Main Street with Maisie. Grace and I had finished the wedding favors and cleaned up the craft supplies. Then Grace had taken Ashford to run some errands, and I was in charge of entertaining my niece, which left Emma free to take a bath or a nap.

Such a hard job, I know. Taking my favorite little girl in the world out for an afternoon adventure. But I was up for the task.

Maisie and I skipped along the sidewalk together, holding hands. The air was that perfect kind of chill that was invigorating instead of uncomfortable. Not a cloud in sight, with yellow sunlight promising a hefty dose of vitamin D.

“Where should we go first?” I asked. “The park?”

I glanced back and saw an SUV with dark-tinted windows following about a block away, keeping pace with us. But the sight reassured me instead of raising concern.

That was Bryan, my driver and sometimes-bodyguard.

I’d also worn a baseball cap and sunglasses, though I still got some curious looks.

The locals were used to me by now. Tourists could be another story.

The ski resort drew plenty of them, and the media attention on my Silver Ridge connections had inspired some of my fans to visit in the hopes of seeing me.

But it still wasn’t as much of an issue as the paparazzi who liked to follow me on a daily basis in LA. Most of the time, I kept my cool when dealing with reporters. But every once in a while, my temper got the best of me.

Back home, my house was in Malibu, where I lived in a quiet, gated community. I rarely traveled with a big entourage unless I was on tour. The last thing I wanted was to roll in with a bunch of handlers and a massive security detail and take over the town. So not my style.

Bryan hung back at enough distance that I had some freedom, while staying close enough to swoop in if needed. It was a delicate balance.

Just another one of those realities of being me.

Maisie tapped her chin, a tiny replica of her dad. “How about we go to Silver Linings?”

“You goof. We went to the coffee shop this morning. I seem to remember you eating a cinnamon roll as big as your head.”

“But I didn’t get to have a muffin,” she said reasonably.

“You’re determined to get as many treats out of me as possible this weekend, aren’t you?”

“Is it working?”

It kind of was. Maisie knew I was a soft touch.

After not being in her life for so many years, I tended to give Maisie anything and everything she wanted. But maybe it was just my deprived inner child coming out.

I wanted to give Maisie all the things my sister and I didn’t have growing up.

Well, a loving father was number one on that list, and thankfully Ashford had that covered. I was determined to fill in any other possible gaps.

The fact that Lori was gone only made the empty spaces inside of me ache more painfully. So, was I overcompensating? Possibly. But I didn’t tend to do things halfway. I rarely took no for an answer.

Especially when it was a territorial man standing in my way.

That was why I hadn’t given up on reconnecting with Ashford and Maisie, even though my brother-in-law tried to avoid me for years.

Ugh, speaking of territorial men .

“There’s Uncle Teller!” Maisie said, waving at the police SUV as it rolled slowly by. Police Chief Landry sat in the driver’s seat, arm draped casually over the steering wheel, sunglasses hiding his eyes. He smiled and waved back, but his mouth twisted a moment after.

That frown had to be aimed at me. Annoyance flared inside me like a sudden burst of lightning.

So much for avoiding my least favorite Silver Ridge resident.

From the moment we’d met last year, Teller Landry had made it clear he didn’t like me.

“ So you’re who all that fuss is about? ” he’d asked, his tone dripping with disdain. As if I’d wanted those reporters to mob Ashford and Emma’s building. As if I hadn’t been desperate for a break from the constant attention. The chief had wanted to make sure I knew he wasn’t impressed with me.

I’d gotten pissed at him right back. “ I didn’t ask for anyone to make a fuss over me. But isn’t it your job to keep these reporters from harassing your citizens? ”

Since then, Landry had barely been civil whenever we crossed paths. He hated when I visited Silver Ridge.

But I wasn’t so impressed with that man either. Even if he was a close friend of the O’Neal family and enough of a presence in Maisie’s life to warrant an uncle title.

In truth, he made me nervous. It wasn’t just the fact that he was a military man, like my father had been, because Ashford and Callum had been in the Army too. Same with Dane. It wasn’t those intense-looking battle scars on the chief’s face, either .

Nope, it was the constant scowl he wore around me.

My temper wanted to leap to the surface. I’d never done a thing to that man except exist. But if Bryan noticed I was upset, he might jump out of the SUV and charge to my rescue. A clash between my bodyguard and the local police was not high on my list for this weekend.

Maisie wasn’t looking at me. So I lifted my hand. Extended my middle finger. And scratched my head with it, keeping that finger way up high so Chief Landry couldn’t miss it.

There .

Now Teller knew exactly what I thought of him too.