Page 45 of The Mountain Echoes

“Stop with the drama, Joy. Celine’s harmless.”

My sister snorts softly as she refills our coffee cups.

Her boutique is closed on Mondays, so we usually have breakfast together. It’s a tradition, and one that we seldom break.

I throw another log into the outdoor fireplace and watch the flames catch. The fire dances inside the long, modern hearth built into the stacked stone wall, flickering light across the slate tiles beneath our feet.

The table between us is solid wood—blonde, worn, and smooth at the edges—surrounded by sculpted whitechairs, which Joy insisted on because they look like branches.

Beyond the edge of the covered patio, the view opens wide to the west—the Rockies stretched like the spine of the earth, purple-shadowed and snowcapped this early in the spring.

It’s quiet except for the soft rustle of the citrus trees that are close to the porch, and the hum of wind rolling down the mountain slopes.

Joy leans back in her chair, watching me over the rim of her mug. “I’m serious. Celine is clingy and slippery.”

“She just lost her father. Her marriage is…well, you know how that is.” I take a sip of coffee.

“Her marriage is in a ditch because he’s an alcoholic and she’s…weird.”

I chuckle. “Weird can mean anything.”

Joy pulls the tie from her bun with one hand, letting her dark blonde hair fall in soft waves around her shoulders. She slides the hair tie onto her wrist like a bracelet. “I just don’t like her.”

She absently rakes her fingers through her hair as she talks, then gathers it all back up and twists it into a high knot, securing it with the tie she just removed.

“Celine is just…well, she’s naïve.”

Joy rolls her eyes. “Why is it men see a woman with a damsel-in-distress look and immediately assume she’s innocent?”

“Probably because it makes us feel like big, bad protectors,” I say with a crooked smile.

As soon as the words leave my mouth, I hear myselfagain—ripping into Aria with cruel judgment she didn’t deserve. Sure, she’s not as polished or conventionally beautiful as Celine, but that gave me no right to call her unattractive. The way her eyes had gone blank and flat still unsettles me. And when she told me she took my insult as a compliment? I’d have kicked my own ass if I could’ve.

“Look, I admit I don’t know Celine all that well,” I offer, trying for neutrality.

Joy gives me a look that saysPlease.

“What?”

“The rumor is that you do know her…biblically.”

I sigh. “She’s married.”

“I know that. Doesn’t mean people aren’t talking.”

Wildflower Canyon can be a small town in the worst way. “Right now, all I need to do is keep things civil so I can buy Longhorn Ranch. Celine and I aren’t close, but we’re friendly enough. If I can get her sister not to throw a wrench in the sale, I’ll be set.”

Joy’s eyes twitch at the corners, a silent expression of exasperation. “Sometimes I forget how…focused you get when it comes to business.” She softens a beat later. “And how the man I know, the one Elena sees? No one else gets to.”

She’s not wrong. I have tunnel vision, which is how I made something out of our ranch. I didn’t have any advantages. No parents to guide me. No college degree to help me. Hard work got me here, and it’s what’s going to ensure that Kincaid Farms keeps growing, stays successful, so I never have to worry about providing for Joy,keeping the lights on, and making sure there’s food on the table.

“What’s the sister like?” Joy asks.

I toss my shoulders. “No clue.”

“I heard from…someone, not sure who, that Hudson was engaged to the sister and then came to Wildflower Canyon and met Celine.”

I smirk, shaking my head. “You gossiping now, Joy?”