The Rancher's Fake Fiancée

“Guess so.” Tyler prayed she wouldn’t ask too many more questions or want to see the ring. Zoe was one of those people who might be able to sniff out a fake diamond when she saw one. “Well, it was good to see you again. We’ll see you around,” he said, hoping she’d take the hint.

“Oh, please don’t tell me Day Four is back,” a voice full of disdain said behind Zoe. That voice could belong to only one person.

“Is this where all of Big E’s exes come for lunch?” Tyler pondered aloud as Myrna Edwards, with her hair as white as the snowcapped Smoky Mountains, approached the table.

“I’m positive three Blackwells is all this town can handle. You should head back to whatever hole you crawled out of, Tyler Alexander Blackwell.” She may have been short in stature but her memory was long. Myrna was Big E’s second wife, who, thanks to the boys, didn’t last very long as Mrs. Elias Blackwell.

“I’m here to help my brothers sell the ranch so you never have to worry about the Blackwells ever again.”

One side of her mouth quirked a smile. “Oh, don’t tease me, Day Four. No more Blackwells? That’s too much to hope for.”

“Just give me a couple weeks. We’ll have a big ol’ sold sign hanging out front.” He glanced across the table at Hadley. Darn, he’d forgotten again. “We, as in me and my fiancée,” he quickly added. “Hadley, this is another one of my ex-stepgrandmothers. Myrna, this is Hadley, my fiancée.”

“You may call me Myrna,” she said to Hadley. “You, Day Four, may only refer to me as Judge Edwards. Don’t ever call me your ex-stepgrandmother again. Please stay on your ranch until you sell it. I am tired of seeing Blackwells in my courtroom and my restaurants of choice. Have a nice day.”

She walked across the restaurant and sat down at a table by herself. She probably never remarried after Big E. Leave it to Elias to make a woman give up on men completely.

“She hates you guys. Not that she likes anyone that much, but she hates you,” Zoe said with such awe.

Myrna had good reasons to dislike all five Blackwell brothers. Although in their defense, they were only kids when they ran her off the ranch a short five days after her marriage to Big E. She had tried to take over as the mother figure too soon after their grandmother left and their parents died. The boys were knee-deep in their grief and unable to welcome anyone into their lives.

“It was great to see you again, Zoe. Have a good one.” It was the last hint he was giving her. If she didn’t leave them alone, he was going to get rude.

Zoe wasn’t oblivious, but she was obnoxious. She grinned and, instead of moving along, sat down next to Hadley. “I’m late for an appointment, but I am so curious about how you and Ty got together. He was always such a little brat when we were younger. Maybe once you settle in, Rachel and I can take you out for some girl time.”

“That would be—” Hadley began.

“Unnecessary,” Tyler finished for her. “We’re only here for two weeks and supposedly have a ton of work to do to get the ranch ready for sale. I hear someone’s vision for the place was a bit out of touch with what’s marketable.”

“Ha! I have great taste and amazing ideas.” Zoe pointed a finger at him. Her hot-pink manicure was so her. “You just wait and see how popular the petting zoo is.”

“Are you folks ready to order?” the waitress asked, finally coming to the table to rescue them from this unpleasant family reunion.

“I’m not staying,” Zoe said, getting to her feet. “I hope Tyler doesn’t make you work the whole time you’re in town, Hadley. Maybe we’ll see each other again.”

“Looking forward to it,” Hadley replied.

Zoe left and Tyler and Hadley ordered some food. When they were alone, Hadley smoothed her napkin on her lap. “You didn’t prepare me for all the ex-stepgrandmothers. How many more are lurking in this town?”

“Big E was married five times. The other ones don’t live around here, so you’re safe. We’re safe.”

“Until we get to the ranch,” she said, raising her water glass.

Tyler felt a tightness in his chest at the thought of stepping foot on Blackwell land. It had been a long time since he’d been there, and Zoe hadn’t been wrong—he’d sworn to never return.

With a dry mouth, he lifted his own glass. “Until we get to the ranch.”

* * *

HADLEY’S NERVES COULD not be more out of control. She had played it cool while meeting Tyler’s ex-stepgrandmas, but inside she had been shaking in her boots. Keeping up this ruse for two weeks might be the death of her.

Tyler drove like a little grandma the whole way out of town on their way to the ranch. Maybe he was just as anxious about getting there as she was. He slowed down to a stop and Hadley looked to the left. The metal arch over the entrance read Blackwell Family Ranch.

They were here. Time was up.

“Maybe we should drive around the property, take some pictures and jot down some notes before meeting up with Ethan and Ben,” Tyler suggested. “It’s been a while since I’ve been here. I’m not even sure what changes have been made that we’ll need to play up when we market it.”

Classic Tyler, rolling up his sleeves and thinking about nothing but the job at hand. Perhaps that was the best plan. If they stayed focused on the work, the lie would create less stress.

“Good call.” Hadley grabbed her backpack out of the back seat. “I started a list of things we want to focus on, like what wildlife people might see and the different recreational opportunities. We have to play up these mountain views.”

Having grown up in Washington State, Hadley was partial to mountains. She couldn’t imagine living somewhere without them. The Blackwell Ranch had the gorgeous Rocky Mountains to the west. Location was not going to be an issue in the marketing plan.

Tyler drove in and turned left before they got to the enormous green-roofed lodge. He shared what he remembered about the wildlife from the area.

“We’re not far from an elk refuge, and whitetail and mule deer used to graze on the ranch when I lived here.”

“People will love that.” Hadley jotted down elk and deer on her list.

“I remember when I was around twelve, my brothers and I were playing a very intense game of capture the flag up in the hills. It was me and Ben versus Ethan and Chance. Ben and I had found the best spot to hide our flag, so we just needed to find theirs. Ben and I were like navy SEALs. Ethan and Chance didn’t have a prayer against us. Only when we found their flag, they had an extra teammate we weren’t expecting.”

“Who? Jon?” Hadley guessed.

“No,” he said with that cocky laugh. “Jon would have been easy to get past. There was this huge bull moose that had wandered into our game and decided to graze next to their flag. Ben and I had no idea how to get rid of it. Ben tried scaring it by throwing some rocks at its feet, but that only made it mad. Before I could try my idea, which totally would have worked, the hair on its back raised up.”

“I take it that’s a bad sign.” Hadley loved the way he got that sparkle in his eye when he told stories from his childhood.

“Oh, yeah. I’ve since learned that there are seven signs a moose is about to attack you, and that is number one. The second sign is it smacks it lips, but instead of smacking its lips, our moose urinated all over Chance and Ethan’s flag. It was disgusting and there was no way I was touching that thing after that.”

Hadley covered her mouth while she laughed. “Going to the bathroom is a sign a moose is going to attack?”

“It is! I swear. But I thought it was trying to make us mad. I yelled at it and the next thing I know, it came at me like it wanted to kill me, so I took off. Ben shouted at me to climb a tree, which I did, but the moose rammed the tree and almost knocked me out of it. I thought I was going to die that day. I was stuck up in the tree for a good hour before that animal decided it was bored of me. Ben and I made sure to learn everything there was to know about moose after that. We were never going to lose because of some dumb animal again.”

She had no doubts about that. Tyler was someone who didn’t get caught unprepared very often, and if he did, he made sure to be overprepared the next time.

Hadley giggled as she stared out her window at the green fields. There were a few horses grazing in the distance. She made a note to find out how many horses the ranch owned and to clarify if all the livestock would be part of the sale.

Tyler slammed on the brakes, causing Hadley to nearly knock her head on the dashboard. “What in the world?” she said, pressing a hand to her chest to make sure her heart had restarted.

“Katie,” Tyler said with a sigh.

Hadley glanced up and saw why Tyler had made such a quick stop. A redheaded woman stood in the middle of the dirt path with her hands on her hips and a tan-and-black shepherd dog by her side.

She walked over to Tyler’s side of the car. He rolled down the window as she bent down to get a look at them.

“Ty?”

“Hi, Katie.”