Page 30 of The Christmas Cowboy

“Of course it is. I’ll go talk to Velma about having a special family dinner for y’all. We’ll ask your family too, Val, of course. Logan and Cici got back from their honeymoon a couple of days ago. Have you talked to him, Liam? Does he know about you and Val?”

“Not unless Connor told him.”

“Hell no. It’s not my business to tell him.”

“At least I’m not the only one who was left in the dark,” Maureen said as she was leaving. “You’d better tell him soon.”

“How pissed do you think she is?” Liam asked his brother after she left.

“On a scale of one to ten? Eleven. Maybe twelve.”

“Yeah. That’s what I was afraid of.”

“I feel awful,” Val said. “Your mother probably hates me now.”

“Don’t worry,” Connor said. “Once you tell her you’re pregnant with her grandchild she won’t care at all.” When Val didn’t respond his eyes widened. “Oh, shit. Liam didn’t tell you he told me?”

“Of course I told her. But we’re still keeping it quiet. Which you know.”

“Hey, I’m not telling anyone else.”

Liam turned to Val. “I’ll call Logan and see if we can go see him and Cici after work today.”

“Yes. We need to tell him before the whole town knows.”

“Your new ranch manager and hand seem to be working out well. Les knows what he’s doing. And as far as I can tell, Melody isn’t a thief,” Connor said referring to the manager.

“She’d better not be. She had super recommendations.”

“I need to get going. I’m working tonight.”

“Okay. Thanks, Connor. I owe you.”

“And don’t you forget it,” he said, laughing.

Chapter Thirteen

“Logan and Ciciare going to know something is off about our wedding,” Val said.

Instead of the day after they returned home, they hadn’t managed to set up a meeting with Logan and Cici for several days. Either Liam needed to be at the ranch or Logan was working.

“What’s wrong, Val?” She’d been acting nervous since they’d set the time to see his brother and sister-in-law. He couldn’t figure out why.

“Cici hates me.”

“What?”

“Okay, maybe hate is too strong a word, but I’m sure she doesn’t like me. The worst of it is, I can’t even blame her.”

“Why wouldn’t Cici like you?”

“Because I was really rude to her when I first met her.”

“Why?”

“I knew you’d brought her here and I thought you were going to marry her.”

“So?”

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