Page 30 of Soldier Cowboy
“This Sunday.”
“Excuse me?Did you say this…this Sunday?” She whipped her head around to glare at Colton.
She’d assumed Sean and Bonnie would marry later, a few days or weeks after she went home. He could have warned her.
“Sorry. I thought I told you,” Colton said, and his eyes communicated:why did you think I was in a hurry to come home?
Sean shook his head. “Colton probably thought you’d be happy to wear jeans to the wedding. Which is fine with us, of course, but I know how Bonnie would feel about that. Besides, I’m breaking it to you now, bud. You’re going to be wearing a tux and your fitting is scheduled for tomorrow.”
“Thanks for the heads up.” Colton scowled.
It would seem everyone in this family was late on relaying important details.
Sean shrugged. “Hey it was in an email.”
“Must have been in the fine print,” Colton muttered.
Jennifer needed a dress. And shoes. And her hair done.
A wedding. Dammit!
Guess I’m going to a wedding.
“All I’m saying isyou could have told mesooner,” Jennifer said.
She was still a little flushed, a little pink in the cheek with semi-righteous anger. So, let’s see if he had this straight. Colton was in a fake relationship, and he’d already disappointed his fake fiancée. He had a gift.
They were sitting at the dining table enjoying Delores’s roast. True to his word, Colton hadn’t allowed Jennifer in the kitchen when he prepared mashed potatoes worthy of his own cooking show. And he wasn’t bragging. They were buttery and fluffy just like the recipe said they would be. The secret was a ton of butter. During the time he’d peeled, cut, boiled, and mashed he’d kept his mind occupied with nothing but pleasant thoughts about how good this was all going to taste. Not one thought about the anxiety he’d felt at first hearing there would be an entire crew from Hollywood descending on their small town.
It was bad enough there were workers building cabins and now there would be God only knew how many strangers. Taking photos. For a major magazine.
He took a bite of the roast and set the fork down. “I already said I’m sorry.”
“It wouldn’t have mattered until I became your fake fiancée.”
“Hey, no one forced you to agree to that.” He was still wondering why she had. Unless she thought word might get back to her stalker somehow and he’d finally give up.
Colton thought that would likely only further enrage him.
“Fine, but I agreed to be your fiancée without realizing I would still be here for the wedding. Now Ihaveto go.”
“I can always say you’re sick.”
“Oh no, buddy. No.” She held up a finger, shaking it. “That would be lie number…you know what? I’m starting to lose count. No more lies unless they’re necessary ones.”
“You should really be worried about the fact there’s an entire crew coming to take photos of my brother and his famous wife. We’ll be sure you don’t even wind up in the blurry background of one of the photos. That’s the last thing we need.”
“It’s amazing how little you know of what’s been going on while you were gone.”
She’d hit on a sore spot without realizing it.
Yes, he could see the world had moved on without him. “Well, that’s why I’m here. To catch up.”
“You didn’t tell me about the mustangs. That’s really…interesting.”
“Sean got into that the last few years and I didn’t have all the information.” He met her eyes. “Besides, we’ve had a lot to digest in the past two days. We don’t reallyknoweach other at all.”
“That’s because someone kept his mouth shut for almost the entire drive here. I had to pull information out of you. Is there anything else that’s important and I have to know? Are there any more events happening while I’m here?”
