The Texan's Wedding Escape

It was a mother thing, putting words in Lauren’s mouth. She didn’t like it, but her best friend Katy said her mother did the same thing to her quite a bit. And she had made that crack about crazy cooking mode earlier. Still, she wasn’t at ease here yet. She hoped that would change.

Next, they followed Cooper through the living room and formal dining area, as well as a great room that housed a bar, a reading nook and a giant flat-screen television. The room was the coziest in the house, done in warm colors, with lived-in leather sofas and a rustic red-brick fireplace. He showed them how to turn on music from an in-wall stereo system with enough lights and buttons to rival an airplane dashboard.

Warning to self. Do not even think about it. She’d be sure to foul up the music system.

Then Cooper led them down the hall to his study, which he used as an office. Across the hall was a full state-of-the-art gym. “Wow,” she said under her breath. Of all the things he’d showed her thus far, this was the only thing she really envied. “I’m impressed. Do you...?”

“Yep, I get my cowboy ass—uh, excuse me, Loretta—in here a few times a week.”

“That’s obvious,” Lauren said without thinking. She resisted slapping her hand over her mouth. Goodness, she had to keep her lips buttoned more around him or he’d think she was flirting or something.

Cooper blinked once and then let the comment pass.

The gym had a shower area with a complete set of sundries, a sauna and an indoor Jacuzzi. Everything was framed in travertine and marble. The shower alone was bigger than a walk-in closet.

“Again,” he said, “feel free to use anything here you’d like.”

A sliding-glass door in the gym led them outside to the back of the house. The gardens were colorful, day lilies, peonies and primrose erupting into full bloom everywhere. A snow-white lattice gazebo sat smack in the middle of the grounds and off to the side crystal-blue waters flowed down a rock waterfall into a pool. A long stone-and-glass fire pit was surrounded by lounge chairs. It was perfection.

“It’s like a resort,” Loretta said.

Cooper laughed. “I used to throw some great parties here.”

“Tony told me. He loved those parties.”

Cooper’s face fell. “I know. God, I miss him.”

Lauren saw his pain and reached for his hand. “We all do.” He stared into her eyes a moment and nodded. Her mama took both of their hands and squeezed. And they stood there for a while, hands entwined.

After a time, her mama spoke up. “Tony wouldn’t want us to be sad. He’d want us to celebrate his life.”

It was hard for Mama to be the cheerleader in this, but she had a point. Tony would hate their grieving. He would want them to get on with their lives. “You’re right, Mama.”

Cooper sighed with what seemed to be remorse.

“Well,” Lauren said, contemplating their surroundings, “this place will make for a beautiful wedding. There’s plenty of room to speak vows by the pool. Maybe under the gazebo.”

“But Cooper has some other spots to show you, honey,” her mother said. “Don’t you, Cooper? You know, those places you told me about out by the lake.”

“Yeah, I sure do,” he said, coming out of his slump. “I was planning on taking you there today. That’s if you’re up to it.”

“I’d love to see the lake,” Lauren said.

“Actually, you two go on.” Loretta briefly closed her eyes. “I’m a bit tired. I’d like go up to my room and take a rest.”

“We can wait for you, Mama. Do it another time,” Lauren said.

“Nonsense, Lauren. You need to work this out as soon as possible and Cooper has the time today.”

“That’s right. I sure do.”

“Can I help you up the stairs?” she asked her mother as they went back inside and sat down.

“Lauren, I said I was tired, honey, not decrepit.”

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Cooper try to hide a smile by twisting his mouth in an unbecoming way. Which was saying something, because Cooper was pretty much handsome no matter what kind of face he made. Then he faked a cough to contain a laugh, but her mother didn’t seem to notice.

“Of course you’re not decrepit, Mama.” A nurturer by nature, the last thing Loretta wanted was to be deemed incapable of taking care of herself. Lauren should’ve known not to put it that way, but being here was a bit daunting, no matter how welcoming Cooper was at the moment. With planning her quickie wedding and all the changes in her life lately, Lauren was a little bit at loose ends.

She turned to Cooper, the tilt of her head telling him she knew he’d been laughing at her. “Am I good to go like this?” she asked, gesturing to her attire.

“Let’s see. Boots, jeans, check. The hat I’ll take care of. Spring weather can be iffy. Do you want to bring along a light sweater?”

“Nah, I’ll rough it. Besides, the sun is out and it doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere today.”

“Okay, then I’ll see you two later.” Mama popped out of her chair like a piece of well-done bread from a toaster. “I’ll just go up to my room now.”

“Have a good rest, Loretta,” Cooper said.

After her mother walked out of the room, Cooper turned to Lauren, a smirk emerging on his face again. She rolled her eyes.

“What?” he said, innocent as a baby.

“You’re a brat, you know that, Cooper Stone.”

“At least you aren’t inferring I was decrepit.”

She punched him in the arm. It felt good, to give back his teasing in a playful way.

“Ow.” He put his hand over the arm she’d just whacked.

No way had she hurt him. Those muscles were like granite. A silly smile appeared on his face. “Now that’s the Lauren Abbott I remember.”

She smiled back. “Be careful or you just might see more of her than you want.”

“That could only be a good thing,” he said softly, placing his hand on the small of her back, grabbing his hat and leading her out the door.

The kind words and special touch brought familiarity.

And a mass of tingles she hadn’t expected.

* * *

Cooper stood by the Jeep. “Drive or ride?” he asked Lauren.

Her pretty green eyes narrowed, as if she thought he was messing with her again. “Isn’t it the same thing?”

“Well, I can drive us in the Jeep to see the grounds or we can mount up.” He pointed to the stables just within eyeshot. “On a horse.”

“Oh.” She shook her head. “I haven’t been riding in eons. I think the Jeep is the safest bet today.”

“Okay. Another time,” he said. He hadn’t quite figured Lauren out. At times she seemed impetuous, a girl who liked to take a risk. That was the girl who’d punched him in the arm just a few minutes ago. That punch had surprised him in a good way.

She was back to being the girl he remembered, never taking any guff from anyone. Whenever Tony had teased her, she’d always shot back at him, giving as good as she got. Marrying Kelsey on a whim after six months of dating was another impulsive move on her part. That’s why he was puzzled. Lauren seemed hesitant in coming here. Was she uncomfortable around him? Was she feeling manipulated into living at Stone Ridge for the month? Or was she having second doubts about the sudden marriage?

He hoped it was the latter. He hoped she’d put a halt to the wedding on her own terms so he could end this ruse. But at least having her here lent him the time he needed to find out what Kelsey was really up to. He could keep an eye on Lauren, as well.

“Hop in,” he said, opening the door for her. She climbed in and buckled her seat belt as he took his place behind the wheel. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

He grabbed a tan suede hat from the backseat and plopped it on her head. It sank onto her forehead and pushed her blond locks down past her shoulders, making her look damn cute.

“This yours?” she asked.

“Uh-huh,” he said. “Hang on to it when we take off.”

Then he revved the engine and pulled away from the house.

After a minute she asked. “Where is the lake?”

“Back there.” He gestured behind him. “We passed it a ways back.”

“But aren’t we going there?”

“Yep, but there’s someplace else I thought you’d like to see.”

“You’re full of surprises, Coop.”

He liked the sound of his nickname falling off her lips. That and the way she looked in his hat was messing with his head a little. “Not really. Pretty much what you see is what you get with me.”

At least it always had been. Now he wasn’t quite so sure. He’d surprised himself when he’d invited Lauren to have her wedding here. And he’d surprised himself even more by asking her to move into his house. He had underlying motives for having her here, true, and saving her from heartache would be something Tony would’ve wanted from him.

That one fact made all of this seem more palatable.

“Here we are,” he said, stopping the Jeep in front of a stand of shade-bearing oak trees. “We have to walk from here.”

He came around the end of the Jeep and helped Lauren gain her footing as she got out. He held her steady and she gazed at him, gratitude glowing in her eyes. “I know where you’re taking me.”

His brows lifted. “You do?”

“Of course. Tony would talk about this place incessantly and I would be green with envy.”

“Yeah, this was a special place to us,” he said, taking hold of her hand. “Be careful, the land’s uneven here. Lots of roots breaking through the soil.”

They walked a bit, her hand gripped in his, reminding him just how long it’d been since he’d held a soft woman. And Lauren was that and more. He didn’t like noticing her that way, or feeling even remotely attracted to her. She was cute and funny and nice. Emphasis on nice. Any other thoughts about her weren’t going to happen. He had a job to do. Protect Lauren. Stop her wedding if need be. Make sure she didn’t get hurt and pray she didn’t hate him for the rest of her life.

“Just a little bit longer now.”

And then he came upon his childhood fort, a mismatched set of planks built between the lower branches of a thick oak. The place looked the same as he remembered, though a bit more weathered, but the roof was intact and the wood beams were holding strong. A rope ladder, made of thick hemp, scraped against the dark tree bark.

“You’re smiling so wide right now,” Lauren said.

“Am I?” This place always made him happy.

“There’s a twinkle in your eyes, too.”

“Careful, Laurie Loo. I’ve never taken a girl here before. Don’t make me regret it.”

“Never. I’m glad to be here. I guess this is where you and Tony conspired.”

“It is. Mostly we pretended to be looting pirates or badass cowboys. My dad gave us the wood and told us to have at it. I think we were ten at the time.”

“So you built this all by yourselves?”

“Hell, no. After three attempts, my dad intervened. He said he didn’t want us breaking our necks when the whole thing collapsed. But he taught us one important lesson.”

“What was that?”

“That things aren’t always as simple and easy as they initially seem. Your brother and I were so damn eager to do this on our own, certain we could figure it out. But after failing a few times pretty darn badly, we finally realized the project was too big for us. Our pride was bruised and we were embarrassed to ask for help after insisting we could do it all on our own. And Dad was great about it, without rubbing our noses in I-told-you-sos. He was proud of us for not giving up and for finding a way to make it happen.”

“Wow. Your dad was pretty wonderful.”

“He was a good man.”

A sudden chilly breeze blew by and Cooper gazed upward. Clouds were moving in fast, turning the sky gray, and he caught Lauren trembling. “We should go. The weather’s about to change and it can put you in a world of goose bumps. If we’re lucky, we can make it to the lake before the wind gets out of hand.”

“Sounds good,” she said. “And thanks for bringing me here, Cooper.”

“Welcome.” He took her hand again. As they began to forge their way back to the Jeep, the air grew chillier, the clouds completely obscuring any sunlight.

“Damn,” he said. “I think we’re in for it.”

“In for what?”

Suddenly, off in the distance, lightning ignited the sky. Clouds crashed against each other and rain poured down as if a giant water balloon had burst. Caught in a flash storm, they were getting soaked.

“Wow! That came on fast,” Lauren said.

“Sure did.” He gauged his options. “C’mon, let’s make a run for it.”

“Where?”

But he had already changed their direction. The Jeep would provide no protection. There was only one place to go. Still holding her hand, he guided Lauren along the muddied path leading them back to the fort.

Once they arrived, Lauren took a look at the ladder rope. “You’re kidding, right?”

He shrugged. “Either that or get soaked to the bone.” Which she already was. “C’mon. I’ll help you up.”

“Okay,” she said tentatively.

And then she was climbing the rungs as he held the ladder firm, her butt in his line of vision. It was a beautiful sight, one he shouldn’t be noticing. But he had to keep his eyes sharp, just in case she lost her footing. At least, that’s what he told himself as she ascended the ladder.

She threw herself inside the fort and he followed her. They nestled together against the back wall, out of the spray of raindrops. Lauren shivered, her blouse soaked and plastered to the beautiful swells of her breasts. The transparency was hard to miss and, for a moment, Coop couldn’t tear his gaze away. Then sanity rushed in. He began unbuttoning his shirt. “Here you go. Put this on.”

Her face flushed cherry-red. She was aware of the sight she made. She accepted his shirt without argument and he helped her put her arms into the sleeves. “Thanks.”

She hugged her knees to her chest and sighed. “Well, guess I was wrong.”

“About?” He sat next to her, in his undershirt, his legs straight out, his boots just inside the confines of the fort.

“The weather.”

It was too much to hope she’d admit she was wrong about marrying Kelsey. Wishful thinking never got him anywhere. He’d have to tell Loretta his suspicions and start scouring Tony’s computer for hints that Kelsey had been cheating the business. And he’d have to start as soon as possible.

“It’s actually pretty cool to be here, storm and all,” she said. “Tell me more about you and Tony. What did you do when you came here?”

“I already told you,” he said. “Pirates and cowboys.”

She nodded, seeming suddenly sentimental. “Isn’t there more?”

“We’d bring our lunches and eat, and then sometimes just lie back, sort of like we’re doing now, and dream.”

“What did you dream about?”

“Growing up. Racing cars. Dating girls. Boy stuff. I remember one of the last times we ever came here. I think we were fifteen. Samantha Purdue had broken up with Tony. He was crushed. We came up here with a six-pack of beer I’d swiped from home and chugged while he cried his eyes out.”

“Wow. Over Samantha Purdue?”

“Yeah, it was stupid. The very next week, Tony was crushing on another girl.” The memory made Cooper smile. “Your brother was girl-crazy.”

“Maybe that’s why he never married. What about you?”

“Me?” He shook his head. “I wasn’t girl-crazy. More like, girls made me crazy.”

She chuckled and a drop of rain fell from her hair and drizzled down her cheek. He braced her face in his hand and wiped away the rain with the pad of his thumb. Her skin was the softest silk. She smiled sweetly at him then, and something shifted in his chest.

“I meant why didn’t you ever marry,” she said quietly, gazing at him with those pale green eyes.

The impact of her question shook him to the core. He had no right touching her this way. He dropped his hand from her face and looked out at the driving rain. “I had some serious relationships in the past. They didn’t work out. There’s time for me.”

“So you do want to marry eventually?”

“Yeah. One day. In the very, very distant future.” Right now, women were off the table for him. He’d purged his “little black book.” He was officially taking a break.

“And you? Did you ever imagine yourself getting married so young?”

“Young? I’m twenty-six. In the olden days, I’d be considered a spinster.”

“Yeah, but it’s not the olden days.”

“I know, Coop. It’s just that I’ve been kinda boy-crazy all my life. No one ever stuck. Maybe it runs in our DNA. Maybe Tony and I weren’t very different from my father,” she said quietly. “I’ve always worried about that. My father never seemed satisfied with what he had. You know his history, four marriages and divorces.”

“Nah, you’re not like him.”

“I’d crush on one boy and then another, and I never wanted to settle.”

“You shouldn’t settle. Ever. You should be dead sure.”

“My friends tease me about it, but Mama says it’s just that my heart is big and it takes a whole lot to fill it.”

“And Roger does that for you?”

Lauren bit her lip, hesitating for a fraction of a second too long. “Yeah, he does.”

He wasn’t convinced and, when she trembled, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in tight, warming them both up.

He hoped like hell Kelsey was true blue.

Otherwise he’d have to punch the guy’s lights out and send him packing.

Three

After dinner that night Cooper sat facing Loretta in the dining room while Lauren was in the kitchen, cleaning up. “That was about the best darn chicken soup I’ve ever had,” he said. “But don’t tell Marie I said so.”

“I won’t,” Loretta answered, beaming. Apparently after her rest, Lauren’s mom had decided soup and homemade biscuits would be perfect on a rainy day. And she’d been right.

“Thanks for cooking tonight.”

“Of course. It’s my pleasure and the least I can do. What do you do when Marie isn’t here to cook for you?”

“I scrounge around for leftovers. Marie’s pretty good about making extra for the nights she’s not here. Or I order in or scramble an egg or something.”

“An egg? I can’t imagine that would fill you up at all, Cooper.”

“Well, I don’t do that often. I’ve been known to meet up with a friend for dinner.”

“A female friend?” Loretta asked coyly.

He grinned. “Don’t have too many females in my life right now. Aside from you and Lauren.”

“I think we’re probably all you can handle right now. Don’t you?”

He grinned. “Absolutely. Listen, while I have you alone, I need to tell you something. Come into the study with me. I don’t want Lauren to overhear.”

“Fine. I’ll follow you.”

He led Loretta down the hall and into his study and promptly closed the door. He didn’t have much time, and he’d rehearsed how he was going to put this to cause her the least amount of grief.

“Loretta, I have a confession to make. Please sit down.”

She stared at him curiously for a moment and then settled on the sofa. He took a seat on the opposite end.

“What is it?”

“It’s just that when you approached me about Lauren and her decision to marry so quickly, it made me think of something Tony had told me just prior to the accident. I didn’t want to bring it up at the time because it could be painful, but now that we’re in this full speed, I need to tell you the truth.”

“And that is?”

“Tony told me that he didn’t trust Roger Kelsey. He thought his partner was cheating him and up to no good with the company. Tony was trying to get proof and confront him.”

“You mean Roger was stealing from my son?”

“Yeah, that’s what Tony seemed to think when he confided in me. Of course, he would’ve never approved of Lauren marrying the guy. It was the deciding factor in me helping to break up this wedding. Tony had good instincts and I trust that he was going to get that proof, but then the accident happened.”

“Well, now...that makes it all the more important that Lauren break up with him.”

“Yeah, that’s how I see it.”

“What if we told Lauren about Tony’s suspicions?” Loretta asked. “Surely she’d take Tony’s word over his.”

“We have no proof. If we tell Lauren now about Tony’s suspicions and she confronted Kelsey, it would give him time to cover his tracks and then we may never find out the truth. If the guy is that cagey, he’ll win Lauren over and prove that he’s straight as an arrow. Then she’ll...”

“Blame us for interfering.”

“Exactly. I’m sorry, Loretta.”

She took his hand and squeezed. “No, I’m glad you told me. I only wish Tony would’ve shared this with me.”

“I’m sure he didn’t want to burden you and, of course, at the time, Lauren wasn’t involved with Kelsey.”

“That’s true. And I was always saying that I didn’t know a thing about real estate.” Tears dripped from her eyes. “I never showed much interest in my Tony’s business.”

“He loved you, Loretta. And was so proud of you. He’d tell everyone you were the best nurse in the Lone Star State.”

“Thanks, Cooper. I appreciate that, and I know that’s how Tony felt. He would tell me that often.” She straightened in her seat, no longer sorrowful. Instead a protective glint filled her eyes. “Now this sudden engagement makes all the more sense to me.”

“Yeah.”

“My Lauren is going to get hurt.”

“I hope not. I’ll do my best to make sure of it.”

“Thank you, Cooper.”

“So, that said, I’m going to need to get into Tony’s laptop. Do you have it?”

She thought a moment. “Yes. I think I do. Most of his personal things are in boxes in my garage.”

“Great. I’ll need to get into that, if it’s okay with you.”

“Of course, it’s okay. I’ll make some excuse to go home tomorrow and get it for you. Cooper, should we alert the authorities about any of this?”

“Not now. We have nothing but Tony’s suspicions. And on the slim chance that this guy wasn’t cheating Tony, Lauren would probably never forgive either of us for going behind her back and causing her fiancé grief.”

“Good point,” she said with a nod, although her shoulders slumped in defeat.

Yeah, this was going to cause the Abbotts pain.

No matter what Cooper found.

* * *

Lauren had been jogging ever since college, but keeping pace with Cooper this morning was proving harder than she thought. He took it seriously and, given that he was six-foot-two, his strides were much longer than hers. Ten minutes into the run, she broke out into a sweat trying to keep up. After another ten minutes she was lagging, but as soon as he noticed, he slowed his pace. “You want to head back?” he asked.

“Not on your life,” she answered. “And don’t slow down for me. You can go on ahead.”

He wasn’t hard to watch from behind. He wore a Rangers baseball cap flipped backward on his head, a black tank exposing thick, tanned, muscular arms and a pair of gray sweatpants. Stripped down like this, the cowboy could pass for a city dude.

“Nah, I like the company.”

“Don’t ruin your workout for me.”

“You’re only making it better, Laurie Loo.”

She laughed at his attempt at charm, but did appreciate him slowing down a bit. At this point, he’d taken her past his stables and corrals and then down a service road. The dawn air was cool but the sunshine overhead promised to dry out all the places the storm had muddied the day before.

She was able to take in more of the Stone Ridge scenery at this much slower pace than during yesterday’s drive in the Jeep. They passed green pastures, lush from spring rain, with cattle grazing in groups. Every so often Cooper would lead her through a patch of shade from an oak or mesquite tree, providing temporary shelter from the dawn sunshine.

As they were rounding a bend, the lake came into view, a picturesque vision of tall trees reflecting off the waters lit by a stream of sunshine. Glossy and smooth as glass, the small lake was postcard ready and a perfect place to speak vows.