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Her Montana Christmas Groom
Her Montana Christmas Groom
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Her Montana Christmas Groom

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“Why?” he asked.

“Why what?”

“Can’t you go with me?”

“Because I’m too old for you.”

Austin stared at her and figured if she hated his guts and would rather take a sharp stick in the eye than go out with him she could have come up with a better lie than that. He’d been lied to before, a betrayal so personal it left a mark that would never go away.

“How do you know how old I am, Red?” he asked.

“Someone mentioned it in the context of how much you’d accomplished for a guy your age.”

“So, what are you? Twenty-five? Twenty-six?”

Her full mouth pulled tight before she answered. “Just turned thirty.”

She looked like a college kid with her blue knit cap pulled low on her forehead and long, silky strands of red hair spilling over her puffy jacket.

“No way,” he said.

“Unfortunately it’s the honest-to-God truth.”

“Why unfortunate?”

“Because I thought I’d be married and a mother by now.” She sighed, a sound full of frustration and disappointment. “Back in Texas I knew a lot of women who wanted to get married but couldn’t find a guy. Men have it so much easier. They can snap their fingers and have women coming out of the woodwork.”

Austin disagreed. Not every girl was dying to get married and he’d showed the poor judgment to pick one of those. After that, getting serious was the last thing he wanted, although he was all in favor of having fun. He liked women. He liked Rose. Giving back through volunteering was something he did, but hadn’t expected it to be so much fun. He’d actually had a great time today. And he wanted a second helping.

“Go with me,” he urged. “What have you got to lose?”

“The title of cougar for one thing.”

“It’s not that big an age difference.”

“It is to me.”

“So you’d rather go alone?”

“Yes.” But there was no conviction in her voice.

He wanted to see Rose again because she was fun and the wedding would be more interesting if he could hang with her. But there was a stubborn set to the mouth he’d spent the better part of the day resisting the urge to kiss. He had to come up with a strategy to change her mind.

Life had thrown him some big curves, personal and financial. In spite of it all, he’d gone to college and become an engineer. He was really into taking things apart to figure out how they worked. Or building something new that had never existed before. There must be a way to use his skills.

Rose was in public relations for the mayor’s office. Spin was her business. She’d said straight out that she was looking for a guy, so that’s where he’d start.

Behind the steering wheel he angled his upper body toward her. “It’s easier to find a man when you’re with one.”

“What?”

“Think about it. They say it’s easier to find a job when you have one.” That hadn’t sounded as lame in his head. “If you’re alone at the wedding, a girl as pretty as you, the available guys there are going to wonder what’s wrong.”

“You mean like dandruff, halitosis or snorting when I laugh?”

“Yeah.” He frowned. This wasn’t going quite as he’d hoped. “Sort of.”

“Look, Austin—”

“Hear me out.” He held up a hand to stop her words. “If you’re seen with me, you get the Thunder Canyon seal of approval and men will come out of the woodwork.”

One corner of her mouth quirked up. “So that’s been my problem since moving here this summer? The great and powerful Austin Anderson hasn’t anointed my social life with his presence?”

“Well said.” He tried to be serious but couldn’t help laughing. “Seriously, tell me you didn’t have fun today.”

“I didn’t have fun today,” she said automatically.

“You’re lying.”

“Yes, to save you from yourself. It’s very sweet of you to ask me. Really. And I do appreciate the offer, but… No.”

“I don’t accept that.”

“You have to.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.”

“What part of no don’t you understand?” she demanded.

“Pretty much all of it. Never have.” Losing his mother when he was sixteen had made him want to give up and he had for a while. But folks in Thunder Canyon hadn’t given up on him and made him see that if a door closed you went around it. One foot in front of the other to get what you want. “If I did, I wouldn’t be an engineer at all, let alone doing a doctorate program in green energy or working for Traub Oil Montana.” He took a breath and met her gaze. “Therefore, I have an alternate suggestion.”

“And that would be?”

“You’re looking for a serious relationship, but I don’t meet your criteria. I’m only looking to have fun—at my sister’s wedding. Nothing permanent. You told me I was great company today. Did you mean it?”

“Of course, or I wouldn’t have said it.”

“Then it’s official. As my Thanksgiving volunteer partner you passed the Austin Anderson friendship test with flying colors. There’s no reason we can’t attend the Thunder Canyon social event of the year in that capacity.”

“Friends?”

“Yeah.” And if it turned into friends with benefits, who was he to complain?

“You’re serious?”

“Completely.”

“We did have fun today. And I don’t want to go alone.” There was determination in her eyes even as the doubts refused to dissolve. “But if even one person makes a crack about robbing the cradle…”

“You’ll just have to whip out your ID and prove you’re at least twenty-one so no one thinks I’m perving on you.”

“Oh, please—” But she laughed, then pointed at him. “Okay, I’ll go with you, but only as friends. No strings attached.”

He wouldn’t have it any other way.

Rose walked into the three-story lobby of the Thunder Canyon Resort on the arm of Austin Anderson. People looked at them, but no one pointed and laughed, which was a relief. Still, when he’d taken her hand and slipped it into the bend of his elbow, it felt more than friendly. She’d opened her mouth to call him on it, but his disarming grin had taken all the bite out of her protest.

This was like dieting with a box of doughnuts in her hand. One touch and all her willpower went out the window.

“Wow,” he said. “Look at this place.”

When she did, her breath caught. She’d been to the resort a few times, but this evening it was transformed into a romantic holiday wedding scene. Two groups of chairs with a white runner separating them were set up on the gleaming inlaid floor and facing the huge stone fireplace. The mantel was draped with lighted green garland and trimmed with red bows. Individual poinsettia plants were arranged in the shape of a tree on either side of a raised dais. Hanging crystals reflected firelight, candles and small twinkling white lights.

Rose stared in wonder. “Just breathtaking.”

“I know what you mean.”

There was a huskiness in Austin’s voice that made Rose look up at him. He was staring at her and the gleam in his eyes made her heart skip.

“I was talking about the decorations,” she clarified.

“I wasn’t.”

In that instant two days of fretting over an appropriate outfit dissolved as it passed a test she hadn’t realized existed. She’d chosen a long-sleeved black dress with velvet sleeves and bodice and a full skirt fashioned from lace. Her peep-toed pumps were velvet, too. Then there was the problem of what to do with her hair. It was a cold, damp evening which made the priority all about control.

She’d done a soft side part, then pulled it sleekly back from her face and tucked the mass into a knot behind her right ear. The way Austin was looking at her, a hairstyle would be all she had any chance of controlling.

People were moving past them and the room was quickly filling up.

“I better go sit down.” The words came out a sort of husky whisper that she hoped he didn’t notice.

“Right.”

They moved to the chairs and Rose was about to take one in the back row.

“Not here.” Austin walked around the outside formation as the aisle was blocked off for the ceremony. He led her to the front row on the bride’s side.

“But this is reserved for family,” she protested.

“I’m family and you’re my— You’re with me.” He winked, then glanced at his watch. “I have to go do a thing. The wedding planner has us on a tight schedule.”

“What happens if you’re late?”

“I don’t want to find out.” He shuddered, then touched her arm. “I’ll be back in a little while. Don’t run away.”

Rose nodded, sat and blew out a breath. Her face was hot, but that had nothing to do with the flames snapping and popping in the fireplace and everything to do with Austin.

She should have turned down his invitation, but he’d caught her in a weak moment, when she was feeling sorry for herself about attending this high-profile event all alone after being a high-profile dater since relocating here. It would be a lie to say that she wasn’t really glad he’d walked her in, but everyone was bound to talk. No doubt tomorrow it would be all over town that she was officially desperate enough to poach from a younger dating pool.

So be it. The damage was done, but there wouldn’t be more fuel for the fire because she and Austin weren’t an item. This was a one-shot deal. Just friends.

In the row of chairs just behind her people took their places. Then someone touched her shoulder and she turned. Her brothers Ethan and Corey bookended Liz Landry, Ethan’s fiancée. All three smiled at her.

“Hey, little sister.” Ethan took Liz’s hand and linked his fingers with hers.

“You look beautiful, Rose,” Liz said. “I love your dress.”

Corey leaned forward and said, “How did you score the best seat in the house?”

It really wasn’t. She was several seats from the aisle where the brides would pass. Those empty chairs were probably reserved for family. She was just a… What did she call herself? Not a date. “My friend Austin, brother of the bride, asked me to go with him. He sat me here.”

Rose could see that all of them had questions, but a quartet started to play chamber music and she was saved by the strings. The sweet notes of the musical instruments soothed her nerves. Not that it mattered. This event was about two brides and two grooms who’d found true love and soon would pledge their lives to each other. She truly envied them.

When Frank and Edie Cates, parents of the twin grooms, took their seats on the opposite side, it was clear that the time line was progressing. A few minutes later, Betty and Jack Castro came down the aisle. They were Elise’s biological parents but hadn’t raised her. Last year she’d learned that she and Erin Castro were switched at birth and taken home by the wrong families. It had been a shock to both women, one that Rose couldn’t imagine. But Rose’s brother Corey had helped Erin come to terms with the past and now they were happily married.

Next down the aisle was Helen Clifton who’d raised Elise, the woman she would always call “Mom.” Once the parents were in place the pace picked up. The music stopped and a gray-haired man stepped to the middle of the dais with a Bible in his hands. A clue that he’d be administering the vows. Then the twin grooms appeared beside him with their best men, Marshall and Mitchell Cates. The unmistakable dark hair, eyes and similar features marked them all as brothers.

The minister said, “If you’ll all please rise.”

The guests did as asked and the musicians played a processional. First down the aisle was Erin Castro Traub. Rose stole a look at her brother Corey who was smiling proudly at his wife, the love of his life. Next was maid of honor Angie Anderson, stunning in a simple red silk strapless dress and carrying a bouquet of white orchids.

When the two attendants were in place, the traditional wedding music cued Elise Clifton. She came down the aisle on the arm of her brother, Grant. Her long dark blond hair was a cascade of curls held in place by a diamond head band. She looked like a Greek goddess in a one-shouldered satin beaded gown. Matt beamed at his bride, eagerly taking her hand.

It was time for bride number two and Rose looked back just in time to see Haley kiss Austin’s lean cheek, then put her hand in the bend of his elbow. She looked like a princess in her strapless, full-skirted organza gown. Her floor-length veil flowed from a diamond tiara that held her upswept brown hair in place. Rose glanced at Marlon Cates who couldn’t take his eyes off the woman who would shortly be his wife.

As he placed his sister’s hand into her groom’s, Austin said, “She’s always taken care of Angie and me. Now my sister finally has someone to take care of her. Don’t let her down, Marlon.”

“Never.”

Rose felt a double dose of emotion lump in her throat and not only because it was a doubly happy moment. A wave of sorrow washed over her. Neither bride’s father was there and Rose didn’t know why. She only knew that someday when she got married, her father wouldn’t be there, either. No giving her away. No father-daughter dance. Charles Traub had died when she was only two and she had no memory of him. Her brothers had always talked about him as if he walked on water and she envied their recollections. She was sad for what was lost to her, for once-in-a-lifetime memories that could never be made.

And then Austin was standing beside her. He leaned down to whisper, “My work here is done.”

Suddenly there was no room in her head for anything but him. He was movie-star handsome. He smelled good and cleaned up pretty nice. But did any man look like a toad in a traditional black tux? She thought not.

Still, a wicked grin and a nice suit didn’t make her any less too old for him. The magic of the wedding venue with lights, flowers and brides in beautiful dresses couldn’t erase the difference in their ages. More memories that could never be made. She forced herself to focus on the now, details swirling in her head for the mayor’s press release.

The ceremony moved quickly in spite of double vows and rings, but there was twice the applause and cheers when the twins kissed their new wives. Rose was sure the four of them were relieved. In their shoes she would be. But when this part of the evening was over, she would have the reception to worry about.

It was being held in the Gallatin Room, the fine-dining restaurant at the resort. She would breathe easier when it was okay to mingle on her own. That didn’t mean she wasn’t grateful to Austin for walking her in, but the less time they spent together the better. No point in needlessly firing up Thunder Canyon gossip.

But after the two newly married couples led the recessional down the aisle, Austin grabbed her hand before she could strike out on her own.

“The formal part is over, now it’s time to have some fun. Stick with me and I’ll show you a good time.”

That’s just what Rose was afraid of.

Chapter Two