Really, this was ridiculous. She was a grown woman. If she wanted to have a vacation fling or whatever, it was her decision. Not that she was having a fling with Will. It was just a strange mixing of circumstances and didn’t mean anything and—
Still rationalizing, she caught movement in her peripheral vision. Adalyn, her smile wobbly and her nose bright red, stood in the doorway leading to the back stairs, angled so she was hidden from most of the family’s view.
“I’ll be right back,” Hadley said, tilting her head toward the doorway.
Will squeezed her hand. “Go on—I got this.”
Using the cover of the general rambunctiousness that followed a family game night, Hadley made her way over to the doorway and snuck into the hall. She wrapped her arms around her sister and pulled her in tight.
“Adalyn, I’m sorry. I—”
“No,” her sister said, returning the hug. “I’m the one who should be apologizing. This wedding and everything with Derek just has me spinning. It was a stupid idea to try to impress you with the wedding. It all just sort of happened, and I guess I just never outgrew that eight-year-old girl always trying to impress her big sister.”
Hadley stepped back, needing her sister to see her face and understand the truth of it all. “I’m your sister. I’m not judging you. Ever.”
“Of course you’d say that.” Her sister wiped her cheek with the back of her hand. “Everything for you is perfect. You have the ideal big-city life.”
A punch to the gut by Godzilla wouldn’t have hurt as much as realizing how her inability to admit to failure had unintentionally hurt the people she loved most. “Is that what you think?”
Adalyn nodded. “It’s what you tell us.”
“Come on,” she said, grabbing her sister’s hand and leading her down the hall toward Gabe’s office. “We need to talk.”
Chapter Sixteen
Will watched Hadley disappear down the hall with her sister, and the foreign urge to go with her and offer her support had him taking a step forward before he realized what he was doing. However, Gabe’s hand on his arm stopped him, making him look around at the fast emptying living room as all the family members said good night and went to their rooms.
“How about we go have a beer under the stars?” Gabe asked.
It might have been stated as a question, but Will knew better. “Sounds perfect.”
Will followed Hadley’s stepdad out the back door, expecting there to be more family on the patio because there were always people everywhere, it seemed, but they were alone. A rock settled in the bottom of his stomach as he took the beer that Gabe had pulled from the cooler by the picnic table. There was no way this was going to be a friendly little chat.
Gabe took a long pull from his beer and stared out at the land that seemed to go on forever and was held in only by star-filled sky. “My grandfather bought this ranch to give his family a safe place to call their own. Some people thought a guy like him wouldn’t be able to pull it off. They figured he just wasn’t the right shade of person to do that. He proved them wrong.”
Small towns hadn’t cornered the market on small thinking, but it had to be harder out here where a person’s neighbors could be a lifeline or an anchor when things got tough.
Looking out into the dark, Will pictured the ranch as he’d seen it in the day and imagined building it from nothing. “It’s quite a spread.”
“That it is.” Gabe nodded and took another drink, still looking out at all that great open space, shrouded in darkness that didn’t seem to inhibit the man’s ability to see it all. “Not everyone can appreciate its beauty and strength. It’s easy to pass by this country and think there’s nothing here but a moment’s distraction. But for those who take the chance and open themselves up to the possibilities, well, it can change their life. I know it did mine.”
“I can see how that could happen,” Will said, trying to translate the undercurrents in the conversation that obviously was leading somewhere.
“It’s a lot of work,” Gabe continued, finally turning to look at Will. “Sometimes it feels like it’s you against the world, but a place like this makes a man remember what’s important and he vows to love it, help it realize its full potential, and do whatever is needed to protect it from those who would take advantage.”
The man was about as subtle as a midtown bus during rush hour in Harbor City. “We aren’t just talking about the ranch anymore, are we?”
Gabe cocked an eyebrow. “Were we ever?”
“No, sir. I guess we weren’t.”
The other man finished his beer, once again looking out at the ranch. “The girls are likely to be talking for a while, so you might as well head back to the cabin.”
Message delivered and understood. “You’ll let Hadley know where I’ve gone?”
“Of course.” Gabe headed for the back door.
The man wasn’t wrong. Like the ranch, there was more to Hadley than most people—himself included—saw at first glance. She had the natural beauty and strength that came from this place, even if she didn’t call it home anymore. It would always be a part of her, and that was what he couldn’t let go of, and he wasn’t about to when they returned to Harbor City.
“I’ve never had a ranch like this before, but being here has definitely shown me that I’ve been missing out,” he said to Gabe’s retreating form. “If I’m lucky, I hope to have something like it someday soon. There’s more to it than people realize.”
Hadley’s stepdad paused at the door, turning back to give him a look of approval. “That there is.”
Then Gabe went into the house and Will made his way to the cabin, his thoughts swirling around in his head. Nothing about this trip had gone as planned—well, except for the look of absolute horror on Hadley’s face when she’d spotted him at the airport. After that, everything had gone pear-shaped. He was supposed to be elbowing the gold digger after his brother’s bank balance out of the picture. Instead, he was falling for the woman he just might have misjudged—fine, he’d totally misjudged her. What in the hell did he do now?
After he got to the cabin and did a quick check for uninvited swift foxes—luckily there was no sign of Lightning with or without a tasty dinner—Will pulled out his phone and called the one person he’d always been able to trust.
Web answered on the second ring. “Please tell me she hasn’t killed you and this is your ghost calling.”
Even though his twin couldn’t see him rolling his eyes, Will still knew he’d sense it. “No one will ever mistake you for being the funny twin.”
“That, my brother, is where you’re wrong,” Web said, his voice taking on that smug tone that meant he was up to something. “Everyone thinks I’m hilarious—especially when I tell them about your little setup.”
Will stopped mid-step as he walked toward the pullout couch. “You aren’t.”
“Oh, come on. You don’t think I could have kept something this good to myself, do you?” Web’s gotcha-sucker chuckle left Will slack-jawed. “Big brother, you got punked, and I’m telling the world. I gotta tell you, though, your chicken was not great. Do not quit your day job.”
But Web had been the one to warn him away from her. “You were the one who told me not to—”
“Fuck her?” Web finished.
Will’s entire body tensed with an unfamiliar overprotectiveness that he had no fucking clue how to process beyond a need to stop anyone, anyone, from thinking of Hadley as available. “Why, is that what you want to do?”
“Settle down there, cowboy. I set this up, remember?” Web mumbled something about blood relatives who were idiots. “Damn, I love it when a plan comes together.” He paused. “But there is something I need to tell you about Hadley.”
“Is it that you’re interested in her?” Will’s gut churned at the idea.
“As more than a friend?” Web let out an amused chuckle. “Not in the least—otherwise she’d already be mine. I am the more popular Holt twin. No, what I need to tell you is that she’s softer than she seems. Be careful with her.”
“I’m always careful.” But it was too late. He was already in too deep, and there was only one way to figure out what that meant. He told his brother everything. “So what do I do now?”
Web let out a dismissive snort. “If you can’t figure that out for yourself, then I can’t help you.”
Fuck, that hurt, but Web was right. “Thanks.”
“For what?”
“Being just the kind of asshole brother to fake like he was puking his guts up so I’d finally pull my head out of my ass.”
“Just have a good time.” Web hung up without a goodbye.
Will tossed his phone on the pullout bed and stared at the wall until a very familiar four-legged swift fox came waltzing into the living room. How in the hell Lightning had gotten in, he had no idea, but seeing the fox did give him a brilliant idea for how to show Hadley that what was happening between them could be more than just a road-trip romance.